Shoppers prefer to receive promotional offers by email, ahead of other marketing channels, a survey across retailers in four US states has established, in a report by eMarketer.com.

37% prefered email followed by the well established direct mail (23%). The third most popular was perhaps surprisingly text (18%), then in-store promotions (11%) with social media languishing last at 9%.

The results suggest that while social media is massively influential for brand building online, consumers do not see it as a push marketing medium, at least not yet.