It will be more important than ever in 2009 for marketers to deliver relevant and timely information via email to customers, it has been claimed.

Email marketing solutions provider ExactTarget has revealed that competitors are likely to step up their game next year as recession hits harder by investing more into securing valuable custom.

Speaking to Market Watch, ExactTarget's director of research and strategy Morgan Stewart said: "On average, we expect open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates will decline in 2009 as subscribers' inboxes are flooded with bad email from marketers trying to stay afloat."

He added that it is therefore necessary for email marketers hoping to gain an edge to honour individual preferences of each subscriber.

This comes after figures released by MarketingSherpa showed that 48 per cent of marketers plan to increase their email marketing efforts next year in a bid to distance themselves from the devastating results of the credit crunch.

Meanwhile, a recent research carried out by Coremetrics revealed that a proposed increase in e-marketing spending is aimed at providing businesses with measurability of online success.

Precision Marketing reported that such measurability is "vital" in the year ahead.

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