Companies have been warned to be sophisticated when they use email as part of their internet marketing strategy.

Mark Power, chief executive of Concep, explains that email in online marketing is most effective "as part of a strategic channel, not a tactical channel" and should not be seen as a cheap and easy form of direct marketing.

That means not bombarding people with email - probably wise advice, given the fact that, according to AOL's Email Addiction Survey, over half (51 per cent) of email users check it four or more times a day.

People don't want to have to trawl through endless emails from your company while they're looking for important ones, like how many times they've been "poked" on Facebook.

Instead, according to Mr Power, people want relevance.

"A lot of recipients these days are very savvy and they want companies to be more sophisticated in their marketing and provide something relevant to them, through the right channel at the right time," he says.

"Those who are getting it right are the ones who are doing it strategically and understand what their preferences are."

But with people spending more and more time checking emails, and indeed signing up to more and more things that send them emails, is it a useful form of internet marketing strategy or are people just going to click delete?

Online Marketing specialists Business Feet help create value from business websites