Once again, commercial email is returning vastly more for every dollar spent on it this year than every other marketing channel, according to the Direct Marketing Association’s just-released Power of Direct economic impact study.

Email is bringing in $40.56 for every dollar spent on it this year, according to the DMA. This is compared to catalogs’ ROI of $7.30, search’s return of $22.24, Internet display advertising’s return of $19.72 and mobile’s return of $10.51.

Commercial email is expected to drive $63.1 billion in sales this year, compared to $57.8 billion last year, according to the study.

The DMA projects email to drive $67.8 billion in sales in 2012 and $82.2 billion in sales in 2016.

Source: The Magill Report