Breaking down emailing lists could help drive revenue for online marketers, a new study suggests.

According to research by Internet Retailer, about 40 per cent of companies claimed that their email marketing campaign has a conversion rate of two per cent or less, reports WebProNews.

However, the findings indicate that 43 per cent of respondents do not segment recipients of their mailing lists by age, sex, past purchase history and other factors, which could be a characteristic in producing "better campaigns".

Chief executive of SubscriberMail Jordan Ayan told the publication: "Email will continue to grow as a marketing vehicle, particularly as direct marketers look at even higher postage rates."

"But a bigger programme won't necessarily deliver better results if a retailer just takes a one-size-fits-all approach."

The study pointed to US clothing retailer Fossil which after segmenting its email lists has seen the average amount of items bought online by consumers rise by 50 per cent.

Last month, a survey by Epsilon indicated that email marketing can help drive online traffic and revenue, as over 84 per cent of respondents reported that they had visited a company's website as a result of receiving promotional emails.