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E-mail outscored catalogs as a motivation to bring shoppers to a direct marketer’s Web site in the latest wave of the quarterly online marketing survey conducted by Decision Direct Research, the online research arm of direct marketing service provider Millard Group.

For the quarter ended August 31, 81% of survey respondents reported that they were likely to visit a direct retailer’s Web site after receiving an e-mail, compared to 78% who said they were likely to surf there after getting a catalog in the mail. That discrepancy marks the first time in the quarterly survey’s three-year history that e-mail from a marketer outranked print books as a Web traffic driver.

About 67% of survey participants said they read at least three out of four promotional e-mails they receive from direct marketers.

Overall satisfaction with Web shopping at direct marketers’ sites grew slightly from the same quarter 2004, with 52% of respondents saying the sites offered “unique items not found elsewhere” compared to 44% last year. The contingent saying that “products meet or exceed expectations” grew to 41% from 38% in third-quarter 2004. And 46% of respondents agreed that “returning items is easy” at direct marketers’ Web sites—a marked improvement from only 22% who said so during the same quarter 2004.

But direct marketers need to pay closer attention to areas such as “merchandise in stock when I order,” to which only 44% of respondents agreed, compared to 53% in 2004. Scored also declined for timely notification of order status ( 60% this year versus 65% in 2004) and prompt receipt of merchandise ( 53% this time compared to 58% last year.)

Order execution and fulfillment may be particularly crucial for direct marketers selling over the Internet, since 22% of survey respondents said they believe that “online orders are shipped quicker than phone orders.”

The latest quarterly Online Co-op Survey from Decision Direct polled Internet shoppers from 37 multi-channel merchants and incorporated data from 47,000 completed customer surveys.