By Alicia Kan

If you’re marketing on a shoestring, it’s logical that you turn to social media for cost-effectiveness. But to make it 100% of your marketing efforts? That might not be such a good idea.

Spotted in Love Infographics, this visual from San Francisco startup Attachments.me shows that email is still hard to beat as a marketing channel.

Countering the popular perception that the medium is dying, email accounts continue to grow in the business sector. It’s still the most dominant way to exchange information. And the ROI is hard to beat: $40 for every $1 spent.

Data sources: Pingdom, The Radicati Group, Google, iPass, Forrester Research, DMA, Attachments.me