New findings from the 2015 holidays season were released by Experian Marketing Services a recognized leader in data-driven marketing and cloud-based marketing technology, showing a significant increase in email volume year-over-year. The report, Holiday Hot Sheet: Insights for the Holiday Marketer, indicates that email volume rose 24.8 percent during the 2015 holiday season compared to 2014, across all-industry verticals. Despite the increase in volume, the number of email opens, clicks and transactions also increased. Unique email opens increased 19 percent, unique email clicks increased 10 percent and email transactions increased 20 percent.
“As retailers find more ways to incorporate data to create more personalized and relevant emails, we are seeing both volume and transactions increase,” said Spencer Kollas, vice president of global deliverability services at Experian Marketing Services. “The 2015 holiday season showed us once again that marketers are still finding email to be a valuable way to increase sales.”
The report highlights other key marketing trends that defined the 2015 holiday season including the popularity of free shipping and an increase in emails opened on mobile devices.
Ninety percent of retail email campaigns included an offer
According to Experian’s analysis, 90 percent of retail email campaigns during the 2015 holiday season included an offer, free shipping was the most common, followed by percent off. The percent-off email offers featuring coupons or codes increased from 34 percent to 40 percent in 2015, allowing more tracking of responses.
Mobile shopping continues to increase
The report found that the percent of email clicks received on a mobile device from retailers during the peak of the holiday season increased 7 percent from 2014. In addition, SMS messaging continued to be an emphasis. 88 percent of text messages included an offer with 55 percent of text messages including some percent off.
Cyber Monday retained its rank as the top email volume and transaction day
Although Thanksgiving Day unseated Cyber Monday as the top online shopping day, Experian Marketing Services research shows that Cyber Monday retained its rank as the top email volume and transaction date.
The top three email transaction dates in 2015 included:
- Cyber Monday
- Black Friday
- Sunday after Black Friday
The top three email volume dates in 2015 included:
- Cyber Monday
- Black Friday
- Day before Thanksgiving