Study: The Number of Brands Deploying Holiday-Themed Email Campaigns Grew by 13.4 Percent in 2015

CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- The proportion of brands sending holiday-themed emails rose 13.4 percent, according to a new study from Yes Lifecycle Marketing. The study also revealed that the number of holiday-themed emails brands sent increased -- nearly doubling for some holidays. This resulted in a 5 percent dip in open rates in comparison to the previous year as consumers' inboxes were inundated.

For this report, "Engagement and Deliverability for Holiday-Themed Emails: Biggest Lessons from 2015 and What They Mean for Marketers in 2016," Yes Lifecycle Marketing used its proprietary Yesmail Market Intelligence tool to track the year-over-year performance of email marketing campaigns for 30 major brands, including Amazon, Target and Nordstrom, in both Q3 and Q4 of 2014 and 2015.

"Holiday-themed email campaigns are a great way for brands to engage consumers in a timely and topical way, but we saw some diminishing returns as more brands were competing to attract customers' attention with the same tactics over the same period," said Michael Fisher, president of Yes Lifecycle Marketing. "These campaigns can still be highly effective and engaging, but marketers need to be thinking more strategically about how to relate to consumers as individuals, instead of simply latching onto the holiday themes."

The study also suggests a link between the abrupt increase in email volume during the holiday season and a decrease in open rates for all marketing emails during the same period. While open rates for Q3 2015 were higher year-over-year, they decreased by 13 percent moving into Q4. The decrease coincided with a 29 percent spike in send volume during the same period.

"More is clearly not better when it comes to email," said Michael Iaccarino, CEO and chairman of Infogroup, the parent company of Yes Lifecycle Marketing. "By using intuitive technology and experienced service partners to propel data-driven programs, retailers are able to consider the specific needs of their audience and meet business objectives."

More holiday-specific findings include:

• While marketers sent more back-to-school emails in 2015 than 2014, the average open rate decreased by 3.4 percent (from 14.6 percent to 14.1 percent) year-over-year.
• The number of marketers who deployed Halloween emails almost doubled year-over-year in 2015 (from 33 percent to 63 percent).
• Black Friday-themed emails deployed over Thanksgiving weekend generated higher open rates than base communications over the same period (15.7 percent vs. 13.7 percent).
• Green Monday -- typically the second Monday in December -- is the third largest online shopping day of the year, yet only 10 percent of retailers sent Green Monday-themed emails last year.

For additional insights into how to leverage the holidays in marketing emails, download the full report here.

About Yes Lifecycle Marketing
Yes Lifecycle Marketing provides solutions that orchestrate cross-channel marketing communications to drive results and revenue. This is accomplished by leveraging technology, data, analytics, creative, and strategy to activate and optimize insights-driven, real-time, relevant communications. This holistic approach gives marketers the ability to source a full-service offering of best-of-breed technology and solutions from a single vendor in order to achieve their desired outcomes across all on and offline channels. To learn more, call 1-877-937-6245, email [email protected] or visit www.yeslifecyclemarketing.com.

About Infogroup
Infogroup is a big data, analytics and marketing services provider that delivers best in class data-driven, customer-centric technology solutions. Our data and software-as-a-service (DaaS & SaaS) offerings help clients of all sizes, from small companies to FORTUNE 100™ enterprises, increase their sales and customer loyalty. Infogroup provides both digital and traditional marketing channel expertise that is enhanced by access to our proprietary data on 245MM individuals and 25MM businesses, which is distributed real-time to our clients. For more information, visit: www.infogroup.com.

   Contact:Sarah DietzePhone: 312-241-1471E-mail: [email protected]

Source: Yes Lifecycle Marketing

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