Study: Q4 2016 holiday-themed emails may produce lower open rates, but generate higher conversions than business-as-usual emails

Yes Lifecycle Marketing study finds brands sent 14.5 percent more emails to subscribers in Q4 2016 than in Q3

CHICAGO, July 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite experiencing lower open rates than business-as-usual (BAU) emails (14.6 percent), holiday-themed emails sent in Q4 2016 often resulted in higher conversions, according to a new study from Yes Lifecycle Marketing.

"Holiday Email Marketing Guide: How Day of the Week and Offer Type Impact Email Performance" tracked almost 8 billion emails sent in Q4 2016 through Yesmail360, Yes Lifecycle Marketing's cross-channel marketing communication platform. The study found that brands sent 14.5 percent more emails to subscribers during the holiday season, indicating that brands had to compete more for subscriber attention using the same seasonal tactics, rendering them less effective. Fifty-five percent of brands capitalized on the holiday season with General holiday emails (emails that reference the holiday or winter season without specifying a particular holiday), yet those emails tended to have similar engagement rates as BAU emails and actually had 43 percent lower conversion rates than BAU emails.

Despite the lower engagement rate, a number of Q4 holidays experienced higher conversion rates than BAU emails. The study found that emails that addressed specific holidays tended to convert better than General holiday emails overall. In fact, Green Monday, which typically occurs on the second Monday in December, might be one of the most underutilized holidays for email marketing. Even though only 6 percent of brands sent Green Monday-themed emails, those emails generated nearly three times the number of conversions as General holiday emails, at 6 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.

"Data needs to be every marketer's best friend, and it is most critical during peak seasons like the Q4 holidays," said Michael Fisher, president of Yes Lifecycle Marketing. "More than ever, retailers need the right data and the right tools to support campaigns that drive engagement and conversions. Otherwise, they run the risk of being overlooked, or worse, irritating customers."

The report found that customers opened General holiday emails without an offer in the subject line at a rate 16 percent higher than all General holiday emails and 10 percent higher than the BAU average. General holiday emails without offers only generated a 1.6 percent conversion rate despite a high open rate. This suggests that the lack of a distinct offer or strong call-to-action failed to drive conversions beyond the initial open. 

"Sheer volume is not enough to get through to your customers during peak seasons," said Michael Iaccarino, CEO and chairman of Infogroup, parent company of Yes Lifecycle Marketing. "Marketers should glean insight from customer data to understand what messages resonate most with each customer. By listening to the data and employing lifecycle messaging, marketers can send their customers the right message at the right time."

Additional holiday-specific findings from the report include:

• Only a quarter of marketers sent Thanksgiving emails in 2016, and those messages generated both lower engagement (11 percent) and conversion rates (1.9 percent) compared to BAU emails (14.6 percent and 4 percent, respectively).
• Black Friday emails generated the highest open rates of all holiday-themed emails and converted at a rate 52.5 percent higher than BAU campaigns.
• With an average conversion rate of 9.3 percent, Cyber Monday emails more than doubled the performance of BAU emails and outperformed Black Friday by 53 percent.   
• Christmas-themed emails experienced a 17 percent lower open rate than BAU emails but drove a 33 percent higher conversion rate.  

To learn more about identifying tactics to stand out in a crowded inbox during the holiday season, 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.

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Sarah Hale
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SOURCE Yes Lifecycle Marketing

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