The happy holiday inbox. Last minute tips for spreading the cheer with this year

Transcription

1 The happy holiday inbox Last minute tips for spreading the cheer with this year

2 Capitalize on the end-of-season surge It s not too late! Last-minute shopping continues to generate significant holiday profits. Year over year, retail revenue was up 5.5 percent during the last weekend before Christmas 2010, and the National Retail Federation confirmed that approximately 38 percent of shoppers planned to buy their last-minute gifts online. Over the last couple of years, a strong multichannel-focused holiday plan emerged with at the center of most advertising campaigns; and the push to capture last-minute buyers drove volumes higher. volume surged 34 percent from Dec 21 to Dec 31 last year. To generate those last-minute results, leverage tactics including: Express shipping options Buy online and pick up in store More in-store offers e-gift Cards Volume increase by week from 11/21-12/31/2010 compared to % 30% 32% 38% 20% 10% 21% 11% 19% 12% 0 Thanksgiving & Black Friday Cyber Monday Echo Monday 1 Echo Monday 2 Christmas Nov Nov 28 Dec 4 Dec 5 11 Dec Dec Dec 24 31

3 1Tell them what they need to know Include deadlines and locations that provide urgency and directions that encourage customers to act quickly. Analysis of last year s holiday mailings indicates that on average: Shipping deadlines improve transaction performance by 22 percent Fifteen percent of openers read s on a mobile phone, and that number is growing s with dynamic store locators also have 14 percent higher click rates In 2009, 20 percent off was the most prolific of the percent discounts during the holidays; in 2010, it was 30 percent. Deeper discounts of 50% or higher also increased.

4 2 Animated GIFs are a great way to quickly enhance Keep it fun and fresh your creative during the holidays. This fun and simple technique enables marketers to highlight multiple products in one position and emphasize creative elements with animation helping to engage customers with something that resonates with them. For example, last holiday season Oriental Trading Company added a twinkling effect to the Christmas lights in their as they thanked their customers for their business (another best practice). Compared to campaigns without animated GIFs, 90 percent have significantly higher transaction rates (60 percent), 5 percent higher open rates and 118 percent more revenue per than the campaigns without the animation. 3 4 Make it personal Socialize your Catalogers, multichannel retailers, and travel brands all tend to experience higher open rates on campaigns using the recipient s name in the subject line. During the 2010 holiday season, many retailers did a great job of this by carrying the personalization through to the pre-header text, as well as the copy. Links to social networks can amplify any marketing promotion, including your last-minute egift Card availaibility or shipping deadlines. Forty percent of online consumers who use social networking sites plan to use Facebook for feedback from family/friends to help make a decision about a product, according to a recent survey. Open rates aren t the only performance metric positively influenced by personalization. Last holiday season, catalogers also had a significant lift in transaction rates (30 percent) and revenue per (300 percent) with personalized campaigns compared to campaigns without personalization.

5 5 It s not too late gift cards for sale! Promoting Gift Cards and e-gift Cards in also is a great way to address last minute shopping. In fact, Experian Hitwise finds that online searches for gift cards are highest during the week of Christmas. During the 2010 holidays, 29 percent more campaigns advertised gift cards in November and 20 percent more in December when compared to s sent during the first 10 months of the year. For more information on holiday s, StrategicServices@cheetahmail.com or visit our blog at experian.com/marketingforward.

6 Experian Marketing Services 955 American Lane Schaumburg, IL Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. November 2011