Study finds holiday emails engage, but don't oversend

Holiday themed email campaigns are important for brands, but sending too many of the same or similarly themed emails could sound a death knell for campaign engagement. That's the takeaway from new Yes Lifecycle Marketing data which shows that while overall holiday campaigns were up, the farther into the season the emails were sent, the lower the open rates.

by Kristina Knight

There is new data out that email marketers will want to study: according to Yes Lifecycle Marketing while holiday themed email campaigns increased more than 13% YoY in 2015, open rates declined by about 5%. According to their data, that decline may be linked to the increase, overall, of these types of campaigns because the open rate declines happened when the volume began to increase.

"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."

Some interesting takeaways from the report include:

• 10% of campaigns were themed for Green Monday
• Open rates increased to just over 15% for Black Friday themed emails (YoY)
• Halloween themed emails doubled YoY
• BTS emails increased 14% (YoY) but open rates declined 3.4%

"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."

Tags: email marketing, email trends, holiday email marketing, Yes Lifecycle Marketing