Marketing solutions firm Responsys has launched the 2011 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season, offering tips on getting the most out of email marketing in the run up to Christmas.
The report provides strategic advice and tactical insights, discusses trends, and includes extensive benchmarks to help retailers and other B-to-C companies maximise their email and digital marketing revenue during the holiday season.
Based on the holiday email activity of the top online retailers tracked by the Retail Email Blog and the insights of Responsys’ strategic marketing services team, the 51-page 2011 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season includes benchmarks and advice such as:
• When marketers should begin planning their email marketing campaigns;
• The frequency of the campaigns;
• Which days to send the marketing campaigns;
• How to make an email campaign stand out in the inbox
• Which messaging tactics to use throughout the holiday season.
“Email marketing is becoming increasingly vital to retailers’ holiday success,” said Ed Henrich, senior vice president of professional services at Responsys. “Responsys’ retail client data shows that 2011 open rates are up 23% over last year and click-to-open rates are up 11%. This is a positive sign that the 2011 holiday season could be very strong. We look forward to working with our retail customers to maximise the performance of their interactive marketing programs this holiday season.”
The 2011 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season also uncovers new challenges and opportunities that will require marketers to adjust their holiday email marketing strategies.
“The emergence of ‘Black November,’ the continued growth in mobile email readership, and increasing cross-channel sophistication will all have a major effect on marketing campaigns this holiday season, when email volume is on track to reach new all-time highs,” said Chad White, research director at Responsys and author of the 2011 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season.
Other topics covered in the 2011 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season include:
• Retailers are trying to attract shoppers earlier in the holiday season by promoting “Black Friday” deals and pricing as early as November 1, a trend Responsys refers to as “Black November.” As a result, last year the number of references to Black Friday between 1 November and Black Friday increased 68% vs. 2009.
• Cyber Monday is living up to its hype as “the biggest online shopping day of the year,” with online sales breaking the $1 billion mark for the first time on that day last year. Email marketing is a prime contributor to that success, with 77% of major online retailers sending at least one promotional email to their subscribers on Cyber Monday, up from 71% in 2009. It was the fourth consecutive year that Cyber Monday was the most popular day of the year for retailers to send emails.
• Black Friday check-in campaigns and last-minute gifts delivered via Facebook were both nascent trends last year that Responsys expects to grow this year.
• Examples of the “22 phases of holiday messaging,” the 22 messaging tactics that retailers use at various points during the holiday season, are also covered. Those tactics include “12 days of christmas” campaigns, season’s greetings, and urging gift card redemptions.
View the report here.
www.responsys.com.
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Thank you for the good information and I thank those traders who use the Internet as a marketing strategy. I do not think that way. Thank you for these tips. Let me use it and hope it will work.