It is easy for email marketers to latch onto holiday themes, but with so many brands competing to attract consumers’ attention with the same tactics, marketers need to focus on the individual rather than the event.
In 2015, the proportion of brands sending holiday-themed emails rose 13.4%, and the number of holiday-themed emails brands sent nearly doubled for some holidays. The number of marketers who sent Halloween emails almost doubled YoY in 2015, from 33% to 63%.
However, as inboxes became crammed with holiday-themed emails, open rates dropped 5% compared to the previous year. While marketers sent more back-to-school emails in 2015 than in the previous year, the average open rate decreased 3.4%.
The findings, from Yes Lifecycle Marketing’s report, ‘Engagement and Deliverability for Holiday-Themed Emails: Biggest Lessons from 2015 and What they Mean for Marketers in 2016″, suggest that simply embracing holidays and seasonal events without considering how they relate to a brand’s customer base is not enough to drive engagement.
Spikes in email volumes as a result of holiday-themed emails also appears to have had an effect on all marketing email open rates. According to the report, while open rates for Q3 2015 were higher YoY, they decreased 13% during Q4 at a time when there was a 29% spike in overall send volume.
“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.”