2016 holiday head start webinar deck
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© 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
May 10, 2016
Holiday head start
Marketing tips for the 2016 holiday season
2 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Bringing brands and customers closer together, every time.
Maximize the value of every
customer interaction
Inspire long-term brand
advocacy
Reach the right audiences
3 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Meet the presenters
Jacob Davis Marketing Analyst
Experian Marketing Services
Andrew Werner Client Partner
Experian Marketing Services
© 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Setting the stage What happened last year?
5 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Benchmarks Q4 2015 – All Industry
Volume Up 23.4%
Unique
open rate Down 4.2%
to 16.4%
Unique
click rate Down 12.6%
to 1.9%
Revenue
per email At 7¢
Vs. 9¢
6 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Benchmarks Q4 2015 – Multichannel Retailers
Volume Up 26.1%
Unique
open rate Down 5.4%
to 15.6%
Unique
click rate Down 20.8%
to 1.9%
Revenue
per email At 8¢
Vs. 9¢
7 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Benchmarks Q4 2015 – Rates were down, but actual quantity was up
17%
7%
22%
7%
Unique Opens Unique Clicks Transactions Email Revenue
8 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Benchmarks What does this all mean for me?
© 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
2015 holiday study Where did we get these numbers?
10 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
2015 holiday study Where did this data come from?
40 Brands
27 Clients
Retail only
1 Inbox
No click or purchase
From 10/1–12/31
© 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
So many emails… …when should we send ours?
12 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
When were inboxes most crowded? How to avoid the rush
28%
26%
23%
26%
38%
27%
37%
38%
39%
45%
41%
47%
49%
50%
44%
52%
42%
40%
45%
35%
33%
28%
22%
22%
19%
29%
12%
15%
10%
16%
10%
14%
12%
13%
13%
12%
12%
9%
8%
7%
15%
12%
15%
12%
13%
12%
11%
17%
15%
16%
18%
9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
12/27/2015
12/20/2015
12/13/2015
12/6/2015
11/29/2015
11/22/2015
11/15/2015
11/8/2015
11/1/2015
10/25/2015
10/18/2015
10/11/2015
10/4/2015
12am-4am 4am-8am 8am-12pm 12pm-4pm 4pm-8pm 8pm-12pm
Time received, in EST
13 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
When were inboxes most crowded? How to avoid the rush
2%
38%
33%
12% 13%
2%
12am-4am 4am-8am 8am-12pm 12pm-4pm 4pm-8pm 8pm-12pm
71% of emails landed in the inbox
between 4am and noon
Time received, in EST
14 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
What time were mailings received? What effect did time have on performance?
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
12am-4am 4am-8am 8am-12pm 12pm-4pm 4pm-8pm 8pm-12am
Open Rate Click Rate Revenue per Email
Baseline email performance
More competition,
Lower engagement,
Lower revenue per email
Time received, in EST
15 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
What time were SMS messages received? Unsurprisingly, they mirrored email messages
17 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
2014
How long were subject lines? Over 50% were 8 words or fewer
Number of words in subject line
18 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
How long should subject lines be? The longer the subject line, the lower the open rate
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 28
Increased subject line length was correlated with a negative impact on open rates (correlation (.33))
Number of words in subject line
Average change in open rate per brand
compared to brand baseline
© 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Content If you’re not going to segment…
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Popular themes And not-so-popular ones
37%
53%
41%
38%
57%
64%
33%
18%
15%
8%
8%
3%
2%
12/27/15
12/20/15
12/13/15
12/6/15
11/29/15
11/22/15
11/15/15
11/8/15
11/1/15
10/25/15
10/18/15
10/11/15
10/4/15Don’t forget mobile: 26% of SMS campaigns mentioned a holiday
21 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Wait, what? Holiday messages weren’t popular? Metrics were mostly buoyed on actual holidays
30%
19%
8% 5% 1%
-7%
4% 4% -3% -2%
-5% -3% 4%
-52%
-23%
-1%
-24%
-32% -35%
-24%
83%
53%
-14% -18%
-31%
-20%
10/4 10/11 10/18 10/25 11/1 11/8 11/15 11/22 11/29 12/6 12/13 12/20 12/27
Open Rate Revenue per Email
Okay for open rates
Revenue was hyper-concentrated
22 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
What about other themes? Mailings were less likely to have any theme
1%
1%
1%
5%
17%
34%
42%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Daily deals
Mobile incentive
Countdowns
Gift card
Gifts
Friends and family
Flash sale
Only 8% of all mailings were "themed", but when they were, Flash sales were most common Distribution of main themes, excluding all non-themed mailings
23 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Themed mailing successes Flash Sales did work
33%
-6%
51%
23%
25%
5%
-10% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Revenue per Email
Average Order Value
Transaction Rate
Session Rate
Click Rate
Open Rate
Flash Sales had every type of offer, and did as well as any promotion in 2015 Average change per brand compared to brand baseline
24 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Themed mailing successes Friends & Family sales worked, too
1%
-8% -8%
9%
3%
9%
Open Rate Click Rate Session Rate Transaction Rate Average Order Value Revenue per Email
Friends & Family mailings didn't increase engagement, but they did produce strong transactions Average change per brand compared to brand baseline
25 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Themed mailing successes Unexpected old favorite: Animation
12%
-3%
23%
28%
30%
-5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Revenue per Email
Average Order Value
Transaction Rate
Session Rate
Click Rate
Mailings that included animation saw significant engagement increases (opens remained flat, as expected) Average change per brand compared to brand baseline
26 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Themed mailing successes The dark horse: countdown clocks
86%
-5%
114%
43%
31%
4%
-20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Revenue per Email
Average Order Value
Transaction Rate
Session Rate
Click Rate
Open Rate
Countdown clocks weren't very common, but in the rare cases they were used, engagement soared Average change per brand compared to brand baseline
© 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mobile & Email Cross-channel companions
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Mobile-themed mailings Mobile successes: app-focused mailings
The call to action in these
mailings typically isn’t to
purchase
11%
8%
5%
-7%
Open Rate Click Rate Session Rate Transaction Rate
Mobile App focused mailings created great engagement Average change per brand compared to brand baseline
29 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mobile-themed mailings Mobile enrollment: sign up for our mobile program!
The call to action in these
mailings typically isn’t to
purchase
-31%
13%
24%
31%
-40% -30% -20% -10% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Transaction Rate
Session Rate
Click Rate
Open Rate
Engagement was even stronger for mailings focused on Mobile Enrollment Average change per brand compared to brand baseline
30 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mobile-themed mailings Mobile-only incentives didn’t perform strongly in email
5%
-10% -9%
-34%
Open Rate Click Rate Session Rate Transaction Rate
However, remember that the call-to-action is usually to engage on mobile Average change per brand compared to brand baseline
© 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Discounts The most-popular content of all
32 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Were discounts popular? (Duh.) 91% of all mailings included discounts, mirroring last year
48%
31%
19%
3%
Email only In-store & Online Online Only In-store Only
Brands focused primarily on email only offers when presenting discounts Discount breakdown by offer reach, percent of all discount mailings
33 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
What about free shipping? Free shipping remained popular, but qualifier increased
65% 63%
45% 41%
2015 2014
Free Shipping With Qualifier
Of the 65% of
emails that included
free shipping in
Holiday 2015, 45%
included a qualifier
34 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
What about free shipping? Free shipping often combined with other offers
8%
10%
18%
24%
64%
BOGO
Free Gift
$ Offer
Discounted Pricing
% Off
Free shipping was most popularly
combined with percent-off offers
Offers
co
mbin
ed w
ith
fre
e s
hip
pin
g
35 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Was free shipping effective? Little effect on engagement, definite effect on revenue
18%
-2%
13%
30%
-4%
20%
Transaction Rate
Average Order Value
Revenue per Email
Free shipping continues to be effective Average change per brand compared to brand baseline
With Qualifier No Qualifier
36 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Which offers were most effective? Percent-off offers trumped dollar-off offers
5%
5%
23%
-2%
15%
-6%
-6%
-20%
10%
-14%
Click Rate
Session Rate
Transaction Rate
Average Order Value
Revenue per Email
But offering % off discounts did significantly more for engagement, transactions, & efficiency than touting $ off Average change per brand compared to brand baseline
% Off $ Off
37 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
How deep were discounts this year? Most discounts were 50% or less
1%
6%
10%
7%
1%
16%
25%
11%
3%
11%
7%
3%
1%
Don’t forget mobile: almost half of SMS deals were 30% or less
38 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
How deep were discounts this year? Dollar-off offers were low-end
17%
1%
5%
1%
5%
2%
1% 1%
3%
2%
3%
© 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
What does it all mean? Recommendations for 2016
40 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
What does it all mean? Key takeaways
• Inboxes will be crowded. Avoid the rush where possible.
• No specific theme is better than others—stay true to your
brand and remember to segment and personalize
• Mobile promotions in emails had good engagement, but
(expectedly) low revenue
• Percent-off offers drove the most engagement and revenue
• (but they were also richer, giving up more margin)
• It’s never too early to start planning! Growing a great
program takes time to cultivate and nurture
41 © 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
What does it all mean? A disclaimer on email studies
• Remember that your results may vary
• Every program is different!
• The path to success is TESTING
© 2016 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. 42
Want more? Download this
report about post-holiday
recommendations
ex.pn/holidays
Thank you!
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