Report: 2013 breaks records for holiday email transactions, volume, revenue

New York - The volume of emails sent by marketers increased nearly 13% during the 2013 holiday season compared with the 2012 holiday season, which also saw record highs in volume. Data from Experian Marketing Services shows that while email click-through rates and transaction metrics decreased year over year, the increase in email volume led to a 9% rise in the number of total transactions from email marketing campaigns and an 18.4% increase in overall revenue.



Furthermore, email volume within the last 10 days of the holiday season increased 35.8% from 2012. According to the Experian Marketing Services analysis, two of the top 10 transaction days of the 2013 holiday season occurred during the first half of November. In 2012, the earliest top 10 transaction day was the day before Thanksgiving.



In 2013, Nov. 8 and Nov. 15 made it into the top 10 (seventh and fifth, respectively). Meanwhile, eight out of the 10 days were Fridays. The percentage of total emails opened on mobile devices increased in 2013 for most industries. Multichannel retailers had the highest percentage of mobile opens this holiday season at 65% and were the only industry to receive more than half of their clicks on mobile as well.



The email volume and performance metrics are based on Experian Marketing Services’ analysis of 385 current brands that also mailed during the 2012 holiday season. All data was viewed at three days from sent.



“Marketers have become more sophisticated in their email marketing strategies, and we’re seeing that reflected in the data,” said Peter DeNunzio, general manager, cross-channel marketing, Experian Marketing Services. “Traditionally, as email volume increases, performance decreases, but in the 2013 holiday season we saw the opposite. An increase in total transactions and revenue tells us that leading marketers have found their stride, sending more relevant emails to each customer based on his or her unique needs.”