Amy Gesenhues says, “Going on last year’s campaign results, Yesmail says retailers are waiting too late to send their Black Friday-themed emails and Facebook posts. According to a report from the email marketing provider, open rates for Black Friday emails were the highest on the Monday and Tuesday preceding Black Friday, but the majority of email campaigns — 33 percent — were sent on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Yesmail notes the Monday prior to Black Friday also saw the highest deletion rates: “While Monday before Black Friday saw the highest open rates for Black Friday-themed... [...]

Scott Rayden says, “Mobile advertising is poised to make or break 2015 goals for millions of companies over the next six to seven weeks. As we head into the holiday season, I posed a few critical questions to two of the brightest minds I know in mobile: Hathway CSMO Kevin Rice and 3Q Digital VP of Mobile Strategy Craig Weinberg. (Disclosure: Mobile agency Hathway is a 3Q Digital partner, and 3Q Digital is my employer.) If you’re looking for any edge you can get in your holiday mobile campaigns, these guys have answers“. Mobile Strategy For The Holidays: Two Industry Insiders Answer... [...]

Matt Lindner says, “A holiday shopping survey from Deloitte shows that nearly half of all shoppers will buy online. When it comes to winning online shoppers’ business this holiday season, free shipping is far more important than fast shipping. That’s according to a just-released report from Deloitte LLC, which polled more than 4,000 U.S. shoppers in mid-September about their holiday shopping habits. 87% say free shipping is more important than fast shipping, and many (60%) expect retailers to offer free on-time shipping as late as Dec. 17. Offering free shipping this holiday season could... [...]

Spencer Dunfee says, “Emotions are always high during the holiday season, and that puts you, the ecommerce vendor, in a very pleasant situation. Emotions often lead to purchases, especially if you target those emotions responsibly. Knowing which emotions to invoke can lead to some seriously amazing sales. Let’s take a look at which will fill carts on your ecommerce site. Love Well, this probably seems pretty obvious. We buy gifts for people during this time of year because we love them and want them to be happy. Sometimes, amid the hustle and bustle and rampant spending and grumpy shoppers,... [...]

Shelley Kessler says, “The first hot sheet of the holiday season looks at email by the numbers. Volume in the first two weeks is up 25.5 percent year-over-year across all industries. With this large increase, it’s not surprising that performance metrics have been slightly lower. Marketers need to work smarter, not harder. Analyzing and understanding the data from last year can help make the holiday season bright for your customers. We know this is a busy season, so we’ve done (and in this Holiday Hot Sheet series will continue to do) the work for you. The best days to send email to increase... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Some 38 million users have saved holiday-related pins on Pinterest, according to a recent report from the social network. The report was based on internal Pinterest data, including year-over-year figures from 2013 and 2014, as well as Millward Brown data from 2015. There was a 50% year-over-year increase in holiday pin volume between 2013 and 2014, according to the analysis. To date users have made 170 million holiday decor pins on Pinterest, 92 million holiday gift pins, 50 million holiday fashion pins (including 3 million ugly holiday sweater pins), and 42 million holiday... [...]

Susannah Morris says, “Between the changing leaves, pumpkin spice everything, and football season, fall is here. This also means that the holidays will be here before you know it! As ecommerce marketers head into the busiest time of the year, there are a lot of dates to plan campaigns around, from shipping deadlines to the holidays themselves. Instead of spending time and effort keeping track of dates, you should be focused on driving revenue this season, whether you’re planning your 360 degree holiday campaigns well in advance or throwing together a last minute email strategy during... [...]

Tessa Wegert says, “Advertisers that are currently in the process of churning out holiday marketing campaigns in anticipation of the upcoming shopping season should take note of these five digital trends. Holiday marketing is well underway, but it’s never too late to assess what this year’s season has in store. Though it may only be October, 27 percent of consumers are already shopping for the holidays – and have been since last month. A recent survey on holiday trends of 2015 conducted by digital marketing agency SessionM found that – in total – close to 60 percent... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Search for ‘Black Friday’ and related terms in Google UK and you’ll likely be returned a host of US websites in the results. Below is page one of the UK SERPs (search engine results pages). As you can see, six out of the nine results are US sites. Both Amazon US and UK rank well, as do Target, Groupon and Walmart“. Black Friday: US sites ranking well in Google UK results ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Ben Davis says, “We’ve been looking at some analysis of search performance in the lead up to Black Friday. Electrical retailer Currys has had its strategy licked for some time, whereas Amazon has the odd improvement it could make to its usually omnipresent site. Both sites show a consistent (and year-round) landing page is important for brands capitalising on annual events. The opportunity Firstly, it’s worth noting the scale of the opportunity on Black Friday. Last year, Amazon sold 5.5m items, a record. And across the UK, Google trends shows how established the day became last... [...]