Partner Article

Return Path reveals Black Friday email performance

Using its unrivalled database of email intelligence, Return Path has revealed how successful – or unsuccessful – retail brands’ Black Friday email campaigns were before, during and after the event. Analysing the email programs of 40 European retailers*, Return Path was able to identify how many promotional emails were opened, read, deleted and forwarded, as well as those that were marked as spam by both the customer and mailbox provider. This insight provides a good indication of how retailers fared during the Black Friday event.

The key stats are:

- 1 in 8 marketing emails sent in November 2016 was a Black Friday promotion - Average read rates for Black Friday emails were on average a tenth less than for the November benchmark

- User-marked spam rates (complaints) were on average 13% higher, while Mailbox Provider Marked Spam rates were 8% higher

- Email forward rates were more than 3X lower than the November benchmark

- 42% of Black Friday emails were sent before the event, 34% on the day and 24% after the event

- Emails sent before Black Friday performed the best with read rates 12% higher than the benchmark but also generated the highest levels of Mailbox Provider Marked Spam at 14%

- Post-event emails performed poorly with read rates 11% lower than the benchmark but still generating high filtering rates at 9%

- Brands that sent Black Friday emails more than a week before the event generated read rates that were a fifth lower than on the day

“Black Friday has fast become a shopping phenomenon in Europe, however, as these results show, it can pose a number of challenges for email marketers,” said Guy Hanson, senior director, professional services international at Return Path. “Firstly, it’s important to get the right balance between neglecting and spamming your customers.

“Timing is everything. This year, any emails sent more than a week before the day performed badly, generating read rates that were on average a fifth lower than on the day, while emails closer to the day delivered email read rates that were a fifth higher, suggesting greater relevance as the day got closer. While it’s tempting to start promoting Black Friday deals in the weeks leading up to the big day – after all, you want to make sure your customers are fully aware of all of your deals – this can lead to subscriber fatigue. It’s a good idea to build up excitement in the lead-up to the event, but this should only really take place in the few days prior. Indeed, this year’s email forward rates, regarded as a good indicator of highly engaged subscribers, support this theory. Email forward rates were zero more than a week before the day; this increased to 216% in the 4-7 days before and 308% in the three days before the day, implying that, unsurprisingly, as we got closer to the day, the most front of mind these promotions were for readers,” continued Hanson.

Hanson continued: “What’s also interesting is how those brands that chose not to actively participate in Black Friday deals performed compared to those that did. ASOS, Asda, M&S and Secret Escapes are all examples of those that chose not to jump on the Black Friday bandwagon – however, this doesn’t mean they weren’t active on the day. They were and their email read rates were actually 5% higher than those that were promoting it. Furthermore, there were brands that alluded to the event without specifically calling it ‘Black Friday’, which also appeared to work in their favour. Morrisons, for example, led with the slogan ‘Save more with Black Five Days at Morrisons’ which saw a 37% higher read rate than the average benchmark. Approaches like this will often help emails to stand out more distinctly in congested inboxes.

“Marketing emails are crucial in the lead up to and during an event like Black Friday. Indeed, they are more often than not the primary point of contact with customers and the biggest factor in driving online sales. Given estimates show that £1.23bn was spent online this year, retailers are undoubtedly under pressure to stand out from their competitors and implement an optimal email marketing program. However, as it’s a fairly recent phenomenon in Europe, it is also a huge learning curve for retailers. Getting the timing right, the content perfect and the subject lines to attract clicks amongst a sea of Black Friday emails takes time. What’s important is that next year, retailers take on board what worked and what didn’t this year and adapt their programs so that they get the right balance of exposure, engagement, and sales,” concluded Hanson.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by D2L .