Key findings:

Online traffic numbers climbed this year compared to last:

• Thanksgiving Day increased 6%
• Black Friday increased 7%
• Cyber Monday increased 11%

Search played a bigger part in Cyber Monday traffic this year compared to 2011:

• Downstream traffic from search engines to Retail 500 Websites increased by 5%

There’s still time to capitalize on email transactions this holiday season:

• Last year, December 16^th – 9 days before Christmas – ranked 4^th for email transactions

• Details on consumer confidence going into this holiday season, and how marketers can leverage multi-channel marketing to better reach consumers
• Insights on traffic data for online retailers, including the most popular categories and products
• What our data is showing regarding mobile usage and the impact mobile shopping is having on this holiday season

For more holiday season insights, download The 2012 holiday marketing checklist and see what worked for marketers last year and what they planned for this holiday.

For the holiday insights we’re already seeing this season, watch our ‘Tis the season for holiday marketers webcast on demand. This real-time data will help you tweak your current holiday email, search, mobile and social campaigns to keep up with consumer response.

• 66% of marketers expect 2012 holiday season sales to be higher or much higher than in 2011.
• 26% plan to start 2012 holiday marketing activities in September, 23% plan for October.
• In 2011, for the first time ever, Cyber Monday surpassed Black Friday as the biggest online shopping day of the year.
• Pinterest adoption rates show the biggest increase, as 71% plan to use it during the 2012 holiday season – a 137% increase over 2011.
• 4 of the top 5 biggest movers are mobile tactics.
• 54% of those who used email marketing reported their campaigns were extremely or very successful; 42% reported moderately or slightly successful.
• 39% of marketers plan to incorporate ratings and reviews into their customers’ holiday shopping experience.

Email marketing, paid search marketing and online display advertising were the three most successful tactics of the 2011 holiday season, as reported by those who used them. Fifty-four percent, 49% and 35% respectively, reported extremely or very successful campaigns.

Based on these successes it makes sense that when we look at investment, email marketing leads the pack with 96% of marketers planning to invest this year. Paid search marketing and online display advertising also show increased adoption rates for the upcoming holiday.

What a difference a year makes for Pinterest boards. Despite the lowest success rates last year, they are the biggest mover in our survey. Thirty percent reported using the emerging channel last year and 71% plan to use it in 2012. This isn’t surprising, since at the end of last year Pinterest emerged as the third most visited social networking site behind Facebook and Twitter. Marketers see the value of this traffic and want to put the site to work for them this holiday. They’ve also had a year to test what’s working and what’s not, so hopefully they’ll see higher success rates next year.

Other tactics on the move: mobile. More marketers in our survey reported that they will adopt mobile-related marketing tactics this holiday season. Last year 57% of marketers used mobile-optimized Websites, 50% used mobile advertising and 49% used mobile/tablet apps. This year adoption rates for those tactics are expected to be 80-83%. Rounding out the top five biggest movers this holiday is another mobile tactic, SMS text marketing. Thirty-seven percent used it in 2011 and 60% plan to in 2012. This is a smart move for digitally-savvy marketers because 23% of smartphone owners send a text message to a business or organization for more information in a given month – it’s the number one mobile shopping activity reported by consumers.

We hope this data gives you some ideas for the investments and campaigns you’re running this holiday season and beyond. For more tips watch our holiday webcast featuring marketing insights you can use right away. And be sure to keep your eye on this blog, where throughout the season we’re releasing holiday data as we get it.

To help you know and understand Dana better, she’ll be guest blogging from time to time, and she’ll share both her good and bad experiences with brands. We want to be sure your brand lines up with the good experiences so stay tuned to future blog posts for ideas on how to enchant and delight your customers. We’ll continue to share must-know stats, tips and trends you can use to connect, engage and empower customers like Dana.

Key take-aways:
Facebook is the top social network displayed or promoted in email, followed by Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest respectively.

On average, emails promoting Pinterest get 24.7% more unique clicks than other non-social-promotion emails. The new kid on the block creates a lot of buzz in email. Check out this case study for specifics on how Ballard Designs boosts engagement with Pinterest.

Unique open rates for Twitter “follow-us” mailings are 9.5% higher than those for other mailings.

60% of brands that sent emails with “Facebook” in the subject line averaged a 27% increase in traffic to their website from Facebook the week following deployment.

Key take-aways:

Here is what customers want from any brand or company they do business with, and what customer obsessed businesses can do give it to them:

To belong – Initiate a sense of belonging, such as utilizing a “Welcome” program

To be known – Treat customers as individuals by employing personalization methods

To feel special – Reward customers for their loyalty and continued engagement with your brand

To be treated well – Offer assistance through customer service, such as sending out “Thank you” emails

Key take-aways:

• Including the word “exclusive” in email subject lines boosts unique open rates by 14% in promotional mailings
• Emails asking customers to rate and review items they’ve purchased have 32% higher revenue per email
• 85% of real-time welcome emails get opened and have a click rate of 29%
• 91% of online adults are using social media regularly
• Pinterest is the third most visited U.S. social networking site behind Facebook and Twitter
• 28% of 6-11 year olds own a cell phone
• Paid search and banner ads will garner nearly 73% of all U.S. online ad spending in 2012

• 67% planned to leverage social media more during the 2011 holiday season than the year before
• Multi-channel coordination was a big challenge for 46% of marketers
• 85% were at least taking about, if not already using, mobile marketing for the 2011 holiday season

The positive feedback prompted us to take a closer look specifically at holiday marketing strategies, and we’d like to hear what you’re planning. In this year’s survey we’d like to learn how successful those social media campaigns were last season, and how investment will change for 2012. We’re also asking about plans to invest in newer tactics like Pinterest boards and real time triggered messaging.

The findings of this research will provide a benchmark to see what other marketers are doing and how their plans compare to your own. So please take this nine question survey – the more participants, the more meaningful a benchmark we’ll be able to share with you in the upcoming months.

Check out our latest infographic for a few of the stats and trends we’re seeing that provide insight into your customers’ digital habits. For a deeper dive, download The 2012 Digital Marketer report.

As always, if you like what you see, please share it!