Last month, my blog post focused on the concept of hypothesis testing in statistics. Namely, defining what is meant by the null and alternative hypotheses, and why it is important to define these before any data have been collected. This month I will focus on how to interpret the results of your study after your hypotheses have been defined, the data collected and the results analyzed.

Let’s consider the following situation:

You have a friend who claims he has the ability to correctly predict the outcome of a coin toss more than 50% of the time. As a rational person you, of course, are skeptical, but you also realize that the only way to settle this assertion is to put your friend to the test and begin flipping coins. Wisely, however, you remember reading my last blog post on Marketing Forward about the importance of defining your hypotheses upfront before any data has been collected. So, you write the following on a piece of paper:

Null Hypothesis: My friend can only correctly predict the outcome of a coin flip 50% of the time

Alternative Hypothesis: My friend can correctly predict the outcome of a coin flip more than 50% of the time

Your friend agrees with your hypotheses and then you two begin a discussion around choosing an alpha level. The alpha level (α) is very important when it comes to statistical significance because it is the dividing line between what will be deemed statistically significant and what will not be deemed statistically significant. In a lot of ways this can make the phrase statistically significant seem rather arbitrary, which is why it is important to always choose your alpha level before any statistics are calculated. A typical alpha level is 5% or 0.05. What this means is that if the result of your experiment could only happen by chance less than 5% of the time, then the result is defined as being statistically significant. Similarly, if an alpha level of 1% or 0.01 is chosen (a stricter test) then statistical significance can only be claimed if the result should only happen by chance alone less than 1% of the time. But because your friend is so confident in his supernatural ability to correctly predict the outcome of a coin flip he is willing to meet that higher burden of proof and allows you to set the alpha level at 1%.

A visual way to understand the process described above would be as follows:

We all know there is natural variability involved with flipping a coin, but done repeatedly, we expect to arrive at a proportion of heads or tails that is very close to 50%. However, if your friend can truly predict the outcome of a coin flip at a rate significantly better than 50%, we are willing to reject the null hypothesis and conclude he does have some sort of supernatural gift or ability. But, we are only willing to give him this statistically significant designation if he lands in the top 1% (because we chose an α-level of 0.01) of the distribution shown above.

The exact value of this top 1% (rejection region) is dependent upon the number of coin flips your friend must try and predict. Let’s assume you guys both agree on 100 coin flips. In this case, the above graph can be updated with the following numbers.

This graph adds two new points of reference. The first is at the center of the distribution where P = 50% (‘P’ here is notation for proportion). This corresponds to what is assumed under the null hypothesis. Remember that in the null hypothesis we are stating that our friend has no predictive ability, and so his chances of predicting correctly should be centered at 50%. The other reference point is P = 62.9%, this percentage represents the 99^th percentile of the distribution and is the dividing line between a statistically significant result and a result that is not statistically significant.

Well, after 100 flips of the coin your friend records an impressive (but not statistically significant) result of a 60% success rate. In this situation a 60% success rate corresponds to a p-value of .0228 or 2.28%. The p-value is always defined as the probability of getting a result as extreme or more extreme than what is observed, assuming the null hypothesis is true. In other words, if your friend’s ability to correctly predict the outcome of a coin toss is only 50%, there is still a 2.28% chance that his 60% success rate happened purely by chance alone. And since this percentage is higher than our alpha level, he does not fall into the rejection region and we fail to reject the null hypothesis. In other words, we do not see enough evidence statistically to believe his claim of supernatural coin flipping prediction ability.

An interesting note to mention, however, is that if the α-level had been set at 0.05 or 5%, the p-value of 2.28% would be less than the threshold required for statistical significance (5%) and we would have concluded that our friend does possess special predictive powers. This highlights the need to always specify an alpha level before proceeding with any statistical calculations as practitioners may be tempted to adjust their original alpha levels after results have been calculated in order to reach a statistically significant result.

To summarize, statistically significant is a phrase that has an inherent meaning and interpretation. But for those without a firm understanding of what is meant by the terms alpha level, p-value and null and alternative hypotheses, this phrase should be used a little less liberally until proper background knowledge is comprehended. Gaining this understanding will aid you when interpreting and defending the results of any statistical tests you have performed.

This week the study finds:

• Email campaigns with offers in the subject line make up 28.6% of campaigns this holiday season – a 6% increase over the 27% of campaigns with offers seen last year.
• Offers in subject lines for percent off, dollars off, BOGO, gift cards and coupons have increased as a percent of total offers, while flash sales, free shipping and urgency make up a lower percentage of offers than they did last season.
• 87% of traffic generated by search terms containing “free shipping” was organic traffic during the week ending 12/15.
• Hot Products: top search terms to appliance & electronic sites were “beats by dre” and “otterbox” for the week ending 12/15.
• Multi-channel retailers, catalogers, and publishers had double digit increases in volume for the week of 12/9 – 12/15 compared to 2011.
• The increases in revenue per email we have seen this year over last year are holding as we approach the last 2 weeks of the season.

Highlights and trends: continue the conversation

As the holiday is almost here, it is important to expand upon and continue the relationships you have achieved with subscribers and buyers this season. Email is an excellent way to have multi-channel conversations with your customers

Social media:

Encourage subscribers to share their holiday gifts and experiences on your social media sites. Facebook and Pinterest are the most popular social media sites to appear in subject lines, and both received higher than average open and click rates during this holiday season.

Ratings and surveys:
Continue the conversation with your subscribers by sending surveys and/or requests for ratings and reviews of your products and services. Strong open and click rates on these types of mailings indicate that subscribers welcome the chance to interact with you in this way.

Thank-you mailings:
For a ‘quick win’ at the end of this holiday season and throughout the year, include campaigns with the words ‘thank-you’ in the subject line. Mailings sent to thank folks for subscribing to a list, or joining a loyalty program, or purchasing a product had more than 2.5 times the open rate and over 3 times the click rate of the average for all season mailings.

In addition to generating high open and click rates, ‘thank-you’ mailings provide exceptional transaction rates and revenue per email. Sending a ‘Thank-you for purchase’ mailing in addition to any order confirmations, can provide 6.5x higher revenue per email than the average for all season mailings.

Online consumer insights

Monday, December 17 was Free Shipping Day – which marks another major e-retail day as shipping deadlines approach to ensure timely holiday deliveries. Leading up to this day, variations of ‘free shipping’ search terms have  been rising since November, and have increased 91% since the week ending 11/3.

Continuing our watch of gift card searches as we get closer to the Christmas holiday, we see that searches containing ‘gift card’ increased 42% in the past week.

This week’s key findings:

• More promotional mailings are being sent on weekends. The average weekend this holiday season had 43% promotional and 57% trigger campaigns. This past weekend, 47% were promotional campaigns, a 9% increase from the 43% average.
• Although still a small percentage of mailings, the number of campaigns offering gift cards in subject lines more than doubled compared to the same week in 2011.
• The top 5 ranked Websites, in the Hitwise retail 500 by visits share, for the week ending 12/8 were Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and J.C. Penney.
• “Shutterfly coupon codes free shipping” and “Harry and David free shipping” topped the free shipping search term list for the week ending 12/8.

Email highlights and trends:

Christmas day mailings:

Only one third of brands sent promotional mailings on Christmas day in 2011 and, of those, about half of the campaigns included an offer in the subject line. Christmas day offers for post holiday sales actually did quite well, receiving double the transaction rate compared to the mailings without offers (transaction rate of 0.17% with offer in subject line compared to 0.08% without an offer).

If you do plan to mail on Christmas, make sure that you mail early in the day:

Post-Christmas week:

Promotional mailings with offers also did well in the post-Christmas week (December 26th – 31st).

The transaction rate for mailings with offers in their subject lines was 0.09% compared to 0.08% for mailings without offers. Revenue per email was also higher for the campaigns with offers.

The 4:00 AM time slot received a much higher percentage of total revenue than its percentage of volume, making it the best time to mail.

Morning mailings also did well on post-Christmas days. The 4:00 AM time slot received a much higher percentage of total revenue than its percentage of volume, making it the best time to mail.

Online consumer insights:

While Peak Week last year, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday, saw big spikes in online retail traffic, there was another spike in traffic the day after Christmas. In 2011, there was a 3% increase in online retail traffic on Christmas and a 33% increase the day after Christmas.

^{Source: Experian Hitwise}

In 2011 we saw a spike on Christmas day occur in both social and search driving traffic to the Retail 500 sites.

As we noted last week, interest in gift cards peaks during the final weeks leading up to Christmas. While searches for gift cards last year reflect that pattern, it should also be noted that searches for gift cards during the week after Christmas were also at higher levels than those seen at the start of the season.

^{Source: Experian Hitwise}

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

This week’s key findings:

• All peak days, from Monday 11/19 through Cyber Monday (11/26), saw increases in total email transactions and revenue. Email marketers experienced a 28% increase in the number of email transactions, and a 38% increase in revenue.
• There has been a 33% increase in the number of email campaigns with “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday” in their subject lines this season compared to 2011.
• Personalization in email subject lines has increased 27% over 2011.
• Coupons in subject lines have increased by 58% this season.
• Cyber Monday search terms increased by 16% the week ending 11/24/2012 versus 2011 and by 5% the week ending 12/1/2012 versus 2011.
• For the week ending 12/1/2012, the top Cyber Monday search terms include “Cyber Monday deals 2012,” “Cyber Monday deals,” “Cyber Monday” and “Walmart Cyber Monday deals 2012″.
• 40% of Cyber Monday search terms contained 4 keywords in a search term.

Email highlights and trends: Peak Week performance:

Total email transactions and revenue increased every day of Peak Week compared to 2011, for a total increase of over 28% in transactions and 38% for revenue.

The largest email transaction and revenue increases are seen in the three industries that are the most ‘holiday’ and gift driven:

Online consumer insights:

Search was a big driver for the Retail 500 websites on Cyber Monday this year.

• Search engine downstream traffic to Retail 500 websites on Cyber Monday increased by 5% compared to 2011
• For Cyber Monday search terms over 12 weeks ending 12/1/12, the paid rate of generated traffic was 20.36% and the organic rate of traffic was 79.64%

Your opt-out process could be affecting your reputation. This might sound counter-intuitive, but ease of opt-out can be critical in protecting your email reputation. It is important that the opt-out process is made as easy and transparent as possible.

Customers receive a growing number of emails that they’ve subscribed to but are no longer particularly interested in. While email clients are working to filter these, there is the very real danger that consumers can simply hit the spam button to permanently remove them. Given that spam reports are fundamental to your reputation with ISPs as a trusted email provider, this can have disastrous consequences on the deliverability of all future campaigns.

Email marketers need to make it easier for customers to manage their subscriptions, even if this means that they ultimately decide to unsubscribe. Ensure that every email is clear about where subscribers have to click to opt-out. If the process isn’t instantaneous, manage expectations and let them know that they may receive some additional emails over a specified and short period of time.

To lessen the risk of complete disengagement, marketers can offer customers the opportunity to “opt-down” rather than opt-out by allowing customers to quickly and easily:

• Reduce the frequency of emails,
• Opt-out of some communications but also opt-in to new ones, or
• Further refine preferences so they get what they want.

In either scenario, you can use the process to gain more valuable data from customers, asking them to share their reasons for leaving and provide suggestions on how to improve your email communications. In making opt-out and opt-down more customer-centric, you can protect your reputation both with ISPs and with customers.

For more information on protecting your email reputation and improving deliverability, download Experian Marketing Service’s white paper, Three pillars of successful email deliverability: Ensuring safe arrival and optimum placement in the inbox

• Mailers started earlier, with the Monday (11/19) before Thanksgiving having the largest percentage increase (20.6%) in volume.  Black Friday, Sunday 11/25, and Cyber Monday all had double digit increases in volume over last year.
• Forty-five percent (45%) of holiday season emails are being opened on mobile – up slightly from the 44% we saw just before the season began.
• Led by Black Friday offers, campaigns with offers in the subject line made up almost 30% of all campaigns sent this past week.
• Black Friday search terms increased by 107% between the weeks ending 11/17/2012 and 11/24/2012.
• For the week of 11/17/2012, visits to Cyber Monday websites increased by 259% compared to last year. Additionally, visits for the week of 11/24/2012 increased by 190% versus 2011.
• Cyber Monday search terms increased by 606% between the weeks of 11/17/2012 and 11/24/2012.

Email volume

During peak week, mailers started earlier, with the Monday (11/19) before Thanksgiving having the largest percentage increase (20.6%) in volume.  Black Friday, Sunday 11/25, and Cyber Monday all had double digit increases over last year.

Gift guides and gift cards
As the holidays get closer, more and more shopping is focused on gifts. Two popular gift-oriented ideas for email campaigns are gift guides and gift cards. Gift guides are popular and effective ways to present many products to undecided consumers, and they generate higher transaction rates than other promotional mailings.

Describing your brand as ‘Best’ in the subject line leads to the highest open and click rates for gift guides.

Last minute shoppers, and those looking for gifts for ‘hard to please’ folks, are often drawn to gift cards. In 2011, we saw the number of gift card emails double in the two weeks prior to Christmas. Forty-two percent (42%) of US adults have purchased gift cards in the past year.

Teens are notoriously difficult to shop for. No wonder, purchases of music/entertainment gift cards are highest among parents of teens. In fact, parents of kids ages 12 to 17 are 86% more likely than the average adult to have bought these types of gift cards.

Online consumer insights:
With the busiest holiday shopping weekend behind us – let’s recap what happened online. So far this past holiday week of online traffic from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday to retail sites is up 8% compared to last year. Cyber Monday, for the second year in a row, was the busiest of the three milestone days and looks to be tracking as the busiest day of the year in online retail visits.

Thanksgiving Day online traffic increased 6% in 2012 versus 2011 as the top 500 retail sites received more than 192.5 million total US visits.

Black Friday online traffic increased 7% year-over-year as the top 500 retail sites received more than 193.8 million total US visits.

Online traffic on Cyber Monday increased 11% in 2012 compared to last year, as the top 500 retail sites received more than 206.8 million total US visits.

Top product searches by milestone days

To identify current brand loyalty trends, we looked at the latest survey research from Experian Simmons (Spring, 2012 NHCS Adult Survey 12-month) and at loyalty emails sent between January 2011 and March 2012 from 43 brands.

Who are these brand loyalists?

Experian Simmons found that 34% of the adult U.S. population has been a ‘brand loyalist’ as of April of this year. Looking at that 34%, we have identified some key areas in which brand loyalists differ from the overall adult U.S. population.

The response to email campaigns reflects this mindset in a number of ways:

Dollars and sense
Offers are valuable, but purchasing the right product from a preferred brand may be more so. While 80% of brand loyalists said they do not buy unknown brands merely to save money, 69% are always looking out for special offers. Mailings without offers in the subject line had 24% higher transaction rates, but 11% lower revenue per email than loyalty mailings with offers in the subject line.

Consideration: Test whether including an offer will work best for your loyalty program.

The 1:1 – Value your customer

When looking for a ‘favorite store,’ emails with dynamic store locations in the subject line can help ensure that your loyalty members will easily find your brand. Loyalty emails with name, dynamic benefit or status updates, or dynamic store locations enjoyed unique open rates that were 83% higher than loyalty mailings that had no dynamic content in the subject line (loyalty mailings with dynamic content had unique open rates of 43.5% compared to 23.5% for those without dynamic content).

• “Spend $75 and Get a $10 Summer Reward Coupon at %storename%!”
• “Use your $%point_balance% in Instant Rewards on gifts for Dad”
• “Here’s Your Online Reward Dollars %fname%”

Keep it fresh
New ideas, new benefits — equates to more engagement. Campaigns mentioning new, updated benefits had more than double the transaction rates than other loyalty mailings (loyalty mailings with new benefits had transaction rates of 43% compared to 20% for other loyalty mailings).

Mobile Marketing and social media attitudes
Two areas in which brand loyalists expressed opinions that were stronger than the average U.S. adult population in the Experian Simmons survey are mobile marketing and social networks.

Loyalty email campaigns can be effective cross-channel marketing tools that boost your brand’s mobile and social media program engagement

Support mobile programs
Loyalty programs are crucial to the travel industry and travel brands are leading the way with mobile communications and mobile apps. Travel is not alone. Mobile loyalty programs are being started in many different types of brands including supermarkets, pharmacies, consumer electronic stores and office supply companies, just to name a few. Loyalty emails are a great way to increase mobile program enrollment and provide unique benefits to loyalty members.

• “Earn Bonus Points when you enroll in mobile messaging”
• “Introducing Quick Prints – The Fastest Way To Print From Mobile Phone to Store”

Use surveys and ratings and reviews
Sixty-seven percent of brand loyalists said they ask people for advice before buying new things. They are also 23% more likely than the average U.S. adult to say that they trust product information on social networking sites. Email is an effective way to obtain opinions and product reviews that can then be used on your social media site. Survey and review requests to loyalty members had 38% higher open rates and more than double the click rates of other loyalty mailings (surveys/reviews had unique open rates of 28% and click rates of 10.7% compared to non-survey loyalty mailing rates of 20.2% and 3.7% respectively).

• “Earn 1,000 Miles For Your Valued Feedback”
• “Tell us what you think.”

Take full advantage of social media

With 75% of brand loyalists saying they like to share their knowledge with others, it is likely that some of that sharing is happening on social media sites. The keen interest brand loyalists have in social media can be seen in their response to emails asking them to join or follow a site:

• Experian CheetahMail click analyses have shown that emails with invitations to ‘like us’, typically receive 43% of their total clicks on the main link to the social media site
• Social invitation emails sent to loyalty segments, however, received almost 70% of their total clicks on the main link to social media

Above all, the key to building and retaining loyalty is to know your customer, understand their mindset, acknowledge their individuality and tailor your brand’s messaging to meet their needs, wants and interests across channels. The extra efforts will be recognized by your brand’s biggest supporters and you will soon gain new fans along the way.

Brand loyalty was spotlighted in Experian CheetahMail’s Q3 2012 Benchmark Study. View the full Email Marketing Benchmark Study.

Twitter has been around for quite some time, but as we move into the holiday season, we’ve been seeing Twitter used more in email campaigns, on Websites and via SMS. We thought we’d take a quick look at some statistics and trends around campaigns our clients have been sending, as well as some quick hit ideas you can use as we head in to the holidays.

What we know about Twitter and its audience:

We know that Twitter’s audience skews young. Experian Marketing Services has found that more 18-25 year olds are utilizing the social media giant than other sites like Facebook or Pinterest. We also know it’s a great source for real-time news information, customer service interaction and gathering instant feedback. Additionally, a previous study by Experian Marketing Services has found that using the word “Twitter” in subject lines can increase open rates by up to 14% and click through rates by up to 2.3%.

But what about other creative ways of using Twitter in your emails?

We noticed a growing trend with hastags recently being used in subject lines, specifically with retailers that cater to the teen market, so we took a deeper dive to see how they were performing across our client’s campaigns.

What we found:

We looked across campaigns with hashtags in their subject lines between June and September 2012 and compared results to the same client’s overall quarterly performance. Hashtag mailings appear to generate a modest lift of 4.8% in open rates, but we also noticed a drop in both click and transaction rates.

Conclusions and advice:

If you’re looking to grow your Twitter base and build your brand, a lack of transactions might be okay for this type of email. But if you’re also looking to get those transactions and clicks, think about what you are asking your subscribers to do, as even your subject line can contain a call to action. If the subject line is directing or encouraging recipients to take action to tweet the hashtag, it is possible that the drop in click and transaction rates is a reflection of the action the email is asking the recipient to take.

While hashtags in subject lines may look like a great opportunity to lift opens, it’s important to be careful with the rest of your message if your main goal is to also increase clicks and transactions.

Sample campaign 1:

Subject Line: Our #SoCalStylist just added a new video in Hollister Club Cali!

Above, they are asking customers to “tweet now” in the secondary part of the email, but the main call to action is to “join now.”

Sample campaign 2:

Subject Line: #Liveyourlife

Again, the main calls to action direct users to the sales occurring at the time, while separately calling out the hashtag campaign American Eagle is touting.

Other ways to incorporate Twitter in to your marketing mix:

After checkout, think about asking users to tweet about their purchase. I’m sure many of you have seen share functions on Websites like Amazon post purchase. Here, Gilt Groupe takes this concept one step further, giving their customers and incentive to share.

Also remember to include customer tweets in emails:

The above example shows a great way to include your community, and make your customers work for you. Experian CheetahMail has found that when including customer ratings and/or reviews in emails, we see a lift in transaction rates. You can use tweets about your programs or products as you would a review. People love hearing from other folks like them, so where appropriate include those customer tweets.

And take it one step further with live tweets:

Here, DirecTV is streaming live tweets from events in their email. This is another great way to keep your emails current and targeted.

If promoting your Twitter presence is right for your brand, now that you know its core demographics and uses, incorporating some of these tactics might also be right for you. As we always say, you’ll never know until you test, test, test.

And if you want to share results, tweet me @gouldliz

About Liz Gould:

Liz Gould brings over 13 years of knowledge, passion and experience in digital media to her colleagues and clients at Experian CheetahMail. In her current role as director of strategic accounts, Liz advises CheetahMail’s largest accounts on their email, mobile and social strategies. She began her career at agencies like Euro RSCG, advising clients such as Mastercard, Goldman Sachs, Genentech, and Electronic Arts.

My mom is usually tricky to buy for, but now that she’s on Pinterest all I have to do is check her boards to see the home décor, cook books or crafting tools she’s got her eye on. It’s like I have access to her virtual wish list – love it! My dad is all about the gadgets. He just got the iPhone 5 so I know any accessories would be great. I’ll do a quick search to see what’s out there that he would enjoy.

Collette is by far the easiest to buy for. We live together and like a lot of the same things. I’ll make a trip to Evolution. I love that store and Collette will love something from there too. Also, the fall dress I got there would transition to winter if I had the right blazer or scarf – why shouldn’t I give myself a little holiday cheer too!

Since signing up for their email loyalty program earlier in the fall, I’ve been getting great offers from ShoeSparkle. Just this week they emailed suggesting I surprise the man in my life with new shoes. I didn’t even realize they sold men’s shoes! It’s perfect though, because Dean’s been talking about these neon tennis shoes he wants. While I wouldn’t normally buy a guy shoes, I know he’ll love them – plus, their return policy is superb if he doesn’t.

So that leaves little Sienna. I don’t normally shop for toys, so this one might be tricky. I’ll probably do some online searching for gift ideas. There’s got to be toy gift guides out there to help me know what’s popular for the kiddies. While I’m at it I’ll search for homemade gift ideas too. I’m sure to find something fairly easy and super cute.

I’m planning to do most of my shopping this weekend to take advantage of all the great Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Most likely I’ll do the majority of my buying online – it’ll be cozier shopping from my couch. It sure seems like shopping this year will be a lot less stressful than years past!

Happy Thanksgiving and happy shopping!

XOXO,

Dana

Note from the editor: Holiday shopping really is getting easier for customers because savvy marketers are more customer obsessed than ever.

Dana is resourceful, using technology to save time and money this holiday – and she’s not alone. Rather than roaming from store to store, a quick online search for gift ideas can point her in the right direction for what she’s looking for. In order to reach people like Dana as they search for ideas, marketers need to make sure they have content on their site to attract people looking for recommendations. Here’s a quick look at search terms that include the word “gift.” “Unique Christmas gifts” and “homemade Christmas gifts” top the list.

^{Source: Experian Hitwise}

Homemade gifts – something Dana is looking for ideas about – appeared in several variations. If we look at what sites are receiving traffic from homemade gift terms, we see that Pinterest is number five on the list, with an increase of search clicks from the same time last year.

^{Source: Experian Hitwise}

Homemade gifts aren’t the only thing on Pinterest. Similar to Dana searching her mom’s board for gift ideas, many consumers are actually creating “holiday wish list” boards specifically so friends and family know what they want or need. Adding “pin it” buttons to your emails and website can help get products on those boards and in front of buyers. With the varied ways people use Pinterest, marketers are seeing the value – a recent EMS survey revealed that 71% of marketers are investing in Pinterest this holiday.

Like ShoeSparkle, many marketers are also touting their gift guides via email. One trend is highlighting specific categories, like “for her,” “for him” or “for the home.” This is a great way to remind recipients of the different people they need to buy gifts for during the holiday season. In addition, remarketing emails could also be sent based on what categories were clicked by recipients. Experian Marketing Services recommends testing this method when sending gift guides – in general, more targeted emails perform better.