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%

If you like the information in this video please share it with your colleagues, and stay tuned to our 2011 Holiday Marketer blog series for more trends and updates as they happen.

Watch this video for trends we’ve been following and valuable insights for this holiday marketing season.

Stay tuned to our 2011 Holiday Marketer blog series for more trends and updates as they happen.

• Flash Sales – Overall, Flash Sales generate a 35 percent lift in transaction rates over regular promotional mailings. This is noteworthy given the fact that all mailings with offers in subject lines have an average lift in transaction rates of 16 percent — less than half of the increase Flash Sale emails provide.
• Free shipping promotions – a tried and true holiday tactic that works. Made sure to advertise free shipping in the subject line, as well as prominently in the body of the email.
• Social sharing – Amplify any new product or promotion via social networks by enabling sharing anywhere and everywhere you can. In your emails – of course, but what about including sharing links in your online catalogs, or banner ad landing pages?

Experian CheetahMail tracks the holiday mailing activity of 385 brands that also mailed in the 2010 Holiday Season.  All metrics are based on results 3 days from send.

In the last two years we’ve seen Black Friday end Thanksgiving Day’s five-year reign as the number one day for visits to retail sites. Thanksgiving Day visits were assumed to beresearch-driven—comprised of consumers looking for the best brick-and-mortar deals so consumers knew where to go as they hit the pavement on Black Friday.  Online pure plays caught on to this phenomenon and began competing for Black Friday transactions. This, coupled with the increasing ease of online shopping overall, is assumed as the reason for Black Friday’s rise to number one. 

As we look at the current 2011 holiday season, data analysis shows that the week leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday is absolutely critical for retailers. We’ve dubbed this time frame “Peak Week”—it begins the Tuesday before Thanksgiving Day and ends on Cyber Monday. Peak Week sees tremendous traffic and transactional activity with Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Plus other days within the week are popping up as new opportunities for marketers.  

Last year during Peak Week online traffic to the top 500 retail sites increased 5% over 2009.
Thanksgiving Day traffic increased 9%, Black Friday traffic increased 13% and Cyber Monday traffic increased 16% for the same time period. In fact, analysis of November traffic over the last several years shows that the days leading up to Thanksgiving Day have had a steady ramp in online traffic to retail sites.

At first we made the assumption that online traffic during “Peak Week” was researched-driven just as Thanksgiving Day traffic had been from 2004-2008. Our latest data from Experian CheetahMail, however, paints a very different picture.

Overall Peak Week email volume increased 26% in 2010 over 2009. When comparing email campaign transaction rates versus the volume of emails sent during the holiday season, four days during Peak Week appear in the top ten for highest transaction rate. 

What’s interesting about the Experian CheetahMail table above is that some of the days with the highest transaction rates rank lower in terms of actual volume. Black Friday, for example, ranks #2 in transactions, yet #22 for volume; and Thanksgiving Day ranks #6 in transactions, yet #49 for volume.

The key takeaway here is that these shopping behaviors create an opportunity for marketers to take advantage of high transaction days and not leave money on the table during Peak Week.