You probably don’t need a crystal ball to know that this year, holiday email will grow. A lot.

Experian Marketing Services’ CheetahMail predicts holiday email volume to increase up to 20 percent over last year. That’s a ton of email! We have seen volume increases of over 20% for both Q1 2011 and Q2 2011 compared to the same time in 2010. Given the pressure to sell during a challenging economic holiday season this year, we should continue to see increases even though companies are starting the season at higher volume levels than they had in the past.

Here are some other email trends that we will see for this season:

•    Deep discounts
  • In Holiday 2010, offers shifted in comparison to 2009. Email marketers were sending deeper discounts and multi-offers (such as, 10% off and free shipping) much more than the year before. In 2011, we expect those two tactics to be even more prevalent.

• Use of coupons
  • Plenty of consumers still use printable coupons, and email marketers will make these offers very accessible and widespread. Remember that as much as we’re living in a digital age, not everyone has a smartphone, and not every retailer has the technology to scan QR codes or digital coupons quite yet.
• Links to social media
  • Many brands post their deals on twitter and facebook. Holiday email campaigns are expected to display a wealth of content that keeps social deal-seeking and sharing top-of-mind for consumers.
• Mobile links and offers
  • Links in email that display coupons or QR codes will surge. We’re becoming more mobile saavy by the minute, and the convenience it provides our customers also translates to more sales, and convenience of measurement, for us marketers.

Experian Marketing Services will be posting trends and tips throughout the 2011 holiday season on our blog so make sure to visit our site to find new ways to reach your audience and better understand consumer behavior.

Compared to holiday-related emails sent on all other major U.S. holidays – including Cyber Monday, Valentines Day, Christmas and more – those deployed on Memorial Day tend to spur the highest transaction rates.

What could be the reasoning behind this trend – why are customers so quick to react to these emails, on this date, in particular? And, what can email marketers do the make the most of it?

Our observations lead us to believe that one of the main transaction-rate drivers is the pure sense of urgency that Memorial Day emails evoke. Many of the emails sent on the holiday itself stress that it is the “last day for the sale” through subject lines such as, “Last Day 20% off,”  “Memorial Day only, $2.99 shipping,” and “Time is running out!  Final hours.” Given that much of America celebrates over a three-day weekend, in combination with the unofficial kick-off of summer and backyard barbeques, those “last hours” and “final day” messages have such a high propensity to attract attention and customer action.

How can Memorial Day emails make your customers act this year? There are a few things email marketers can apply to their holiday campaigns to be successful:

Be relevant to the season: Summer is more than a new season. Summer is an exciting time for so many people especially those ready to get outside after a long winter! People are ready for activities and merchandise relevant to the season. Make sure everything about your email – the copy, imagery, featured products and more – scream, “Summer’s here!”

•  Build up excitement early: Highlight Memorial Day sales, specials and items at least three weeks prior to the holiday. (Note: that means now)
• Use holiday-appropriate imagery: When planning your creative, think of bar-b-ques, outdoor gatherings and parties.
• Create urgency in the subject line: This is a ‘must do,’ especially for the emails that go out on Memorial Day itself. Words such as ‘final,’ ‘last’ and ‘today only’ can be your best tools.

Since the holiday season is the most important time of year for retail emailers, here are some best practices for maintaining a good sending reputation and staying in the Inbox during the upcoming holiday season – a time when the Inbox is inundated with emails and offers.

• Now is the time to emphasize the “please add us to your address book” requests and instructions during the email registration process and in welcome emails. Not only will you get added to user whitelists which overrides ‘junk’ or ‘spam’ folder delivery, but also recipient response rates should be better, as well as brand perception, because images are displayed by default. A new trend for marketers is to consider sending a dedicated message solely to drive address book adoption in advance of the holidays. For example, “We are going to have some fantastic deals during the holidays. Add us to your address book to make sure you don’t miss them.” In light of the recent Facebook ‘Messages’ announcement, it is also now important to use such a dedicated email to request users become a ‘fan’ or ‘like’ your content.  [See example below]
• If you have a group of recipients who haven’t been mailed in a long time, before mailing them all at once, consider testing small segments to gauge complaint and bounce rates and make creative and segmentation adjustments with subsequent campaigns to ensure these metrics don’t become a risk to your overall messaging reputation.
• It is critical to maintain the same ‘from’ addresses and formulate subject lines that highlight the email’s ‘call-to-action’ and is not too ‘cheeky’ that it could be confusing or misleading to recipients where it may lead to user complaints.

In 2009, holiday email volume rose, increasing over  26% from the 2008 holiday season. We can predict this trend to continue for the 2010 holiday season meaning the ISPs will be working in overdrive to ensure all relevant and legitimate email is delivered into the Inbox while keeping out the large amount of true spam. Following these holiday best practices, and others such as maintaining ‘engaged’ users will help keep your clients’ IP reputation strong, your Inbox delivery rates high, your targeted customers happy and ultimately your revenue numbers up.

With the winter holiday season heading our way, candy consumption will surely rise. Experian Simmons reviewed data from its Spring 2009 Kids Study: Full Year and its National Consumer Study to gain insight on Americans who are most likely to consume candy, as well as what types of candy they prefer. Key findings from the analysis include:

• Seventy-five percent of all U.S. Adults say they eat chocolate or hard candy.
• Ninety-six percent of American children ages 6 to 11 say they eat chocolate or hard candy with little difference across age groups. Older kids, though, indulge more frequently than their younger friends.
• Specifically, kids ages 10 and 11 are 16 percent more likely than the average kid to say that they eat 6 or more servings of candy per month. Young children ages 6 and 7 who are most reliant on their parents for their candy supply are the least likely to have 6 or more servings a month.

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