international holiday email performance study

An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 1
International holiday
email performance study
A look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
Page 2 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
A world of insight and digital opportunities
About this study
The focus of this study conducted by Experian Marketing Services — a global
provider of consumer insights and targeting, data quality and cross-channel
marketing — is to observe the practices and results of email communications sent by
clients during the holiday season.
Every year from October to December, brands across the world approach holiday
shoppers with varying tactics to maximize revenue and engage consumers. Since
this is the time of year that generates the highest revenue for many retailers, this
study aims to support organizations that already have a global footprint or are looking
to expand internationally. We hope to provide global insights to help marketers make
adjustments to improve their holiday communication plan and ultimately learn from
the past holiday season to make the next even better.
Today, global brands can maximize operational efficiency and return through
international holiday email campaigns, thanks to an ability to reach a broader
international audience and employ similar messaging tactics across multiple
countries. Yet, results of this study indicate that although some countries do
celebrate holidays similarly, there are opportunities to communicate with email
subscribers about local events that are more relevant to recipients.
Also, depending on each market’s level of maturity, some email practices and
tactics are not yet common across all countries. Thus, global brands could benefit
from this insight to obtain a first mover advantage. For example, abandoned cart
and integrated social media email campaigns could surprise, delight and educate

recipients in countries that are not used to these practices, thereby capturing
recipients’ attention and increasing engagement and conversion.
This study examined email campaigns from October through December 2012
throughout 10 countries: Australia, China, France, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand,
Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. More than 1,000
brands and more than 100,000 campaigns were included. Metrics for volume,
unique open and unique click rates were compared by country and by various types
of email campaigns.
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 3
Listed below are key holiday dates for email marketers to consider in planning
holiday email campaigns within the countries examined in this study.

Month
Holiday (the 2012 date is
included in parentheses)

Countries
October National Day (1) China and Hong Kong
Mid Autumn Festival (1) Singapore
Tag der Deutschen Einheit (3) Germany
Sport Day (3) Japan
Día de la Hispanidad (12) Spain
Labour Day (22) New Zealand
Chung Yeung Festival (23) Hong Kong
Hari Raya Haji (26) Singapore
Halloween (31) United States and
United Kingdom
November Toussaint/Allerheiligen/

Día de Todos los Santos (1)
France, Germany
and Spain
Culture Day (3) Japan
Bonfire (5) United Kingdom
Melbourne Cup (6) Australia
Armistice (World War I) (11) France
Veterans Day (12) United States
Deepavali (13) Singapore
Click Frenzy (20) Australia
Thanksgiving (22) United States
Black Friday (23) United States
Cyber Monday (26) United States and France
December Cyber Monday (3) United Kingdom
Saint Nicolas/ Día de la Constitución (6) France and Spain
Fête des lumières/
Día de la Inmaculada Concepción (8)
France and Spain
Emperor’s Birthday (23) Japan
Réveillon de Noël/Heiligabend/
Noche Buena (24)
France, Germany
and Spain
Christmas (25) All except China
and Japan
San Sebastian (26) Spain
Boxing Day (26) Australia, New Zealand
and United Kingdom
New Year’s Eve/Saint Sylvestre (31) All
International holiday

email performance study
Page 4 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
Global email volume trends and mailing opportunities
Because the holidays often are the top revenue-generating business event of the year
for many brands, it is helpful to look at how and when email volumes ramped up
between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2012.
Western countries
Western countries (France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and
the United States) showed a similar growing trend up until December, which is the
peak month until Christmas Day on Dec. 25. During the last week of December for
Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, we noted a clear decline in
terms of volume.
France
In France, holiday campaigns began to be deployed in November. Most French
consumers begin considering holiday shopping options after the fall break, which
was during the week of Nov. 1. December email volumes increased until Christmas
week, allowing online retailers to promise gift delivery in time for Christmas Day.
Spain
Spain showed a little more email volume variability than France, with a strong
start in early October due to Spain’s Día de la Hispanidad on Oct. 12, which in 2012
gave Spaniards a three-day weekend. Emails sent to take advantage of Día de la
Hispanidad offers were sent during the week before this holiday.
Another peak week for emailers in Spain was the week of Nov. 4. This occurred
because Nov. 1 and 9 were also holidays in 2012. Brands leveraged this long weekend
to interact more with their customers. After that, volumes remained high from mid-
November until the Christmas week.
The last email volume peak for Spain (the week of Nov. 18) was not only driven by
Christmas, but also by San Nicolás, who gave his first gifts on the night of Dec. 5,
followed by Dec. 6 and 8, which were holidays (Día de la Constitución España and
Inmaculada Concepción).

Percent of holiday season email volume per week -
France, Spain and United Kingdom
Percent of Holiday Season Email Volume Per Week - France, Spain, and United Kingdom
Start of week
Country
France
Spain
United
Kingdom
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
8.0% –
6.0% –
4.0% –
2.0% –
0.0% –
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
9.6%
Oct. 1 Oct. 7 Oct. 14 Oct. 21 Oct. 28 Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18 Nov. 25 Dec. 2 Dec. 9 Dec. 16 Dec. 23
6.1%
8.5%
9.0%
8.7%
8.4%

7.2% 7.3%
7.3%
7.0%
8.6%
7.5%7.6%
6.8%
4.9%
8.5%
8.2%
8.1%8.5%
8.0%
7.4%
6.5%
8.3%
8.2%
7.2%
7.8%
8.5%
6.9%
8.4%
8.7%
7.7%
7.5%
7.3%7.2%7.2%
9.3%
8.5%8.5%
6.8%5.9%
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday

email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 5
United Kingdom
Following the Anglo-Saxon tradition of celebrating Halloween, the United Kingdom
had a first email volume peak in mid-October that reflected Halloween preparation.
The holiday-related campaigns then started in mid-November to target early
Christmas (Dec. 25) shoppers. Holiday volume peaked between the weeks of Nov. 25
and Dec. 9, which included Cyber Monday on Dec. 3. Cyber Monday is the Monday
following Black Friday, where retailers expect high online sales driven by holiday gift-
giver purchases.
United Kingdom Halloween example
International holiday
email performance study
Page 6 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
Australia
Australia experienced a continuous increase in email volume from the end of October
until mid-December. Volumes started to decrease during the week of Christmas (Dec
25). Peak volume for campaigns deployed occurred during the week of Dec 9.
New Zealand
New Zealand email volume peaks were influenced by the beginning of the summer
season in December, with many retailers focusing on end-of-season sales and “new
season in store” communications to help encourage spending that is over and above
gifting and less related specifically to the holiday.
United States
In the United States, there are three key holidays that email marketers focus on to
create and mail messaging: Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November), Cyber
Monday (the Monday following Thanksgiving and Black Friday) and Christmas
(Dec. 25). The graph above clearly shows the mid-November peaks preparing
for Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This was followed by a slight
decrease then bump again in early December to promote Christmas shopping.

See Appendix 1, page 24.
Percent of Holiday Season Email Volume Per Week - Australia, New Zealand and US
Start of week
Country
Australia
New
Zealand
United
States
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
9.6%
Oct. 1 Oct. 7 Oct. 14 Oct. 21 Oct. 28 Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18 Nov. 25 Dec. 2 Dec. 9 Dec. 16 Dec. 23
5.9%
8.1%
9.0%
7.9%
7.6%7.6%
8.0%8.1%7.9% 8.0%
6.9%

7.2%
6.3%
5.5%
8.2%
7.6%
8.5%
7.6%
8.8%
8.0%
7.4%
6.6%
7.4%
7.7%
7.9%
6.7%
6.6%
9.6%
9.4%
9.1%
7.2%
7.0%
6.3%
9.0%
8.2%
6.7%
6.3%
6.6%
6.5%
Percent of holiday season email volume per week -
Australia, New Zealand and US

Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 7
Asian countries
Asian countries showed pronounced volume variability. The region is less influenced
by the Christian calendar, and each country we observed showed different volume
trends between October and December 2012.
Percent of Holiday Season Email Volume Per Week - Singapore, India, China and Hong Kong
Start of week
Country
Singapore
India
China
Hong
Kong
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
15.0% –
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
20.0% –
10.0% –

0.0% –
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
9.6%
Oct. 1 Oct. 7 Oct. 14 Oct. 21 Oct. 28 Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18 Nov. 25 Dec. 2 Dec. 9 Dec. 16 Dec. 23
5.2%
8.2%
6.4%
6.9%
15.5%
3.6%
7.3%
6.6%
9.1%
12.4%
5.5%
7.3%
5.7%
6.1%
12.8%
11.1%
6.2%
5.8%
6.4%
4.5%
5.5%
4.1%
11.0%11.8%
7.1%

5.8%
7.0%
8.6%8.6%
6.4%
10.1%
7.4%
7.7%
8.8% 9.2%
8.2%
8.1%
5.2%
3.3%
0.9%
17.6%
25.3%
13.4%
2.4%
10.1%
2.1%
7.9%
7.7%
1.4%
6.3%
3.0%
1.8%
Percent of holiday season email volume per week -
Singapore, India, China and Hong Kong
China and Hong Kong
•   In China and Hong Kong, email activity slowed down in early October due to 
National Day, which is a bank holiday.

•   China showed strong volumes from the week of Oct. 21 until mid-December, 
with two rises occurring in early November and at the end of November.
•   Hong Kong was lower, in terms of volume trend, than the other countries until 
mid-November. This was followed by an initial increase during the week of Nov. 18
and then a second peak during the week of Dec 9.
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
Page 8 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
Holiday offer types and performances
Over time, customers have become accustomed to receiving special offers during the
holiday season. However, depending on the country, customers responded differently
to the incentives marketers proposed.
Tip: Differentiate your incentives
Shoppers are receiving offers all year long. In order to differentiate your holiday
messages, make sure you differentiate your own incentives and make them
specific to this unique time of the year.
21.3%
9.8%
17.5%
20.9%
7.8%
25.2%
18.6%
3.9%
2.0%
3.3%
2.2%
2.1%

3.8%
1.7%
16.8% 3.5%
14.5%
13.6%
2.7%
2.1%
21.8%
10.7%
17.0%
9.8%
21.0%
20.2%
12.6%
4.4%
2.6%
2.9%
1.8%
3.5%
2.3%
2.3%
16.1% 3.0%
14.8% 2.1%
Holiday season offer comparisons by offer type and country
Mail type Country % of campaigns
% off Australia 12.7%
China 11.0%
France 5.6%
Hong Kong 2.1%
India 9.0%

New Zealand 4.8%
Singapore 6.5%
Spain 14.1%
United Kingdom 9.8%
United States 7.8%
Unique open rate Unique click rate
$ offer Australia 5.1%
China 6.1%
France 6.8%
India 4.4%
New Zealand 10.6%
Singapore 2.7%
Spain 3.2%
United Kingdom 0.7%
United States 9.9%
Percentage and dollar amount off are the most popular offers, but not differentiating
Globally, the most popular discounts during the holiday season are percentage and
dollar amount off.
•   Australia, China and Spain are heavy users of percentage off campaigns. 
In China, these campaigns had higher open rates than standard mailings,
but lower click rates.
•   In Spain, percentage off mailings performed worse than standard mailings. The 
Spanish market also preferred to use the percentage off more than a euro off offer.
•   Depending on countries, percentage off or dollar/euro/etc. off offers beat other 
offers in terms of opens or clicks. These offer types present good test opportunities
for regions relying only on one over the other.
•   New Zealand and France were the two countries relying most on dollar/euro off 
promotions. Yet, in spite of the high proportion of campaigns promoting dollar/
euro/etc. off in the subject line, these messages had lower open and click rates
than standard campaigns.

Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 9
Spanish euro off example
Subject line: BONO DESCUENTO de 5 Euros en Vuelos
¡Aprovecha los Puentes de Noviembre!
International holiday
email performance study
Page 10 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
19.9%
11.7%
16.5%
21.9%
14.8%
12.8%
3.2%
1.9%
2.9%
5.4%
2.9%
1.7%
Free shipping — expected, but not sufficient
Mail Type Country % of Campaigns
Free shipping Australia 2.8%
China 3.7%
France 1.6%
Spain 0.5%
United Kingdom 2.1%

United States 5.1%
Unique open rate Unique click rate
Free shipping — expected, but not sufficient
Free shipping offers also were used globally, as recipients who are now used to
buying online have higher expectations — one of which is to not pay delivery fees
when ordering from retailer Websites.
Marketers agree that free shipping offers generally garner great conversion rates,
although open and click performances may be slightly lower than average mailings.
During the holiday season, free shipping offers are usually combined with other
incentives, such as a percentage off or a free gift.
1
See Experian Marketing Services’ study HÁBITOS DE COMPRA OFFLINE Y ONLINE DEL CONSUMIDOR ESPAÑOL
EN EL SECTOR RETAIL
Tip: Offer opportunity in Spain
In Spain, even during the holiday season, free shipping is not widely used.
The maturity of this market, especially for e-commerce, and actual customer
requests to get this type of offer are growing simultaneously.
1
Because of
this, there is a real “first mover advantage” in Spain for brands proposing free
shipping incentives.
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 11
Spanish example of a free shipping holiday campaign
Subject line: En Navidad, los sueños se hacen realidad
International holiday
email performance study

Page 12 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
15.5%
13.9%
2.7%
1.8%
BOGO
Mail Type Country % of Campaigns
BOGO United Kingdom 0.1%
United States 0.1%
Unique Open Rate Unique Click RateUnique open rate Unique click rate
25.9%
27.8%
20.2%
20.7%
20.3%
2.6%
5.6%
3.5%
3.2%
3.1%
10.0%
20.0% 30.0% 40.0%0.0% 1.0% 2.0% 3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0%
Loyalty Programs
Mail Type Country % of Campaigns
Points/Rewards Australia 0.3%
France 0.2%
Spain 0.6%
United Kingdom 1.4%
United States 1.6%
Unique open rate Unique click rate

Buy one get one (free) (BOGO) and reward-based offers — the specifics
One of the highest discounts a brand can offer is “Buy one get one (free)” (BOGO), as
it is similar to a “50 percent off” offer.
During the 2012 holiday season, only two countries actually promoted this type
of incentive, the United States and the United Kingdom. Both countries achieved
similar results with the offer.
BOGO offers tend to perform worse than standard mailings in both countries.
Although the offer occurs infrequently for many brands, BOGO remains an event that
shoppers have grown to expect. The holiday season, however, is a great time to use
this type of offer, as competition is high and customers expect the best deals to be
available during this time of the year.
Loyalty programs
Loyalty program communications remain the most engaging messages globally.
These types of communications are typically sent to highly engaged customers who
are enrolled in loyalty programs and contain personalization which drives greater
relevance (i.e., name, demographics, reward status, etc.).
The overall proportion of campaigns that leveraged loyalty programs during the
holiday season was relatively low, yet these communications performed well. Loyalty
program emails can be a great way for marketers to engage loyal members during
the holidays. Not only can members accumulate many points from purchases, but
they also can decide to redeem these points to purchase gifts.
Loyalty program tip:
Since loyalty program members are usually a brand’s most engaged
customers, it is important to reinforce engagement with this segment during
the holiday season not only to drive additional revenue, but also to ensure that
customers in this high-value segment remain strong brand advocates.
See Appendix 2, page 25, for results from all offers by country.
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends

(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 13
30.2%
15.7%
21.5%
12.4%
21.2%
20.6%
18.5%
6.6%
4.7%
5.1%
2.1%
4.5%
3.4%
3.8%
Personalization
Mail type Country % of campaigns
Personalization Australia 13.9%
China 27.0%
France 37.5%
India 9.0%
Spain 13.7%
United Kingdom 15.3%
United States 7.4%
Unique Open Rate Unique Click RateUnique open rate Unique click rate
Subject line tactics and results
Marketers should carefully craft email subject lines in order to stand out in their

customers’ inboxes during the busy holiday season. We noted earlier how volumes
are increasing during the holidays, so now more than ever, it is critical to have a
strong subject line that will capture recipients’ attention and entice them to read
your message.
Personalization, relevance and engagement
Across all countries, email marketing is evolving to become more relevant to
recipients. This is evident through the increased use of data to personalize the
customer experience.
Although personalized customer experiences were created in email content globally,
only some countries used personalized subject lines in holiday mailings, and each
did so at very different levels.
France used the most personalization in holiday email subject lines (37.5 percent
of campaigns), yet these campaigns achieved similar results to standard mailings.
In fact, because of the high percentage of personalized campaigns that were sent
in France, much of the overall mailing results were impacted by personalized
campaigns. See Appendix 3, page 26, for more information on subject line features.
The data used to personalize French messages ranges greatly. It can be gender, first
name, child’s name, date of birth, city, closest store, rewards euro amount, and even
products, brands or the magazines to which recipients subscribe.
The practice of personalization in subject lines also is being used in Spain (13.7
percent of holiday campaigns), but not as much as in France. These campaigns
perform well, garnering a 21.2 percent open rate and a 4.5 percent click rate using
average personalization (mostly through use of first name). Email performance
in Spain indicates that personalizing subject lines, even if simple, is well worth
the effort.
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
Page 14 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)

French personalization example
(recipient’s first name and recipient’s child’s gender)
Subject line: Cadeau offert* pour l’anniversaire de votre fille / votre fils PRENOM
For personalization in subject lines, Australia showed 30.2 percent open rates and
6.6 percent click rates, which was above standard mailing results (23.1 percent
and 4.7 percent, respectively). Once again, this demonstrates how effective it is to
leverage personal data in subject lines. Australian personalized communications
mostly relied on including recipients’ first names. We also noted performance
improved when campaigns leveraged the name of the agent or the store contact the
customer knows - a tactic for marketers to test.
First
name
Child’s
gender
Child’s
gender
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 15
21.2%
12.5%
19.2%
30.8%
10.1%
23.8%
20.4%
3.6%
2.2%
3.3%
4.1%

2.7%
3.7%
4.6%
16.8% 3.7%
15.7%
13.6%
2.9%
1.9%
Urgency tied to the holiday schedule
Mail Type Country % of Campaigns
Urgency Australia 10.8%
China 7.5%
France 5.7%
Hong Kong 5.3%
India 7.3%
New Zealand 5.2%
Singapore 3.8%
Spain 5.8%
United Kingdom 5.8%
United States 4.1%
Unique open rate Unique click rate
Urgency tied to the holiday schedule
During the holidays, marketers must be fully aware of timing in order to compete for
wallet share. Globally, it is common practice to convey a sense of urgency in email
communications in order to influence purchase decisions.
In 2012, the Asia Pacific (APAC) region used urgency more than any other. Results
were the highest in Asian countries as well, with urgency in subject lines garnering
higher open rates than standard mailings. This was especially notable in China,
where urgency campaigns got 12.5 percent and 2.2 percent for open and click rates
respectively, compared with standard mailings that achieved an 8.8 percent open rate

and a 1.7 percent click rate.
New Zealand brands typically used email to drive traffic, either in store or online,
for a short-term sale period. Speed-to-market emails are probably the most
effective and the easiest way for these messages to be delivered. Speed-to-market
communications are those containing deals and offers that are available only for a
short time. Often the information included in the deals comes in just before the deal
becomes available. As such, emails with urgency in the subject line prove extremely
popular in this country.
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
Page 16 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
22.1%
18.0%
16.8%
17.0%
4.3%
4.1%
3.9%
3.9%
Social Media
Mail Type Country % of campaigns
Social media France 0.2%
in subject line Spain 0.1%
United Kingdom 0.2%
United States 0.2%
Unique Open Rate Unique Click RateUnique open rate Unique click rate
New Zealand speed-to-market example
For most Western countries, urgency in subject lines was widely utilized yet did not

drive a lift in open rates. It seems recipients were aware of the Christmas calendar,
thus the timing pressure in a subject line was not enough to influence their open.
For last-minute shoppers in this region, however, urgency was still relevant, but only
when combined with some form of gift guidance or easy choice (i.e., gift card), as
well as options to pick up the gift in store.
Social media — the difference of community influence
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 17
With many brands trying to differentiate themselves and provide relevance to their
customers, social media has gained signficance in holiday campaigning. The
holidays are times of gift giving (both making your own gifts and purchasing them),
thus there is a strong viral dimension to the season. By collecting more fans and
followers, organizations are offering their customers a different way to interact with
the brand beyond promotions. This remains an efficient tactic, as fans and followers
tend to engage more with brands whose social media content can help influence
their purchase decisions, influence other users and allow their voices to be heard.
Only four countries used social media call-outs in subject lines during the holiday
season, yet these campaigns drove higher open rates. Therefore, brands have an
opportunity to develop this approach in countries not yet using this tactic, or at least to
test campaigns mentioning social media in the subject line.
For France, the United States and the United Kingdom, social media messages
achieved higher open rates than standard mailings. In Spain, the results were slightly
below standard mailings. This is consistent with the overall usage of social media
sites across the world, especially Facebook within European countries.
Spanish social media example
¿Te gustaría ganar 30.000 €? ¡¡ Hazte fan de De Compras !!
Tip

Pinterest and Instagram are highly visual sites. They are very popular during the
holiday season and are a great way to enable customers to share pictures of
products they like — both to give as a gift and to receive.
International holiday
email performance study
Page 18 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
Triggered message performance during the holiday season
The performance of triggered emails, or messages that are driven by a specific event
or customer behavior, is generally higher than other mailings, regardless of the time
of year. In this study, we focused on three types of triggered emails:
•   Abandoned cart emails: Abandoned cart emails are triggered messages sent
to customers who have added items to their cart, but have not completed the
transaction. During the holiday season, customers are even more tempted to
place items in carts but not purchase, as it is common for shoppers to compare
taxes and shipping fees among retailers. Some sophisticated online shoppers
have become wise to this marketing practice and may expect to get an extra
coupon a few days after they have put an item in their cart, yet did not complete
their purchase.
•   Birthday emails: During the holidays, shoppers are often much more receptive
to brands’ offers for gift-giving or gift-receiving opportunities, including birthdays.
Birthday campaigns are an easy win for email marketers. They provide an
opportunity to engage subscribers throughout the year and have proven to be very
successful. Holiday shoppers are highly responsive to birthday campaigns as well.
These campaigns can be triggered based on birthday information provided by
the customer or obtained using permissioned third-party data, such as Facebook
Connect. As consumers tend to spend even more around their birthday, these
types of triggered emails often result in high engagement levels.
•   Welcome messages: The holiday season is often a great time for new customer
acquisition, as shoppers tend to subscribe to a brand’s email communications
in order to receive offers and facilitate their holiday shopping. Welcome emails

are typically triggered immediately after a customer signs up for a brand’s email
program. Welcome messages often achieve one of the highest open and click rates,
as new members are actively looking for information in a high conversion period.
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 19
47.0%
35.1%
23.1%
25.7%
8.8%
18.0%
9.4%
7.8%
4.1%
6.9%
4.0%
1.7%
24.7%
29.7%
21.5%
26.0%
33.5%
5.7%
8.0%
4.5%
4.9%
4.0%
29.2%
22.5%

33.1%
23.9%
43.6%
8.7%
3.1%
13.2%
16.7%
5.6%
18.1%
34.4%
20.6%
27.3%
16.6%
3.9%
11.0%
4.3%
5.9%
2.9%
39.8%
27.9%
32.1%
14.7%
11.7%
5.4%
7.3%
2.3%
Holiday season trigger mailings by country
Country Mail type % of Campaigns
Australia Birthday
Welcomes

All Mailings

China Abandon Cart
Welcomes
All Mailings
France Birthday
Welcomes
All Mailings
New Zealand Welcomes
All Mailings
Singapore Welcomes
All Mailings
Spain Abandon Cart
Birthday
Welcomes
All Mailings
United Kingdom Abandon Cart
Birthday
Welcomes
All Mailings
United States Abandon Cart
Birthday
Welcomes
All Mailings
Unique open rate Unique click rate
10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 5.0%0.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0%
■
Abandon Cart
■
Birthday

■
Welcomes
■
All Mailings
Holiday season trigger mailings by country
Abandoned cart campaigns
Only a couple of countries had abandoned cart campaigns in the data set we
analyzed. As expected, abandoned cart campaigns all achieved high open and
click rates. The United States had the highest open rate (39.8 percent), while Spain
achieved the highest click rate (13.2 percent).
As there are many American shopping events between October and December
(Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas), U.S. email recipients
actively look for promotions during the holiday season. These customers may be
used to getting emails from retailers after choosing to not purchase an item(s), yet
email open rates for these types of emails remains high. We believe that customers
know that these messages often contain offers, enabling them to complete their
purchase by spending less than if they would have purchased initially. Recently
though, brands have implemented abandoned cart series to deter customers from
purposefully abandoning their carts in order to get a special offer. In these series, the
first touch email is often a friendly reminder that does not contain any offer. Members
then will have to open the entire series to finally reach the incentive.
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
Page 20 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
In Spain, abandoned cart emails are mostly sent from very well-known brands, as
well as from retailers with only e-commerce sites. Recipients are not yet used to
receiving this type of remarketing messages, thus the tactic tends to get a high
response rate, especially in unique clicks.

U.S. example of abandoned cart message
From: Sephora
Subject line: Don’t forget…
Birthday messages
In our study, we did not find any Asian brands that sent birthday campaigns.
Australia, France, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States did, however,
and achieved higher results with birthday emails than with standard mailings.
Spanish marketing communications, given the Spanish culture, often convey a
close and “friendly” relationship with their recipients. Similarly, Spanish subscribers
have shown a higher amount of appreciation for a brand’s thoughtfulness, and thus
respond very well to birthday messages.
Welcome messages
Welcome messages to new email subscribers have become a common practice
globally, with almost all regions having implemented them. Across all regions,
welcome messages have shown higher open and click rates than standard mailings.
APAC countries achieved the highest results from welcome emails: Australia experienced
a 35.1 percent open rate compared with the usual 23.1 percent; Singapore had an 8.7
percent click rate, while it had a 3.1 percent rate for standard mailings.
As mentioned above, subscribers tend to sign up for their favorite brands’ email
communications during the holiday season. The better the onboarding experience for
a customer, the more engaged, attentive and loyal the new member will become to
the brand.
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 21
Timing considerations — weekday or weekend?
Marketers consistently question when the right time is to send their email
campaigns. This question has even greater importance during the holiday season
because changing the day or even the hour of a campaign can have a significant
bottom-line impact due to the high volume of email in subscribers’ inboxes. On

one hand, brands often have marketing calendars that have to be respected and
do not leave room to change the time a communication is deployed. On the other
hand, there is no definitive rule regarding when campaigns are more effective, as
performance can vary based upon industry, message content, offers and audience.
We highly recommend that all brands properly test timing options to determine the
best approach for their own brand, customers, products and services.
One of the first tests brands may consider running is a weekday versus weekend test
to see if their holiday emails perform better during the week or on the weekend. Our
study revealed the following results by country:
87.1%
12.9%
89.4%
10.6%
80.7%
19.3%
91.1%
8.9%
73.8%
26.2%
82.0%
18.0%
89.4%
10.6%
88.7%
11.3%
83.4%
16.6%
79.2%
20.8%
23.1%

26.8%
8.8%
7.4%
21.6%
20.2%
4.1%
4.3%
1.7%
1.3%
4.5%
4.3%
27.8%
28.1%
9.0%
7.3%
4.6%
4.0%
2.2%
1.3%
26.0%
30.7%
4.0%
5.0%
22.5%
30.5%
18.1%
16.8%
16.6%
16.7%
3.1%

5.9%
3.9%
3.5%
2.9%
3.4%
14.7%
16.1%
2.3%
2.5%
Holiday season weekday and weekend mailings
Country Mail type % of Campaigns
Australia Weekday
Weekend

China Weekday
Weekend
France Weekday
Weekend
Hong Weekday
Kong Weekend
India Weekday
Weekend
New Weekday
Zealand Weekend
Singapore Weekday
Weekend
Spain Weekday
Weekend
United Weekday
Kingdom Weekend

United Weekday
States Weekend
% of total sent Unique open rate Unique click rate
20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 5.0%0% 0.0%10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 1.0% 2.0% 30.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0%
■
Weekday
■
Weekend
Mail Type
Holiday season weekday and weekend mailings
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
Page 22 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
India, the United States and France sent emails aligning closest to the mathematical
distribution of weekdays to weekend days (five out of seven for weekdays and two
out of seven for weekend days). During the holidays, India and France experienced
lower opens and clicks for weekends than weekdays. In the United States, it was the
reverse, with higher engagement occurring on weekends.
In the United States, it is very common for customers to check emails and shop
online during the weekends. U.S. holiday shoppers have many gifting opportunities
between October and December, and they usually expect e-commerce sites to have
the best deals. Thus, similar to brick-and-mortar stores in the United States, high
traffic during the holidays occurs on weekends, and emails achieve generally higher
response rates on Saturdays and Sundays. The explosion of smartphones and mobile
devices may also contribute to higher response rates on weekends in the United States.
This allows shoppers to multitask while shopping, meaning they actually can go to
brick-and-mortar stores while comparison-shopping on their mobile phone or tablets.
Singapore, Hong Kong and China did not deploy a large number of holiday emails

on weekends. Note, however, that Australia, Singapore and New Zealand had higher
engagement during weekends than weekdays. This might be a great test factor for
email marketers sending to countries in APAC in order to optimize open and click
rates of campaigns that currently are being sent during the week.
Conclusion
Across the world, the holiday season remains the highest revenue driver for email
marketers. This study highlighted how cultural differences can render different
results in email marketing. While many email marketers tend to consider the holidays
as a global event, ruled by offer campaigns, additional strategic tactics by region and
country should be considered and properly tested in order to fully optimize campaign
performance.
•   To capitalize on the large amount of gift giving associated with the holidays, 
marketers typically increase the volume of campaigns sent between October and
December. Although volume increases during this time of year, it’s important that
marketers still maintain relevance with their subscribers. Relevance is always a
safe bet to differentiate a message and get subscribers to the open and click.
•   To increase relevance and encourage subscribers to act now, regions are 
leveraging personalization, as well as urgency and social media. While the effects
of emails conveying urgency should be tested (as results may actually be poorer
than standard mailings), including personalization and utilizing social media are
proven approaches to increasing holiday engagement in email communications.
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 23
•   During the holidays, and often throughout the year, marketers develop triggered 
campaigns to respond to a customer event. Because triggered messages are
efficient all year, they are even more critical during the holiday season to help
increase the overall relevance of the communications from a brand — especially
as the overall volume of email received during this period increases tremendously.
Globally, welcome messages are the most used triggered emails during the

holidays and remain very effective. Birthday and abandoned cart email campaigns
could be used more often throughout the world, as only a couple of countries are
employing these tactics and results are far above those for standard mailings.
•   Global brands should also adopt a strategy of “thinking globally and acting locally.” 
Consider how local events and holidays are celebrated differently throughout
the season. Timing is imperative here, and event and date significance may vary
greatly by country or region.
•   Developing “offer” strategies is a key business decision that should involve 
revenue drivers and cost, and results vary across regions. The most commonly
used are percent off and dollar off, while “free shipping” is commonly
expected by email subscribers. BOGO and loyalty offers are underutilized in
most countries. Thus, these are potential candidates for marketers to test for
additional revenue opportunities.
•   Finally, timing considerations about weekdays and weekends are also worth 
testing. It is important to note that in spite of assumptions about shoppers’
behaviors, there are real patterns supporting either weekdays or weekends as the
best moments to communicate to customers by country.
For more information about Experian Marketing Services’ global marketing products
and services, please call 1 866 626 6479 or visit us online at www.experian.com/
marketingservices.
International holiday
email performance study
Page 24 | International holiday email performance study (Oct. 1–Dec. 31, 2012)
Percent of Holiday Season Unique Clicks Compared to Volumes Sent
Start of week
Country
Hong
Kong
India
China

Singapore
% Clicks per wk.
% Clicks per wk.% Clicks per wk.
15.0% –
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
20.0% –
10.0% –
0.0% –
– 20.0%
– 10.0%
– 0.0%
– 10.0%
– 5.0%
– 0.0%
% Clicks per wk.
– 10.0%
– 5.0%
– 0.0%
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
– 15.0%

– 10.0%

– 5.0%
– 0.0%
9.6%
9.5%
10.1%
Oct. 1 Oct. 7 Oct. 14 Oct. 21 Oct. 28 Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18 Nov. 25 Dec. 2 Dec. 9 Dec. 16 Dec. 23
25.3%
22.6%
25.3%
22.6%
12.8%15.4%
15.5%
22%
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
■
% Clicks per wk.
■
% Sent per wk.
Measure Names
Percent of Holiday Season Unique Clicks Compared to Volumes Sent
Start of week
Oct. 1 Oct. 7 Oct. 14 Oct. 21 Oct. 28 Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18 Nov. 25 Dec. 2 Dec. 9 Dec. 16 Dec. 23
Country
Australia
New
Zealand
United

States
% Clicks per wk.
% Clicks per wk.% Clicks per wk.
5.0% –
0.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –

– 5.0%
– 0.0%
– 10.0%
– 5.0%
– 0.0%
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –

– 5.0%
– 0.0%
9.0%
8.9% 8.8%
9.0%
8.9% 8.8%
9.6%
9.6% 9.6%
8.7%8.7%
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
■

% Clicks per wk.
■
% Sent per wk.
Measure Names
Appendix 1 — Volume and click trends
Email recipient response
The study also revealed how recipients are responding to the email volume increase
during the holiday season. By analyzing volume and click trends, we found that
across all of the countries studied there are several key opportunities for global
brands and email marketers. As a rule of thumb, when the click rate line is above
the volume sent line, there is an opportunity to communicate more with subscribers
to take advantage of the overall engagement during these specific times. The times
when engagement (click rate) is high and volume is low are the end of October in Spain,
mid-October for India and China, and mid-November for Singapore and Hong Kong.
Percent of Holiday Season Unique Clicks Compared to Volumes Sent
Start of week
Oct. 1 Oct. 7 Oct. 14 Oct. 21 Oct. 28 Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18 Nov. 25 Dec. 2 Dec. 9 Dec. 16 Dec. 23
Country
France
Spain
United
Kindom
% Clicks per wk.
% Clicks per wk.% Clicks per wk.
8.0% –
6.0% –
6.0% –
4.0% –
2.0% –
0.0% –

5.0% –
0.0% –

– 5.0%
– 0.0%
– 10.0%
– 5.0%
– 0.0%
10.0% –
5.0% –
0.0% –
– 8.0%
– 6.0%
– 6.0%
– 4.0%
– 2.0%
– 0.0%
9.0% 9.0%
8.5%
8.5%
9.6%
9.6%
9.3%
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
% sent per wk.
■
% Clicks per wk.
■
% Sent per wk.

Measure Names
Percent of holiday season unique clicks compared to volume sent
Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)
International holiday
email performance study
An Experian Marketing Services study | Page 25
Appendix 2 – Offer types by country
18.1% 3.9%
0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0%
Unique Open Rate
0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0%
Unique Click Rate
21.3%
21.8%
33.1%
14.6%
19.9%
25.9%
23.1%
3.9%
4.4%
5.9%
2.1%
3.2%
2.6%
4.1%
9.8%
10.7%
11.5%

16.4%
11.7%
8.8%
2.0%
2.6%
2.4%
2.9%
1.9%
1.7%
17.5%
17.0%
27.4%
18.1%
16.5%
27.8%
3.3%
2.9%
5.6%
3.2%
2.9%
5.6%
21.5% 4.5%
20.9%
27.8%
2.2%
4.6%
7.8%
9.8%
12.1%
8.7%

2.1%
1.8%
5.3%
2.1%
25.2%
21.0%
26.0%
3.8%
3.5%
4.0%
18.6%
20.2%
22.5%
1.7%
2.3%
3.1%
16.8%
12.6%
15.5%
20.2%
21.9%
20.2%
3.5%
2.3%
3.4%
4.8%
5.4%
3.5%
14.5%
16.1%

15.5%
16.7%
15.3%
14.8%
20.7%
16.6%
2.7%
3.0%
2.7%
3.6%
3.4%
2.9%
3.2%
2.9%
13.6%
14.8%
13.9%
18.5%
14.5%
12.8%
20.3%
14.7%
2.1%
2.1%
1.8%
3.3%
2.0%
1.7%
3.1%
2.3%

Holiday Season Offer Types by Country
Country Mail type % of campaigns
Australia % Off 12.7%
$ Offer 5.1%
Coupons 1.5%
Free Gift 0.2%
Free Ship 2.8%
Points/Rewards 0.3%
All Mailings 100.0%
China % Off 11.0%
$ Offer 6.1%
Coupons 8.6%
Free Gift 0.7%
Free Ship 3.7%
All Mailings 100.0%
France % Off 5.6%
$ Offer 6.8%
Coupons 0.3%
Free Gift 5.2%
Free Ship 1.6%
Points/Rewards 0.2%
All Mailings 100.0%
Hong Kong $ Off 2.1%
All Mailings 100.0%

India % Off 9.0%
$ Offer 4.4%
Coupons 0.6%
All Mailings 100.0%
New % Off 4.8%

Zealand $ Offer 10.6%
All Mailings 100.0%
Singapore % Off 6.5%
$ Offer 2.7%
All Mailings 100.0%
Spain % Off 14.1%
$ Offer 3.2%
Coupons 0.2%
Free Gift 0.5%
Free Ship 0.5%
Points/Rewards 0.6%
All Mailings 100.0%
United % Off 9.8%
Kingdom $ Offer 0.7%
BOGO 0.1%
Coupons 0.5%
Free Gift 2.2%
Free Ship 2.1%
Points/Rewards 1.4%
All Mailings 100.0%
United % Off 7.8%
States $ Offer 9.9%
BOGO 0.1%
Coupons 1.4%
Free Gift 0.4%
Free Ship 5.1%
Points/Rewards 1.6%
All Mailings 100.0%
Unique open rate Unique click rate
Holiday season offer types by country

Experian Marketing Services’ International holiday email performance study, a look back at global trends
(Oct. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012)