With Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday among the biggest sales days for businesses, research from small business email marketing solution Constant Contact shows consumers are opening less and less email marketing messages on Black Friday. However, these same consumers aren’t shy about checking those emails on Thanksgiving (Nov. 23, 2017 in the US).
Email Marketing on Thanksgiving Day is More Effective
According to Constant Contact’s study, which analyzed tens of billions of emails around the start of the holiday shopping season over a period of three years, email open rates have increased on Thanksgiving Day even though far fewer emails are sent on Thanksgiving itself. Companies often don’t want to bother customers on the holiday. But you shouldn’t be afraid of sending Black Friday notices on Thanksgiving Day. Emails sent on Thanksgiving have a higher open rate than Black Friday, the researchers found.
Nearly 45 percent of emails sent on Thanksgiving 2016 were opened on a mobile device, and more emails were opened on a mobile device on Small Business Saturday than on Thanksgiving. More people are also opening marketing emails on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving than on Cyber Monday.
Small businesses and digital marketers who are sending out marketing emails should take note and ensure their email marketing is mobile-optimized this holiday season.
Holiday Mobile Email Open Rate
In the last two years, Constant Contact found that mobile open rates have decreased on Black Friday — the worst day to send email, per the study. This means your small business may also need to deploy email marketing on the days before or days after Black Friday to avoid getting lost in the clutter of the holiday.
Check out this neat infographic below by Constant Contact drawn from their study. It tells you how to stand out in an overstuffed inbox this holiday shopping season:
