Black Friday 2022: Email Marketing Statistics vs. 2021

Less quantity but more quality: this is the first insight that emerges from our study of 2022 Black Friday-themed email campaigns. Compared to the lower volume of sends in 2021, there was a growth in openings and clicks on messages that MailUp and Contactlab customers sent. This phenomenon of greater focus on message quality was already observed in our analysis on 2020 email campaigns. Today, it appears to be a consolidated strategic choice.

The strategic trend that companies have been following in recent years, as confirmed by this study, is to exploit high sales potential and consumer expectations to send fewer but more relevant and specific messages.

So let’s take a look at how the analysis was conducted, the statistics it presented and the trends the data suggest.

The analysis was conducted by examining the pool of over 10,000 Italian MailUp customers, (that have MailUp shipped worldwide), and customers using the Customer Data Platform. The Customer Data Platform is the advanced technological solution for data management, segmentation and real time marketing automation recently added to the range of products offered by MailUp following Growens S.p.A’s acquisition of Contactlab S.p.A.

The analysis compares the performance of the campaigns sent from September 2 to November 24, 2022 with the same period of 2021 and 2020 on both platforms, for a total of 222 million emails (respectively 104 and 118 million).

To complete the analysis, in addition to the comparison with 2021, we examined the emails sent in the weeks before Summer sales (26 June – 2 July) and Winter sales (2-5 January) of both years- This allowed a comparison of sales between Black Friday and other relevant periods of the year.

Finally, we ranked the most competitive product sectors that use the occasion to push sales.

Now, let’s take a look at analysis results to see whether Black Friday was reconfirmed with the highest number of emails sent.

Returning to the sample of almost 152,5 million emails on Black Friday sent by MailUp customers in Italy from September 2 to November 24, 2022, our analysis showed a decrease in sending volumes compared to last year (-20% in September, -25% in Octobe) but with +2% in November. However, this corresponds to a marked improvement in both the opening rates (in October they grew by 36.50% YoY, in November +20% YoY). There was an average open rate of 21,5%, both for the clicks on messages (October with + 46%YoY) with an average click rate of 1.70%.

How should we interpret this data? Certainly it means that companies are working more carefully on email content and layout on the topic. These campaigns have been successful in capturing the attention of recipients and stimulating purchases.

Improved opens and clicks demonstrate companies’ enhancement of message segmentation and personalization activities to send content based on their target audience’s interests, needs and behavior data.

Unique openings and clicks

If we compare the data of week-by-week openings and clicks in 2022 compared to 2021, we see that openings have increased steadily. We also note that clicks were initially lower when we consider the comparison of the four weeks of September 2022 with 2021. However they increased as the “highlight period” approaches, confirming the public’s increasing interest in this occasion.

These results represent all the work done to optimize the factors that facilitate message opening:

• subject
• summary
• sender reputation
• delivery capacity
• design and layout

Our analysis wanted to contextualize the importance of an occasion like Black Friday and understand its actual strategic weight in an entire calendar year. But we also wanted to look at the statistics of campaigns sent in the week before the summer sales and the week before the winter sales. Below is a comparison to see if this Black Friday is really the busiest time for companies in Email Marketing.

The results confirmed the predictions: there were 38.5 percent more promotional emails sent between Nov. 18 and Nov. 24, 2022, than those sent during summer sales, almost one and a half times the number of summer emails, and +195 percent more than those sent before the winter sales, 3 times the number of winter emails. The same trend was seen in 2021. Black Friday is without a doubt the period with the highest sending volumes to meet consumers’ expectations and take advantage of their increased propensity to buy.

Which sectors took the greatest advantage of Black Friday? We analyzed the macro sectors that make up the MailUp and Contactlab customer base to identify the top 10 best performers.

The three top ranking sectors are retail and trade; fashion, clothing and footwear; and beauty.That is followed by automobiles, publishing, and other sectors. The first two industries (retail and fashion) were found to be the most frequent users in the last 4 years (as of 2019) In contrast, in previous years 3rd and 4th places were occupied respectively by: beauty (3rd place in 2021) and publishing (3rd place in 2020), home and garden (4th place in 2021) and sports (4th place in 2020).

All the statistics that emerged from this study can be easily compared with the analysis of 2021. That issue came out last year to examine 2020 trends and analyze the differences of this phenomenon in the pre- and post-pandemic period.

The insights to remember

• 2022 campaigns achieved higher levels of interest and interaction than in 2021 and 2020, with increasing opens and clicks
• Fewer emails were sent than in 2021. They were however more profiled, thus generating more interest
• Black Friday remains the time of the year when companies are most active on email. In fact, since 2020, it has become the event with the highest sending volume than other key times of the year: +182% more than summer sales and a +388% increase over winter sales
• The sectors that invested the most in the email channel were retail, fashion and beauty