Post Christmas Percent-Off Promos Ruled: Email Data Source

Most of the major retailers this year got a larger-than-usual bump in Web site traffic the day after Christmas, much of which was fueled by bargain hunters responding to percent-off e-mail campaigns, according to Email Data Source.

However, the spike this year came at the end of a lackluster December overall, according to Email Data Source, an outfit that tracks companies’ e-mail activity and corresponding Web site traffic.

“Dec. 26 was the second highest trafficked day of the year, Black Friday being the highest,” said Bill McCloskey, chief executive of Email Data Source.

Most retailers’ Dec. 26 spike this year was about 75% as high as their traffic on Black Friday, said McCloskey. He added online retailers’ Dec. 26 spikes are usually 50% as high as Black Friday traffic and about the same as traffic in mid-December.

Not this year, according to McCloskey. In 2008 there was no mid-December rise in retail Web site activity, he said.

“Black Friday was a huge spike and then traffic for the most part dropped off until Dec. 26,” he said. “To me, that says people weren’t buying Christmas presents; they were looking for bargains.”

Underscoring his argument, McCloskey noted that retailers who had percent signs in their Dec. 26 e-mail subject lines got the biggest boosts in corresponding Web site activity.

For example, a Neiman Marcus e-mail campaign achieved almost the same Web site traffic on Dec. 26 as it did on Black Friday, according to McCloskey. The subject line: “Still time to take 40% off after Christmas sale, plus free online shipping.”

“They didn’t miss a trick,” said McCloskey. “They put the percent sign in, they mentioned after Christmas sale and they mentioned free shipping all in the subject line, and that created a huge spike in traffic.”

Bloomingdales and Kohl’s achieved similar results with similar subject lines, he said.

More generic subject lines didn’t do so well, according to McCloskey.

“Anytime there was a subject line that said something like ‘Christmas sale,’ there was a barely perceptible spike,” he said.

For example, Kmart’s post holiday subject line was “Big holiday clearance plus $1 shipping per item.”

“Kmart’s traffic on Dec. 26 was less than half of its traffic on Black Friday,” McCloskey said.