Source: The Big Fat Marketing Blog
By Sherry Chiger

Five hundred and sixty-three: That’s how many Christmas-related marketing emails I received between Monday, Nov. 22, and Sunday, Nov. 28. And because I’m so darn dedicated (or obsessive, or crazy—take your pick), I read through every single one of them to sort out the trends.

So what trends am I seeing, you ask?

1) ‘Tis the season to be thrifty. Okay, I swiped that from the subject line of an email from discount retailer Daffy’s, but it’s true. More than three-quarters—76.7%, to be exact—of the 563 emails highlighted sales and discounts. The percentage of discount-touting emails peaked on Thanksgiving Day, when 87.2% of the 78 Christmas emails received played up savings. The Saturday after Thanksgiving was a close second, with 86% of the 50 messages received promising savings. Interestingly, while Black Friday had the highest volume of emails, with 118 waiting in the inbox, “only” 76.3% of those messages promised sales.

2) Thriftiness extends to free shipping. Nearly half, or 48.8%, of the emails included some sort of free shipping offer. The majority of these were tied in to a spending threshold, though several companies such as the Gap and its sister brands, boasted of “everyday free shipping.” Others, such as the Territory Ahead, Linda Anderson, and As We Change, offered sitewide free S&H for one or several days only. The percentage of free-shipping offers increased as the week went on, from 35.1% of the 74 emails received on Monday to 61% of the 77 messages received the following Sunday.