Marketers should consider weather patterns when executing email marketing campaigns, according to new research. The research, from Pure360 analysed open and click through rates on over 7 million emails, promoting a variety of different products and services to assess the impact of weather on the success of email marketing as we approach the summer. 21/07/2010 […]
Marketers should consider weather patterns when executing email marketing campaigns, according to new research. The research, from Pure360 analysed open and click through rates on over 7 million emails, promoting a variety of different products and services to assess the impact of weather on the success of email marketing as we approach the summer.
21/07/2010
Fair weather marketing
The findings indicated that hot, sunny weather increased the effectiveness of the vast majority of campaigns promoting summer related products such as festivals and UK based holidays, as well sporting events such as cricket and tennis.
Recipients were almost twice as likely to open emails promoting tickets to festivals on a sunny day than a rainy day. And the recent hot spell has definitely been a coup for the UK holiday industry – open rates on campaigns promoting these were five times higher (15% compared to 3%) on hot days. Click through rates also rose from 12% in bad weather to 27% in good!
Not surprisingly, the hot weather also seems to be encouraging the nation to get out and explore the country in their cars. The results indicate that consumers are almost twice as likely to engage (measured by click-throughs) with campaigns promoting SatNavs in good weather (48%) than bad (23%).
Furthermore, the research indicates that good weather dramatically increases (doubles) the effectiveness of B2B campaigns. Click through rates on campaigns promoting business related events and products increased from 12% when it was raining to 27% in the sunshine.
Shelter from the rain
Wet and cold weather does however have its benefits – it seems that consumers are far more likely to be thinking about life changing purchases, such as cars and homes on a bad day. For example, consumers are twice as likely to engage with property related emails on a rainy (8% open rate) than sunny day (4% open rate).
Campaigns promoting restaurants are twice as effective in bad weather. A fact that might be explained by the recent rise in barbecue products, salads and ready meals,* which indicate that consumers have opted to stay at home and BBQ during the recent sunny spell.
More intuitively, campaigns promoting winter ski holidays will do far better in poor weather than good. This might be because the cold makes them makes them more receptive to wintry products – which are often the last thing people want to think about on a beautiful sunny day.
Sunshine on a rainy day
However, in-line with a previous study by Pure360 assessing the impact of time of day on open rates, the research also revealed that marketing professionals cannot simply rely on gut instinct when it comes to email marketing. Counter-intuitively, consumers are more likely to open emails promoting some summer related products, such as camping equipment, when the weather is gloomy.
Empowering marketers
Pure 360’s research reveals trends and opening times that marketing professionals should be aware of. However, Pure360 advises that the most effective email marketing campaigns will go a step further, looking at the behavioural patterns of individual recipients.
Pure360’s technology enables marketers to identify specific trends within their own databases and related to their own products.
“Our PureResponse email marketing software integrates two way Google Analytics reporting, allowing users to view relevant Google Analytics report results for individual campaigns, including the number and value of email goal conversions by email campaign,” said Adam Bambrough, Product & Experience Manager at Pure360.
“By monitoring how emails perform after being opened, marketers can respond to campaign specific trends and gain further insights into the effectiveness and overall value of their email marketing campaign.”?
Despite the prevalence of Google Analytics reporting as the software of choice for sites across the web, only a small fraction of companies sending bulk email use Google Analytics reports effectively, if at all. The simple ‘one-click’ integration of the new Email Analytics feature in PureResponse Email Marketing Software means that marketers have no excuse for failing to get the most from their campaigns.
Source: www.Pure360.com
