Women are the holiday multi-taskers so it’s no surprise that 43% of female workers say they have holiday shopped online while at work, according to the new CareerBuilder CyberMonday study. Jennifer Sullivan Grasz from CareerBuilder reports only 35% of male workers are also holiday shopping online.
CyberMonday shoppers work too!
Over half (54 percent) of all workers expect to be shopping online for the holidays. Many of those will be planning to spend the time during lunch or during breaks. The survey finds that one in five workers will spend between one and three hours browsing Internet deals from the office over the course of the holiday season and 10 percent will spend 3 hours or more; a quarter report just planning to spend an hour or less.
Back in 2010, we reported on a similar study that found that 40% of female workers 18-54 said they shopped online, and a whopping 84% of moms said they spent 15 minutes or more daily shopping. And emails were a definite trigger for with 60% responding to email offers.
Workers are responding to lots of holiday emails.
No wonder we are responding to emails. Some 28 percent of all emails are sent during the holiday season. In fact, every brand is sending consumers an average of six emails, up from five last year. Experian says that email accounts for nearly 3 percent of website visits (ahead of social) and higher conversions (3.58 percent) than search (2.49 percent) and social (.71 percent) combined. Oh, and don’t forget – half of all emails are now read on mobile devices.
Email tips for marketers.
For marketers, we need to take all of this in consideration and start planning early. Some of the important considerations are:
1. Test emails and offers for effectiveness.
2. Test timing of emails. Weekends versus weekdays may yield different results. By the way, half of all working women do their shopping between 11 am and 2 pm.
3. Make sure your subject lines are appealing and stand out to your consumers. Subject lines are where most people make a decision to unsubscribe.
4. Help your customer with gift guides. According to Experian, gift guide emails experience 48% higher transaction rates than normal promotion emails.
4. Look for new ways to build your list and reach new people.
5. Be more personal. Address your customer by name or tailor the message to your geography, weather or preferences.
6. Use re-targeting and abandoned cart messages.
7. Make sure you are optimized for mobile.
The CareerBuilder survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 3,484 U.S. workers and 2,099 hiring managers and human resource professionals (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between August 13 and September 6, 2013.
