• by Jess Nelson , September 29, 2015

Black Friday is eight weeks away and holiday marketing is in full swing. According to a study released today by Campaigner, email marketing ranks as the top strategy for providing return of investment to online retailers this holiday season.

According to the study, over half of online retailers (59%) state email marketing is their top strategy for holiday ROI this year, followed by word-of-mouth (46%).

No surprise, given that email marketing has an ROI of $44.25 for every $1 spent, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

Additionally, 70% of online retailers surveyed believe their mobile sales will increase from the previous year, which follows the trajectory set by the 2014 holiday season. IBM’s Digital Analytics Benchmark Report states that online sales grew 13.9% from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2014 when compared to the same time the previous year.

45% of that online traffic came from mobile devices, which was up from 25.5% in 2013.

This year, Deloitte projects an 8.5% - 9% increase in online holiday sales and Iternet Retailer’s Mobile 500 predicts mobile commerce sales in the United States will be up 38.7% from the year before, an increase in $29.02 billion.

So are online retailers ready for the holidays? Campaigner’s study illustrates key concerns that may point to no.

According to Campaigner, many retailers will not take full advantage of increasing sales projections because 38% of Internet retailers have not yet even begun preparing for the holiday season. Some 31% of online retailers have no plans to improve their consumers’ mobile experience and less than half of respondents (48%) are making responsive design a priority.

This could mean online retailers are missing out on the upswing of mobile commerce. When it comes to email marketing, this could also backfire on marketers, since most recent studies suggest that a vast majority of Americans will simply delete any email that is not readable by mobile device.  

Campaigner states that only 57% of retailers are prioritizing email segmentation in their email marketing campaigns. Even more worrisome, only 40% of Internet retailers are prioritizing personalization in their marketing campaigns at all.

In contrast, 49% of online retailers are prioritizing social sharing this year, and 71% believe a social add-on to email marketing is the most important strategy for holiday sales success.

This is the exact opposite of consumer expectation, according to Autopilot, which found that consumers expect relevant marketing offers and are four times more like to respond to personalized offers than generic content.

A recent study by Experian Marketing Services also illustrated how personalized emails receive a 41% increase in clicks.