• by Ray Schultz , January 27, 2023

Email/SMS use boomed late last year, according to Klaviyo’s Q4 2022 Business Trend recap.

Brands sent almost 45% more emails and SMS messages YoY -- and started earlier in the season, Klaviyo reports based on activity on its own platform. And they sent over 50% more over the entire year.  

E-commerce spending by consumers increased in turn. 

“While the January US Retail Sales report focused on declining retail sales in November and December, the data on our platform shows that ecommerce sales actually increased during that time period,” says Andrew Bialecki, co-founder and CEO of Klaviyo. 

Bialecki continues: “Compared to the same months in 2021, October, November and December 2022 saw an increase in orders by at least 10% each month. 

Specifically, customers placed over 5% more orders in October, over 15% more in November and almost 10% more in December. 

And they spent 45% more on orders in October, over 25% more in November and almost 20% more in December. Overall average order value rose by almost 20% year-over-year.

Meanwhile, reliance on owned marketing increased as acquisition costs grew.

Email volume depended on product category. The study reports that:

• Apparel and Accessories companies — 15% more emails and almost 80% more SMS messages.
• Electronics companies — 15% fewer emails, 20% more SMS messages
• Food and Beverage companies — 2% more emails, almost 60% more SMS messages
• Health and Beauty companies — Almost 10% more emails and over 100% more SMS.
• Jewelry companies — 4% more emails. 3% fewer SMS messages
• Housewares and Home Furnishing companies sent 20% fewer emails and over 45% more SMS messages 
• Sporting Goods companies sent over 20% more emails and over 70% more SMS messages 
• Toys and Hobbies companies sent almost 5% more emails and over 15% more SMS messages