• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, March 20, 2024

Ecommerce marketers may be too caught up in the stresses of the 2024 election year to cast a glimpse back at 2023. But Listrak is offering such a look in its 2024 Cross-Channel Benchmark Report. 

Perhaps because of inflation fears, 2023 was a flat year in terms of retail email metrics, the study says.  

For instance, brands suffered a 20% decrease in email conversion rates YoY. Triggered emails suffered a particular decline.

The study concludes that “price-conscious users were window shopping more in 2023.” 

Revenue per send was also flat. But transactional emails performed well, and the study urges senders to include “Product Recommendations and refresh emails to avoid looking like the stock ecommerce platform templates.”

Shopping cart abandonment emails produced the highest revenue per send of all message types. But they should be accompanied by use of “’save for later’ or wish list functions on a site,” the study says. 

Click-through rates saw generally flat growth, but price-drop emails grew by over 70%, and transactional and triggered emails did well.  

SMS messaging is slightly different. Overall, senders saw more than a 40% increase in click-through rates. Price-drop messages produced a 24% increase, driving a 31.8% clickthrough rate.

In addition, SMS senders achieved a 14.3% increase in conversion rates. Welcome texts did especially well. And there was an overall 40% increase in revenue per send.  

The study offers cautious optimism. “Inflation has somewhat normalized, yet consumers continue to feel financial pressure. Everyday goods, especially groceries, remain expensive, affecting discretionary spending on non-essential products,” it says.

But the study adds that “brands are projecting minor increases in revenue, aiming for stability rather than significant growth.” 

Companies are also looking to consolidate their tech stacks. “With the industry move to data consolidation and the use of comprehensive marketing platforms for better personalization, brands are looking to centralize data and streamline tech partners to deliver cohesive messaging across all channels.