This year, more people than ever will be doing their holiday shopping online. With e-commerce transactions at an all time high, the importance of effective digital marketing is clearer than ever.

Most of our clients are using email campaigns as a core element of their marketing activities so it is really important that their emails are delivered. According to recent research by Responsys into email engagement and deliverability, many email marketers are using bad tactics and it is costing them clients. The study found that 54% of retailers surveyed have been sending email campaigns to databases that include many inactive subscribers. This activity of over mailing, can end up with many campaigns being sent to junk folders.

Apparently if as much as 50% of an email distribution list has not opened a single email in a year, many major ISPs will filter all the incoming email into a junk folder. This means that even messages being delivered to active subscribers could be affected of they are served by the same ISP. Senders of larger campaigns, over 1million subscribers, are monitored even more strictly. It is clear then that it is real important to get on top of your database management, isolating and reducing the numbers of inactive subscribers in your lists.

Considering the fact that more people are shopping or researching purchases online, many more will be subscribing to marketing lists and newsletters. According to a recent RetailMeNot survey 46% of employed consumers will shop via computer this holiday season. Most of these shoppers (82%) will use coupons, 26% will look for free shipping options and 23% will look for buy-one-get-one-free options.