Email campaigns increase service levels over Christmas

The report also found that shoppers were still ordering online on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, when 2.4% of click-throughs resulted in transactions averaging £36 a sale.

The average order value for December peaked at £40, with New Year's Eve returning the highest average order amount of any single day with £130 -- £45 more than the highest pre-Christmas level of £85 on December 4.

Matt Potter, head of client services at CheetahMail UK, said: "At December's peak, one in every four click-throughs resulted in a sale, demonstrating that highly targeted email marketing campaigns clearly work.

"With measurable returns like these, it's clear that email marketing -- whatever the time of year -- is a major sales channel and one that can help organisations improve their customer value management in a highly competitive market place."

Potter also predicted that based on the current levels, retailers investing in multi-channel marketing could expect another hike for December 2007.

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