Waitrose reclaims Xmas campaign top spot, Mailjet

Waitrose has won the Christmas battle of the inbox, reclaiming the crown from 2017 champ Asda, according to research from Mailjet. The grocery giant rose nearly seven points clear of the pack with a total score of 25.1 out of an available 30.0.

Mailjet analysed emails sent by nine UK supermarkets (including M&S, Tesco and Iceland) and scored them according to a range of direct marketing metrics including design best practices, personalisation, subject line, creativity of the content and cross-channel elements of campaigns to test how collaboratively internal teams operate.

A key contributor to Waitrose’s win was its savvy use of cross-channel tactics, a category in which it scored 3.5 out of a possible 5.0 points. Unlike its rivals, the grocer also invested in the personalisation of its direct marketing campaigns, scoring an extra 3.2 points.

This year the strongest performance metrics have been seen in the “call-to-action” category, which rose to 3.2 out of 5.0 from an average of 1.9 last year. Knocking Waitrose off the top spot in this field alone, Lidl achieved the highest score with 4.9. The key to its success was the clever employment of custom buttons to ‘try recipes’ and ‘see upcoming offers’, giving new customers a clear next step in the purchase journey and existing customers the nudge to increase basket-size.

The festive season has also seen Lidl realise its creative potential - similarly to Waitrose - in the realm of satire. Its strategy has involved mock-up M&S and Waitrose billboards, calling out how much more expensive the premium brands are, and a much lauded play on the John Lewis ad involving a competitively priced keyboard.

Michyl Culos, Director of Marketing Communications, Mailjet, comments: “It’s clear that food retailers are feeling the pressure in a year that’s seen the likes of Amazon really double down on the sector. For many, direct marketing is more important than ever as a means of driving revenue among shoppers at a vital time of year for sales. Worth noting, two of the grocery brands measured by the annual study, Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s, both opted against direct marketing campaigns for non-members this year, something which could prove costly when revenue figures come in.”