According to Bloomreach, the 2024 holiday shopping season highlighted a major shift in how businesses engage with customers. Personalization and omnichannel strategies drove a 9% year-over-year (YoY) revenue increase for brands during Black Friday.
Mobile push notifications saw the most dramatic increase, with a 103% YoY surge on Black Friday. This reflects brands’ focus on meeting customers where they spend the most time, on smartphones. Mobile apps have become essential tools for delivering timely updates, personalised offers, and engaging content that keeps shoppers connected to the brands they trust.
“The growth of channels like SMS and mobile this Cyber Week prove just how important that strategy is in standing out from the crowd. As email inboxes become more crowded, brands are using more touchpoints to reach customers where they are. We’re proud to have helped them power and connect personalization across those touchpoints during such a critical time for their businesses,” said Raj De Datta, co-founder and CEO, Bloomreach.
Moreover, SMS gained significant traction, with usage climbing by 45% on Black Friday and 47% on Cyber Monday. Shoppers increasingly respond to SMS communications, which offer direct and often interactive ways to share deals or reminders. As technology like RCS improves SMS with more robust messaging capabilities, the channel becomes an indispensable part of the customer engagement toolkit.
Email, while a long-established channel, continued to prove its effectiveness during the season. Over 500 million emails were sent on Black Friday alone, a 32% increase YoY, with Cyber Monday seeing a similar rise at 26%. What stood out this year was the enhanced use of personalized product recommendations.
Brands focus more on tailoring email content to individual preferences, with Cyber Monday alone seeing a 35% YoY jump in recommendations sent, creating a more engaging experience for shoppers.
Search also played a pivotal role in guiding customer journeys, with nearly 1.5 billion searches recorded during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As customers sought specific products or deals, search became a critical tool for navigation and discovery, underscoring its importance in the shopping experience.