
Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays, winner = nearly double conversion rate - aresant
http://www.conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2010/12/“merry-christmas”-vs-“happy-holidays”-nearly-double-the-conversion-rate/2011
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bradleyland
I think this is driven by the rejection of political correctness. In an ironic
twist, I get the sense that more people are put off by politically correct
language than are accomodated.

If there's a flaw in this strategy, it is that minorities are marginalized.
You might avoid offending a Jewish (just an example) minority by using the
term "Christmas", but you'll engender an emotional reaction in a larger number
of people. By the numbers, this is a positive result. The question is whether
or not you're ok with offending the minority, and to what degree?

~~~
reuven
Not all minorities are offended by mentions of Christmas. I'm Jewish, and find
the whole "Happy Holidays" thing to be bizarre and unnecessary. Christmas is a
major Christian holiday. Hanukkah is a minor Jewish holiday. The only thing
that they have in common is that they both take place at roughly the same time
of year.

If you're Christian, and want to celebrate Christmas, then that's great; go
for it! Don't go watering down your holiday messages, or attempt to include
Hanukkah in your celebrations. (Government and the public sphere is a
different thing, at least in the US.)

I live in Israel nowadays, where Christmas exists mostly as an item on the TV
news. But I still find it amazing that anyone would be offended when someone
expresses excitement and positive feelings about their own holidays.

Meanwhile, I found this marketing test to be fascinating, and a great
demonstration of the need to actually test, rather than just go with gut
feelings.

~~~
bradleyland
I lay no claim that all minorities will be offended, only that a minority
population exists that will be offended. My personal preference is to just use
the language you want. I'm of the generation that rejected the PC cultural
influences developed by our aging parents.

My words are merely a caution against blindly following the numbers. The
impact of "Merry Christmas" vs "Happy Holidays" may be innocuous, but you will
inevitably face more impactful decisions where the best conversion may come at
the price of marginalizing a minority unfairly.

~~~
anamax
> I lay no claim that all minorities will be offended, only that a minority
> population exists that will be offended.

There's always someone who will be offended, no matter what you do. (Example -
some folks are offended by "Happy Holidays", and the reasons are not mutually
consistent.)

Some minorities are worth worrying about but others aren't, and they're not
the same in every situation.

~~~
bradleyland
> Some minorities are worth worrying about but others aren't, and they're not
> the same in every situation.

That's my point exactly. A direct quote from the post you're replying to:

> My words are merely a caution against blindly following the numbers.

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bostonpete
I assume the issue here is that "Merry Christmas YourName" is more likely to
be perceived as a personal note whereas "Happy Holidays YourName" (or the more
verbose version) sounds like a corporate greeting -- and one the reader
therefore filters past.

Can someone explain to me how "open" rates are tracked? In all my mail clients
I prevent remote images from loading automatically. I assume many people do
the same. Is this tracking of open rates skewed as a result? Or maybe it just
doesn't matter as long as you're just using it for comparison purposes?

~~~
famousactress
Still images. Nowadays most of these emails are made up of entirely images...
so checking "Okay, go ahead and show me" is effectively opening the mail.

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GFKjunior
I like to hear "Merry Christmas" and I am not religious in the least.

Happy Holidays makes me think that a corporate suit somewhere told the
employee's that they have to be politically correct and not "offend" anyone.

~~~
StuffMaster
I agree, a lot of people take offense to being sidelined for the purpose of
"not offending anyone". So ironic.

~~~
Sympta
I would say most people are easily offended. By anything.

It's not ironic, it's unfortunate.

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patio11
Tried this for BCC last year on a lark. Christmas crushed.

~~~
famousactress
As always.. I'm super curious about the answer to the question that ultimately
doesn't matter much in the conversion-context.. Why?

Given your history w/ testing like this, I'm curious if you see value in
asking 'why', and whether or not there are useful ways to get an answer. It
seems like in addition to satisfying my curiosity about human psychology, it
would be helpful in informing next-tests to make the entire process more
efficient... but I don't see much talk about the 'why' when it comes to these
tests.

~~~
FaceKicker
I'm not patio11, but my guess (completely speculating here, of course) would
be that "Merry Christmas" sounds more like something someone you know in a
casual context (friends, family, etc.) would say to you, whereas "Happy
Holidays" is used more by companies, which tend to try harder to be
politically correct. When users see "Merry Christmas" rather than "Happy
Holidays", they might be more likely to just read the subject line and open
the message without checking the sender, assuming it's from a friend. "MC"
also sounds (to me) more like an email that is being sent with a specific
purpose (as opposed to just a reminder that the company exists), e.g., maybe
the company is offering you free bingo cards as a gift.

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DanielBMarkham
This is a nice PR piece: timed for a specific holiday on the calender
(timely), hooks into larger discussion around manners and the "best way" to
greet somebody (social hook), and ends up with real-world data on conversion
ratios. (Give us the numbers!). Very nicely done.

Interesting trivia point: originally the phrase was "Happy Christmas," see
"The Night Before Christmas" for a source. Can't help but wonder how "Happy
Christmas" compares to the others?

~~~
mattmillr
"Mery Christmas" [sic] dates back as far as 1565 - It's "Happy Christmas" that
doesn't show up until the 19th century (and apparently is still more widely
used in the UK than in the US.)

That to say, I think the origins of words and language are fascinating and
could spend hours reading Wikipedia articles like this one:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holiday_greetings>

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hackNightly
To me it seems that "Merry Christmas" denotes the act of gift giving as
opposed to just some holiday special. Therefore, I think that the "Merry
Christmas" subject line makes the consumer feel like they're getting
something.

~~~
jonpaul
I think you hit the nail on the head. I'm surprised that this hasn't been
brought up by a previous commenter. In America, culturally, Christmas is a
celebration to receive gifts. I don't see it this way, but on the surface, I
think that many do. This is neither good nor bad, but I do believe that's why
the phrase "Merry Christmas $NAME" had a higher conversion rate.

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teach
I guess they didn't A/B a subject line with a comma... ("Merry Christmas,
Zack!" vs. the incorrect "Merry Christmas Zack!").

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duggan
Worth noting that "happy holidays" is not something used colloquially outside
of America (to the best of my knowledge).

Sure, we understand the context, but it's not something English speaking
Europeans say to each other :) I'd be hesitant to suggest that alone is the
cause, but might be an interesting additional data point.

~~~
neutronicus
It's not _really_ used colloquially in the US either - if someone says "Happy
Holidays" to you, it's because someone in charge of them told them they aren't
allowed to say "Merry Christmas".

(Standard disclaimers about anecdotes and data apply.)

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Egregore
I guess the target audience of that site celebrate Christmas, it's why they
responded better to it.

~~~
aresant
That's accurate however the site is about as large / vanilla of a demographic
as you can imagine.

EG - if you're selling to general population this is likely going to work.

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AznHisoka
What's interesting is the author also says personalizing email subjects lowers
conversion rates. I wonder if "Merry Christmas" would yield higher conversion
rates than Merry Christmas <NAME>

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js2
Too bad there's no measure of the conversion rate among non-Christians.

Also, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpqknwKbvDE> :-)

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SagelyGuru
It is simply because they failed to notice that this year both Christmas and
the New Year fall on the weekends, so there are no holidays.

~~~
adavies42
Christmas and New Year's always fall on the same day of the week....

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grannyg00se
Seriously? A subject line with such a trivial change makes that much of a
difference? It's the same email. A "please remember to buy from us while we
cash in on the commercialization of the holiday" email from a retailer. I'm
surprised to find out that people are actually influenced by that slight
change in subject header.

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zachgreen
Perhaps it just means that religious people are more likely to click on spam.

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djepik
They really missed an opportunity to test out this season's hottest phrase:
"Hey, baby Jesus, you wanna do pilates?"

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billpatrianakos
I'm willing to bet this is because "Merry Christmas" sounds more personal.
Your friend would say that to you, and it just feels more sincere. "Happy
Holidays" sounds like PC jargon and robotic, customer ass kissing. If we just
leave out for a moment the fact that not all people celebrate Christmas this
makes sense.

I honestly think that Christmas is more of a cultural thing here in the US
than a purely religious celebration. We have a majority of people who
celebrate Christmas as part of their religion but even of those people a
majority of them are focused more on the cultural sensation that is Christmas
rather than the religious aspects even though they're Christian. The lights,
the colors, Santa, presents, and the general mood of the holiday is what
really makes Christmas in America, not the actual birth of Christ. That's why
even people who aren't Christian or religious at all can get into it. They're
surrounded by it and it's just a part of life here.

In countries where the "Christmas Spirit" isn't as prevalent in the culture
with populations that are split between Christian and non-Christians more
evenly I think Happy Holidays would sound more sincere and not exclusionary.
Over here if you say "Happy Holidays" its like saying "I _would_ say Merry
Christmas but I'm going to be extra PC and say Happy Holidays just in case
you're a Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, or other unspecified form of pagan, heathen,
or otherwise non-Christian, non Christ believing individual". A little
exaggerated, yes, but Happy Holidays really does sound like this to many and
that's part of the reason that the conservative party over here makes a big
deal over "the war on Christmas" every year with the "Merry Christmas vs Happy
Holidays" debate being very close to the center of it each time.

I know I said a lot, and my theory is based on personal experience and
anecdotal evidence but I really think it makes a lot of sense. Try it on and
see if you like it. Maybe I'm wrong.

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maeon3
Might get better results by making reference to scripture and glorifying
Christ the savior as the reason for the season. The sheep are trained to
gather around and financially support anything with gods name in it.

This effect is not an accident. It is the result of organized brainwashing
that happens all over America between the hours of 9:30 and noon on Sunday.

~~~
AmazingBytecode
Might get better results by making reference to science and glorifying Dawkins
the savior as the reason for the season. The free thinkers are trained to
gather around and financially support anything with Dawkins' name in it.

This effect is not an accident. It is the result of organized back-patting
that happens all the time on the Internet

