Sinch, which is pioneering the way the world communicates through its digital Customer Communications Cloud, announced key highlights for the 2024 Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping period. These achievements highlight Sinch’s pivotal role in helping brands deliver relevant, personalized customer experiences during peak shopping events.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday remain the biggest shopping events of the year, generating $118.2 billion in revenue during November 2024, with $10.8 billion on Black Friday alone according to a recent report by Adobe. The holiday shopping season is also a critical period for digital customer communications, as retailers look to engage with consumers before, during, and after their purchases.
Sinch is uniquely qualified to analyze, enable and support the holiday rush, with thousands of brands relying on its solutions to deliver holiday campaigns and business-critical messages. Earlier this year, Sinch surveyed 1,200 consumers about their Black Friday communication preferences. The findings revealed a clear demand for personalized, omnichannel engagement from their favorite brands. Sinch analyzed billions of messages sent through its Customer Communications Cloud during Black Friday and Cyber Week to determine how brands measured up to shopper demands.
Key Highlights
Sinch’s multi-channel capabilities supported businesses through a dynamic mix of communication channels:
- Sinch delivered an impressive 7.68 billion interactions across SMS, MMS, RCS, WhatsApp, and email during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, demonstrating the scalability and reliability of its Customer Communications Cloud during peak traffic periods.
- SMS remained a vital channel, with 1.8 billion SMS messages worldwide sent across Black Friday and Cyber Monday for last-minute deals and promotional reminders, demonstrating the continued strength of SMS for retail marketing and delivery use cases.
- Sinch experienced a 33% increase in email volumes on Black Friday and another 33% increase on Cyber Monday compared to 2023, a peak sending period for transactional messages as shoppers make their purchases. Sinch’s BFCM Consumer Survey 2024 revealed that 61.3% of consumers preferred email for promotional messaging, and 75.1% favored it for transactional updates like order confirmations and shipping notifications.
- Engagement remained strong despite the crowded season, with Black Friday emails achieving an average open rate of 13%, rising to 15% on Cyber Monday, comparable to year-round performance and reflecting the effectiveness of targeted email campaigns.
- Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a significant evolution of traditional SMS, delivering a richer and more interactive messaging experience while maintaining the convenience and familiarity of the inbox consumers already use for SMS. Offering enhanced features like verified and branded messages, interactive elements, and seamless conversational functionality, RCS is transforming how brands connect with their audiences. As the fastest-growing messaging channel, with an impressive 111% growth across Black Friday and Cyber Monday compared to 2023, RCS is quickly becoming a key driver for digital customer engagement. Earlier this fall, Sinch announced it had sent over one billion RCS messages in 2024, highlighting the channel’s rapid adoption. With 51% of consumers expressing interest in interactive holiday promotions through messaging apps, RCS is quickly becoming the go-to channel for creating immersive and engaging experiences. Sinch continues to enhance its RCS capabilities, empowering brands to utilize this channel effectively in both the U.S. and global markets.
Sean O’Neal, Chief Product Officer at Sinch, commented, “This year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping events underscored the vital role of timely, reliable, and high-throughput communication in delivering exceptional digital customer experiences. Sinch’s Customer Communications Cloud, backed by enterprise-grade infrastructure, and robust suite of messaging, email, and voice solutions, ensured seamless message delivery with zero downtime. This enabled brands to exceed consumer expectations and perform at their best during the year’s busiest and most high-stakes shopping days of the year.”
Brands leveraging Sinch’s omnichannel communication strategies are meeting consumer expectations and standing out in an increasingly crowded holiday market. By scaling communication seamlessly across SMS, RCS, and WhatsApp, businesses maximize engagement, build trust, and drive satisfaction.
As a global leader in digital customer communication solutions, Sinch continues to innovate and enable businesses to deliver exceptional customer experiences during critical shopping periods and beyond.
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