Back To School Newsletter Ads Grew 40 Percent Year-Over-Year As In-Person Learning Resumes

In an unprecedented back-to-school season, consumers are buying more according to new LiveIntent research that shows back-to-school newsletter ads grew 40 percent compared to last year. The data suggests that retailers should focus on optimizing campaigns to reach younger audiences as well as parents, specifically mothers.

Newsletters that saw the most conversions highlighted shopping, style and fashion, and family and parenting. LiveIntent’s data shows that these newsletters saw campaigns perform 140 percent higher than the average conversion rate.

One reason for this could be that women are still doing the majority of back-to-school shopping for their household. LiveIntent found that women continue to lead as the primary buyers, with a 27 percent higher clickthrough rate (CTR) and 160 percent higher conversion rate than men. Older demographics had the highest clicks but the 18-20 year old group held the lead in conversions, with 59 percent higher than average.

LiveIntent also found that tablets are the best performing device for back-to-school retailers, with a 36 percent higher CTR than average. Still, PC conversion rates took the lead this year at 46 percent higher than average. When looking at performance by date, weekends had a 7 percent higher CTR and 5 percent higher conversion rate than weekdays, according to LiveIntent.

“As we enter an unpredictable school year, marketers have had to be nimble when designing their back-to-school campaigns. Understanding when and where to reach an audience is critical, especially as regional regulations are changing,” said Kerel Cooper, chief marketing officer at LiveIntent.

According to the National Retail Federation’s annual Back-to-School and Back-to-College surveys, shoppers of the 2021-2022 season will spend more than $108.1 billion this year—a record-breaking amount.

The NRF’s survey also found that the top three back-to-school categories in terms of spending are electronics, clothing and accessories, and shoes. For college shoppers, the top three categories are electronics, dorm or apartment furnishings, and clothing and accessories. For both groups, the top destinations are online and department stores.

A little over half (51 percent) reported to the NRF that they started back-to-class shopping, 39 percent said they shopped at the end of June sales and another 18 percent completed shopping on average.