Generative AI lifts Canadian holiday email orders fourfold

Intuit Mailchimp has released Canadian data showing that marketing emails using generative AI delivered four times higher order rates and four times higher conversion rates during the peak holiday shopping season. The findings are based on analysis of 1.85 billion emails sent from Canada.

The Canadian data also found that personalised emails were associated with a 33% higher average order value during the peak season than non-personalised emails. During the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period, that gap rose to 49%.

These figures form part of a wider global study based on more than 44 billion emails and 83 million text messages sent through Mailchimp from Halloween to New Year's Eve. In Canada, the dataset also included 1.2 million text messages.

The report offers a snapshot of how businesses are using AI-assisted tools and customer data in email marketing as companies face pressure to show practical returns from AI spending. While the strongest AI-related gains in Canada came in order and conversion rates, the global data showed more moderate improvements. Emails using generative AI recorded a 50% higher order rate and a 33% higher conversion rate than emails sent without it.

Mailchimp's figures suggest Canadian shoppers responded more strongly to tailored email campaigns than the global average. Globally, personalised emails generated an 11% lift in average order value during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, compared with the 49% increase reported in Canada.

Customer retention

The data also pointed to the importance of returning shoppers in the Canadian market. During the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, 67.3% of email orders came from repeat Canadian customers, compared with 41% globally.

At the same time, Canadian users added 18.3 million new email subscriptions during the peak shopping period, underlining the scale of customer acquisition alongside repeat purchasing.

The broader report examined how email and SMS were used during the shopping season. It found that email generated more revenue overall, while SMS performed better in time-sensitive moments when customer intent was high. Among Mailchimp customers using both channels during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, SMS accounted for nearly 20% of combined eCommerce revenue.

Globally, SMS delivered up to six times higher order rates than email and three times higher revenue per message at peak moments, according to the study. The data suggests marketers used the two channels differently rather than treating them as direct substitutes.

Timing patterns

The report also highlighted what it described as overlooked opportunities outside the busiest shopping days. Weekend order rates were twice as high as weekday rates globally, despite brands sending roughly 60% fewer messages on weekends.

Around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so-called shoulder days also showed stronger engagement. The Sunday between Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw 59% fewer emails and 82% fewer text messages than Black Friday, the analysis found.

Another part of the global data focused on automated and behaviour-driven messaging. Campaigns using abandoned cart content blocks recorded 36% higher open rates and 28% higher click rates, suggesting that messages linked to recent shopper behaviour drew more attention than broader campaign sends.

Jack Tam, Senior Vice President of Product and Engineering at Mailchimp, said the findings reflected a broader shift in how marketers approach seasonal campaigns.

"Peak season is an opportunity to deepen customer connections. The businesses that thrive use their own customer data to understand when people are ready to act, which messages matter, and where to focus next. This research helps marketers make those decisions with confidence and build customer relationships that endure long after the season ends," Tam said.