As Canadian businesses prepare for the 2026 holiday season, a new global report from Intuit Mailchimp unveils some unique insights and trends on how smart digital marketing can help online retailers cut through the clutter to increase leads and sales among Canadian online shoppers. Developed by Intuit Mailchimp and Datalily, the global report, Breaking Through Peak Season Noise, analyzed more than 44 billion emails, (1.85 billion emails from Canada) and 83 million text messages (1.2 million text messages sent by Mailchimp users in Canada) sent with Mailchimp during last year’s peak season, which spans Halloween through New Year’s Eve. The report found that Canadian online shoppers better respond to personalized emails compared to their global counterparts. During peak season, ecommerce stores that sent personalized emails saw a 33% higher average order value than those using generic emails. The impact of a personalized approach was even more prominent during Canadian Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend, with ecommerce stores seeing a 49% higher average order value from tailored emails. Globally, personalized emails saw only an 11% lift in average order value during BFCM weekend.
Generative AI is playing a role in businesses getting to know their customers. According to the Canadian findings, emails that used generative AI saw a 4x higher order rate and a 4x higher conversion rate than those that didn’t.
Furthermore, the importance of deepening client relationships and its impact on revenue is also evident from the research, especially in Canada. Nearly two-thirds (67.3%) of email orders among Canadian Mailchimp customers during BFCM came from repeat customers. While globally, repeat customers accounted for only 41%.
However, attracting new customers still matters. Canadian Mailchimp customers added 18.3 million new email subscriptions during the peak season. This represents a significant opportunity to build long-lasting relationships with those first-time customers by using smarter choices around targeting, timing, and channel strategy, helping brands find an edge during the most competitive marketing season of the year.
Additional Key Findings from the Global Report
- Use data and automation to increase relevancy. Globally, campaigns using abandoned cart content blocks also saw 36% higher open rates and 28% higher click rates, showing the potential of using customer data and automation to reach shoppers with more relevant messages.
- Email and SMS played different but complementary roles. Email sustained communication and drove more revenue overall, while SMS captured attention during high-intent, time-sensitive moments. At peak, SMS delivered up to 6x higher order rates than email and 3x higher revenue per message. Among Mailchimp customers using both channels during BFCM, SMS drove nearly 20% of their total combined ecommerce revenue.
- Generative AI emails saw stronger performance. During peak season, 450 million emails used generative AI. Emails using the feature saw a 50% higher order rate and 33% higher conversion rate than those sent without it, pointing to the potential of AI to help marketers create content that performs.
- Lower-volume days revealed overlooked opportunities. Weekend order rates were 2x higher than weekday rates, even though brands sent roughly 60% fewer messages on weekends. Around BFCM, shoulder days also drove stronger engagement, while the Sunday between Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw 59% fewer emails and 82% fewer text messages than Black Friday.
Download Breaking Through Peak Season Noise for interactive charts, practical recommendations, and full methodology.
About Intuit
Intuit is the global financial technology platform that powers prosperity for the people and communities we serve. With approximately 100 million customers worldwide using products such as TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, Mailchimp and Intuit Enterprise Suite, we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to prosper. We never stop working to find new, innovative ways to make that possible. Please visit Intuit.com and find us on social for the latest information about Intuit and our products and services.
Methodology
This report was created in collaboration with Datalily. Unless otherwise noted, metrics presented in this report are based on internal aggregate global data of active Mailchimp free and paid plan users evaluated across two primary observation windows: Peak Season 2025 (October 31, 2025, to December 31, 2025) and Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2025 (November 28, 2025, to December 1, 2025). All revenue, gross order value, Average Order Value (AOV), order rate, and conversion rate metrics apply specifically to Mailchimp users with a connected e-commerce store. Revenue metrics reflect gross e-commerce sales synced to Mailchimp and attributable to email and/or SMS campaigns (excluding orders synced via the QuickBooks integration). SMS metrics reflect markets where Mailchimp SMS was commercially available during the observation period. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Individual results and regional feature availability vary.
Sell Smarter, Not Louder: Intuit Mailchimp Research Shows Smarter Marketing Strategies Increase Sales During Peak Holiday Shopping Season
Posted in Commentary with tags MailChimp on September 22, 2026 by itnerdAs Canadian businesses prepare for the 2026 holiday season, a new global report from Intuit Mailchimp unveils some unique insights and trends on how smart digital marketing can help online retailers cut through the clutter to increase leads and sales among Canadian online shoppers. Developed by Intuit Mailchimp and Datalily, the global report, Breaking Through Peak Season Noise, analyzed more than 44 billion emails, (1.85 billion emails from Canada) and 83 million text messages (1.2 million text messages sent by Mailchimp users in Canada) sent with Mailchimp during last year’s peak season, which spans Halloween through New Year’s Eve. The report found that Canadian online shoppers better respond to personalized emails compared to their global counterparts. During peak season, ecommerce stores that sent personalized emails saw a 33% higher average order value than those using generic emails. The impact of a personalized approach was even more prominent during Canadian Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend, with ecommerce stores seeing a 49% higher average order value from tailored emails. Globally, personalized emails saw only an 11% lift in average order value during BFCM weekend.
Generative AI is playing a role in businesses getting to know their customers. According to the Canadian findings, emails that used generative AI saw a 4x higher order rate and a 4x higher conversion rate than those that didn’t.
Furthermore, the importance of deepening client relationships and its impact on revenue is also evident from the research, especially in Canada. Nearly two-thirds (67.3%) of email orders among Canadian Mailchimp customers during BFCM came from repeat customers. While globally, repeat customers accounted for only 41%.
However, attracting new customers still matters. Canadian Mailchimp customers added 18.3 million new email subscriptions during the peak season. This represents a significant opportunity to build long-lasting relationships with those first-time customers by using smarter choices around targeting, timing, and channel strategy, helping brands find an edge during the most competitive marketing season of the year.
Additional Key Findings from the Global Report
Download Breaking Through Peak Season Noise for interactive charts, practical recommendations, and full methodology.
About Intuit
Intuit is the global financial technology platform that powers prosperity for the people and communities we serve. With approximately 100 million customers worldwide using products such as TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, Mailchimp and Intuit Enterprise Suite, we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to prosper. We never stop working to find new, innovative ways to make that possible. Please visit Intuit.com and find us on social for the latest information about Intuit and our products and services.
Methodology
This report was created in collaboration with Datalily. Unless otherwise noted, metrics presented in this report are based on internal aggregate global data of active Mailchimp free and paid plan users evaluated across two primary observation windows: Peak Season 2025 (October 31, 2025, to December 31, 2025) and Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2025 (November 28, 2025, to December 1, 2025). All revenue, gross order value, Average Order Value (AOV), order rate, and conversion rate metrics apply specifically to Mailchimp users with a connected e-commerce store. Revenue metrics reflect gross e-commerce sales synced to Mailchimp and attributable to email and/or SMS campaigns (excluding orders synced via the QuickBooks integration). SMS metrics reflect markets where Mailchimp SMS was commercially available during the observation period. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Individual results and regional feature availability vary.
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