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And I bet if you sent 'Happy Hanukkah' vs. 'Happy Holidays' you'd get much more traffic from Jewish recipients. Repeat with any holiday specific to a group.

aresant 16y ago
That’s a great point – clearly the demographic you’re sending to will influence the results. The experiment was, however, about as controlled for general USA populous as we were able to do - big box retailer, drives most customer acquisition via SEM / SEO so these type of results should be duplicatable if your customers find you through search engines.
electromagnetic 16y ago
The conversion rate could be much better because people rarely see Merry Christmas any more. I'd have bought something from Walmart if they just said 'Merry Christmas' over 'Happy Holidays'. I'm sorry, I'm not celebrating 'happy holidays' I'm celebrating mother fucking Christmas. I'm not religious, it's just the goddamn holiday. I don't say 'happy holidays' to a Jew, because it's flat out rude. They're Jewish, it's their religious holiday and I respect that. I'll say happy Kwanzaa if I knew someone celebrated it. I'll say happy noodle day to a spaghetti monsterist. I like respect. If I'm spending money, I want some damn respect or I'll go to the little store downtown and buy something that's actually celebrating the holiday I'm buying for: Christmas.
- DannoHung 16y ago
  So if it's before/during Hannukah and you're not sure if they're Jewish or not... Oh, and what if you're talking to a Pagan? Do you identify them by the sacrificial blood they are so clearly wearing?
  - electromagnetic 16y ago
    I usually detect my Pagans with a divining rod, I find it the much more applicable way. Similarly I detect Jews by throwing ham at people and judging their reaction, it becomes a little difficult with the Arab Israelis, but you can judge them by carrying around a selection of Halal non-Kosher products. Note: This method isn't 100% accurate due to the lack of verified studies into the field of divination, and the fact that a large subset of people would hit you if you pelt them with seemingly random foods.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
      Considering that the person who introduced me to bacon and garlic pizza was Jewish, I can attest that this method does not always work.
- ceejayoz 16y ago
  > I'm not religious, it's just the goddamn holiday. They're saying "Happy Holidays", not "Happy Holiday". There are all sorts of holidays in December, including New Years.
  - electromagnetic 16y ago
    When was the last time you bought a new years present, or even card? Stores aren't selling new years, they're selling Christmas - hence the christmas trees they put up. I've yet to see 'Happy Holidays' when they're selling me Easter Eggs. So I grant your technicality but they're not using it that way given their own usage methods for multiple holidays. I'd understand this terminology more in British-speaking countries where 'holiday' veritably means any non-regular brake from work. Whilst in North America it is almost literally still used for its original meaning as a Holy-day - with vacation denoting the chiefly British usage of holiday. So why, in the US when Holiday is virtually still a contraction of Holy day are they not simply using the days name, when they use every other holidays name including other days of religious origin. I believe the death/martyrdom and ressurection of Christ on Easter weekend is likely to be a more offensive holiday to bring up in the presence of Jews than his birth. But then, you know, that's logic. You can never be logical and politically correct, it must cause cancer or brain aneurysms as by the present date evolution seems to have made them mutually exclusive.
    - ceejayoz 16y ago
      > When was the last time you bought a new years present, or even card? That doesn't stop it from being a holiday. I don't shop for Christmas presents at my grocery store, but they still put up decorations and wish me a Happy Christmas or Happy Holidays. Both are accurate, and neither rely on me buying stuff for said holidays. > I've yet to see 'Happy Holidays' when they're selling me Easter Eggs. There aren't multiple popularly celebrated holidays at Easter time, so it'd be inaccurate then. > You can never be logical and politically correct... [citation needed]
      - electromagnetic 16y ago
- ugh 16y ago
  „Frohe Feiertage“ is the German equivalent to “Happy Holidays” (usually only referring Christmas and New Years because minorities play a much smaller role in German society) and I’m not aware of anyone who was ever offended by it. (I’m also not aware of anyone who was ever offended by „Frohe Weihnachten“, the German equivalent to “Merry Christmas”.) The local catholic priest will get very angry at Santa Claus but he will say „Frohe Feiertage“ (“Happy Holidays”) without even flinching. To me this looks like a thoroughly ridiculous and awfully US-centric “controversy”.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
    I have to say that I have never met anyone who was offended by Merry Christmas. I'm an atheist and I hate "Happy holidays." I know what the holiday is: just say its name. My Druid ex-girlfriend would point out to me that it was a Christian usurpation of a pagan festival and then wish me Merry Christmas after the lecture :-) I've known more people who were upset by "Merry Xmas" than anything else.
jawee 16y ago
I know about five Jewish families that also celebrate Christmas as a non-religious holiday--the only Jewish families I know. I´d say the secular Christmas holiday is common enough in the American culture to not offend all that many people.

aresant 16y ago

That’s a great point – clearly the demographic you’re sending to will influence the results. The experiment was, however, about as controlled for general USA populous as we were able to do - big box retailer, drives most customer acquisition via SEM / SEO so these type of results should be duplicatable if your customers find you through search engines.

electromagnetic 16y ago

The conversion rate could be much better because people rarely see Merry Christmas any more. I'd have bought something from Walmart if they just said 'Merry Christmas' over 'Happy Holidays'. I'm sorry, I'm not celebrating 'happy holidays' I'm celebrating mother fucking Christmas. I'm not religious, it's just the goddamn holiday. I don't say 'happy holidays' to a Jew, because it's flat out rude. They're Jewish, it's their religious holiday and I respect that. I'll say happy Kwanzaa if I knew someone celebrated it. I'll say happy noodle day to a spaghetti monsterist. I like respect. If I'm spending money, I want some damn respect or I'll go to the little store downtown and buy something that's actually celebrating the holiday I'm buying for: Christmas.

DannoHung 16y ago
So if it's before/during Hannukah and you're not sure if they're Jewish or not... Oh, and what if you're talking to a Pagan? Do you identify them by the sacrificial blood they are so clearly wearing?
- electromagnetic 16y ago
  I usually detect my Pagans with a divining rod, I find it the much more applicable way. Similarly I detect Jews by throwing ham at people and judging their reaction, it becomes a little difficult with the Arab Israelis, but you can judge them by carrying around a selection of Halal non-Kosher products. Note: This method isn't 100% accurate due to the lack of verified studies into the field of divination, and the fact that a large subset of people would hit you if you pelt them with seemingly random foods.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
    Considering that the person who introduced me to bacon and garlic pizza was Jewish, I can attest that this method does not always work.
ceejayoz 16y ago
> I'm not religious, it's just the goddamn holiday. They're saying "Happy Holidays", not "Happy Holiday". There are all sorts of holidays in December, including New Years.
- electromagnetic 16y ago
  When was the last time you bought a new years present, or even card? Stores aren't selling new years, they're selling Christmas - hence the christmas trees they put up. I've yet to see 'Happy Holidays' when they're selling me Easter Eggs. So I grant your technicality but they're not using it that way given their own usage methods for multiple holidays. I'd understand this terminology more in British-speaking countries where 'holiday' veritably means any non-regular brake from work. Whilst in North America it is almost literally still used for its original meaning as a Holy-day - with vacation denoting the chiefly British usage of holiday. So why, in the US when Holiday is virtually still a contraction of Holy day are they not simply using the days name, when they use every other holidays name including other days of religious origin. I believe the death/martyrdom and ressurection of Christ on Easter weekend is likely to be a more offensive holiday to bring up in the presence of Jews than his birth. But then, you know, that's logic. You can never be logical and politically correct, it must cause cancer or brain aneurysms as by the present date evolution seems to have made them mutually exclusive.
  - ceejayoz 16y ago
    > When was the last time you bought a new years present, or even card? That doesn't stop it from being a holiday. I don't shop for Christmas presents at my grocery store, but they still put up decorations and wish me a Happy Christmas or Happy Holidays. Both are accurate, and neither rely on me buying stuff for said holidays. > I've yet to see 'Happy Holidays' when they're selling me Easter Eggs. There aren't multiple popularly celebrated holidays at Easter time, so it'd be inaccurate then. > You can never be logical and politically correct... [citation needed]
    - electromagnetic 16y ago
ugh 16y ago
„Frohe Feiertage“ is the German equivalent to “Happy Holidays” (usually only referring Christmas and New Years because minorities play a much smaller role in German society) and I’m not aware of anyone who was ever offended by it. (I’m also not aware of anyone who was ever offended by „Frohe Weihnachten“, the German equivalent to “Merry Christmas”.) The local catholic priest will get very angry at Santa Claus but he will say „Frohe Feiertage“ (“Happy Holidays”) without even flinching. To me this looks like a thoroughly ridiculous and awfully US-centric “controversy”.
- HeyLaughingBoy 16y ago
  I have to say that I have never met anyone who was offended by Merry Christmas. I'm an atheist and I hate "Happy holidays." I know what the holiday is: just say its name. My Druid ex-girlfriend would point out to me that it was a Christian usurpation of a pagan festival and then wish me Merry Christmas after the lecture :-) I've known more people who were upset by "Merry Xmas" than anything else.

jawee 16y ago

I know about five Jewish families that also celebrate Christmas as a non-religious holiday--the only Jewish families I know. I´d say the secular Christmas holiday is common enough in the American culture to not offend all that many people.