Just like stockings on the fireplace mantel, email inboxes have a tendency to overflow with branded messages during the holiday season. For most brands, hitting send too many times could actually deter consumer engagement, according to a new study from Brand Keys. But there are some exceptions to that rule. 

While Amazon topped the list of mass emailers, just as it did in 2018, 40% of the brands made their first appearance on the leaderboard this year. The debut entrants include Uber, Airbnb, Booking.com, Facebook, Expedia and Banana Republic. 

See the full 2022 ranking below: 

1. Amazon

2. Macy’s 

3. Groupon

4. Gap

5. Home Depot

6. Expedia

7. Uber 

8. Booking.com

9. Airbnb

10. Walmart

11. CVS

12. Facebook

13. Banana Republic 

14. Apple

15. Overstock

Brand Keys in September polled 2,208 U.S. consumers between the ages of 16 and 55 who opted into emails from these companies.  

For 85% of the list, sending too many emails is a bad thing in that it erodes consumer engagement, said Robert Passikoff, president and founder of Brand Keys. But for Amazon and Groupon, that wasn’t the case. Consumer engagement has actually increased significantly for those two companies since they last made the list in 2018. 

“People think they’re sending out too many emails, but apparently it’s not annoying people enough where it’s eroding brand equity,” he said of Amazon and Groupon. 

“I think it’s an absolute that you shouldn’t annoy your customer,” he said. However, as Passikoff noted with a David Ogilvy reference, “consumers don’t know how they feel. They don’t say what they think, and they don’t do what they say.”