Ah, mother’s day. that time of year when our mailboxes fill up with pictures of pyjama’s, slippers, robes, flowers, spa packages, and pink ribbons flowing through a sea of make up and magazines. But what if your mum, or the mums you know, aren’t into pyjama’s or fluffy robes or sitting around reading magazines? There can only be so many mums in the world who like pink and enjoy going to spa’s. Mine doesn’t enjoy any of these things.
Are you a company that doesn’t think you have something fluffy to offer mums? This your chance to stand out in the inbox and do something different. This means that even if you are a hardware store, you too can offer something for Mother’s Day because I know mum’s that like DIY, sports or even gadgets. How about offering something unique like buy some nails and get a free mother’s day gift of your choice? How about if a mum comes into your sports store and buys some shoes she gets a free workout drink bottle and iPod holder? Start thinking outside the box and see what you could offer than no one else can.
I love this email by UNICEF which offers you the chance to give your mum measles for Mother’s Day. Read about the campaign here and check out the email here.
If this tact doesn’t suit you, there is another way to stand out…
E-mail driven transactions peak two weeks before mother’s day according to a report by Experian, and the lead up to Mother’s Day is when our in-boxes get flooded with perfume. However, the same e-mail marketing study showed that e-mails with the term “Mother’s Day” in the subject line in the week AFTER the day had a 44% higher open rate than the e-mail campaigns in the week leading up to it! Thinking about this, it would be very original of you and might be very interesting when you do a small Mother’s Day themed series of emails, or just send a post-Mother’s Day e-mail on purpose, inject a bit of humour or something original in there and see how much attention you get!
I like this email by explore.org – they sent it post mother’s day, and definitely has a unique twist to it – they encourage you to celebrate Mother’s Day by spending time with new animal families on their live web cams. See screenshot of email below, click on image to see larger version.
And Fab also sent a post Mother’s Day campaign that says “It’s possible that you somehow forgot Mother’s Day. But don’t worry, tomorrow is a new day. There’s nothing quite like a Mother’s Day surprise the day after Mother’s Day”. See screenshot of email below, click on image to see larger version.
The question is why these post-holiday e-mails get so much attention. Yes, some people visit their family or catch up with their mum after the official day. It could be they are very disorganised. It could be whatever was gifted wasn’t the pleasant surprise they thought, and subsequent replacement gifts are bought… or perhaps they gave gift vouchers which are redeemed after the day.
Yes it seems a bit ‘against the grain’ to send a Mother’s day e-mail AFTER the day, but see if you can put a unique spin on it like the campaigns featured above have done, use some original ideas, catch readers with some funny copy or a quirky subject line. See how you can stand out by being different.
