Mother’s Day may not seem as big an occasion as Christmas or Thanksgiving — that’s why many email marketers refrain from sending Mother’s Day emails. That’s a mistake: according to the National Retail Federation, 84% of Americans celebrated Mother’s Day in 2023:
The popularity of the holiday is not steadily growing — but it’s not as important to us. Let’s look at NRF’s spending statistics:
As you can see, Mother’s Day per household expenses have been steadily growing since 2018, and reached a record $274 in 2023, with a total spending of $35.7 billion. Looks impressive, doesn’t it? So sending email campaigns for Mother’s Day is a wise decision for everyone who works in e-commerce. Help your customers choose gifts for their mothers and guide them through your products — email marketing is a great tool for that.
What gifts for Mother’s Day were the most popular in 2023?
When it comes to Mother’s Day gifts, the trends haven’t changed a lot since 2020. The most popular spending categories include flowers, gift cards, outings, and greeting cards. If you sell one of these, Mother’s Day is your chance to significantly increase sales. But even if you don’t, you still can profit from Mother’s Day emails. For example, lots of people give presents not only to their mothers, but to their wives, daughters, grandmothers, and friends — everyone who experienced the joy of motherhood.
And if you have no sharp ideas about what to offer, 54% of Americans planned to purchase gift cards for Mother’s Day. A little more than half can be considered popular — don’t hesitate and use the opportunity for Mother’s Day sales.
Let’s see how to make the most of your holiday email marketing campaign. In this chapter, we’ll describe the most effective and unconventional ideas and practices to use in your Mother’s Day emails.
Storytelling is an underestimated way to make more “human” content and show the readers that there are real people behind your brand. They all have their fears, desires, and challenges similar to yours. Customers will be happy to see a more genuine email in their inboxes cluttered with “50% discount expires now” messages. When it comes to the Mother’s Day newsletter, you can share some family traditions, recipes, or photos — anything that correlates with your brand and allows you to feature your products.
In this email newsletter, Clinique shows the prospects which products the mothers of team members prefer. Seeing an email like this one in their inbox, every subscriber will want to read it till the end and maybe even shop the products:
Showing that your offer is time-sensitive will help the customers make quicker decisions. Add a countdown timer to your templates, use a temporary promo code, or simply say it in the email body — it depends on you. This tip also works great for subject lines — setting a deadline will make your email more noticeable in the recipient’s inbox.
Miadonna gently reminds late shoppers about the upcoming holiday and offers expedited shipping for those who haven’t bought a gift yet. A great balance of a sense of urgency and an empathetic tone.
Offer a set of your products as a Mother’s Day gift. You’ll save the customers’ time, and, in case you give a discount for the whole set, money. Such sets can also act as sample boxes which works great as a first touch with your brand and may lead to gaining a new customer.
Native offers a set of its three best-selling spring scents as a gift for Mother’s Day. The promotion “refer a friend, get a gift” makes an offer even more attractive:
What if you’re just a retailer who sells different products from different brands? Offer gift bundles in your marketing campaigns! Take a look at this email from Gourmet Basket. In its Mother’s Day campaign, the brand offered several gift sets with indulgent treats and drinks for every taste.
Sometimes too much choice makes people indecisive. Try sending out a campaign focusing on one single product you’d like to highlight. This way when a reader opens their inbox, they will have a persuasive product recommendation they can instantly shop.
In this email, a jewelry brand told the story of the practice of assigning a gemstone to each letter of the alphabet while simultaneously promoting its rings. The product choice here is especially smart as the acrostic rings can be personalized with the names of the mother’s children:
Help the audience choose a gift by starting a promotional campaign on all your products or some particular categories. It can be a discount, free gifts on orders, free shipping, a holiday design — you name it. If you consider sending an email like this, don’t forget to add a clear CTA and highlight the benefits of your offer.
Shapermint has made a generous offer for Mother’s Day: up to 70% off on all the items, an extra $5 off on any purchase with a time-limited (remember about a sense of urgency?) code, and free shipping. Looks really impressive!
Invite the prospects to participate in a festive contest or use another gamification technique. It will help you increase engagement rates and entice customers to visit your website. Before sending an email, make sure you’ve clearly explained the rules, and that the prize is attractive enough to battle for it.
This email contest successfully accomplishes both. The design prominently features the prize — a gold emerald pendant worth more than $1,000. Next, there are only 3 simple ways to win, clearly explained in the email copy:
Moms are always too nice to tell what presents they want. So, very often your recipients have to figure it out by themselves. Your goal is to help them in this challenging task — pick products from your collection that would make a good present.
You can highlight the most suitable product categories in your templates or offer individual items like Peoples Jewellers. The brand showed 5 options in a simple, laser-focused email design:
Mother’s Day is a good occasion to be kind and help those in need. In the example below, St.Baldrick’s Foundation offers to send your mom an e-card — all purchases will be donated to help kids with cancer and heart diseases. A campaign like this one allows your audience to participate in making a positive impact while celebrating Mother’s Day.
Everyone wants to make their moms happy but not everyone has enough disposable income. You can help them by creating a guide with gifts categorized by budget.
Look at this Mother’s Day email from Najo. The company created several gift guides, including the guide for those on a budget — and it put the latter on top of the email so customers can easily find how to save money but still buy a great present.
CTAs like “Shop now”, “Read more”, and “Choose a gift” usually work well, but sometimes it’s great to choose something more enticing and non-trivial. Find a call-to-action that immediately grabs attention and creates a cozy holiday atmosphere.
Here’s an interesting gift guide by Uncommon Goods. The brand divided moms into several types and offered a selection of presents for each. Clever CTAs coax the subscribers to visit the website to see what is recommended for their mothers.
Real photos of real mothers sometimes boost sales even better than perfectly designed illustrations. They create that cozy family atmosphere, and, at the same time, humanize your brand. Such emails strengthen the relationship with your audience.
See how Everlane applied this method and created a cute collage with their employees’ mothers:
This time of year can be sensitive to some of your subscribers. If you don’t want to hurt their feelings and increase your unsubscribe rate, allow them to update their subscription preferences and not receive Mother’s Day newsletters. It shows that you care about your audience and makes them more loyal to the brand.
You don’t have to write a short novel of an email — gently expressing the concern and giving a link is enough for a nice example of good email etiquette. Here’s an awesome example from Daily Blooms:
When planning a subject line for your Mother’s Day campaign, use our quick tips:
Here are some helpful ideas for your punchy Mother’s Day subject lines that will draw attention in the inbox:
Expressing love and gratitude
Making gifts for mothers
Empowering moms
For last-minute shoppers
With emojis
We’ve collected a couple more noteworthy and beautiful Mother’s Day email examples and templates for your marketing inspiration.
What we liked about it:
A wonderfully made guide by Kate Spade helps to ease the gift choice. The brand highlighted several purposes its bags have and offered the most appropriate ones for every category. This approach saves the subscribers’ time and entices them to visit the company’s website to see more.
What we liked about it:
What we love about this campaign is its simplicity, the email is focused on one clear purpose — shopping for Mother’s Day gifts. The structure of the email is also worth your attention. It is user-friendly, with a minimum of text — just highlighting key categories of Mother’s Day presents.
What we liked about it:
Allset created a ready-made guide on spending Mother’s Day using their products. A very cozy, warm, and beautiful email, with unobtrusive advertising and no endless “buy now”, “go shopping” CTAs. Sometimes such a delicate approach works even better.
What we liked about it:
With a sleek layout, creative CTAs, and a vast array of gift options including quality time and experiences — it’s a textbook Mother’s Day email campaign for health and wellness brands. We also can’t help but appreciate the empowering message behind the campaign. Moms care for others all the time — why not let them take care of themselves at least this day so they can replenish their physical and mental resources?
What we liked about it:
This email suggests a classic Mother’s Day gift with a fun twist — the brand recommends subscribers opt for “mums” — chrysanthemums — for their moms. This wordplay makes the email more fun and exciting. The design is also nice to look at with bright colors and close-ups of the flower bouquets.
What we liked about it:
Mother’s Day emails don’t have to be aggressively promotional — this email by Frank & Eileen is a great example of that. Instead of directly selling gifts, the brand opted for an immaculately designed greeting card that expresses the company’s values and appreciation for customers and customers’ mothers. And, if you still need a gift, there are a couple of links at the bottom of the email. It’s a more subtle yet still effective approach to holiday campaigns.
Mother’s Day is frequently ignored by email marketers as many of them consider it a minor occasion compared to Christmas, for example. However, statistics from the National Retail Federation prove them wrong. Spending your budget for a Mother’s Day email campaign is a great investment — try out our email marketing ideas this year and thank us later!
To make your Mother’s Day email campaign effective and create newsletters that stand out in subscribers’ inboxes, use the tips and best practices from our article:
Hope these recommendations will help you create a Mother’s Day email that works. Happy holidays!
This article was originally published in April 2023 and was updated in April 2024 to make it more relevant and comprehensive.
