Mother's Day Email Analysis

Our look at this year’s Mother’s Day email focuses on activity and performance data for related email campaigns covering seventeen brands that Internet Retailer had asked us to review for a separate collaborative effort. These brands represent the retail, food, florist and jewelry sectors.

Data in the table below show, along with first observed related 2018 email activity date, and for comparable six-week periods ending on Mother’s Day in 2018 and 2017:

Number of related campaigns deployed.
The number and percentage exceeding 90% inbox rates.
The number and percentage exceeding 20% read rates.

The table below reads as follows: In 2018, starting on April 23^rd, Amazon mailed 56 such campaigns, 53 (95%) of which achieved an inbox rate of 90% or better; and 17 (30%) of which achieved a read rate of 20% or better.

Commentary

Timing: Godiva and Macy’s were the earliest 2018 Mother’s Day mailers —- April 5^th and 9^th, respectively. Note that the florist brands each mailed their first related campaigns on the same day, April 23^rd.
The three florist brands, along with Walmart and Amazon, deployed the highest numbers of Mother’s Day themed emails. Etsy and Fannie Mae hold the low end of the range.
Amazon, Etsy and Pandora had the highest number of campaigns with read rates exceeding 20%. Of the seventeen brands, only eleven produced campaigns at this performance level.
- Eight brands mailed more Mother’s Day campaigns; seven brands mailed fewer, and two mailed the same number. Overall, the group’s campaign volume decreased by 11%.
- Inbox performance (as measured by the percentage of campaigns achieving 90% or better inbox rates) improved for eleven of the brands; while read rates (as measured by the percentage of campaigns achieving 20% or better read rates) improved for only two brands.Versus the comparable year-ago period:

Overall (not shown on above table), the seventeen brands deployed:

39% of their Mother’s Day campaigns during the six days ending on Mother’s Day, versus 43% last year.
10% of their Mother’s Day campaigns over the Mother’s Day weekend itself, versus 11% last year.

Best Performers The table below shows fifteen examples of best performing Mother’s Day themed emails. They were taken from a group of 58 campaigns achieving read rates of 20% or better.

All have mailing quantities which suggest significant targeting in relation to the respective brand’s estimated overall email audience footprint.
Only four have even implicit price-promotional references in their subject lines. A fifth references earning loyalty points.
Two brands’ campaigns (including the top performer) feature “top picks.”
Two use emotional references.
Four reference specific product categories. Other strong performers (not shown below) — all from Amazon — feature Kindle, flowers and jewelry in their subject lines.
The top performing (ProFlowers) campaign deployed on the day before Mother’s Day, and also features a 20% discount. One of Amazon’s top performers deployed on Mother’s Day itself.

Mother’s Day Email Analysis

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