Happy belated Mother’s Day from the Code à la Mode team! Check out our favorite emails from yesterday, and note that half of them were straight up Mother’s Day greetings that did not contain promotional messaging! (Omitting the sales pitch helps make the message appear more genuine)
From: Mark and Graham
Date: 05/11/2014
Subject Line: Happy Mother’s Day!
This Mark and Graham email was the highlight from the email inbox yesterday. It is nice to get a reprieve from the barrage of emails directly marketing products and promotions, and we LOVE M+G’s creative use of social media to engage with their subscribers and customers. Mark and Graham used twitter and Facebook to ask its audience to submit their mom’s wisest words, and then compiled the best for this email. The result is a win-win email that wishes its subscribers a happy mother’s day AND thanks it’s social community for contributing.
From: buy buy BABY
Date: 05/11/2014
Subject Line: Don’t forget M❤M, it’s not too late!
Gotta give credit to buy buy BABY for giving the ultimate procrastinators one very VERY last-minute chance to get something for mom with this email promoting eGift cards! While we love the special character in the subject line, we wouldn’t recommend the placement of “Please drag and drop this message to your Primary tab so you don’t miss future emails” in the pre-header. This is for 2 reasons: 1) although we are guessing the reference is to Gmail tabs, the directions are confusing and not applicable to all email readers, and 2) the first line of the pre-header typically appears in the email preview pane, and is therefore valuable email real estate that is not being used to its full potential here. Ideally, the pre-header should provide content that is complimentary to the subject line.
From: See’s Candies
Date: 05/11/2014
Subject Line: Happy Mother’s Day from See’s!
See’s also used social media to mine the words of wisdom from the moms of subscribers for their Mother’s Day send. The email featured just one select quote, and then had a link to the full Facebook conversation, as well as social links to share the quote on Facebook, twitter and Pinterest.
From: LOFT
Date: 05/11/2014
Subject Line: Call mom. Then shop 40% off.
We like the directness of the subject line, and appreciate the reminder to call our moms (not that we would EVER forget!). Thanks LOFT!
From: Tea Collection
Date: 05/11/2014
Subject Line: We Love Moms!
As the subject line tells us: We Love Moms! Awww…thanks, Tea! We love you back! Like Mark and Graham, Tea sent its subscribers a non-promotional blast. The main body has a sweet Mother’s Day greeting and an invitation to “Meet our 2014 Inspiring Mom Award Winners”. Unfortunately, Tea misses an opportunity for increased subscriber engagement, as this section was not linked, and was elusive to find the on the Tea website as well.
From: Williams-Sonoma Home
Date: 05/11/2014
Subject Line: Last Day! $50 off Cashmere Throws + Free Shipping
…and finally, this email from Williams-Sonoma Home makes the list because it features a gorgeous product, and is what moms TRULY want to receive as their Mother’s Day gift. Just “throwing” it out there for next year… (and, yes, pun intended!)
