Mother’s Day is on Sunday May 13, 2012. According to Microsoft, it is the second largest shopping holiday.

This means you need to start planning your email marketing now even if your organization isn’t likely to act until the last minute.

Psychology and Opportunity

More than any other holiday, Mother’s Day is as much about the giver as it is the receiver.

Mother’s Day is also loaded with a lot of emotional triggers; love, appreciation, and even guilt.

Needless to say you can use these triggers to drive response rates, all while to helping direct your customers toward the perfect gift or experience.

But this holiday is not only for retailers or those that sell services geared towards mothers.

All marketers can use Mother’s Day to show that they are real human beings with real moms. Even B2B email marketers (like Indiemark) can give their customers ideas, inspiration, or simple shout-out to the mother’s on their list.

Here are a few email marketing strategies and tactics you can use to plan and execute a rewarding email program this Mother’s Day:

Show Them the Way

Many prospective buyers don’t have the time or talent to pick a word-class gift. So help them decide with gift suggestions.

If you’re short on time and resources you can find success by simply showcasing your most popular ideas, creating packages and upselling with Good, Better, Best options.

More sophisticated marketers, on the other hand, can also segment their way to success. According to this DM News article marketers can use gender and age demographics to fine tune their recommendations. And if past behavior is truly the best predictor of future behavior, then organizations can tap into historical purchase information and in turn reference previous Mother’s Day purchases or find a relationship between what customers like to buy and what products are hot this year.

Get In Early

According to data compiled by eDataSource the traditional flowers and candy marketers are not yet in full swing until two weeks before Mother’s Day.

You can use this window of opportunity to provide your customers with great suggestions, incentives and peace of mind in knowing that they can check this one off their to-do list.

Want to take it even further? Consider sending an email-exclusive, early bird offer to reward loyal subscribers.

Bust Through the Clutter

Once the email volume really picks ups, roughly 10 days prior to the holiday, you’ll want to be creative with your subject lines and offers.

Don’t be afraid to scare them; subject line “Yikes! Mother’s Day is next Sunday. Perfect Gifts Under $5O”. Don’t be afraid to stand out; subject line “If Momma Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy!”.  Just don’t be afraid.

This will give you a better opportunity to ensnare and persuade your customers, before they give in to the default choices.

Last Minute

In the final days, things are really heating up. Now you’ll want to offer a solution that works for procrastinators. For offers, think guaranteed delivery and gift cards as well as high-end products and high-priced packages. A rushed shopper will gladly pay the price for their lack of planning.

If you have the available demographics, you can target the moms on your list with a Treat Yourself campaign. This segment also presents potential to marketers who reach moms in the weeks after the holiday is over.

Post Holiday

Mother’s Day email open rates peak after the holiday according to this survey from Experian CheetahMail. The data reveals an opportunity send follow-up emails after the holiday is over to convert cautious shoppers or those who have not yet seen their mothers. Some shoppers may also be waiting for further discounts on products. Just be sure to suppress those that have already made Mothe’s Day purchases.

Need Some Mother’s Day Marketing Inspiration?

May the following quotes rouse your marketing spirit and lift your heart, especially the doozy from Tina Fey.

• No gift to your mother can ever equal her gift to you…life. — Unknown
• Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. — Unknown
• We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves. — Henry Ward Beecher
• A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. — Tenneva Jordan
• The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. — Unknown
• All mothers are working mothers. — Unknown
• Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs since the payment is pure love. — Mildred B. Vermont
• When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. — Sophia Loren
• There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. — Chinese Proverb
• A Mother’s Prayer: First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches. May she be beautiful but not damaged, for it’s the damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the beauty. When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half and stick with beer. Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age. Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes and not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking you, because if I knew, I’d be doing it. May she play the drums to the fiery rhythm of her own heart with the sinewy strength of her own arms, so she need not lie with drummers. Grant her a rough patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, for childhood is short – and adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait. O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers and the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed. And when she one day turns on me and calls me a bitch in front of Hollister, give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, for I will not have that shit. I will not have it. And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 am, all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a mental note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes. Amen. — Tina Fey

Additional Resources from The Retail Email Blog

• First Reference to Mother’s Day
• Interesting Mother’s Day Emails and Subject Lines
• Mother’s Day Email Stats from 2011

About the Author: Scott Hardigree is the Founder of email agency, Indiemark. He can be reached at scott@indiemark.com or indiemark.com