Emailing Tips for Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is the chance to celebrate the special mothers in our lives, and that means taking them out for the best meal in town. According to a National Restaurant Association survey from 2018, nearly 87 million adults will eat out for a Mother’s Day meal. By following these five tips your restaurant can make sure Mother’s Day is one of your most successful days of the year!
1.) Start Campaigning Early: Last year Fishbowl saw 55% of Mother’s Day mailings sent in the final four days leading up to and including Mother’s Day (Thursday-Sunday). 44% of all Mother’s day mailings were sent on Thursday and Friday heading into the weekend. Get a jumpstart on the competition by sending messaging earlier in the two weeks leading up to the holiday.
2.) Animate Away: One of the latest trends in email is driving higher engagement with stimulating animation in emails. Mother’s Day is a great time to incorporate this animation to drive engagement in a busy period. Animation can range from the simple (gif of different food images or highlight on a call-to-action) to the more complex (written headlines or countdown clocks).
3.) Make it Easy: Whether your goal is to get guests in store to celebrate Mom or drive sales of gift cards and merchandise, your mailing design should be as streamlined as possible. Make the desired action clear to your members and feature the call-to-action in an easily visible location. Landing pages for making reservations or purchasing gift cards should be mobile-friendly as so many emails are now opened on mobile devices.
4.) Send Follow-Ups: Starting early is important, but even the most dutiful children need reminders. After getting your message out early, don’t be afraid to continue with reblasts or additional Mother’s Day content closer to the holiday. Resends can be targeted to only those who did not open if the frequency is a concern and that email should always have a different subject line than the first message.
5.) Subject Line Success: Fishbowl research found that Mother’s Day subject lines in 2018, that featured “Celebrate,” emojis, and personalization performed above the average open rate. These types of subject lines saw an average 3% higher open rate. Don’t be afraid to try something unique or quirky in to stand out from the chorus of “Make Reservations for Mother’s Day!” subject lines.
Of course, there are multiple factors will lead to your restaurant’s success on Mother’s Day. But employing smart marketing practices will help generate buzz and excitement to draw traffic into your store.
This blog was written by Kevin Doyle, Fishbowl’s Senior Marketing Strategist.