As someone who lost their mother too early and to tragic circumstances, I’m ready for the promotional 3-week sales period that surrounds Mother’s Day to be over.
Each day my inbox is filled with a minimum of 3 Mother’s Day emails, from flower shops to taxi companies and all in between with the message of spoiling mum.
For someone in my position it’s not ideal, it can be triggering and some of the language can hurt. But I’m not suggesting we ruin it for everyone, and I don’t have an answer that will take away all triggering material – when the days of walking down a high street return, shop windows will go back to a promotional parade.
But as I work in the world of digital and data it does make me question if there aren’t better ways of handling these types of occasions. Some brands are innovating and asking people if they’d like to opt-out, a trend that has been growing over the years with Waitrose this year saying 8% of their email recipients opted out.
Customer experience is becoming more personalised and I cannot think of a better use for tailored comms and the use of data than this type of human sensitivity. Brands are figuring out how to advertise to me based on what I say over dinner, so I’m sure if they dedicated the time there could be even better ways than the opt-out! A really interesting space and I’d love to chat with any brands that had the want to innovate in this space.
There’s still very little consideration for motherless individuals, so I urge everyone to consciously grow accountability and sensitivity around the commercialisation of potentially painful moments.
I’m sure a lot of people’s Mother’s day will look different to normal this year with lockdown restrictions. I’ll be celebrating and thanking other important women in my life, I hope everyone enjoys the day in their own ways!
