10 Must-Try Mother's Day Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Store

Every Mother’s Day customers like to surprise their moms, wives, grandmothers, and other special women in their lives with a gift. This is the time of year when everyone’s searching for ideas for Mother’s Day, and as an ecommerce store owner, there are a few things you can do to help your brand get considered for Mother’s Day gift options.

According to the latest report by the National Retail Federation, 84% of U.S. consumers celebrated Mother’s Day in 2023. But more importantly, the average expected Mother’s Day spending per person is growing year by year, reaching an all time high of $274 last year.

In 2023 alone, total Mother’s Day spending soared to $35.7 billion. If you think people are spending this money only on flowers and cards, you’re wrong. 

Aside from taking mom out to dinner or for a spa date, people are buying clothes and accessories (40%), jewelry (35%), and books (23%). This means there are plenty of ways ecommerce businesses can market their products for Mother’s Day.

When is Mother’s Day 2024?

If you have customers outside the British Isles, you’ve still got time to prepare your store for shoppers who want to spoil their moms. And in case you’re short on ideas, don’t worry. I put together a list of actionable Mother’s Day marketing ideas that will help your online store grow!

1. Create a page dedicated to Mother’s Day shopping

First things first, take a good look at your products. There may be something you can position as a Mother’s Day gift, even if it’s not directly related to the holiday. A great way to help visitors navigate your online store is to create a separate page dedicated specifically to Mother’s Day shopping.

American clothing and accessories retailer Anthropologie grouped together a bunch of their products that could easily make any mother smile. The collection included product categories Anthropologie is known for: clothing, home decor, beauty, and wellness products.

Having a dedicated page makes things easier for visitors who enter the website exclusively looking for Mother’s Day gifts. It can also come in handy when trying to convert regular visitors into Mother’s Day shoppers.

Think of creative ways to structure your gifts page. Cosmetics company The Body Shop curated gift selections for the selfless mum, the new mum, and the hardworking mum. Alternatively, you could organize your gift ideas by price: gifts under $20, gifts under $50.

Another great example is from jewelry retailer James Avery. Instead of creating a dedicated page, the brand created a custom-made catalog with plenty of Mother’s Day gift ideas. These days a catalog in this format is slightly retro. And that’s what makes it cool and refreshing!

However, you can’t simply create a page for Mother’s Day gift shopping and expect it to skyrocket your sales just by existing. You need to think of how to promote the page and make it searchable in order to drive more sales. A common practice is to display a pop-up on your online store that takes users to the Mother’s Day section.

2. Put together the ultimate gift guide

Gift giving is a rewarding experience. Those countless hours spent browsing the web pay off when you see that special someone’s face light up.

With Mother’s Day around the corner, your customers are probably already looking for Mother’s Day gifts. To take a few hours off their gift hunt, help them out with a custom guide! Gift guides can showcase the perfect selection of products to your customers.

You can also write an insightful blog post presenting your ideas and linking to your products. Check out the example below.

Source: Rex London

If blog writing isn’t your cup of tea, create an infographic instead—they’re engaging and easy to share.

You can also create a gift guide that looks like a mood board, but still represents the Mother’s day theme. That’s what Aiishwarya did for its 2023 Mother’s day campaign.

Source: Aiishwarya.com

As you sit down to write your blog post or create an infographic, remember that every mom is different, so try to offer something for as many moms as you can.

Once you have your gift guide ready, make sure you share it with your audience. Publish it on your social media accounts or deliver it to their inboxes.

3. Offer product personalization

Personalization is one of the biggest trends of the year, and it’s here to stay. Numbers show that more shoppers are veering away from store-bought items and favoring one-of-a-kind products.

Learn more: 55 Mom Shirt Ideas for the Best Moms in the World

Even though personalized items are popular all year round, they’re perfect for special events and holidays like Mother’s Day.

There are two ways how you can go about introducing product personalization to your store:

1. Add a brand new, limited edition product to your collection and make it customizable. 
2. Or, if you already offer Mother’s Day products, make the most popular piece customizable.

Give customization a go with Printful. There are 3 ways to do it:

• Place a manual order
• Use the Printful product customization tool for Shopify and WooCommerce
• Enable Printful product personalization option on Etsy

4. Create a themed board on Pinterest

There are 498 million active users on Pinterest and more than 77% percent of weekly Pinners have discovered a new brand or product on this platform.

Think of Pinterest as a visual search engine. People use it to get inspiration for their DIY projects, home makeovers, or gift shopping for holidays like Mother’s Day.

Pinterest users evaluate search results by how appealing each pin looks. Prioritize uploading content that stands out visually, and your visitors will pay more attention to your products. This means pinning only high-quality images and grouping them together not only by topic, but also by color scheme. The more aesthetically pleasing your boards are, the more pins you’ll get.

Customers will be scouting the web for products that make great gifts for moms. Make your brand visible on Pinterest to get discovered by shoppers who prefer finding inspiration through visual information.

5. Host a giveaway

Hosting giveaways is another great way to increase sales on Mother’s Day while also boosting brand awareness.

A giveaway is a limited-time promotion in which you offer a prize to one or more lucky participants according to a predefined set of rules.

If you want your customers to participate and create buzz around your brand right before Mother’s Day, make your prize truly valuable. Consider offering your most popular product or a set of products that would make the perfect gift for any mother.

Plus, your giveaway should be fairly easy to enter. In other words, don’t make people answer a 20-question survey to win a 5% discount coupon.

French skincare company Caudalie is a good example of how to run a Mother’s Day giveaway. The brand’s prizes included gift sets, a round trip to Paris, a cooking class, and more. All you had to do to enter was submit your email address.

Remember that running a successful giveaway isn’t as easy as it sounds. You need to promote your giveaway as much as possible, so go the extra mile and encourage customer engagement through emails or social media channels.

If you’re hosting a giveaway on a dedicated page on your website, be sure to plan some social media posts about it. For example, clothing company Forever 21 made a series of Instagram stories about their Mother’s Day giveaway, featuring the prizes and the steps for entering. In addition, the brand made an Instagram post guiding followers to where they could sign up.

Here are some more ways you can promote your Mother’s day giveaway:

• Prepare a series of newsletters for your email marketing list
• Add a pop-up on your homepage inviting visitors to enter the giveaway
• Create a banner linking to the giveaway’s landing page

6. Run special Mother’s Day deals

Through the years, businesses have taught shoppers to expect special deals with every upcoming holiday. Mother’s Day is no exception. These are the two most popular forms of special offers customers will expect from you this Mother’s Day.

Promo codes

Promo codes are a great incentive to buy. They also benefit both the customer and the business: one gets to purchase products they want at a lower price, while the other generates more revenue.

Here are the types of discounts you can introduce to your store:

• percentage-based discount
• dollar value discount
• free or upgraded shipping
• free gift

Successful promo code campaigns have a clear objective, whether it’s growing brand awareness, introducing new products, or decreasing cart abandonment. So think about what you can offer on Mother’s Day and how running this promotion will benefit your business.

7. Promote your special Mother’s Day deals

Now that your Mother’s day campaigns are ready, time to promote them!

Deliver push notifications

Push notifications are a great marketing tool that helps you stay in contact with your users. This short message (usually not longer than 120 characters) is delivered to subscribers’ desktops or mobile devices to promote your special deal. It’s very similar to text messages.

Numbers show that regular push notifications get a 2x higher click-through rate than emails do. They’ll provide your consumers with important alerts or updates and help drive them back to your app or website.

Use push notifications to communicate with your customers about your special offers. Just be careful with the frequency of your messages—the more notifications you send in a day, the less engagement they’ll get over time.

There are plenty of push notification tools out there. After choosing the best one for you, creating an engagement strategy will be that much easier.

Be visible on social media

I know, social media, who would’ve thought? But in all seriousness, remember to keep your social media accounts up and running if you want to make an impact with a themed campaign.

Post eye-catching visuals that promote your Mother’s day gift ideas and special offers. Engage with your audience by asking about their Mother’s Day plans, just like watch brand Swatch did.

Source: Instagram.com

When it comes to social media marketing, you don’t want to spread yourself too thin, especially in the days leading up to Mother’s Day. Only focus on social media platforms that will reach your target audience. And concentrate on creating quality content that’s fun to consume and easy to share.

You won’t be the only store promoting special Mother’s Day deals. In order to stand out from the competition, you need to think of a different angle to present your ideas in an engaging way. Whatever you decide to do, keep your branding consistent.

8. Run an influencer marketing campaign

According to a report by Linqia, 86% of brands used influencer marketing last year with a 92% success rate.

Consider involving influencers in your Mother’s day marketing campaign. Reach out to influencers to promote your brand or certain products on your store. Start by deciding what kind of collaboration you’re willing to do and what products you’ll promote.

A while back clothing and home accessories company Next ran an influencer marketing campaign to promote their next-day delivery subscription. The brand decided to repromote this service in their Mother’s Day campaign as well, which encouraged more customers to take the plunge and get the subscription.

Don’t think of Mother’s Day influencer marketing campaigns as a way to promote products related to this holiday only. Think outside the box to make the most of the exposure that influencers can offer.

Partner up with an influencer for Mother’s Day discounts, promo codes, or affiliate links, as these will drive traffic to your site. Affiliate links make it easier for you to track sales, but discount codes work whether or not the customer has used the affiliate link.

9. Promote free shipping for select Mother’s Day products

An additional shipping fee is often the reason for a customer to abandon their cart. Alternatively, 9 out of 10 consumers admit that free shipping is the number one incentive to shop online. And that’s not all: orders with free shipping tend to encourage 93% of online buyers to purchase more products.

Share free shipping promotions—it’s a great opportunity to provide products with extra value to your audience. As your website is likely to get an increase in visitors before Mother’s Day, you want to give those visitors an extra reason to stay and shop. If you can’t afford to offer free delivery with each purchase, have it as an option for orders with a certain minimum cart value (for example, $50 or more).

Bonus tip: To get the customer’s attention right when they visit your store, add a bright banner on top of the page that shows off your free shipping offer.

10. Create a Mother’s Day email series

Email marketing remains one of the most popular ways to keep customers up-to-date with your business. That’s why delivering promotional Mother’s Day emails is something you should have on your content calendar weeks before the big day.

Personalized content for your email target groups can generate a transaction rate that is 6 times higher than marketing newsletters that aren’t targeted. In fact, email marketing is one of the most powerful tools for generating traffic to your store.

Here are a few email marketing ideas for this year’s Mother’s Day:

• Mother’s Day reminder or countdown
• Special Mother’s Day deals
• Last-minute deals
• Order deadlines
• Ongoing offers not specific to Mother’s Day
• Best-selling products
• Abandoned cart reminders

As you’re preparing Mother’s Day email campaigns, keep in mind that your customers’ inboxes will be swamped with similar emails from your competitors. So pick your subject lines carefully and put together an eye-catching email design. Most importantly, segment your email list for maximum user engagement.

Send mobile-friendly emails

In 2014, only 27% of all marketing emails were opened on mobile devices. Today, the number has jumped to 61%! What does this mean? Don’t skip on mobile-friendly email campaigns and your customers will be able to better engage with your special offers.

It’s up to you

Mother’s Day is an important commercial holiday all around the world. So, plan your campaigns early—work not only on attracting new customers but also on retaining existing ones. 

To understand which Mother’s day marketing strategy works best for your brand, try several different techniques and measure your results. Redesign your homepage with themed designs, create eye-catching gift guides,  or focus on effective promotional campaigns. There’s so much you can do with your store to attract customers—all you have to do is decide what it’s going to be.

Most importantly, think of this special occasion as a chance to grow your online store. Mother’s Day can be a great opportunity for any ecommerce business.