Father's day email marketing campaigns, subject lines & templates

Father's day email marketing campaigns, subject lines & templates

Thinking about sending a Father’s Day email? Check out campaign ideas and email examples from real brands in this blog post. 

In America, 76% of people celebrated Father’s Day in 2020. Gift-giving is an essential part of Father’s Day. It is a way to show fathers and father figures that their contributions are appreciated and that they are loved. In 2019, spending on Father’s Day gifts increased 70% to a booming $16 billion in the US.

Other parts of the world experienced a similar rise in gift spending, including the UK, Europe, and Asian countries.

In this blog post, we will show you how to create a winning Father’s Day email campaign. We will discuss spending patterns, demographic information, and the most popular purchase spots. We will also discuss the changes in online shopping trends amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

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Father’s Day in the time of a pandemic

We will first start by showing you a few examples of how brands have adapted their communication to the current restrictions.

Make your customers feel closer to their dads

Your customers want to celebrate Father’s day, but because of social distancing rules, many of them won’t be able to do so this year.

Your brand can present them with a solution that will help them celebrate Father’s day, despite the distance.

Virtual Father’s Day Gifting Is Made Easy With GiftNow®

michaelkors-virtual-fathers-day-gifting-is-made-easy-with-giftnow

This email from Michael Kors illustrates clearly the 3-step process of choosing and shipping the perfect gift for dads. The brand came up with a cool concept to make sure that customers are satisfied with their gift.

Customers can send a virtual gift to their dads, who in their turn can accept it or exchange it for another product that suits their preferences better. This way, all extra costs of shipping and returning products are cut, and everyone comes out as a winner.

Create a virtual shopping experience

During shopping holidays such as Father’s Day, people usually go into physical stores to get inspired and pick out a gift. However, we all know that that’s not possible anymore. Instead, this brand duplicated the same window shopping experience in the virtual world, by exposing their Father’s Day products in a make-shift shop.

Father’s Day presents to match his personality 💪 👨‍🍳 🏈

BedBathandBeyond-fathers-day-presents-to-match-his-personality

Be transparent about possible shipping delays

During the lockdown, consumer behavior shifted to 100% online. That means that every industry is now relying on shipping services. Which in turn makes it harder and harder to manage orders and maintain deadlines. If your team feels overwhelmed with order and shipping requests, honestly is the best policy.

In this email example, the company reminds customers that order processing is slower than usual. And recommends specific dates during which customers should order their Father’s Day gifts.

This approach guarantees transparency and can increase customer satisfaction.

Gifts for Father’s Day

uggs fathers day shipping delays

Send Father’s Day e-Gift cards

Remember gift cards? Or better yet, remember e-gift cards? They were all the rage when the internet first became mainstream. We used to send each other pixelated ecards to celebrate holidays and happy occasions. And what better time to bring them back than a time like this. We can’t be there in person to wish a happy father’s day to our loved ones. Sending them fun and customized Father’s Day gift card, however, sounds like a good compromise.

Inside: Father’s Day gift inspo

happy fathers day e gift cad

Send the classic dad jokes

Is it really Father’s day without some lame (but unironically funny) dad jokes? If you want to spice up your email copy and put some humor into it, the most obvious approach would be to sprinkle in some dad jokes. We’re pretty sure that a lot of other brands will do the same thing, but can you really have too many dad jokes? Especially if you create a coherent email, with witty email copy and awesome email design just like Dr. Squatch did in the email example down below.

👉 How to write effective email copy to grab (and maintain) attention

terrible dad jokes…

dr-squatch-terrible-dad-jokes-toep

Send a Happy Father’s Day email

You may stand out from your brand by simply wishing your customers a Happy Father’s Day. A heartfelt note from you can put you in your customer’s good books, and they may be inclined to buy more.

Add a link to your products, brand page, and other social media links to increase the chance of a conversion.

Companies can also use this Father’s Day email design to wish their employees. Whether you are a software development company or a clothing retailer, wishing your employees a Happy Father’s Day email is the right thing to do.

beardbrand-email-fathers-day

Promotional Father’s day email campaign

In this excellent email campaign example, the seller hooked the consumer with an emotional subject line: Support for the man who supported you and follows it up with a discount code, especially for Father’s Day.

saxx-underwear-fathers-day-email

Based on historical spending data, researchers expect consumers to spend more on special outings and experience-based gifts in 2020. This trend was popular in 2019 as well, as evident by this attractive email by Airbnb, which encourages clients to purchase an Airbnb booking for their dad.

Pay special attention to:

  • Father’s Day email subject line
  • Product placement
  • The use of colors

The layout of the graphic uses bright colors to attach travel to a fun experience. One look at this campaign and you will immediately want to book your dad a ticket.

You can also add a touch of uniqueness/personalization to this email by hinting at places that your dad might like to revisit.

For example: Take your Dad back to his Honeymooning Days, Visit Paris.

Product placement: in the graphic, the different Gift cards (worth $25, $100, and $500) are displayed front and center. This informs the consumer about the variety of gift cards you have available, so they can make their choice.

airbnb-fathers-day-email

When is Father’s Day celebrated around the world?

Father’s Day is not celebrated on a fixed date; it is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide. Most popularly, Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June.

More than 40 countries, including the USA, the UK, Canada, most European countries, and several African countries, among others, observe Father’s Day on this date.

As an Email marketer, you have to be careful about the date before scheduling your email marketing campaign. A business may have a presence in multiple geographical areas, and so it is critical that the time of the event is confirmed before sending promotional emails.

To help you out, here is a list of dates on which major consumer economies will be celebrating Father’s Day in 2023:

Spending trends on Father’s Day

In this section, we will shed light on the people celebrating Father’s Day and the way they celebrate it. Specifically, we will discuss the following:

  • Father’s Day Gift Categories
  • Who is Buying Gifts & Who Are They Buying For?
  • Where are the Gifts Being Bought?
  • Are People Shopping for Gifts Online?

Father’s Day Gift Categories

The National Retail Federation (NRF) found that, on average, an individual spends $139 on gifts for Father’s Day.
Here, we will present data on the Gift and Gift-adjacent items that people spend on Father’s Day:

popular gift categories fathers day
(Source: NRF)

Father’s Day gift trends

The research found that people desire to buy the following types of gifts:

  • 47% of people spent more than $3billion (highest spending category) on special outings as or along with a gift.
  • 45% of people expressed their desire to purchase something unique/symbolic.
  • 34% of the population was interested in buying a subscription box as a present
  • 28% of gift buyers said they looked at vendors to take inspiration

Who is buying gifts & for whom on Father’s Day?

According to the NRF, consumers aged between 35 and 44 are the highest spenders for Father’s Day gifts.

Other age brackets by the percentage of spending and the size of the demographic are given below:

Percentage of age who plan on spending on fathers day

Percentage of age who plan on spending on Father’s day

Average spending on fathers day

Average spending on Father’s day

Who are the gifts for?

You would think that Father’s Day gifts are only meant for fathers – that’s not true! Father’s Day is symbolic; people buy gifts for any father figure they may have in their life, including step-fathers, grandfathers, uncles, Godfathers, and even sons and nephews.

Parents and siblings may buy a Father’s Day gift for their son or brother, who is a father himself. Friends may purchase gifts for their friends who are fathers or have recently become one.

Here is a graphic to show who receives the most Father’s Day gifts:

who do you plan to buy for - fathers day - gender

(Source: NRF)

Here’s a Father’s Day email example where the brand used an email copy intended to be general and more inclusive. Father figures are different for each one of us, and it feels nice when a brand understands that, and acknowledges it in its communication.

SALE on Father’s Day Gifts!

bottle-breacher-sale-on-fathers-day-gifts

What do consumers look for when purchasing Father Day gifts?

Research shows that consumers prefer qualities of uniqueness, convenience, cost-effectiveness, and personalization when they purchase a gift for Father’s Day.

what do consumers look for when getting gifts for fathers day

Where are the gifts being bought?

Since people are increasingly giving value to unique gifts, it is expected that they will purchase more from small businesses that offer exclusive and often customized merchandise. However, convenience may propel them towards departmental stores as well.

Here are the complete statistics:

fathers day gifts - where are they bought

Are people shopping for gifts online?

Online shopping has grown exponentially in the past decade; online purchases make up 14.1% of retail sales worldwide, and this trend is predicted to grow even more in the coming years. In the USA, 91% shop online and spend an average of $1804 on online shopping. Therefore, it is no surprise that a lot of gift purchasing is going to be done online.

Given the Coronavirus pandemic, the trend may even grow as businesses are expected to remain under lockdown. Although European countries are reopening their economy, health experts are predicting a second wave of the virus, which can propel countries towards lockdown again.

Not much is known about the virus, and everything is uncertain. Therefore, it is safe to assume that consumers will prefer to shop online rather than to risk going outside.

What to include in your Father’s Day email campaign?

Now that you are aware of the types of gifts people want to purchase, how much money they spend, and how they spend it, it is time to devise an engaging email campaign that will encourage the consumer to buy Father’s Day gift from your business.

Here is what you should focus on:

  • Uniqueness: one-of-a-kind gifts such as luxury items, symbolic items, and customized items (engraved with recipient’s name, etc.)
  • Convenience: online delivery, easy purchase process, easy-to-use website, etc.
  • Cost-effectiveness: include sales promotion tactics to offer value to your clients. For instance, Father’s Day discounts and free shipping.
  • Subscription boxes: monthly, bi-monthly, and quarterly subscription boxes have grown in popularity over the past 3 years. Offer a specially curated subscription box to increase sales on Father’s Day.
  • Segmentation & Targeting: The 25 – 44 demographic spends the highest money, target them if they are compatible with your business niche.

Wrapping Up

Father’s Day is an emotional holiday; for many, it is a time to say thank you to their dads for their unconditional love and support. For others, Father’s Day is a chance to show their appreciation for men who influenced their lives and taught them valuable lessons. It is a way to encourage young fathers and show their support.
Brands can include themselves by capitalizing on the pathos of the event, attract people with uniqueness and sentimentality and convert them with the promise of cost-effectiveness and convenience.

Remember to be tactful throughout!

Did this guide to Father’s Day Email Campaign help? Let us know your thoughts.

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