Started by flower delivery company, Bloom & Wild in 2019, the Thoughtful Marketing Movement has grown exponentially in recent years, with more ‘opt-out’ or ‘hit pause’ emails landing in inboxes ahead of Mother’s Day than ever before.

What is Thoughtful Marketing?

Thoughtful Marketing refers to deliberate action by a brand to allow their audience to opt-out of brand communication at difficult or sensitive times—the most common examples of this are Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Christmas. A key part of the initiative is the awareness that the more brands that do this, the better the world will be for people at particularly triggering times.

Where did Thoughtful Marketing come from?

Bloom & Wild saw an increase in customers getting in touch with them to ask if they could unsubscribe for emails around Mother’s Day but then re-subscribe once the day had passed. In line with this, they asked their database if they would like to opt-out for this period and set-up email segmentation accordingly. They were overwhelmed by the response, which you can hear more about from Bloom & Wild’s Brand & Communications Director, Charlotte Langley, in the interview with SOUP agency's founder, Amanda Perry, below. 

Why should I make Thoughtful Marketing part of my campaign?

The Bloom & Wild team say it best themselves, “We believe in doing business thoughtfully. Because when you treat your customers the same way you treat your closest friends, you unlock this caring two-way relationship that rewards you with trust, love and loyalty.”

How can I get started?

The simplest and most effective way to start implementing Thoughtful Marketing is through your email campaign.

Through whichever platform you use to create your emails, you should have the functionality to build lists. Start by creating a list specific to that occasion and year, and then simply ask your audience via email if they would like to temporarily opt-out for this period.

Those who have clicked yes can be added to the list you have created, which can then be suppressed for all communication specific to that subject. Once the period has passed, simply remove the suppression and that audience will continue to receive all communications again from that point onwards.

Bloom & Wild have provided a handy step-by-step guide on the Thoughtful Marketing Movement website. Find out more here.