Why Canva and LVLY are allowing their communities to opt-out this Mother’s Day

Australian graphic design unicorn Canva says it is working on updating its email preferences to allow more of its millions of subscribers to opt-out of receiving messages related to holidays and significant events.

Canva is one of a number of brands giving their community such a choice this Mother’s Day, recognising that Sunday’s annual celebration is not a happy one for everyone. 

In mid-April, Canva emailed its users to let them know they could choose not to receive both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day emails. 

“Mother’s Day is coming up and we know it can be a difficult day for some,” read the email. 

The change to Canva’s email preference centre is about recognising that for the 85 million members of its community, which span 190 different countries, “different holidays and unique meanings for everyone”, explains Canva’s head of corporate communications, Lachlan Andrews. 

The change received an “overwhelmingly positive” response on social media, Andrews tells SmartCompany, but this is just the start. 

“While this is certainly a step in the right direction for more inclusive marketing and empowering users to decide what kinds of communications they’d like to receive from us, there’s still more work that we’re looking forward to doing as we evolve our email preferences to include other holidays and significant events,” he said. 

LVLY spearheads thoughtful marketing

The marketing practice of giving customers the choice whether or not to receive Mother’s Day emails is not new; UK online flower company Bloom & Wild led the way back in 2019 and hundreds of brands in the UK have since joined the resulting ‘Thougtful Marketing’ movement.

One such brand is Australian flower delivery business LVLY, which was recently acquired for $35 million by south-east Asian tech firm Limitless Technology. The Smart50 finalist is championing the practice of thoughtful marketing locally and calling for other brands to join them.

As it did in 2021, LVLY sent an email to its subscribers in mid-April asking them to tell the brand: “What feels right for you?”

“We’re all about celebrating the amazing connections we have with the Motherly figures in our lives. But we know it’s not a joyous occasion for everyone,” the email continued. 

“We were in tears last year reading the heartfelt stories of people who have struggled with Mother’s Day for years and have never been given the option to take a break from the holiday. This season, once again, we would love to give you the chance to hit pause on our emails until after Mother’s Day if you feel like it could be triggering for you.”

“Pro-actively reaching out to our customers asking them if they’d like to opt-out of marketing breaks all the usual marketing rules, but it feels like the right thing to do — the human thing to do,” said LVLY co-founder and CEO Hannah Spilva.

While Mother’s Day is LVLY’s biggest sales period of the year — Spilva says the company experienced “extremely strong growth” last quarter and pre-sales for Mother’s Day are ahead of expected — being mindful around the occasion is about staying true to the brand’s DNA.

“It’s what our values of ‘being a goodie’ and ‘making someone’s day’ are all about,” she tells SmartCompany.

Spilva says LVLY’s customer service team has been “inundated with messages of thanks and support” since adopting the practice, and the company is proud to see other brands, particularly retailers, following suit.

“It helps raise the collective consciousness of Australian businesses,” she said.