Freddy’s now letting customers opt out of potentially triggering Mother’s Day messaging
Mother’s Day is a time to celebrate — unless it isn’t.
Some people, including close friends of Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers director of digital marketing Alex Stucky, have recently lost their moms, and the bombardment of Mother’s Day messaging this time of year can be just another painful reminder.
So this year, Stucky — who is based in Freddy’s Fort Worth office — brought an idea to his team: Borrowing from a trend he’d seen other companies employ, he suggested offering members of Freddy’s giant email database the ability to opt-out of Mother’s Day-themed messages.
“I have received similar messages from brands in the past, and it had stuck in my mind,” Stucky said. “It came up in a conversation internally, so we said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Freddy’s message was blasted via email on May 1. It read, “We understand that Mother’s Day can be meaningful for many, but also difficult for others. If you’d prefer not to receive emails related to this holiday, we completely understand.”
Those who didn’t want e-mail promotions surrounding Mother’s Day landing unexpectedly in their inboxes were invited to click a link in the message to “opt out.” Doing so did not remove the recipient from the Freddy’s mailing list all together — it will just keep them from getting messages about Mother’s Day.
“While I have been fortunate enough to have not lost a parent yet, many people close to me have,” Stucky said. “And it aligns with some of Freddy’s core values: family and kindness.”
Freddy’s — which was founded and is based in Wichita — isn’t the first company to employ the opt-out idea. After the pandemic, several companies across the country, including Etsy, Levi’s and Kay Jewelers, started giving members of their mailing lists a choice about Mother’s Day messaging, which can be triggering for those who have lost a parent, have lost a child or who are struggling with fertility.
Many people took the company up on its offer, Stucky said. Now, Freddy’s is planning to take the same approach ahead of Father’s Day next month.
“We have had thousands of people respond,” he said. “Even though that’s a tiny fraction of our database, it is personally meaningful to everyone who did respond.”
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