Veganism has largely passed me by. There’s little on the subject in the reports on specialist email marketing sites. However, it was brought home to me this Easter, almost literally. 

A friend of mine is in the process of having his kitchen refitted and we offered him and his family a cooked lunch and dinner on Easter Sunday. There would have been 16 of us around our table at lunch, but we were relieved of the risk of elbows bumping into one-another. 

It seems his partner and both daughters were committed vegans, a matter that was brought up almost as they entered our house, presumably because they smelt the lamb and turkey nicely coming to mouth-watering perfection. The problems were resolved by moving the three vegans and my friend to a table in the conservatory where they could share various pasta dishes.

Veganism has a number of rules which are not, it seems, applicable to all. It’s a bit like Brexit; there are many degrees of veganism from soft to hard. It is a minefield for email marketing. I was surprised to discover that fresh pasta is not vegan whilst that from Waitrose in packets most certainly is. It also turned out that there was no problem with my friend eating fresh pasta at the same table as the vegans despite them refusing to sit in the same room as those enjoying the delights of a Welsh leg of lamb.

Similar to the variations of what the movement stands for, statistics on veganism are open to some dispute. However, many suggest that just 3% of adults follow its precepts closely. Given that there are so few, is there any point in creating a separate heading in your email marketing lists? Much as I hate to be definite, I will say probably.

It seems that in 2017 less than 2% of the adult population was vegan so there’s been an increase of substantially more than 50% in one year. That’s quite remarkable and would suggest that it is something that, at the very least, anyone involved in email marketing should have plans for. 

There are suggestions that the vast majority of the newly committed to veganism comes from millennials, an unknown number of converts probably coming from vegetarianism. If you are unaware of the differences between the two, now is the time to start reading up on what each may and may not eat. 

Veganism isn’t so much a diet, my friend rather belatedly tells me, but as a response to the way animals are treated. There can be few who would not support the humane treatment of animals, but as someone who knows a dairy farmer, with his commitment to his animals’ welfare, I find it odd that cheese is seen as verboten. You haven’t tasted cheese until you get it from a farmer’s stock.

Ask those on your email marketing lists, particularly millennials, if they are vegans or vegetarians. You will show yourself as considerate, and you’ll have another way to target them.