How to create the perfect birthday email
Emailing your customers is a brilliant way to build brand awareness, encourage them to regularly buy from your eCommerce store, and make them more loyal to your business.
Sending birthday emails can make your customers feel valued and help forge a long-lasting relationship with your business. And the best thing is, it’s easy to set up a campaign in your email marketing platform of choice.
Here’s how to get started with birthday emails, alongside our top tips for creating emails that will make your customers want to celebrate!
Find out more about the types of emails you can send to your customers.
Article topics
- What is a birthday email?
- How do you collect the data you need for birthday emails?
- How do you send birthday emails?
- Six things to consider to send birthday emails that stand out!
What is a birthday email?
A birthday email is an email you send to individual customers on their birthday, or an anniversary that’s special to them.
You can use this email to send your best wishes, as well as a special offer.
While the original research paper is no longer available online, Experian carried out a study which found that birthday emails receive 179% higher click rates and generate 342% more revenue than promotional emails.
This means that if you’re not using birthday emails in your eCommerce store, you’re missing out.
How do you collect the data you need for birthday emails?
To send birthday emails, you need to know the date of birth of your customers. The good news is that customers are typically happy to provide this information. 54% of shoppers say they enjoy receiving personal messages that celebrate personal milestones.
There are a few different ways you can gather this data. One of the easiest ways is to ask for it when customers sign up for your email marketing list.
Alternatively, you can ask for this data once customers have signed up through an email. Dr. Martens did this in the form of a competition, where customers could win money for sharing their date of birth.
You can also ask for a date of birth when customers sign up for an account (although bear in mind that customers need to explicitly opt in to receive marketing emails).
Keeping your customers’ data safe
A customer’s date of birth counts as personal data – information that can be used to identify an individual. This means you need to protect this data under regulations including the UK GDPR.
While a date of birth may not provide much information on its own, scammers can combine it with other stolen data to steal someone’s identity. Some people may also use their date of birth in passwords and PINs.
All personal data you collect must be kept safe from potential threats. For example, through encrypting data and using 2/multi-factor authentication on the email marketing platforms you use.
Other ways you can minimise the risk to your business include:
- Only asking for the data you need. For example, if you’re not going to do anything with a customer’s year of birth, don’t ask for it
- Not making providing a date of birth mandatory, unless it’s for legal reasons (for example, you sell alcohol or other age-restricted products)
- Specifying what you do with the data you collect, including the platforms and organisations you share it with, in your online privacy policy
How do you send birthday emails?
The best way to send birthday emails to customers is through automation. This is when your chosen email marketing platform (for example, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or ActiveCampaign) sends emails automatically to recipients.
This saves time and reduces the risk of you forgetting to send the correct email on the right day!
To use automation, you need to set up an automation flow – the steps the platform will take to identify who to send an email to, and when to send it.
Many platforms have automation flow templates to get you started. All you need to do is customise the flow, create your email, and you’re ready to go!
Six things to consider to send birthday emails that stand out!
Chances are that your customers will be getting birthday emails from lots of other eCommerce businesses they shop with. This makes it even more important that the message you send gets their attention!
We asked our email marketing experts for their top tips for sending birthday emails, from how to personalise them to which metrics to monitor in order to gauge success.
1. Use personalisation to offer a unique experience
Email personalisation, where you tailor each email you send to each specific customer, can entice them to read and act on your messages.
The average open rate for a personalised email message is 18.8%, compared to 13.1% for emails that aren’t personalised.
Of course, your birthday email will be highly personalised as it is, as you’re sending it to a specific customer on their birthday. But there is even more you can do to personalise your message.
Using a customer’s first name is a good starting point and is easy to do. In fact, using a customer’s name in your subject line can increase your open rate to 43.4%!
Top tip: You can use the birthday your customer has provided to offer additional personalisation.
For example, you can talk about their star sign (like the Oh Polly email above) and the products that are perfect for them, or factor their date of birth into a highly unique discount code.
2. Choose the perfect gift
One of the trickiest parts of creating a birthday email campaign is deciding what type of gift you will give your customers. This could be:
- A discount (either a percentage or money off) on their next order
- Additional points if you operate a loyalty programme
- A gift or voucher
- An upgrade (for example, free or expedited delivery on their next order)
The best way to decide which gift to offer? Ask your customers!
In our experience, it’s always best to offer a gift rather than a discount. A discount can feel like a cheap ploy to get money out of customers by forcing them to make a purchase they weren’t planning on making.
Dunkin’ in the US came under fire from customers for this. The brand used to offer customers a free coffee on their birthday, only to replace it with increased points in the mobile app, which many people weren’t happy about.
The gift you give should be a way to make customers feel special, rather than just a way to increase your revenue.
Top tip: Try segmenting your customer base to provide a gift that’s tailored to the needs of your customers.
For example, let’s say you run an online food store. If someone has signed up to receive emails about your vegan products, offer them a vegan gift. That way, you’re showing that you provide value and listen to the needs of your customers.
3. Set an expiry date
To encourage customers to redeem their discount or gift as soon as possible, and to make your admin less complicated, we recommend setting an expiry date.
The expiry date you choose will depend on the type of products you sell, the gift you offer, and your customers.
You don’t want to give your customers too long to redeem your gift in case they forget, but you don’t want to frustrate them by not giving them enough time.
If in doubt, thirty days after receipt of the birthday email is a safe bet – this gives customers a whole month to decide what they want!
Top tip: Create a terms and conditions page on your website, which details how long customers have to redeem their gift, as well as any exceptions to what they can claim.
4. Think about your email design
An email consists of several different components, including a subject line, a greeting, and a call-to-action.
It’s vital to review all these components to make sure they are consistent with your brand identity and represent who you are as a business. You also need to make sure your email is engaging and compels customers to redeem their birthday offer.
(We know, it’s not a lot to ask!)
This birthday email from Costa is an excellent example of a well-designed message. It’s short and friendly, branded in Costa’s colours and typography, and has a clear call-to-action.
Top tip: If you need some design inspiration, sign up for some email marketing lists. Not only will you get some good ideas, but some birthday treats into the bargain!
5. Send multiple emails
You might be tempted to send just one email on your customer’s birthday. However, there’s the risk that they may not see it.
To maximise the chances of your customer checking out your birthday offer, it’s best to send more than one email.
According to Campaign Monitor, 38% of birthday emails are sent one to three weeks before a customer’s birthday. This gives them plenty of time to check out your message, and you can send them an additional reminder on the big day!
Top tip: If your customer has provided their mobile number and has opted into marketing messages, you can complement your birthday emails with an SMS message.
The benefit of SMS messages is that the open rate is higher than for emails, meaning a greater chance of customers seeing what you have to say.
6. Check your metrics
The great thing about email marketing campaigns is that you receive tangible feedback you can use to improve your emails moving forward.
By keeping an eye on how your birthday emails are doing, you can make small changes that lead to more sales, as well as happier customers.
Here are some good metrics to monitor to get you started:
- Open rate. The percentage of people who open your birthday emails. A high open rate indicates that customers want to read your content. However, with tools like Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection, email open rate can be artificially inflated, meaning it’s best to monitor it alongside other metrics
- Click-through rate. The percentage of people who click on a link in your birthday emails. A high click-through rate shows that customers like your brand messaging to the point that they want to engage with you further
- Click-to-open rate. The percentage of people who opened your email and clicked on a link. This metric is useful as it shows you the number of engaged users and how many customers are persuaded by what you have to say
- Conversion rate. The percentage of people who carry out a specific action after reading your email, for example, redeeming a discount code. A high conversion rate shows your email is persuasive, and customers like what you are offering
- Unsubscribe rate. The percentage of people who have unsubscribed from your email marketing based on what is in your birthday email. It’s normal to see a few people unsubscribe from your email marketing list, but if your unsubscribe rate suddenly spikes, it may be a sign that customers don’t like what you’re saying. Good email hygiene can keep your unsubscribe rate low
While there are benchmarked metrics available, the best company to benchmark against is your own.
Regularly review your birthday emails, and if you identify any issues, you can quickly take action.
Top tip: If you’re not sure if making changes to your birthday emails will affect your conversion rates, try A/B testing. This is when you send out two similar emails with one key difference, and monitor which email is most successful.
Xigen: The eCommerce agency dedicated to email marketing
Birthday emails are a fantastic way to show your customers how much you appreciate them, resulting in customers who stay loyal to your business and recommend you to family and friends.
Let us leave you with one final piece of advice – you don’t just have to stick to birthdays. For example, you can ask people to tell you their wedding anniversary, the date they adopted their pet, or when they started their new job!
If you want to revolutionise how your online store carries out email marketing but aren’t sure how to get started, we’re the eCommerce agency you can rely on.
We’ll help you build your email marketing list, set up smart automation flows, and create images and videos that keep your customers engaged. Ready to create emails that take the (birthday) cake? Get in touch today!
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