Birthday Greeting In an Email Newsletter

Birthday is, without a doubt, a happy occasion filled with joy and the atmosphere of celebration. For a marketer, though, this means a serious task, since they have to craft a Happy Birthday email template and send it to the customer.

Yet more often than not, there are far more customers than there are days in a year. And most likely, you'll need to send Happy Birthday emails basically every single day.

Thankfully, marketing automation is fully capable of taking over the routine task of sending the messages. The plan is as follows:

use a dynamic segment to select users whose birthday falls on today’s date;
create an email template using variables for personalization;
set up and launch a regular mailing.

And the best part is that you only need to do this once (at least until the moment when you decide to update the text or design of the birthday email).

Let’s get started!

Step 1. Set Up a Dynamic Segment

Open the Segments section and create a new dynamic segment. Its basic principle is that such a segment selects profiles that match certain conditions. Profiles will be checked against the conditions specifically at the moment the mailing is launched.

Let’s move on to the main segment settings. In the Source field, select the required profile database.

Next, in Setting conditions, set filtering by the birth date with the condition day and month are the same as current. This way, every time the mailing is launched, the segment will include profiles whose date of birth matches the current day and month.

Enter a name and, if necessary, a description, then save the segment.

If your customer database is large and includes thousands or tens of thousands of profiles, it is better to use an updatable segment and set up the schedule so that the profiles are recalculated once a day, for example, at nighttime.

Step 2. Prepare the Email Template

In the corresponding section, create a new email template. Personalize it by adding dynamic variables.

For example, to add the subscriber’s name, open the list of variables (</>) and select From profile → First name.

For a gift, you can send the customer a discount promo code. Promo codes are created in a special section located in the Loyalty tab. Insert one of them into the email by selecting Promo code in the list of variables.

To check how the email looks in desktop and mobile versions, use the preview mode available by clicking the eye icon next to the Save button.

Once the email template is ready, click Save and proceed further.

Step 3. Set Up a Regular Mailing

Go to the Mailings section, select Regulars, and create a new mailing. In the general settings, enter a mailing name and an optional description. If necessary, set a group and add tags. Activate the mailing using the switch in the upper-right corner.

In the Channels section select Email and follow to the Subscribers tab. Here, you need to select:

Resource: messages will be sent only to recipients subscribed to the specified resource.
Audience source: in our case, this is the segment we’ve created earlier.

On the Templates tab, select the Happy Birthday email template.

Next, set the schedule. Birthday greetings will be sent to recipients every day at a specific time, in our case, at 10:00.

As mentioned above, the dynamic segment will automatically calculate the audience at the moment the mailing is launched. Emails will be sent every day, and only subscribers whose birthday falls on the current date will become recipients.

Click Finish, check the mailing settings once again and, if everything is correct, save it.

A good practice is to send test emails to yourself or your colleagues. This is helpful to make sure that the email looks and behaves exactly as intended.

Instead of Conclusion: Useful Recommendations

A birthday email campaign can be useful for increasing customer loyalty and may even lead to additional sales. Below are several tips to make the mailing even more effective.

Use Deeper Personalization

In our example, we have added the first name and promo code variables to the email. But the personalization possibilities don't stop there.

For additional personalization, you can split the segment into several subsegments. For instance, divide the audience by gender and create a separate email design for each group.

Another option is to segment the audience by interests and send a product selection. As an example, if you know the customer’s favorite literary genre, add a relevant selection of books to the email.

Take Subscribers’ Time Zones Into Account

Let’s assume your customers are located in different regions or countries. Even a mailing related to the most pleasant occasion can become annoying if it is sent in the middle of the night.

When setting up the mailing schedule, it would be useful to check the box next to Use profile time zone when available. With this option, even if the subscriber is located far away from you, they will receive the message according to local time.

Send a Series of Emails

A single email may get lost among dozens of greetings. A good thing would be to remind the customer about the promo code the next day or later. To set up an email sequence, use an automation scenario.

Send a Reminder Through Other Channels

If your recipient didn’t pay attention to the email campaign for some reason, remind them about the gift through an alternative channel. For example, a couple of days later, send an SMS with the text such as “Your promo code is still waiting for you!”