Are you keeping your business marketing personal? Using email marketing, you can keep a steady personalized conversation with every subscriber. Being able to craft custom messages and reach out to individual subscribers in a more personal way will help increase your brand recognition.
Subscribers feel like they’re appreciated and unique when you reach out to them through a series of automated campaigns. One of the best starting points is to send a birthday email. Everyone has a birthday, so why not help them feel special?
Let’s look at the best practices to retrieve subscribers’ birthday addresses, how to set up an automated campaign, what specifically you should be sending, and why it’s essential.
Collecting your subscribers’ birthdays
How can you get birthday data from your customers? Obviously, you can’t get started sending a personalized birthday email without getting this information first. It’s all about opting in. Here’s an outline of some great ways to ask for your subscribers’ birthday.
Add a birthday field on your contact sign up form
It’s easy to add a field on your sign up form for a date. Be sure to keep your forms simple so potential sign-ups aren’t overwhelmed by the process. We suggest simply asking for email, name, and birthday to start.
Ask for their birthday after they’ve subscribed
You’ll be able to thank your customers for joining, let them know more about you or your business, and get to know more about them all at the same time. We suggest asking your subscribers for more details about themselves so that you can create email content specifically tailored to their individual preferences.
Ask for their birthday when they check out
If clients are already purchasing from you, ask them for their birthday during the checkout process. It can be a very slight addition to the information they’ve already provided to you in the check-out process.
How should you organize a birthday email?
Birthday emails are best set up with an automated campaign. An automated campaign is a feature that comes standard with most email service providers and will remove the hassle of needing to schedule an email campaign every time a subscriber has a birthday.
Automated campaigns aren’t only for birthdays — they can work for any date-based event. They’re perfect for membership renewals, anniversaries, or even Greek name day. They’re very easy to use and run automatically. Use them for as many things as you feel they will fit!
GreenMail, Inc. has both birthday and anniversary automation ready to go for you when you sign up. All you need to do is design the email you want to send, and it’s ready to go.
Let’s get started!
Step one: What should you send?
Birthdays are special, so we suggest that you include an incentive for your subscribers to shop with you. Some birthday emails have a discount code or even something free with a purchase. Below are some examples of birthday campaigns we’ve seen sent in the past.
A Coupon
Coupons are great to provide that final push to a sale. Gain attention by giving subscribers a discount.
A Gift
There’s nothing better than actually receiving a gift for your birthday. Giving subscribers a gift when they come in, or when they shop online will bring subscribers coming back for more. Doing this is a great way to add to client retention.
Free Shipping
Try to remove what’s blocking your subscriber from finalizing their purchase. Sometimes, free shipping is all they need to move forward with the sale.
Mystery Savings
Different types of mystery coupons could be incorporated into your birthday email. Interact with users by using scratch-off coupons that can be made unique to each subscriber.
A Fun GIF or Animation
When your subscribers open their personalized email, why not make it more fun with a celebratory animation or GIF? There are tons of fun, animated images that work for this and most email providers support animated GIFs.
When should you send the greeting?
There is no rule about when a birthday email should be sent. You could send on your customer’s actual birthdate, three weeks before, or the day after. The crucial part is that you’ve added them to your marketing approach. Subscribers will be pleased that you sent them something personal, but you can always do something unique that will promote your brand at the same time. Try standing out by sending greetings at different times. Here are some great examples:
- Send an email with an offer that lasts the whole month.
- Send an email on a client’s half birthday.
Always keep track of your data. If you’re finding that subscribers usually open more messages at a particular time of day, it may be good to consider that when scheduling automated emails.
Why is it essential?
For years, email marketing has been one of the most personal aspects of marketing. Birthday emails are a great place to start when creating a personal dialogue with each of your subscribers.
Celebration dates are easy to acknowledge and add to your marketing approach, as they’ve been proven to yield great results. Birthday emails have an estimated:
- 179% higher unique click rates
- 481% higher conversion rates
- 342% higher revenue per message
So, what’s the best part about an automated birthday message? Once you have it set up, it sends out automatically. This adds to your approach while you spend your time on other aspects of your marketing.
Birthday emails add to your overall company image. They reinforce brand recognition and retention because subscribers will remember that you remembered them on their birthday. Emails like these do wonders for your reputation by engaging with inactive users. We can’t say it enough — personalization is key to email marketing!
Utilize Automated Features and So Much More with GreenMail!
Adding a personal side to your email sends can help your subscribers feel like you understand them. Birthday emails are something that won’t make or break your email marketing approach, but they’re easy to add to it.
The best practice to use when sending out birthday campaigns is to create a hassle-free automated campaign. This way, you can use that time to focus on a different part of your marketing.
Automated campaigns are standard with most email marketing solutions, and GreenMail, Inc. is no exception. Get started for free today, and get automated date-based campaigns included.