Birthdays are a gift for marketing emails! Aren’t you pleased when someone wishes you a happy birthday? It sparks a feeling of being appreciated, especially if the wish comes with no prompting or reminding for you. What holds true for the connection with relatives, coworkers, and friends also applies to brands. And we feel even more appreciated when the birthday wishes accompany some kind of gift.
Channeling that positive impact for marketing emails is what makes campaigns centered on customer birthdays so effective. Data comparing responses to standard marketing emails with birthday ones proves that.
Customers respond to birthday messaging
Experian dug through the data on over 50 brands to measure the impact of birthday emails. The improvement for nearly all metrics is astonishing.
Birthday emails deliver:
- 481% higher transaction rates than promotional emails
- 342% higher revenue per email than promotional emails
- 179% higher unique click rates than promotional emails
Remarkety’s own data shows that birthday campaigns have an AVG of 28% open rate across all verticals, as well as an impressive conversion rate. See the two graphs below.
That’s a fantastic ROI for something that can be set up so effortlessly on Remarkety. It makes it easy to include a dynamic coupon as a special birthday gift offer redeemable for the week or month of the birthday, which carries even more impact.
To make sure your birthday email campaigns perform optimally, follow the best practices listed below.
Celebrate every customer
While segmentation is usually a good thing, you don’t want to cut yourself off from the rewards of birthday emails. Aim to send birthday messages to every single customer.
Incentivize sharing
You can’t send birthday wishes if you don’t know your customer’s birthday, and getting it through some backhanded way by mining their information from Facebook or the like might creep them out.
Instead, be open about asking for it when you get permission to email with an assurance that you will be using it for their benefit and not selling their information. For customers who came on before you may have thought of adding in the birthday data field, send out emails asking for it with the promise of a thank you gift on their special day.
When shoppers see that sharing their birthday pays for them, they’re happy to do it. That’s the gist of a US News article that advises consumers on which retailers deliver the best birthday benefits.
Customize & automate
Remarkety will have you sending those birthday wishes and offers out in no time. Start with an email template, customize it to suit the occasion and your customer base, set it to automatically personalize the message with individual names, and set it up to go out automatically
Personalized emails enjoy 17% higher open rates than those without, according to Experian.
Send your love and a gift card
While love is priceless, nothing shows you care as much as an actual gift or special birthday discount. Some brands send a virtual gift card with a code for a certain dollar amount.
It could be a straight gift card to be used on any purchase like the $15 amounts favored by Boden or one that requires a minimum purchase like the $5 or $10 off $50 purchases favored by Target.
Bear in mind that discounts that depend on minimum spend tend to draw fewer purchases and less revenue per email. A more generous gesture, in this case, yields better results.
Add the allure of mystery
Curiosity can help drive conversion, and that’s the appeal of mystery offers that are only revealed when the customer clicks through. Capitalize on that, and you raise your open rates.
Subject lines that work well for such offers should also include the personalization of the recipient’s name. For example: “It’s your birthday, Adam. Here’s a gift to help you celebrate.” or “Here’s a special birthday bonus just for you, Robin!”.
Experian reports that mystery birthday outperforms other marketing emails by far when it comes to revenue. It delivers a better than 500% improvement!
Include a clear CTA
Every motivational email should have a clear CTA, and that includes your birthday promotions. Set up a clear place to click with a message like “Unwrap your birthday gift” or “Claim your $20 gift card now.
Crest sends out this one: “Open for your birthday surprise🎁 “
Follow up
If the email doesn’t get immediate attention, it pays to follow up. Experian found a minimum of 20% better rates on all metrics for follow up emails on birthday offers.
You can also set up rules for how soon to send out the follow-up email. Include messages like “Don’t forget to use your gift certificate” or “Don’t let this offer get away!” On the last day before the offer expires, be sure to alert the recipient, “Last day to use your special discount!”
Many happy returns of the day
While birthday emails have great power to convert, they also advance your customer relationship even if they don’t end up buying something. Just sending warm wishes on appropriate occasions develops greater brand love that pays off in long term loyalty.
