These birthday email strategy statistics show why sending a birthday email is a win-win for your customers and your business:

• 481% higher transaction rates than regular emails
• 342% more revenue than regular emails
• 179% higher click rate than regular emails
• 74% of customers who receive a birthday message think more positively of the business that sent it.

So how do you create a birthday email that your customer will love? Take a look at these examples to inspire your own ideas:

Birthday email marketing examples

1) Seamless

Even if you already have your customer’s date of birth, it is a good idea to ask again for birthday messages. This does a couple of important things. 

Firstly, it checks that you have the correct date. We’ve all filled out a date of birth incorrectly on an online form just to get through the process faster at one point or another. If you don’t check you have the right date, you could miss the increased likelihood of a response that results from a birthday message.

Secondly, it confirms that your customer does want to receive a birthday message. There are plenty of people who, for one reason or another, do not celebrate their birthday or regard it as a private affair for friends and family only. These customers may not be happy to get a birthday message from your business, despite your good intentions.

Finally, asking for your customer’s birthday lets them know that there are birthday gifts and promotions up for grabs if they provide their information.

2) Hulu

Birthdays are a time for treating yourself. This makes them a great time to tempt a lapsed customer back to your service. Besides using their birthday email as a retargeting opportunity, Hulu’s birthday message is also noteworthy for its use of a GIF and the fact that it was scheduled a few days before the date itself. 

A moving image is much more eye-catching than a still one, helping to capture the reader’s attention as soon as they open the email. They are also better at evoking a feeling associated with your message such as fun, excitement, relaxation or comfort.  Of course you can find a GIF online, or you can create your own with a variety of graphic design platforms. 

Scheduling the message a few days before the date itself helps avoid your emails getting lost in all of the other messages a customer will receive on their birthday. Depending on what you are offering, it can also be more helpful to send the offer beforehand so that your customer can redeem the promotion before their birthday and incorporate it into their plans.

3) Pizza Hut

While many marketing emails aim to fit all of the key information above the fold, Pizza Hut does the opposite. Dividing their birthday email into three screen-sized sections is a simple but effective way to add a little interactivity to the message. By not immediately revealing what the offer is, the email builds curiosity and engages more of the reader’s attention by leaving them guessing at what the gift might be.

With its minimal use of text in a large font and vertical scrolling format, this email is also clearly optimized for mobile. More than 50% of all emails are opened via mobile, and this is especially vital for food delivery thanks to the ubiquity of food ordering apps.

4) Curology

Not all of your marketing messages need to offer a sale or promotion, and that remains true for birthday marketing emails. Customers will still appreciate that you took the time to get in touch and congratulate them, and the fact that you didn’t attempt to make a sale can make your message feel sincerer. Curology focuses on showing care for their customer with a message that is focused entirely on them, reinforcing a friendly and caring brand personality.

5) Nintendo

Nintendo presents its offers as gifts to be unwrapped, focusing on the celebratory aspect of the email. It uses mystery and interactive elements to engage readers, as well as a smaller free gift to be redeemed immediately. This gives the customer an immediate reason to click on the email while also providing a larger gift tied to their Nintendo account, encouraging them to log in and check it out.

6) Bonefish Grill

Giving something away for free in your birthday message will always feel like more of a gift than offering a discount. This is especially true if you can give a gift that ties into the celebration theme, in this case a dessert. Offering two gift options increases the likelihood of a customer taking the offer even if they are not a fan of one of the options.

On a less positive note, however, this birthday email asks customers to print out the discount in order to redeem it. Additionally, they will only have one chance to do this before they are locked out of the offer. This is not ideal as customers can make a mistake that prevents them from redeeming the gift, and not everyone owns a printer. There are easier ways to provide an offer like this for restaurants and bars, such as providing a QR code or texting a discount code that customers can bring up on their phone and show to a server.

7) Rent The Runway

Rent the Runway keeps it simple and straightforward, highlighting the value of the offer while also finding a way to tie their products into birthday celebrations naturally. As a clothing store, offering a store-wide coupon is a smart choice. 

Rent the Runway can’t predict what kind of event their customer will be attending to celebrate their birthday, so a more specific offer would only result in some customers being unable to buy something that is relevant to their birthday celebration. While they still might treat themselves to some new clothes, this would miss out on the added incentive of picking out a new outfit for an upcoming event.

This email also manages to avoid leaning too heavily into sales language despite leading with the offer value, and connects their call to action button to the celebration theme.

Give birthday emails your own style

The best birthday emails match a business’ tone and brand image to feel authentic.

Offering a discount is one of the proven strategies to boost sales, but they are not the only way to show your appreciation. Birthday emails that get in touch to sincerely celebrate their special day can be just as appreciated by your customers.

Use these birthday email examples as inspiration to craft your own messages for your customers on their special day.

Be sure to also give your own emails a great birthday email subject line so they get opened!

The post 7 Birthday Email Marketing Examples to Inspire Your Own appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

It’s also a great way to generate additional sales throughout the year without giving away too much margin all at once. 

But sending birthday emails is only half the challenge. The other half is getting customers to open them. 

That’s where subject lines come in. 

When one-third of your email list decides whether to open an email or not based on its subject line, coming up with the right subject lines is vital to improving your open rates.

That’s why we’ve put together this list of 100 great birthday subject lines top brands have used in the past. Feel free to use them as inspiration for when you’re coming up with your own.

General birthday subject lines

These are some general examples of subject lines used in the past that just contain a simple birthday message. 

• Happy birthday! We got you something… – BareMinerals
• Your Billabong birthday gift – Billabong
• Haaaaappy birthday to youuuuu – Boden
• Happy birthday! Enjoy this special treat. – Clinique
• Have the Best. Birthday. Ever. – Hulu
• Let’s celebrate your birthday! – Ipsy
• A Gift From Kérastase For Your Birthday! – Kérastase
• It’s your birthday… – Kiehl’s
• Your Exclusive Birthday Gift Is Waiting for You! – Kiehl’s
• We Heard It’s Your Birthday! – Kopari Beauty
• Happy Birthday! From your friends at Lazy Dog! – Lazy Dog
• It’s your birthday, you can buy what you want to! – Millers
• Happy Birthday MISSHA lover! – MISSHA
• Your birthday gift is inside – Neiman Marcus
• We’re suckers for a birthday party. – Nikon
• Your Birthday Just Got Even More Empowering. – Olay
• A half-birthday surprise for you – Outdoor Voices
• A birthday surprise from PUMA. – PUMA
• Happy Birthday! Enjoy your gift inside! – Shoe Carnival
• Make a chocoholic’s birthday wish come true – Simply Chocolate
• Happy birthday from Stitch Fix! – Stitch Fix
• happy happy happy birthday – Tarte
• Enjoy Your Free Birthday Charburger! – The Habit Burger Grill
• Your Birthday Is About to Get Next-Level – Urban Decay
• Yay!! Your Birthday Reward is Here! – Vince Camuto
• Your Birthday Gift Is Waiting! – Vineyard Vines

Personalized email subject lines

Personalizing your subject line with your customer’s name is a great way to make it stand out and boost your open rate. 

So much so that subject lines that include the subscriber’s name achieve a 17% higher open rate on average. 

And seeing as you already know when their birthday is, you probably know what your customer’s name is too, so why not include it in your subject line?

• Happy birthday {NAME}! We got you a little something to celebrate… – Current Elliott
• Wishing you a happy & active birthday, {NAME} – Fitbit
• Dessert is on us – Happy Birthday, {NAME}! – Islands Restaurants
• Happy Birthday {NAME}! Enjoy A Birthday Discount Code! – Jambu Footwear
• Happy birthday {NAME}! Ready to unwrap your gift? – Joie
• Happy Birthday, {NAME} – accept this gift from Lumosity! – Lumosity
• {NAME}, make this your BEST. BIRTHDAY. EVER. – Reebok
• Don’t forget your birthday treat {NAME} – The Body Shop
• Happy Birthday, {NAME}! – Thorne
• Happy birthday — our gift to you, {NAME} – Tory Burch
• Happy birthday {NAME}, we have a surprise for you! – YOOX

Birthday email subject lines with emojis

Adding an emoji to your subject line is a great way to make it stand out in people’s inboxes and get your emails opened. 

For birthday emails, the cake (?) and the party popper (?) emojis are popular choices. But you don’t need to limit yourself to just these. One idea to consider to differentiate your email campaign is to use a product representing your product or service.

• Happy Birthday, {NAME}! ? – Adidas
• {NAME}, Today’s Your Day! ? – Birchbox
• Need A Birthday Outfit? ? – boohoo
• Happy Birthday! ? ? – Cheap CPAP Supplies
• ? Wishing You One Bold Birthday… – Chico’s 
• {NAME}, a birthday gift just for you! ? – Chili’s
• Our birthday gift to you is ready! ? – Chili’s
• ? Happy Birthday, {NAME}! ? – Colleen Rothschild Beauty
• Add your baby’s birthday for a discount! ? – Copper Pearl
• Happy Birthday! Enjoy $20 Off Today! ? – Daily Look
• ?Happy birthday to youuu – Fitbit
• ?Happy Birthday, {NAME}? – LongHorn Steakhouse
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIRGOS ? – Makeup Eraser
• {NAME} ? This birthday gift takes the cake! – Reitmans
• A gift for your birthday ? – Torrid
• Birthday gift guides as fresh as the ? – Uncommon Goods
• ? It’s your birthday, {NAME}! ? – Walgreens

Check out our guide on using emojis in subject lines here for more emoji usage tips and best practices.

Early birthday subject lines

You don’t necessarily need to automate your birthday campaigns to send on your customer’s actual birthday. 

Instead, you can send it a few days in advance to get in ahead of others.

• 10 Days ‘Til Your Birthday?! – boohoo
• {NAME} It’s Almost Your B-Day. Here’s Your Gift – Hulu
• Your birthday is almost here – wish for the perfect gift – Pandora
• Happy (early) Birthday! – River Island (UK)
• Happy (Almost) Birthday – Smashbox Cosmetics
• {NAME}, It’s Almost Your Birthday! – Stitch Fix

Happy birthday month subject lines

Not only do you not need to send your birthday emails on your customer’s actual birthday, but there’s nothing stopping you from celebrating your customer’s birthday months as well. Just like the campaigns below have done.

• It’s your birthday month! We got you something… – bareMinerals
• Happy Birthday Month {NAME}! – Best Cigar Prices
• Hi {NAME}, A Very Happy Birthday Month to You – Birchbox
• Happy birthday month, {NAME}! – Fairytale Brownies
• Happy birthday! Party ALL month long! – Hollister Co.
• You’ll wish your birthday came every month – Shane Co.
• Your Birthday Month Ends Soon and So Does Your 10% Off – The Art of Shaving
• Hip-hip-hooray, it’s time to celebrate March birthdays! – Wolferman’s Bakery

Examples mentioning a special birthday offer

Including an offer in your email campaign is a great way to make your customers truly feel special on their birthday. 

And if you decide to do this, you’ll also want to mention it in your subject line to help boost open rates. Just like the examples below have done. 

• ? Happy Birthday – here’s 15% off! – American Eagle Outfitters
• Happy Half Birthday, {NAME}! Take an EXTRA 15% off – Ashley Stewart
• Happy (Early) Birthday! 20% Off Inside ? – Bliss
• Today Only: Free shipping for {NAME}’s birthday – Cuddle + Kind
• Here’s $20 off for your birthday. – Dooney & Bourke
• {NAME}, claim your free birthday gift + free shipping! – ELF Cosmetics
• {NAME}, Happy Birthday! Enjoy $5 off! – Giordano’s Pizza
• Go ahead, open your gift ? – Happy Socks
• Happy Birthday! Get 10% OFF xo – House of CB London
• Happy Birthday {NAME}! Our Gift To You: 15% Off Your Next Purchase – HUGO BOSS
• ? $25 Gift In Celebration Of Your Birthday! – Kidpik
• Enjoy $10 off for your birthday – Kikki.K
• Happy birthday! Enjoy 10% off your next MacKenzie-Childs purchase – MacKenzie Childs
• Happy Birthday from ME+EM | Don’t forget your 15% off code – ME+EM
• Your Birthday Gift Awaits ~ Save 20% ~ Treat Yourself Today – NorthStyle

Last chance style subject lines

If a customer doesn’t take up your birthday offer, sending them a ‘last chance’ style reminder with an urgent call to action in the subject line can often push them across the line. 

• Don’t forget your birthday present – Banana Republic Factory
• {NAME}, Don’t Forget Your B-day Gift ? – Birchbox
• ? Don’t miss your FREE Birthday Set! – Coco and Eve
• Your birthday gift expires soon! – Disney
• There is still time to enjoy your exclusive birthday offer – Harrods
• There’s a Birthday Surprise Waiting for You – Don’t Miss It! – Lancôme
• Your birthday gift won’t last forever – Lands’ End
• Don’t miss out! Your birthday offer expires soon – Origins
• Don’t forget about your birthday treat on us! – Reitmans
• Happy Birthday | It’s not too late to celebrate… – Timex

Asking for a customer’s birthday

Of course, to send your customers an email on their special day, you first need to know when their birthday is. 

If you don’t know this, one way to find out is simply by sending them an email and ask them when it is. If you opt for this strategy, you’ll want to give the email a subject line similar to the examples below.

• Happy birthday! Oh no. WAIT. – Boden
• Happy birthday, maybe? – Evite
• Sign up to receive a birthday treat. – Garnet Hill
• When’s Your Birthday? – Kendra Scott
• Happy Birthday, {NAME}? – Minnesota Timberwolves
• Want A Birthday Gift? – Splendid

The rest of your email campaign

Obviously, your subject line is only an (albeit important) part of your birthday campaign. 

To ensure your campaign reaches its full potential, you’ll also need to think about the contents of your email. 

Luckily, we’ve also put together a guide on birthday emails that covers everything you need to know from asking customers when their birthday is, what offers to include in your emails, to cultural sensitivities to be aware of. 

It also contains plenty of email examples to inspire you when designing your own campaign.

Lastly, for more tips on writing subject lines, our guide on subject line best practices is also well worth visiting.

The post 100 Birthday Email Subject Lines to Inspire Your Own appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

Not only does it build customer loyalty but it also shows that you appreciate the fact they’re a customer with your store. 

They’re also a great implementation of email personalization, which we know increases transaction rates and customer satisfaction.

And with birthday email campaigns being so easy to automate, there’s no reason not to start sending your customers one on their birthdays. 

That said, there are several considerations and best practices you should keep in mind when creating your automatic birthday campaign. All of which we’ll cover in this article as well as give you plenty of design inspiration and tips so you can make the most out of your campaign.

The importance of birthday email campaigns 

Birthday email campaigns may take a backseat to more essential automations like your welcome series, abandoned carts, and post-purchase campaigns, but they’re still one of the most effective campaigns you can set up. 

Compared to regular promotional campaigns, birthday campaigns result in a 481% higher transaction rate, generate 342% more revenue per email, and have a 179% higher unique click rate.

But it’s not just the immediate results these campaigns generate that are important. 

Receiving a happy birthday email, even if it’s just an automated one from a retailer, is a positive experience that shows you’re valued as a customer. 

This strengthens the relationship between your brand and your customers which will help generate additional sales throughout the year.

Birthday email marketing campaign best practices

Sending an automatic birthday email to your customers is obviously different from wishing friends and family members a happy birthday. There are several considerations and best practices you should keep in mind, including: 

Mention your customer’s name

Sending an email on your customer’s birthday is the pinnacle of campaign personalization, so you don’t want to fall down with the most basic form of personalization: mentioning your customer’s name. 

You don’t just want to mention it in passing either. The best birthday emails have the customer’s name be front and center in the email design. Like in the excellent example below from Sephora.

Making the focus all about your customer reinforces the feeling of appreciation they’ll receive after opening your email and improves the performance of your campaign.

In addition to including your customer’s name in your email, you should also include in your birthday email subject line as this results in a 17% higher open rate.

Include a free gift or offer

If you’re going to send your customers an email on their birthdays, you should back it up with some kind of offer. 

Otherwise it can come across as stingy if you’re sending customers a birthday campaign without anything of value. 

The example below from wine.com offers customers 10% off their next order on their birthdays.

You can be a bit more creative than just offering a simple percentage discount code as well. Free shipping or even a free gift with purchase (GWP) are both great options to consider. 

The other option is to include a mystery gift with purchases, which research by Experian has shown to be the most effective way to increase the revenue from your birthday campaign.

Include a clear call to action

As with any email you send, you should include a clear call to action (CTA) button that stands out from the rest of the email design. 

The email below from Hulu is a great example of a campaign that funnels people straight to where they can redeem their free trial with the green button that stands out. There’s no ambiguity as to what customers should do next or where they should go.  

Even if it’s just directing customers to your store, it’s still important to include a call to action button. Without one, your customers are just going to go back to their inbox, open another email and end up forgetting about you.

Think about when you automate birthday emails to send

The majority (55%) of birthday email marketing campaigns are sent on the customer’s actual birthday with the vast majority of the rest being sent before their birthday. 

While exactly when you automate your birthday campaign to send is up to you, make sure the contents of the email matches. 

If you’re going to send it before their actual birthday, don’t say “Happy Birthday”, or worse, “Today Is Your Birthday!”. Instead you’ll want to go with something along the lines of “It’s Nearly Your Birthday” or “Your Birthday Is Just Around The Corner”. 

There may also be cultural considerations around wishing people a happy birthday before or after their actual birthday. For example, in Germany it’s rude to wish someone a happy birthday early. 

Sending multiple birthday emails

Instead of just sending a single birthday email, you may want to consider creating a proper birthday campaign with multiple emails. 

The most common way to do this is by setting up a reminder email to send a week or so later if your customer hasn’t made a purchase since receiving the first birthday email. Like in the example below from Aveda.

The other strategy (which you can combine with a birthday reminder email) is to send a happy birthday month email before your customer’s actual birthday like Nike does.

Don’t mention your customer’s age

Sending customers an email on their birthday is a great example of personalization, but mentioning their age is a step too far for some. 

Some people are uncomfortable with sharing their age and it can be a bit too personal for them to feel comfortable with marketers including it in their campaigns. 

So unless your customer base is young and you think they’d value a specific birthday email at a special age, like on their 18th or 21st birthdays, it’s best to leave age out of your emails.

How to set up automatic birthday emails

Now that you have an understanding of all the best practices around birthday email marketing campaigns, the next step is knowing how to automate them. 

Collecting people’s birthdays

The first step to sending customers a birthday email is knowing when their birthday is. You can collect this information in a couple of ways. 

Asking for their birthday when signing up for your email list

The first is simply by asking for people’s birthdays when they sign up for your email list. 

All this requires is adding one more field to your signup form. Like in the example below from Boost.

There are several improvements that could be made to this form, however. 

The first is not to make the birthday field mandatory. 

Some people just don’t feel comfortable with adding their birthdays and you don’t want them not signing up to your email list just because you’ve made the birthday field mandatory. 

As we already talked about as well, it’s only on rare occasions you may want to include how old your customers are in your birthday campaigns. So if you really want to do this, just make sure the year field isn’t mandatory. 

This isn’t just about being sensitive either. We know that the more fields an email sign up form has, the lower the sign up rate is. So you want to keep fields, especially mandatory fields, to a minimum. 

Send an email asking for people’s birthdays

While it’s never too late to start collecting people’s birthdays when they sign up for your email list, you’ve likely already been collecting email addresses without thinking to ask for their birthdays. 

For these subscribers, you can send a simple email asking them when their birthday is. Obviously you’ll want to mention you’re asking so you can send them exclusive offers on their birthdays otherwise it might come across the wrong way. 

The email below from Ann Taylor is a great example of how to do this well complete with a great call to action button.

The “Sign Up For My Gift” call to action shifts the focus away from handing over personal information to the gift customers will receive on their birthdays.

Automating birthday emails

Once you have customer’s birthday data, you’re right to set up an automatic birthday email. 

All this requires is creating the actual email, or emails if you’re also planning on automating a birthday reminder or other type of pre- or post-birthday email. 

Once you have the email or emails ready and looking the way you want, the only thing that’s left is to automate it to send on your customer’s birthday (or at whatever time you want). 

You can find instructions on how to do this in SmartrMail here. 

Or watch the short video below:

Birthday email marketing examples

To help inspire you when designing your birthday emails, we’ve also put together this short list of some of the best examples we’ve come across.

FitOn’s example of a typical birthday email

There’s nothing particularly special or out of the ordinary about this birthday campaign from FitOn apart from how polished it looks. 

It nails most of the best practices with the customer’s name being front and center, a clear call to action button, and being set on the customer’s birthday.

The only thing that would improve the email would be a more enticing offer.

Runtastic 

Runtastic’s birthday email is another example of your typical birthday email that gets all of the best practices right. 

While the “Get My Gift” is a great call to action, the biggest area this email could improve in is with making the offer more visible. With its current design, the 50% discount offer gets lost in the rest of the email copy.

Outdoor Voices’ half-birthday email

Outdoor Voices have had the creative idea of celebrating their customers’ half-birthdays. 

This is an interesting take on birthday emails as most people probably don’t even know when their half-birthday is exactly. Which makes opening this email a nice surprise. 

The fact that so few other businesses send half-birthday emails also helps you stand out in people’s inboxes.

The animated gif makes the email all that more captivating and attention grabbing as well.

Birchbox’s birthday month email

This email example from Birchbox provides good inspiration if you’re thinking about sending your customers a birthday month email. 

It’s also a generally good example of a birthday email. The only thing that’s missing is the personalization of the customer’s name.

Loomi’s birthday email design

Another example of the all-too-many birthday emails that forget to include their customer’s name. However the imagery of this email from Loomi more than redeems itself. 

The simple shot of the donut is incredibly enticing and the entire email design aligns well with the Loomi brand.

Wrapping up

Birthday emails are a fantastic way to engage with your customers and build brand loyalty. 

Given how effective they are, they’re also a great way of generating additional sales throughout the year. 

And with them being so easy to set up, there’s no reason not to start creating them right away. 

All you need to do is keep the best practices (personalization, including a gift, sending at the right time, and not mentioning their age) and you’ll be well on your way to making more sales.

Additional resources

To help ensure the success of your campaigns, we’ve also got some additional birthday marketing resources you might want to check out:

• A collection of birthday email subject lines

The post Why & How to Set up Automatic Birthday Emails to Customers appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.