Break out the cake and confetti; it’s time for a birthday celebration. From gifts to parties, birthdays are filled with lots of great things including birthday emails.

Birthday emails are one of the most effective emails you can send.

  • Birthday emails have a 481% higher transaction rate than promotional emails.
  • Birthday emails generate 342% higher revenue per email than promotional emails.
  • Birthday emails have 179% higher unique click rates than promotional emails.

(Source: Experian)

With success rates like that, who wouldn’t want to celebrate?

To help your business create and send effective birthday emails, we’ve created this helpful guide. We’ll cover what, when and how to send the best birthday emails that motivate subscribers to celebrate by buying your product or service.

What to send

Birthdays are synonymous with gift giving, so give your subscribers something they can’t pass up. Typically, birthday emails have a special deal, offer or free gift. Often, these deals can be used online or in-store, and should be easy to redeem.

Here are a few ideas that you can use:

A can’t-resist coupon

Give subscribers a real birthday treat by offering a can’t-resist coupon. For example, Campaign Monitor customer, Birchbox, offers $10 off of a $50 purchase. They sent the email at the beginning of the month and allow the subscriber the entire month to redeem the coupon before it expires.

Mystery savings

Send a mystery coupon to your subscribers on or before their birthday. You can use a tool like Scratch-it to create an offer that enables subscribers to “scratch” a digital card to reveal their 10, 20 or 30% off coupon.

A free gift

Everyone loves freebies on their birthday. Why not give your subscriber a free gift?
Have the birthday boy or girl come to your store to claim a free gift, or provide a coupon code to use online to receive the gift in the mail. The gift can be something small like a laptop sticker, an appetizer or service upgrade. You can require a minimum purchase to claim the free gift if you’d like.

Free shipping or discount

On a subscriber’s birthday, try to clear any obstacle that keeps him or her from placing an order. For example, as a birthday treat, offer to provide free shipping and take care of the sales taxes by discounting the item by 8% (or whatever the sales tax rate is in your area.) It’s a simple gesture that could entice a subscriber to buy.

Birthday email best practices

Is it best to send birthday emails on the exact birth date or before? Should you send a follow-up email? If so, when? They’re all great questions, and we’ve got the answers.

Send the offer on the actual birthdate

More than half (55%) of birthday emails are sent on the exact birthdate. About 38% of birthday emails are sent one to three weeks prior to the birthday.

Send a reminder

To make sure your subscribers remember to take advantage of their birthday offers, send a reminder email. Reminder emails generate rate increases of at least 20% in open, click-to-delivered, average order value and revenue per email, according to Experian data.

Use email automation

Even the most organized business couldn’t possibly keep track of every subscriber’s birthday and send an email offer on that day. Fortunately, you don’t have to.

Email automation turns what could be a tedious, time-consuming job into a few clicks.

Campaign Monitor customers can use automated emails, which are emails that are automatically sent to a subscriber when certain conditions are met. In this case, when the subscriber’s birthday arrives, an email is automatically delivered to his or her inbox.

Use these step-by-step instructions to set up an automated email for specific dates.

Personalize subject lines and messages

When you get a birthday card in the mail, the person sending it personalizes it, right? Of course. That’s what makes the card special. You should do the same thing with your birthday emails. Use a subscriber’s first name in the subject line and inside the email message.

Here’s a great example below from Benihana. The subject line was, “Time to Celebrate – Your Birthday Gift is Inside, Kim.” The personalization is in the subject line and in the body of the email:

Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened and marketers have found a 760% increase in email revenue from segmented campaigns. Campaign Monitor makes it easy to personalize every email, including birthday emails. Take a look at these instructions to personalize your campaigns.

Create a clear call to action

Every email should have a clear call to action, and birthday emails are no different. Make sure your call to action stands out. Consider using a button like the one above in the Benihana email. Use a color that’s used sparingly for the button color and create an action-oriented call to action for your button. Something like “Claim Your $30 Coupon Now” or “Redeem Your Birthday Gift”, or “Shop Now” like Chandon uses in the example below.

Keep the message short

The best birthday emails are short and simple. The message should wish the subscriber a happy birthday and explain the treat. There’s no need for long copy.

Here’s a great example from Wine.com. In less than 20 words, the email accomplishes its goal.

Make it festive

It’s a celebration. Birthdays are fun, so make sure your birthday emails have a festive feel to them. In the example above from Wine.com, there’s an image of people celebrating with a toast, and the example below from DSW uses big, bold letters to create a whimsical feel.

Use a combination of colorful text and images to make your birthday emails stand out. Use confetti, party streamers, balloons, birthday cake, or pictures of people at a party to liven up your email.

If you need help finding birthday images, check out our list of sites to get amazing images for your emails.

Wrap up

Birthday emails should be part of every brand’s email marketing strategy. By automating the process, you can create and send personalized, revenue-generating emails in a snap.

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