Birthdays can be fun to celebrate. They’re like our own personal holidays where people wish us a happy birthday, wait staff sings and brings us free desserts, and our social media feeds are filled with best wishes and adorable memes. It’s also fun to watch the birthday offers roll in

Free dinner at our favorite restaurant? Yes, please.

Free ice cream at the best ice cream shop in the city? Don’t mind if I do.

25% discount on our preferred brand of makeup or beer? Where do I pay?

Thankfully, receiving a birthday wishes email from your favorite businesses isn’t just good for the consumer. It’s also great for the business.

Happy Birthday Emails

A happy birthday email is an automated marketing email that is sent out on or near a customer’s birthday. While these emails celebrate the “personal holiday” and give the customer a special offer to help sweeten their day, they are actually designed to increase customer sales and retention.

Benefits of Sending a Birthday Wishes Email

As we mentioned earlier, birthday emails benefit the business as well as the customer. There are a variety of reasons to send a birthday email including:

• Staying top of mind with your customers
• Reminding potential customers that you exist and likely have the solution they need
• Showing loyalty to existing customers and subscribers
• Garnering goodwill that will likely lead to word-of-mouth marketing and referrals
• Increasing sales (the birthday holder may get a free meal, but they’re probably not dining alone)
• Increasing retention (80% of retail professionals indicate that email marketing is their greatest driver of customer retention)
• Improving customer engagement
• Creating a sense of community

According to Experian, birthday emails can be a powerful play for businesses. Their survey found that birthday emails had a 481% higher transaction rate, resulted in 342% higher revenue, and had a 179% higher unique click rate when compared to other promotional emails.

Ready to start celebrating your customer’s birthdays with them? Check out the format below to get started.

Happy Birthday Email Template

When it comes to designing your birthday emails, creativity counts. Your email service provider should have multiple templates to choose from that can be customized to better reflect your brand.

A birthday email should be friendly and fun and provide something (besides well wishes) to the customer. You can offer a discount, special offer, or a free gift with purchase.

Include your customer’s name in the email or subject line to make the email feel more personal. If you collect any information about your customers’ geographic area, hobbies, interests, or family, you can add this to the email to personalize it further.

Keep the email brief and highlight what you’re offering them to help their celebration. You can send these emails out before or on their birthday. However, you’ll need to make sure that your copy reflects the option you choose. Include all the promotion details so customers know exactly what they’ll get if there are any requirements (like a purchase) to receive it, and the expiration date so they don’t miss out.

Here’s a sample template you can follow when crafting a birthday email for your customers:

Subject Line: Happy Birthday, [Customer Name]

Happy birthday to you! We’d love to treat you for your special day. Celebrate with a [XYZ special offer] the next time you order.*

*Offer expires on [Expiration Date].

Need some more inspiration? Check out these birthday email examples.

If you don't want to send a happy birthday email from scratch, there are a number of tools you can use to send digital e-cards and gifts. Rybbon integrates directly with your CRM to send e-gift cards and offers to your contact list. 

For more personalized gifts, Sendoso can help companies send direct mail, and physical gifts within one easy-to-use platform.

Birthday Email Subject Lines

A birthday email is only as powerful as its subject line. Why? Because if you don’t catch their attention the moment they see it in their inbox, they won’t bother opening the email and all of your work will be a moot point.

There are a variety of email subject lines that will pique your customer’s interest. Here are a few to consider:

• It’s your birthday! (We want to help you celebrate)
• A special gift for your birthday
• Make a wish
• A special gift of $10 off for your birthday
• Have your birthday dinner on us
• An important birthday is coming up
• A little bird told us it’s your birthday

Whether you choose to go with one of these options or construct your own, you’ll want to include:

• What your email is about
• What you are offering them
• A catchy or intriguing sentence to catch their attention
• An expiration date to express urgency

Remember that the average person’s inbox is flooded with marketing emails on a daily basis. Make sure your subject line is able to capture their attention.

Sending happy birthday emails to those on your email list (whether they’ve purchased from you in the past, or not), is a great way to help your contact celebrate their birthday, and for your company to build a stronger relationship with its audience.