Business > Merchant Voice

12 tips for creating a great customer birthday program

What’s the one thing people are most fond of, after their name?

Their birthday!

Annual events like Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day roll around every year, and while not everyone celebrates them, everyone has a birthday.

Even if something like 19 million people (7 billion people divided by 365 days) share the same birthday across the world each day, there’s still something very special about the day you were born.

People often remember their favourite birthday parties as a child, and how they celebrated their milestones. With the death of “snail mail”, a birthday card is becoming a rarity and so it’s one marketing method that will create real cut-through with your customer.

A birthday program will help you win the loyalty and attention of your customers – but only if you use it!

How many times have you been asked for your birthday details by different businesses? Dozens of times, perhaps? And yet are you surprised to receive say, only a handful of emails or mass-produced postcards from companies sending you birthday wishes each year?

People feel surprisingly indulgent on their birthdays and some (like my partner!) string out what he calls the “Festival of Me” for a good week or so. It’s their time to feel special.

Since I introduced an email AND handwritten birthday greeting program, my sales have zoomed. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Of those repeat purchasers who have received a birthday card for themselves, their partner or their child, 38% have bought another product within three months.

Here’s 12 tips on creating a great customer birthday program:

  1. If you don’t already do so, ask for your customer’sr day, month and year of birth upon registration. While the day and month is the minimum info you need, asking for the year will help you target those special milestones, such as their 18th, 21st, 25th, 30th birthday and so on, and fine-tune your demographic data so you know what age groups are buying your products.

  2. If you have a CRM system, and if the information is appropriate in relation to the products you sell, ask for their partner’s and/or their children’s names and birthdates too. Additional birthdays or anniversary dates give you several opportunities to target them throughout the year.

  3. Design branded, but blank interior greeting cards which you can use for any occasion. Don’t design it with a Happy Birthday message; it’s unlikely to be design-equally appropriate for young children and for adults, and if you ask for anniversary dates, they won’t be served by such a specific birthday card design!

  4. Create a basic message which can be tweaked depending on whether they were the original purchaser or the recipient, an adult or a child, and whether you’re mentioning their age.

  5. You’ll make the most impact on your customer if you actually handwrite the birthday card (hopefully you have nice writing) and get extra points for handwriting the envelope, too! Pre-printed, mail-merged greeting cards with only their name to differentiate customers aren’t nearly as special. What’s the expense and effort of a handwritten card worth to your company’s business? Remember: the only handwritten birthday cards most adults receive these days are from their mothers or grandmothers so yours will stand out!

  6. Enclose an offer to celebrate. Most people feel very self-indulgent around their birthday and may treat themselves then to a special offer from your company. Making it date-specific will push them to act, while open-ended promotions save you printing costs.

  7. If you’re sending the card to your customer’s workplace, ensure the offer or voucher code provides more than single-use: they may be delighted enough to show their birthday card to colleagues, and pass the voucher onto them. I have had several orders come in from company addresses where I’ve just sent the customer’s birthday card.

  8. Ideally, check your customers’ address details a month prior to their birthdays. Most people are open to receiving something on their birthday. I have open rates of over 30% on these “Can I please check your address?” emails with about 20% of customers responding with a new address.

  9. Send the birthday card at least one week before their actual birthdate. This gives it plenty of time to arrive, lets them enjoy prolong the Festival of Me, and it lets them display your card (which may be the only one they receive) for their friends to see.

  10. Another reason to mail their birthday card early is that they may have moved. If they’ve done a mail direction it may still reach their new address in time.

  11. If you receive their birthday card stamped Return to Sender, email them to update their address and wish them a belated birthday.

  12. Don’t mention their age if your customer is a woman aged over 30, or a man older than 40. Many people who are older than this are uncomfortable having people know how old they are, especially if you’re sending it to a work address where colleagues might see it.

Elizabeth Hollingsworth
Elizabeth Hollingsworth
Bio   •   RSS Feed


x