How to Create Automated Birthday Emails that Your Customers Will Love

Your customers get hundreds of emails every day. Most get deleted without a second glance.

Automated birthday emails are different.

The numbers back that up. Campaign Monitor found birthday emails drive 179% more clicks, 481% more transactions, and 342% more revenue per email compared to regular promotional campaigns.

One day on the calendar outperforms months of standard sends.

Why?

Timing and context.

A birthday email lands when someone is already in a celebratory mood, already expecting to spend on themselves. An offer with their name on it doesn't read as marketing. It reads as thoughtful. That gap in perception is worth a lot.

In this post, we’ll help you understand the benefits of setting up automated birthday emails. Plus, share how to collect birth dates, create personalized dynamic coupons, and automate the email that runs every year without touching it again.

Watch this tutorial to craft irresistible birthday email automations in WordPress:

Let's start.

How to Set Up Automated Birthday Emails in WordPress (Step-by-Step Guide)

In this post, we’ll use FunnelKit Automations to help you set up your birthday reminder automation.

FunnelKit Automations is WordPress's most potent marketing automation and broadcast CRM engine.

You can use this plugin to create different automated sequences and run your business automatically.

FunnelKit Automations allows you to create and send personalized birthday emails to your customers at the right time.

Make sure to install both the free and pro versions of FunnelKit Automations.

Here's what we'll build in the following steps:

• Email 1 (3 days before birthday): A pre-birthday email that delivers a personalized dynamic coupon to build anticipation and encourage a purchase
• Email 2 (on the birthday): A birthday email that wishes your customer on their special day to strengthen customer relationships

The sequence triggers automatically every year for each contact. Once it's set up, it runs without any manual work.

Step 1: Collect your customer’s date of birth data

Before sending emails, you first need to capture your customers' birth dates.

FunnelKit Automations provides you with the ability to capture your contacts' dates of birth. You can collect birthdate in 3 locations: checkout page, thank you page, and my account page.

To enable collection, navigate to FunnelKit Automations > Settings> Birthday Reminder and configure the following settings:

WooCommerce Checkout

To collect dob on WooCommerce Checkout, set the following:

• Enable Field: Enable the Date of Birth field on the WooCommerce checkout page to collect birthdate.
• Field Label: Set the label for the field (default: Date of Birth)
• Required: Make the Date of Birth field mandatory
• Field Position: Choose where the field appears on the checkout page

Note: If you are using FunnelKit Checkout or FunnelKit Optin, you can place the field anywhere and configure the label and required settings in the field editor.

WooCommerce My Account

To collect dob on WooCommerce my account page, set the following:

• Enable Field: Enable the Date of Birth field on the My Account page for collection.
• Field Label: Set the label for the field

WooCommerce Thank You Page

To collect dob on the WooCommerce thank you page, set the following:

• Enable Shortcode: Enable the Date of Birth collection form on the Thank You page
• Shortcode: Use [bwfan_thank_you_birthday_collection_form label="Birthdate" button="Save"] to display the form
• Success Message: Show a confirmation message after submission (e.g., Thank you for submitting your Birthdate)

Note: Visibility setting hides the field if the Date of Birth is already available for the contact.

After making the changes, hit "Save" to update.

Add the dob field to the WooCommerce checkout

If you’re using FunnelKit’s Funnel Builder, its checkout page and opt-in forms include date-of-birth fields in their form editors.

You just need to drag and drop the DOB field into the checkout or opt-in form.

Make sure to hit save to update

Step 2: Add a new automation

Go to the Automations section and hit the ‘Create Automation’ button.

Here, you can find various pre-built automated recipes. But we will select the 'Start from scratch' option and name our automation.

Clicking on 'Create' will add a new automation to your workspace.

Step 3: Select the 'Birthday Reminder' event

Click ‘Select Trigger’ on your workflow screen and choose the ‘Birthday Reminder’ event.

Now configure this event by clicking on the trigger node.

We’ll send our first email three days before our contact’s birthday. Thus, choose ‘Before Contact’s Birthday’ and assign three days before the birthday there.

Click on ‘Save’ when done.

Step 4: Create a dynamic, personalized coupon

Next, we’ll create a WooCommerce coupon in our store.

For this, click on the (+) icon and choose 'Action'.

Select 'Create Coupon' under WooCommerce and press 'Done'.

Set the details of your coupon here:

• Coupon Title - Enter the name of your coupon.
• Discount Type - Specify the discount type you want. It could be a percentage discount, fixed cart discount, or recurring discount.
• Amount - List the discount amount for this coupon.
• Coupon Code Prefix - Add a prefix name to your coupon. It could be your contact’s first name. FunnelKit Automations generates a random number post that prefix.
• Coupon Expiry - Set the coupon expiry here. You can set it to after specific days, on a particular date, or never expire. Here, we’ll assign it to 4 days.
• Allow Free Shipping - Check the free shipping option to offer free shipping with your coupon.

Make sure to copy your dynamic coupon code.

You can even restrict this coupon to specific email addresses, their usage, or products. Plus, you can always use personalization in your coupon codes, like the contact's first name.

👉 Check our complete guide on WooCommerce dynamic coupons to get more insights.

Once done, hit the ‘Save’ button.

Step 5: Send the first email with the pre-birthday coupon

Choose the 'Send Email' action. You’ll find it under the 'Messaging' section.

Write the subject line and preview text for your email. 

Next, craft an email content that builds anticipation for your contact’s birthday. Make sure to paste the coupon code into your email body.

Click on 'Save & Close' when done.

The first email is done. A coupon sent three days out, early enough to build anticipation before the day arrives.

The next two steps set up the second email, a birthday greeting timed to land on the actual birthday. Add that, and the sequence is complete.

To send a happy birthday wish email on their birthday, you must follow the next two steps.

Step 6: Set the delay until the birthday

Hit the (+) icon and click on 'Delay'.

Configure the delay to 3 days until a specific time of day and assign it to the time you want to send this automated birthday email to your contact.

Step 7: Send a birthday greeting email on the customer’s birthday

Now, all you have to do is craft a happy birthday email wishing your contacts on the day of their birthday.

Once everything is done, click ‘Save & Close’ to return to your workflow.

You can even go one step further and use FunnelKit Automations’ visual builder to design beautiful emails for your customers with pre-designed templates.

👉 Check out our detailed post on how to design your emails with the built-in visual builder. 

Well done! This is how you can create and send automated birthday emails along with dynamic coupons in FunnelKit Automations.

Best Practices for Crafting Effective Birthday Emails

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when setting up your automated birthday emails:

1. Personalize your emails

The idea of sending birthday emails is about getting personal with your messages.

Thus, incorporating the principle of personalization in your birthday emails makes people feel special.

Using custom merge tags, FunnelKit Automations allows you to create personalized emails based on your customer’s name, date of birth, or any other information.

You should use personalization from the beginning of the email subject lines to the email body content until the coupon code.

2. Time your emails perfectly

Timing is crucial when it comes to setting up your birthday email automation.

Make sure to send your emails on the actual day of your user’s birthday or a few days before it.

For that, FunnelKit Automations gives you both the options of configuring the birthday reminder event:

• On the day of your contact’s birthday 
• A few days before your contact’s birthday

This way, you’ll not have any room for confusion and can time your birthday emails accurately.

3. Make your offer time-limited

Although birthday emails carry good wishes for an entire year until the next birthday, the offer inside it should have a sense of urgency.

A limited-time birthday offer encourages a user to complete the purchase.

Therefore, FunnelKit Automations allows you to configure the time for setting up your discount coupons.

Adding a validity between 48-72 hours will be enough to drive users out of their seats and make a birthday purchase from your store.

4. Keep your emails short and sweet

Cluttering your automated birthday emails with too much text or images can make them look overwhelming.

You should start by wishing your users their birthdays, thanking them for their support and presenting your special offer.

With FunnelKit Automations, you can write text-based emails or even design your birthday emails with its built-in visual email builder.

It’ll certainly help to keep your message clear and concise.

4 Real-Life Happy Birthday Email Examples for Inspiration

Here are some real-life examples of happy birthday wishing emails you can take inspiration from.

1. Birthday greetings

Birthday greeting emails are emails without any offer sent to their customers.

Here’s an example from Stitch Fix:

Stitch Fix stays true to its brand by greeting happy birthdays to its users and asking them to schedule a fix.

The email looks clean with the brand logos, menus, text, and a proper call to action button.

2. Exclusive discount or offer

These birthday emails include exclusive discounts or special offers for their customers.

Let’s look at an example from Forever 21:

Discount coupon codes take it one step further to encourage incentivized purchases. Forever 21 has provided a coupon to give 30% off on purchases. Of course, the coupon has a specific expiration date to arouse a sense of urgency among its customers.

3. Free gift or upgrade options

Everybody loves freebies, but giving them on a birthday has a special feel.

Take a look at an automated birthday email example from Subway:

Subway has its own form of birthday celebration for its customers. They have offered a free cookie to their customers on their birthday that can be redeemed at any outlet or online with home delivery options.

4. Loyalty program rewards

Offering loyalty rewards on the customer’s birthday is also quite popular among various businesses. It encourages customers to shop and redeem their rewards with their purchases.

Here’s an example from Farmacy:

If your brand has loyalty programs for its customers, you can offer reward points as a birthday gift. Farmacy offers its customers 100 reward points on their birthdays that can be redeemed instantly at $5 off when they order.

Frequently Asked Questions Related to Automated Birthday Emails

In this section, we've answered some commonly asked questions about birthday email automations.

Are You Ready to Build Customer Loyalty & Make More Sales with Automated Birthday Emails?

Birthday emails are a great way to boost user engagement and drive revenue. These emails help make your customers feel special.

As a business owner, you can’t afford to deprive your business of an opportunity to get a loyal customer base. 

Therefore, you should consider implementing automated birthday emails into your business. 

And to do this, all you need is just one plugin - FunnelKit Automations.

FunnelKit Automations is the most effective tool for your marketing automation and broadcasts. Use it to enhance your automated birthday campaigns and encourage repeat business.

It’s a must-have plugin to help grow your business to the moon!

So why wait? Start with your birthday automation today!

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