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30 Second Summary
- First, set up a method to gather your customers' birthdays using strategies like sign-up forms, surveys, email campaigns, or rewards programs.
- Choose an offer for your birthday campaign that drives repeat purchases and makes your customers feel special
- Follow the step-by-step guide to building a personalized birthday email flow in Klaviyo, starting from setting the trigger to actively monitoring your flow.
Consumers are getting more savvy & looking for authenticity and connection with the brands they shop from. One of the opportunities e-commerce brands often miss out on in building their customer relationships is setting up a Birthday Flow.
A great Birthday Flow can build your customer loyalty, help you retain more customers & drive more repeat purchases through nurturing your relationship with them. In this blog post, we're giving you the "Zero-To-Launch" approach to launching a high-performing Birthday flow -- no fluff, be confident in its performance & one you can optimize later with A/B testing.
Join the list for our Advanced DTC Email Flows Playbook (launching soon!) to learn how to build a Birthday Flow to convert more email leads into customers.
How To Capture Your Customers' Birthdays
Before we can set up a Birthday Flow, we'll need to capture your customer's birthday! Here are 4 easy ways to capture this information:
1. Birthday Field in Your Signup Form: This is the most straightforward method. Include a birthday field in your website's email opt-in form. Make sure to clarify why you're asking and reassure the customer that their information will be kept secure. While this is the simplest approach, be sure to A/B test to make sure this additional field doesn't decrease your opt-in rates.
2. Post-Purchase Survey: After a customer completes a purchase, send them a survey asking for their birthday among other questions. As an incentive, you can offer them a small discount or bonus points for their next purchase.
3. Email Campaign: Send out an email campaign specifically requesting customers to update their profile with their birthday. This can be a simple, light-hearted email saying you'd like to send them a special birthday treat!
4. Reward Program: If you have a loyalty or rewards program, encourage customers to enter their birthday in exchange for extra points or a special birthday reward.
Setting Up The Klaviyo Birthday Flow
- Set Up a Basic Birthday Flow: In your Klaviyo Dashboard, navigate to the "Flows" tab & click "Create Flow". You can start from scratch by selecting the flow trigger "Date Property" & select "Birthday" as your property.
- Next, select whether you want the flow to start before or on the customer's birthday. We recommend selecting "On person's birthday" to keep things simple to start.
- Lastly, use the Klaviyo email builder to easily create each of your birthday emails.
- Extend Your Birthday Flow (Optional): If you have time, set up an additional email 1 week before their birthday to share their birthday gift early. You can also add additional birthday campaigns after their birthday has passed to remind them of their birthday discount if they haven't claimed it already.
- Integrate SMS (Optional): Add in text notifications to your Birthday flow to give a more personal touch to your birthday gift.
Choosing Your Birthday Offer For Customers
As with all marketing advice, a great birthday offer depends on the types of customers you have. If you have a price-sensitive audience, they may appreciate a birthday discount code while other brands may have customers who prefer access to a limited edition product.
However, here are a few common offers for birthday marketing campaigns:
- Free gift with their next order
- A free $20 gift card for their next order (valid on orders $50+)
- Free shipping on their next order
- 20% off their next order
- Exclusive access to a limited edition product
Remember, the goal of your birthday offer isn't just to drive sales, but to make your customers feel appreciated on their special day. So keep it simple & make it easy for customers to understand and redeem the offer.
Crafting the Perfect Birthday Email Campaigns
Given that Birthday emails are sent as a personalized gesture to shoppers who've shared their special day with you, the subject line should be direct and festive, like "🎉 Happy Birthday, [Customer Name]: Gift Inside" or "[Customer Name], we've got a birthday gift for you!" This clear, celebratory headline sets the tone and creates anticipation. While you should always aim to A/B test your subject lines, starting with a personalized & celebratory subject line is your best bet.
The header of the email should feature an exciting birthday message, make their birthday offer clear, and have a Call-to-Action (CTA) button prompting the recipient to "Get Your Gift". If the birthday offer has an expiring date, you can lightly create some urgency in your header copy, hinting that the birthday offer will expire soon to encourage prompt action.
These components form the basic foundation of a birthday email, but there's ample room for creativity. For instance, you might add personalized product recommendations for them to shop with their birthday offer!
Examples Of Birthday Email Campaigns
And there you have it - the straightforward, no-nonsense steps to crafting your Birthday Email Flow! If there's one piece of advice to take away, it's to embrace simplicity and prioritize getting your Birthday Email Flow live to delight your customers. Remember, you can always refine your flow, A/B test your birthday emails, and add more emails as you learn more about your audience.
A well-executed Birthday Email Flow does more than just celebrate your customers. It sparks customer engagement, builds customer loyalty, drives repeat purchases prompts them to make purchases, and deepens their connection to your brand.
Don't have the time? Get it all done-for-you with our Zero-To-Launch package where we'll build all of the key automated email flows your e-commerce brand needs for launch.
