Staying in contact with customers is difficult. It takes a lot of time and effort to consistently stay in contact and engage customers. Many businesses eventually lose customers because they forget about them over time. Birthday Campaigns are ideal for keeping in touch with Customers without much effort.

Birthday Campaigns re-kindles the spark with your customers because it shows that you care and remember about them. If the promotion is good, they will be more than willing to come back to redeem it. And if they don’t, it still serves as a reminder to them about your business.

You never know when a customer wants or needs your products & services. So by having such yearly promotions help trigger their desire and need for your products & services. In some cases, it might even generate some referrals for you because your customers know someone else that needs your products & services.

So what makes a good Birthday Campaign?

1. The Communication Channel

It’s a once a year event, so pick the channel that have the highest chances for your message to be seen, even if it costs a little. What’s the point if your message if ends up in their junk mail or folder right?

Here a comparison of some of the common channels people use:

Our pick for the best channel will be either Mail or SMS because customers have the highest chance to see your message and it can be automated. After all you won’t want to be spending hours or days preparing and sending your birthday messages.

2. The Message

Ideally your message should be as personalized as possible to the customer. At the very least, get the name right at the start of your message. If you have context or pictures you can quote do add them in too, it will further enhance the experience of your customer.

Also, do send meaningful and memorable messages to your customers. Imagine receiving an un-personalized “Hi” greeting with a “Happy Birthday!” message. Yes, customers might note the sender and know it’s coming for you, but there’s basically nothing to remember about your message. So in a way you are not maximizing the value of the message / greeting, especially when you are paying to send it.

SendOutCards is a great example of an automated Greetings Card mailing system that allows you to personalize each card with pictures and hand written content. It will be a good option if you’re considering sending physical cards.

3. The Offer / Promotion

For retail, it’s pretty straight forward, businesses want to get customers to come back to make more purchases. So the most common practice is to send them a promotion like 10% off on your Birthday month.

But is a 10% off really attractive to a customer?

In general, a 10% off on their birthday month will work better as an ongoing benefit for any customer that patronizes your store, or as a listed benefit for members when they sign up for a membership. It will not be an effective driver to get customers down to your stores. So you shouldn’t be spending money to broadcast it to your customers on their birthday month.

For Birthday Promotions, I would suggest to take an approach of giving without expecting immediate returns. The whole idea is to build a long term relationship with your customers.

For example, exclusive for loyalty members, enjoy a Free Ice Cream on your Birthday Month.

Chances are your customer will most likely order a drink or main course along with their Free Ice Cream, or bring some friends and family along with them. So it will not be a big loss to you, and it will be a positive experience for your customers.

Another example, give your customers a Free Yoga Class on their birthday month, or an irresistible offer on their birthday month (e.g. $10 for a Yoga Class).

For those with already a package with you it will be a benefit to get a free class without deducting from their package. Those that have completed their package with you, it will be a chance for them to buy another package. And for those that didn’t take up the offer, it serves as a reminder and a gratitude to them for being a customer with you.

To Conclude

Birthday Campaigns are an ideal strategy to consistently engage your customers on a yearly basis. It doesn’t cost much to implement and it can be automated through software and systems. It works as a benefit to frequent customers, a win-back program to lost customers and a reminder to busy customers.

So overall, it only benefits your business. If you do not have a birthday campaign or any customer engagement strategy, then there’s no real benefit to be loyal to you. Lost customers will remain lost and busy customers will forget you eventually. Start thinking of a Birthday campaign for your business today!

SoVou is an affordable Cloud Loyalty System that uses SMS to engage your customers and encourages them to share your promotions on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter & Email.

Our Loyalty System’s is specially designed for Small Brick & Mortar (Offline) Retail Businesses that requires customers to come down to buy or use their services. We have stripped off the complex features to ensure that you and your customers have pleasant experience with your Loyalty Program.

Feel free to contact me at jay.li@sovou.com find out more about our Loyalty System!

Everything expressed in this article is my personal opinion and might not be applicable for all businesses. Please share with us your ideas and thoughts too so we can grow & learn together!

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