Saying Happy Birthday – How to Build a Top Tier Birthday Email Program that Delights and Drives Revenue
About the Speaker / Silverpop
• Loren McDonald• VP, Industry Relations
• Twitter: @LorenMcDonald
• Google+: +LorenMcDonald
Agenda
Why Birthday Emails?
7 Steps for Success
Additional Ideas
Q & A
Why Birthday Emails?
1. Everyone has a birthday!
2. They get results!
Almost 25X
better…
Birthday Campaign Indexed Results…
3. They are a piece of cake!
So why are 7 of 10 marketers spectators?
48%“We don’t collect the data”
Are you missing the birthday party?
OK, let’s dive in…
Goals?
DeliverySchedule?
Data
Incentives?# of Emails?
Design
Testing /Optimization
7 Steps to Birthday Email
Success
Step 1: Establish Your Birthday Program Goal(s)
Goals
• Birthday wish• Touch = incremental
revenue
Branding and customer
engagement
• Direct revenue benefit• Incentives – margin
impact
Driving online or offline visits and revenue
Other Considerations
• Capturing age year enables additional targeting
Use of birthdate
data
• Subscriber, or?• Spouse/partner,
child, pets, etc.
Who is the target?
Step 2: Determine a Delivery Schedule
Initial Birthday Email Delivery Options
On the birthday itself
In the birthday week
Within a few weeks of the birthday
At the start of the birthday month
Well in advance of birthday
Survey: 75% send on birthday or up to a week before
Step 3: Collect the Data
Which Data to Collect?
Month
MonthDay
MonthDayYear
Survey: 2/3 collect day/month/year
Birth Data: Required or Not?
Be Transparent
Social Login…
Can help capture birth date…
Name
Location
Birth Date
Gender
Friends/Contacts
Profile Photo
Interests
Source Janrain
Social Profile Data by Network
Collect Birth Date Everywhere
Preference center
Welcome emails
Call center, in-store cards
Standalone emails / Surveys
Social media
Step 4: Offer: Greeting Only or Incentive?
No incentive
Navigation
A different kind of “touch”
No incentive
OK, Let’s have a look…
Standard Retail Incentive
Results
• 52% Open Rate
• 13.8% CTR
• 10% higher conversion rate than their broadcast emails
Step 5: Single or Multiple Emails?
Survey: 77% send one email; 23% 2 or more
Birthday and Belated Birthday Email
Birthday Follow On Emails
Birthday
Convert Share Request
Open/Click Incentive
No Action Reminder
Received March 1 for March 16 birthday
How about 2-3 more emails?e.g., March 16, 30 & April 20
Received March 1 for March 16 birthday
Step 6: Design Your Email
Sample Subject Lines
• “Happy birthday!”
• “Happy Birthday (Subscriber Name)”
• “(Subscriber Name) Happy Birthday”
• “Happy Birthday from (Name of Company)!”
• “A birthday wish from (Name of Company)”
• “Free (Product/Item) at (Name of Company) for Your Birthday!”
• “To mark your special day”
• “Happy Birthday! Enjoy 25 Free Reward Points!”
• “Birthday Gift from (Name of Company)”
• “Happy Birthday, (Name of Subscriber) – Take 15% Off”
Be creative, but be clear Use humor as appropriate to
your brand Make CTA/incentive key focus Get beyond “Happy Birthday”
Unique copy for each month
Famous birthdays
35 days
Creative
Unique
Original
Fun
Where do
your eyes
focus?
Navigation?
Links?
CTA
button?
Think context!
Step 7: Testing and Optimization
Things to Test
Forms: Required, Language, Location
Incentives
Subject Lines
Copy
Design / Imagery
Things to Optimize / Add
Forms
Design for mobile devises
Calls to Action
Multiple Emails
Measure Compare to Other Emails
Additional Thoughts / Ideas
Happy 1/2 Birthday First Name! We have a SURPRISE just for you!
Birthday – Tell Your Friends…
Birthday – Tell Your Friends…
Get Creative
“Anniversaries”
Spouses
Children
Pets
Founders
B2B???
Birthday emailsaren’t limited to B2C marketers
Selected Takeaways
Start collecting birth date
Consider an incentive / CTA
Use personality in copy
Use a series of emails
Think outside the birthday
Birthday Blueprint Whitepaper Available
Q & A / Contact
Loren McDonaldTwitter: @[email protected]+: Loren McDonald
Thank you!On Twitter: @Silverpop
www.slideshare.net/silverpopwww.silverpop.com
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