Sending a birthday e-mail is a great way to add a personal touch to your communications.
It makes your constituents and donors feel special, which is an essential part of building trust in your organization. Birthday e-mails also remind people of your presence and let them know that they are special to your organization.
Research has shown that birthday e-mails have 89% higher click and open rates than typical promotional e-mails. They also have a 481% increased transaction rate, 342% increased revenue per e-mail, and a 179% increased special click rate. Simply put, you can make a big difference for your organization in a very short period!
Set up an automated birthday email in Salesforce
There are several ways to get going with an automatic birthday email campaign in Salesforce.
The most common option provided by Salesforce requires a lot of expertise and time. There are several steps involved, and before you do it you’ll want to be familiar with Salesforce’s e-mail templates, creating custom fields, creating workflow rules, updating records, and creating custom report types.
If you’re not an experienced Salesforce user, sending birthday emails via Workflow Rules could be time-consuming. The option below would be much easier to set up:
Simplified birthday formula
You can use a custom formula field in Salesforce to track a contact’s Next Birthday Date. This will allow you to create a simple process builder that pulls a Contact into a campaign 30 days before the Next Birthday Date.
Here is the formula that you will need to populate the Next Birthday Date field:
IF(TODAY()>DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(Birthdate),DAY(Birthdate)),DATE(YEAR(TODAY())+1,MONTH(Birthdate),DAY(Birthdate)),DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(Birthdate),DAY(Birthdate)))
Predictive Marketing in Salesforce can help you automate your birthday campaigns. We can help you set up the birthday campaign so that you don’t have to worry about it. Contact us today to learn more about creating automatic email campaigns with Predictive Marketing.
Content ideas for birthday emails
Your email can contain a simple greeting, but adding a little something extra can be a great way to join the spirit of giving that’s so often associated with birthdays. Here are a few ideas for benefits to add to your birthday emails:
Freebies
Getting something for free adds to that feeling of being special, which is exactly what you want to evoke in your recipient on their birthday. The nature of the free item will depend on your organization, but anything will make a difference and be successful in helping the recipient remember you.
Discounts
Provide a discount to an upcoming event, or for a piece of merchandise. Everyone feels great when they get a discount!
Coupons
Similar to discounts, coupons give folks a sense of finding a little something unique. A coupon can also encourage purchases that may not otherwise have happened. The person may buy tickets to an event they weren’t planning to attend, or visit a store they weren’t originally thinking about.
Best practices for birthday emails
At this point, you’re probably excited but have a few questions. Here are the most common things people wonder about sending birthday emails:
Should the message be personalized?
You should use Salesforce’s specialization tools to personalize your email. This lets the recipient know you are thinking about them in particular. At Predictive, you can use your Salesforce data to personalize your email content.
Here is an article that shared 30+ ways that you can personalize your content.
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How much should I put in the subject line?
Subject lines are tricky! A simple “Happy Birthday” could work, but you’re better off including a special offer and then mention it in the subject. An example would be “Enjoy this gift from us!” or something with a call to action to get people to open the email.
Should I remind them to take advantage of offers?
If you send an offer for someone’s birthday and they don’t use it, it’s okay to remind them. Reminder emails have been shown to have a 20% increase in open rates from regular emails.
Plus, if the person gets a lot of correspondence on their birthday, they may not have gotten to your email yet! So remind them that you care.
Let Predictive help
This is all an exciting way to connect with your constituents and donors, but it can be a lot to manage! Contact Predictive at 1-415-228-6903, or fill out the form here to get started managing Salesforce-driven birthday emails and much, much more!