Go the extra mile and say happy birthday on that special day, here's how you can set up an automated Birthday Email journey.
Things to consider before you start:
Do you want to include unique codes in your emails?
Plan out the journey you want your guests to experience. This is the perfect way to encourage customers to celebrate their birthday with you!
Remember to create and test your email. Click here for instructions on how to do this.
Getting Started
The initial birthday email in your journey will be sent to relevant guests on the database based on their date of birth. Any follow-up emails within the journey must be set as date-triggered sends (mentioned below).
From the left-hand side menu click Journeys > Create New Journey > Birthday. You will be taken to this page:
Once you've chosen a colour and icon, the birthday broadcast is ready to create within the overall Journey.
Click Add Broadcast OR Add New;
Select Email Template
Select "Click Here to Load a Previously Saved Email".
Choose your saved email from the list. This will pre-populate the email info fields and load a preview of the saved email.
Email Info
Make sure that the from name, from address, and reply to email addresses are all filled out.
Choose a time of the day when the email should be sent.
Fill in the number of days the email should be sent before or after the birthday. If you want to send the email on the actual birthday select Pre DOB and type in 0 like in the example below.
Define Search Criteria
Click "Add audience criteria" and choose who you want to send the email to.
For example, you might want to send a specific email if the contact subscribed via a booking form and a different email if the contact subscribed through your website. You can also leave this empty if you would prefer which will target the whole database.
Tag Content
Add your tag so that you can easily group these emails together in your reports, use something like "birthday journey". Once you've entered a tag into the box, click 'Add Tag Word' to assign it to this journey.
Once you're happy with your email click create at the bottom of the page.
Viewing your emails.
Once you've created your email you can then view it in the journeys section;
Using the 3 dots menu, you can view the scheduled audience and send criteria for the scheduled birthday email.
The Birthday journey
We would recommend sending an initial 'Thinking about where to book for your birthday?' email 21 days before the customer's birthday. This allows them to get in touch with your venue and book the table, but also any additional packages they may want to add!
You can then send a follow-up email 7 days before their birthday excluding anyone who has already booked — this will help to drive those last minute birthday bookings!
Load up your previously saved email.
Select "Contact DOB" from the dropdown selection, and choose Pre DOB or Post DOB.
Add in the number of days before or after the birthday you'd like the email to be sent (e.g. 7 days pre).
To exclude anyone who has already booked, click 'Add audience criteria' and then 'Narrow Search by Suppressions'. Go to 'Booking Enquiry Date:' and put in '14' 'in the last' no of days. This will exclude anyone who has enquired about a booking since the last birthday email was sent.
4. Add your tag so that you can easily group these emails together in your reports, use something like "birthday journey".
5. Select who you want this email to go to, this can be as simple as including all folders or you can create different journeys depending on the guest.
6. Once you're happy with your set up click create at the bottom of the page.
You can set up as many of these emails as you like to create the perfect birthday journey for your guests!
Check out our recommendations for customer journeys here.
Ideas of what you may like to include in your birthday journey:
Send an early reminder 21 days before the birthday encouraging the guest to book their celebration with you.
Follow up 7 days before the birthday with a final nudge and exclusive offer for those who haven't booked yet.
Send a 'Happy Birthday!' email on the actual day with a unique code or treat to celebrate.
Just repeat the process of creating individual birthday emails, changing the number of days Pre DOB or Post DOB, to build out the full journey!
And there we go. It's as easy as that. Your guests are in for a great birthday!