Automation: Birthday Promotion

Definitions:

Automated Email Campaign: A series of scheduled, personalized emails triggered by specific customer actions.

Birthday Bonus Campaign: Registered cardholders with birth date information added to their profile are funded a promotional value that is automatically applied to their registered card on the date of their birthday.

 

How does it work?

Every calendar date that matches your registered customer birth dates will trigger an automated action you have defined via email or SMS using the Marketing Hub.  Customers will receive a communication with your described offer that is triggered on the date of the customer's birthday.  The promotion will apply to the customer's registered car. Ex. You want to give your customers a $10 promotion on their birthday that they have to use within 30 days.  

 

The automation works for both Ackroo loyalty and gift card-style programs and is available to all Marketing Hub users, regardless of subscription tier. You can run a Birthday Bonus campaign for a specific time period or indefinitely.  

 

Offering your loyalty program members a Birthday Bonus can be a highly effective and beneficial strategy for several reasons:

1. Personalization:
Providing a birthday bonus demonstrates that you value your customers as individuals. It's a personalized gesture that shows you know and care about them beyond their usual transactions.

2. Emotional Connection:
Recognizing a customer's birthday creates an emotional connection, making them feel appreciated and special. This positive emotional experience can lead to stronger brand loyalty and a deeper sense of attachment.

3. Increased Engagement:
Customers are more likely to engage with your brand when they receive a birthday bonus. They may visit your store to redeem their offer, increasing their interaction with your products or services.

4. Word of Mouth:
Satisfied customers who receive birthday bonuses may share their positive experience with friends and family, potentially bringing in new customers through word of mouth.

5. Boosted Sales:
Customers who receive birthday bonuses are more likely to make a purchase. The bonus serves as an incentive to shop, which can lead to increased sales during their birthday month.

6. Data Collection:
Birthdays provide valuable demographic data that can be used for targeted marketing campaigns. You can tailor promotions and offers based on age groups, helping to optimize your marketing efforts.

7. Competitive Advantage:
Offering birthday bonuses can set your loyalty program apart from competitors. It's an extra perk that makes your program more appealing.

8. Customer Retention:
Recognizing customers on their birthdays fosters a sense of goodwill and strengthens the relationship, potentially reducing churn and increasing customer retention.

9. Brand Recall:
Customers who have positive experiences, such as receiving a birthday bonus, are more likely to remember your brand when making future purchasing decisions.

10. Brand Advocacy:
Happy customers are more inclined to become brand advocates, promoting your products or services to their network, and a birthday bonus can contribute to this satisfaction.

11. Data-Driven Insights:
By tracking the redemption and behavior of customers who receive birthday bonuses, you can gather valuable insights into the effectiveness of your loyalty program and adjust your strategies accordingly.

It's essential to ensure that the Birthday Bonus aligns with your business's financial capabilities and is valuable enough to motivate customer engagement but not overly generous to harm profitability. Additionally, respecting customer privacy and obtaining their consent for using their birthdate is crucial to ensure compliance with data protection regulations.

 

How to set up a customer Birthday Bonus campaign:

Step 1: Create a campaign

Log into your Marketing Hub account. Click > + Create Campaign.

 

Step. 2: Define your campaign parameters.

 

• Campaign Name
• Campaign Start & End Time
• Campaign Type
• Campaign Frequency
• Target Frequency

To review these parameters, please refer to the following documents:

Campaign Overview
Creating a New Email Campaign

Please note:
If you would like to run your campaign indefinitely, do not add an "end date & time".

 Click > save & Next to continue.

 

Step 3: Select your automation.

Click > the dropdown arrow to select "Customer Birthday" > "+ use automation."

The automation will appear in a new line underneath the selection box:

Click > Save > Save & Edit Creative to continue.

 

Step 4: Create an action for your automation.

In this step, you will decide what you want to happen when a customer qualifies for a communication.  Your options include:

• Fund a unit
• Send and Email
• Fund a Promo
• Convert Points to a Coupon
• Fund Loyalty

In the case of a Birthday Bonus, you will most likely want to choose "send an email, fund a promo/loyalty".  If you choose to Fund a Promo, you can expire the promo value, which will place urgency on the customer to use the promo dollars funded. You can read more about Actions HERE.

Click > the dropdown labeled "Choose and action for your audience" > "+ Add Action". repeat for multiple actions you need to perform.

1.

2.

3.

 

Step 5: Update your Creative

Now that you have selected your actions, it's time to input or create your creative (email content) & define the parameters of your promotion.

Please refer to the following guides for additional resources:

Actions: Send Email

Templates: Create a template

Ackroo offers a generic template you can customize for a registration campaign named "Birthday + Promo". You can select it in the template dropdown on the "send email" action. You can also start from scratch and choose BLANK template (EN/FR).

 

Template example:

You are able to change any element in this template. Is is simply a guide to get you started.  

Click > Save on your creative > "< Back to Actions" to continue.

 

Step 6: Update your Fund Promo details

Please refer to the following guides for additional resources:

Actions: Fund Promo

 

Step 7: Publish your campaign.

Navigate back to your Campaign parameters page. Click > the  Draft slider to publish your campaign.

You will receive a warning that you are about to publish. Click >Yes.

Your campaign will now show a Published status: