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As a merchant, one of the best ways to drive traffic and revenue to your eCommerce store is through email marketing. This is one of the oldest, yet most effective marketing strategies available in spite of budget. There are millions of tools out there to help your email automation but there is one creating a buzz at the moment. Shopify app called <a href="https://apps.shopify.com/happy-birthday-email" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Happy Birthday Email</a>, which has been created by the fine folks at <a href="http://leumasdigital.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leumas Digital</a>.
Very simply, this app automates the task of sending an email to your customers on their birthday. It does this by capturing your customers’ dates of birth during the usual checkout process. When their big day comes around, they are sent a unique discount code for your store. Happy Birthday Email automatically generates a bespoke one-time only discount code for every single customer at the time of the email being sent to them. There is no danger of them passing it on to friends, family or users of well-known voucher code websites and forums.
Various studies on this particular email marketing strategy has proven to be effective in increasing customer engagement and retention. They also found that it is one of most cost effective marketing methods to increases sales.  
<a href="http://www.experian.com/blogs/marketing-forward/2014/07/31/why-birthday-emails-should-be-a-part-of-every-marketers-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Experian</a> research indicates a high trajectory in performance of birthday emails with impressive results:
<ul>
<li>Mystery birthday offers came out on top with a whopping 502% increase in revenue per email</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Gift With Purchase came out at 446.5% increase in revenue per email</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>25% Discount came out at 395.5%</li>
</ul>
According to one study, these Happy Birthday emails generate 481% higher transaction rates, 342% higher revenue per email and 179% higher unique click rates than promotional emails. Turns out it does pay to wish someone a happy birthday, who’d have thought?
So where did the idea come from? Leumas’ Sam Henning explains: “The idea came from when I used to work for a diet delivery company. We used to manually send birthday emails in bulk on the first day of each month… ‘This month it’s your birthday’.
“These campaigns are known as being one of the best marketing campaigns you can do, with huge open, click and conversion rates.”
That’s proving to be the case. In the first four weeks since the automatic discount code generation was introduced, emails sent via Happy Birthday Email have recorded a hugely impressive 63% open rate, with a 10% click-through rate and a 10% conversion rate. No Shopify store can afford to ignore figures like those.
<h2>Benefits of offering a Birthday Discount using the Happy Birthday Email App</h2>
Apart from the obvious benefit of gifting your customer with a discount code, whilst wishing them a happy birthday, there are other benefits you would like to know:
<ol>
<li> Low Cost</li>
</ol>
This marketing strategy costs far less than what you would expect to pay using other marketing channels. There is no need for printing voucher cards, no postage or delivery costs, and very minimal admin work required.
<ol start="2">
<li> Improve Sales</li>
</ol>
No matter the age, people still get a little excited on their birthday. Spending is somewhat expected around your special day, so offering an extra incentive to ‘treat yourself’ with a discount code is smart marketing.
<ol start="3">
<li> Brand Awareness</li>
</ol>
Even if your customers didn’t use what you offered, they would always remember getting an email from you on their special day. This will increase your brand awareness with your customers and you’ll be the first company that comes to mind when they need something in your industry.
<ol start="4">
<li> Tracking</li>
</ol>
Another key benefit of Happy Birthday Email App is tracking what your customers are most responsive to. For example, which products they use discount codes on, conversion rates, click-through rate etc. This gives you an idea of what you need to double down on for future promotions, helping you to scale your business.
<h2>How to setup your own birthday email campaign on Shopify</h2>
<ol>
<li> Install the Happy Birthday Email app</li>
</ol>
This app uses automation software and is built to setup and run birthday email campaigns as quickly and effectively as possible. The app retrieves the customer's date of birth on the thank you page of the checkout, and automatically creates an action to send out an email on their birthday (no matter how far away it is). As mentioned previously, the software generates an unique discount code for each customer, allowing you to track their spend. Due to the uniqueness of the discount code, it can only be used by the recipient which helps to prevent your customers from sharing the code with their friends, family or voucher code sites.
<ol start="2">
<li> Write a heartfelt message </li>
</ol>
Customers can easily sense your motive if your email comes across as ‘BUY, BUY, BUY!’ So, take the time to write a friendly, cheerful message. Always remember that this is their special day and a casual tone will go a long way in making them feel special. Also, it is important to know that most of your customers will probably be opening this email on their phone, so keep it short and simple.
<ol start="3">
<li> Offer your customers a birthday present</li>
</ol>
It is worth mentioning that you can offer a coupon code but it doesn’t have to end there. You can also offer free shipping on all purchases or perhaps a special free gift in their next purchase. The app price range is from FREE - $20 per month, which compares favourably with generic email marketing platforms. Integrations with MailChimp, Klaviyo, Cross Sell and Smile.io are in the pipeline, so Happy Birthday Email is only going to get more useful and powerful in the coming weeks and months.
In conclusion, lift the mood of your customers on their birthday with your generosity and you will always be remembered. Considering that the app is so affordable, it’s a small price to pay for a long-lasting relationship with your customers.
If you’re interested in installing the app, visit <a href="https://apps.shopify.com/happy-birthday-email" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Happy Birthday Email</a> on the Shopify App Store. To discuss integrating it with your Shopify store or to chat about other ways of increasing sales, feel free to <a href="https://www.underwaterpistol.com/pages/free-consultation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">book a free consultation</a> with us.

502% Increase in Revenue with Happy Birthday Email for Shopify