Is there a better occasion for gift-giving than a birthday? Using our Birthday scenario, you are able to send your best wishes to your customers on their special day – and maybe even throw in a special gift like a discount or free product.
Not only will this strengthen your relationship with each customer and make them have a positive view of your brand, but if you send them a discount coupon, it will also increase sales when that customer uses their gift.
Before we go over how to set it up, let's address a common question:
NOTE: Once this scenario is set up, all customers with birthday information on their profiles – and only those – will receive these automated messages.
How do we know when a customer's birthday is?
There are two possibilities: you already have this information or you don't have it and will need to collect it.
1) You already have this information
This is the easiest situation. You can just import your customers' birthdays into edrone's system. Prepare a CSV file (UTF-8 encoding) the same way as you would when adding new users or updating your database. Include in the file one column with your customers' e-mail addresses, and another with the dates of birth. Be sure to enter the dates in the YYYY-MM-DD format, e.g. 2021-05-30. If everything was done correctly, each client's birthday will be displayed on their profile in your CRM.
NOTE: If you use IAI or VTEX platforms, you don't have to import the CSV file. The data can be downloaded directly from the plaform thanks to the API.
2) You don't have this information yet
If you don't have your customer's birthday information, you'll need to collect it. You can easily do that through on-site elements such as Pop-ups or Web Layers. Add a date of birth checkbox in subscribing forms or in any other form where you might want to collect this information. Remember to include checkboxes for data processing consent!
When creating a Pop-up or Web-Layer in the Content section, click "Add Element" and select "Birthday"
The added element can be freely placed and adapted to the entire creation, and when a user fills out that form and confirms subscription (Double Opt-in), their profile will be created (if new) or updated (if existing) with their birthday info.
How to set up the Birthday scenario
To begin, log into your Mission Control and go to AUTOMATIONS > READY FLOWS > BIRTHDAY. The first page is just an overview of how the scenario works, so let's jump right in by clicking on the NEXT: ADJUST button or selecting ADJUST from the progress bar on the top of the screen.
Step 1: Adjust
In this section, you will determine your scenario's parameters:
How many messages you wish to send, up to a maximum of four, before or on your customer's birthday (to send a message on the birthday, select "0" days).
Whether you wish to send only email messages, only SMS, or both.
NOTE: If you want to send SMS messages, make sure to integrate your SMS API account beforehand. For more information, click HERE.
To continue, click on the NEXT: LANGUAGE button or select LANGUAGE from the progress bar.
Step 2: Language
On the LANGUAGE section, you will see on the left side an overview of your customers (audience size, number of languages, and most popular language).
Based on this information, you can choose whether you want to send your Newsletter in only one language (Single language), or more than one (Multi language). You can choose as many languages as you want.
NOTE: Language information is collected automatically by edrone from your customer's browser language settings. This means that it is not linked to a specific location. For example, if a customer lives in France but their browser is set up in English, they will be considered an english-speaking customer.
Click on the NEXT: SENDER button, or choose SENDER from the progress bar.
Step 3: Sender
Here, you will set up who is sending the email and SMS messages.
When sending emails, you will be able to determine Name, Email, and Reply-to Email. You can input new data, or choose from a predefined sender (for example, the same sender you have previously used in for other newsletters).
When sending SMS messages, the sender information will be pulled from your SMSAPI integration. Click here to learn more about the SMSAPI integration.
To continue, click on the NEXT: DESIGN button, or select DESIGN on the progress bar.
Step 4: Design
In this section, you will craft your messages. Depending on which settings you chose on the first step, you will see our Drag 'n' Drop Editor (for emails) or a simple text box (for SMS).
When creating your emails, you will be able to use the BESTSELLERS dynamic element to send automatic product recommendations and remind your customers about your best products, encouraging them to give themselves a birthday gift.
You can toggle between different languages, message types (selected on step 1) and communication channels (email or SMS) using the tabs on the top of the screen.
NOTE: the text limit for one SMS messages is 160 characters. If you use special characters (such as ñ, ä or ç), this limit will be shortened to 70 characters.
Select COUPONS from the progress bar to continue.
Step 5: Coupons (optional)
This is an optional step. You might want to add discount coupons to your emails. This is an optional step. To do that, use the *|COUPON|* merge tag when creating them. Click here to learn more about coupons.
You can choose between Static (same coupon for all customers) and Dynamic (each customer gets a unique coupon). We recommend using Dynamic coupons whenever possible.
However, this won't work for SMS messages. The only way to add a discount coupon to an SMS message is to write the coupon in the message. Bear in mind that it will be same coupon for each customer – effectively working the same way as a static coupon (see below).
Regardless of your choice, you will need to upload a different CSV file with your coupons for each message type. If you need help with creating the coupons, there are several free online coupon generators.
Once your files are ready, select each message type from the drop-down menu and click on the UPLOAD (CSV) button. Select which column contains the coupons, check the box if you wish to ignore the first line of your file (column titles, for example). If everything is OK, click on CONFIRM COLUMN. A green confirmation message should appear at the top right corner of your screen.
When you're ready, click on the NEXT: REVIEW button or select REVIEW from the progress bar.
Step 6: Review
Send a test message to double-check if everything is working properly. Please note that, for SMS, your test messages will also use your SMSAPI points.
When you're ready, click on the RUN button, and you're done!
Step 7: Reports
To view your Viewed Product scenario's performance, go to the REPORTS section on the progress bar. Here you will find the main metrics such as Engagement revenue, Sent, Opened, Clicked, Orders, Orders with Coupon, Unsubscribed, and CTR. Please note it is possible to filter the results by date, message and channel type.
Need more help?
If you have any further questions about the Birthday scenario, please do not hesitate to contact us at hello@edrone.me or via chat