SMS Birthday Marketing Examples

Ask them their birthday

You can’t send someone a birthday text if you don’t know when their birthday is, so Urban Stems dedicates a text message to asking subscribers for their date of birth. As they know not everyone is willing to give up this information just like that, they also include an incentive: the promise of a birthday gift.

Sending a text specifically to ask your subscriber’s birthday is a great idea, as it ensures that the question doesn’t get lost behind a potentially more enticing sales announcement.

Get festive with emojis

Birthdays call for celebration, so it’s totally fine to add some emojis to your birthday SMS. Jennifer Miller Jewelry does a great job with three festive emojis. Not only are they relevant to the message, they also help split up the sentences, making the text a bit easier to read.

Other things the brand does well is clearly communicating how long the birthday discount is valid, and personalizing its message by adding the subscriber’s name.

Celebrate your own birthday

Why would you only celebrate your subscribers’ birthdays? Your company’s birthday is just as good a reason to do something special. Blume lets its SMS list know it’s celebrating with a BOGO sale, but you could also offer free shipping, a gift with every purchase that reaches a minimum value, or a certain percentage off to celebrate.

The birthday discounts retail and ecommerce stores offer are often a great way to boost sales.

Be concise

There is no doubt what At Home’s birthday text is about: The subscriber gets a coupon for 15% off for their birthday and they can click the link in the SMS to redeem that coupon.

True, it’s not the most engaging message, but it certainly is clear.

Send them a reminder

If you’re texting your customers on their birthdays, there’s a chance they might be too busy celebrating to pay attention to your first message. Send them a reminder when their birthday discount is about to expire, as World Market does here.

The brand combines a sense of urgency (“expires soon”) with some FOMO (“won’t be back for another year”) to get the subscriber to take action.

Send birthday-specific offers

When you don’t have your subscribers’ exact birthdays, you can still promote a product or send an offer specific to a certain month. In this birthday SMS example, Jewelry brand Judith Bright presents the August birthstone.

The promotion is relevant both to those born in August that want to treat themselves, and to those who are looking for a present for a loved one whose birthday is in August. You could do something similar if you sell zodiac sign-related products, for example.

Do note that adding an image to an SMS turns it into an MMS, which is usually more expensive to send and doesn’t always appear as it should in the subscriber’s inbox. If you want to show a product image, make sure the rest of your message can be understood without the image being visible, just in case it doesn’t automatically display.

Help them celebrate loved ones

Another thing you can do when you don’t have your subscribers’ birthdays—or when you simply want to give them more reason to shop with you —is help them find presents for their loved ones’ birthdays.

Similar to the example above, FTD Flowers sends month-specific birthday reminders to its list. In December, they throw in a 20 percent discount for shoppers who want to get December-borns more than just a holiday gift.

Include a clear expiration date

Birthday discounts are only birthday discounts if they’re only valid around the time of a person’s birthday. That may seem like common sense, but the last thing you want is a shopper who gets frustrated because they tried to redeem their birthday gift too late.

Cost Plus World Market clearly communicates the expiry date for the birthday discount in this text message. The additional benefit of this messaging is that it creates a sense of urgency, especially when the recipient has only a few days to claim their discount.

Use birthday gifts as an incentive to join your loyalty program

As we saw above, you can use the promise of a birthday gift as an incentive to have people share their birthday. You can also use that same promise as a reason for them to sign up for your loyalty program.

Andie Swim remains a bit vague about what exactly loyalty members get for their birthday, which creates a bit of mystery. You can also be specific and offer them extra birthday rewards when they shop, or a special member’s discount, for example.