How do I send birthday messages (with an offer)?

Send customers an automatic birthday email or text, optionally with a birthday treat and small print.

Switch on automatic birthday messages on the Marketing page, on its Automations tab — the one home for all five automatic emails. The Birthday email row expands to its timing, the treat box, the text-message toggle and the email's wording. (The Birthdays page under Guests shows a pointer that links straight to the row.)

Birthday tracking is Available on Pro plan and above, and comes with the standalone Loyalty product too. Birthday messages only go to customers with a date of birth saved in their profile, and they count towards your marketing email allowance.

Set it up

• Go to Marketing → Automations, switch on the Birthday email row, and open it with Set up and wording.
• Optionally switch on Also send by text (SMS needs SMS set up — see How do I set up SMS messages?; the text always goes on the day itself).
• Pick When the email sends: On their birthday, 1, 2 or 3 days before, 1 week, 2 weeks or 1 month before. Emails send at 9am on the chosen day. An early timing works well if you want customers to book a birthday meal with you.
• If you chose an early timing, an extra row appears — Also send again on the actual day — so the customer gets both the early nudge and a greeting on the day itself.
• Optionally add a Birthday treat line — e.g. "A free glass of fizz on your birthday". When set, a highlighted "Birthday treat" box appears in the email; leave it blank and the email just sends your birthday message. A Treat small print field appears once you've typed a treat (e.g. "Just mention your birthday on arrival").
• Click Save changes. The Birthdays page (sidebar → Guests) shows a live timeline of what each customer's birthday looks like with your saved settings.

What fills the treat box. The email's treat box has three sources, strongest first: a loyalty birthday offer gift that's landed on the member's account (the box becomes "A birthday treat, on us", naming the promotion — see How do birthdays work?); then a live birthday-triggered promotion with its Mention in the birthday email toggle on (its title and details show while it's live); then your free-text treat line above. Whichever is present and strongest wins, so the email always matches the real offer.

Editing the wording

The birthday email's subject, heading, body and button are edited inside the same expanded row, with a live preview of the real email beside the fields. The birthday text's wording lives in SMS templates.

What the customer sees

A branded birthday email (and/or a short text) from your restaurant, with the offer box if you set one, and a button to book a table. Record birthdays in each customer's profile — see How do I record a customer's preferences, tags and notes?.

Running a loyalty scheme? The automatic Birthday gift — bonus stamps or points, or an offer saved from one of your claimable promotions, once a year per member — lives in The gift (loyalty scheme) section of the Birthdays page (sidebar → Guests). When the gift is an offer and the email is on, they're timed together and the email announces the offer; see How do birthdays work?.

Related: How do birthdays work? · How do I send thank-yous and ask for Google reviews? · How do I send welcome and win-back emails? · How do I record a customer's preferences, tags and notes?