3 Birthday Marketing Offers: A Real Life Analysis

It’s my birthday!

And my birthday present to myself is…blogging!

I’ve been really busy lately (a good thing), and my own website has taken the backseat to client work.  But I do love to write, so I took an hour for myself to do this today.

What Else Did You Get for Your Birthday, Christina?

Why, thank you for asking.

I got about 3 million email marketing offers.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration.  Maybe not 3 million.  But a lot.

Most were from restaurants and included free food.  Others were coupons from stores.  I could not use them all if I tried, but I appreciated them.  Everyone loves a gift on their birthday.

As a marketer, I probably looked at them a little differently than others do.  Here three that stood out, and why.

#1: My Favorite Birthday Offer

I’m a reasonably frequent customer of Edible Arrangements.  I have a very practical nature, so flowers aren’t my thing.  But fruit flowers you can eat?  Some of which have chocolate on them??  That’s my love language.

As a result, my mom and dad (who live in a different state) send Edible Arrangements to my family on special occasions.  I also send them to people for gifts.

Today, I received one for my birthday from my parents.  I was at the gym (hello, birthday burpees) and missed the delivery.  I called and they offered to drive it back to me, but then I remembered an email offer that I’d gotten the week before for 12 free chocolate covered strawberries in honor of my birthday.

So, I told them I’d pick it up and redeem the coupon at the same time.  I went earlier this afternoon, and it was a great experience!

The gentleman at the counter wished me a happy birthday, my bag was all ready to go when I got there.

As a human, I loved this birthday marketing offer.

1. The berries were packaged in a nice box, and the gift felt a little indulgent.  I left the store feeling special, especially since the store employee took the time to wish me a happy birthday.
2. I will be able to share this gift with my family and friends tonight, which is also good for Edible Arrangements from a marketing perspective.  (I mean I could eat 12 chocolate covered strawberries by myself, but that’s another story.)
3. Who doesn’t love something free with no strings attached?

As a marketer, I liked it for a few other reasons.

1. I actually had never stepped foot in an Edible Arrangements storefront prior to today.  While I knew they existed, I always did the ordering online.  When I went in to pick up my gift (you had to redeem it in-store), I was able to see the arrangements they had for sale and interact with the employees.  This reinforced the idea that I could use the storefront as an option to pick up a gift on the way to a place, and showed me how friendly the employees are.  Had it been a bad experience it might have been another story, but this worked out nicely.
2. I ended up with a strongly positive brand association for all of the reasons mentioned above.
3. I’m taking the time to share it with you.  There are surely others who have taken advantage of the offer and posted it on social media.  That’s another positive for them.

I also picked up my birthday arrangement, too, instead of having the driver come back out to my house.  That’s a positive for them, but is pretty unique to my situation so I’m not counting it.

Good job, Edible Arrangements!  And thank you for the birthday gift.

#2: One Birthday Offer that I Loved, Despite Some Hiccups

I am a member of a restaurant group’s loyalty club.  For my birthday, they sent me an offer that was basically equivalent to a $25 gift card.

I got the email 10 days before my birthday.  It stood out to me immediately because it had “Testing_” in the subject line.  Oops, marketer who wrote that email.  But it did get me to open it.

When I opened the email, it said:

Happy Birthday

$25 Reward

Expires On

…but there was no date to be found anywhere.

The button in the email also didn’t work.

So, the email was bad.  I’ll have to wait till next year to find out if it was a one-time mistake, or if they’re using a very poor email automation template.

However, $25 is a pretty generous birthday reward.  And I’ve had nothing but good experiences with their loyalty club and its reliability in the past.  It was before the actual day of my birthday, so I was pretty sure it was still valid.

As a result, I took the family to one of their restaurants last weekend.  We spent well over the $25, and went during an off time when the restaurant wasn’t crowded (so I’m sure they were happy to have the business).  The hostess even wished me a Happy Birthday, and so did the manager who delivered the check.  We had a good time, and it was another positive brand association.

Marketing Moral of this story: While I would have preferred a mistake-free marketing email, the overall message, the offer, and its execution are of primary concern.  If those are on point, there is some leeway in other areas–especially if someone already has a good relationship with your company.

Now I’m not advocating sending marketing emails all willy-nilly that are riddled with mistakes.  That will catch up with you.  But I am saying that doing a good job as a business overall makes marketing that business a heck of a lot easier.

#3: Birthday Offer Disappointment

I am a pretty regular customer of one quick service restaurant near me.  I got an email on July 1 from that restaurant that said “It’s Your Birthday Christina!  Enjoy a Free Reward & See What Else this Month Has to Offer.”

I was in a rush when I got it, so I didn’t open the email.  But it did register in my mind that I should go to that restaurant around my birthday to get my reward.  (Exhibit A: Why subject lines are an important part of email marketing…)

Yesterday was a busy day.  I was going home from the gym, and decided to stop by that restaurant to use my reward.  Before I left, I opened the email to figure out how to redeem it, and was met with disappointment:

It was only valid starting on my actual birthday, and for 10 days after.

Womp, womp.

While it’s the restaurant’s prerogative to give me whatever offer they want, in whatever way they see fit (they are running a business after all), I was a little bit puzzled by the execution of this one.

1. Why do they care if I redeem it a day before my birthday or a day after?  I understand applying an expiration date, or making it valid only on my birthday, but this execution seemed kind of arbitrary.
2. Why did they communicate this offer to me with a very active subject line before the offer was even valid?  I don’t plan quick service restaurant visits that far in advance.
3. They didn’t follow up with an email today (the day of my actual birthday), when the reward became valid.  Perhaps it was by design so that I didn’t redeem it.  But I would have spent additional money there, probably making the visit more than break even for them.  Who knows.

Either way, the whole thing (which was probably well-intentioned) left me with a negative brand association solely because of the execution.  I chose another place for lunch.

Bonus That’s Worth a Mention

My accountant sent me a birthday card, hand-signed by the owner of the company.  It made me smile, and stood out as the only thing I received in my physical mailbox that wasn’t from family or friends.

Now, Back to Work

I need to get back to work.  I promised my kids I’d pick them up a little early because they have a surprise for me.  I know this because at bedtime last night, my daughter said, “Dad, can we tell Mom what’s going to happen tomorrow?”

Thanks for sharing my birthday blog with me, and I hope you got some useful information from it.