Being actively engaged with your customers is key to building a long-term, healthy relationship with them. While we usually focus on business-related topics such as deals and discounts, small yet personal gestures – such as wishing them a happy birthday – can make a big difference in how your leads and clients feel about you.
People value being appreciated and remembered during special occasions. That’s why you shouldn’t miss your chance to strengthen your relationship with customers by not sending them a birthday message. That said, birthday messages are really common these days (Facebook even lets you send them in one click). A generic birthday wish may be seen as mechanical or even insincere – especially when coming from a salesperson or business.
In this article, we discuss the most important elements of a birthday message and explain how you can make it perfect. We also have a few templates to use if you’re looking to send personalised birthday messages to your valuable customers.
Table of Contents:
Tips to make a Birthday Message amazing
What to avoid in a Birthday Message
3 Birthday Message template examples
How to manage personalised client relationships at a scale
Conclusion
Tips to make a Birthday Message amazing
Generic birthday messages for customers usually don’t add much value, other than reminding them that you exist. Such messages could even be perceived as an excuse to reconnect and sell them something. On the other hand, well-crafted, personalised birthday messages show your clients that you genuinely care about them, helping improve your relationship both personally and professionally. Here are some tips for writing great birthday messages.
Personalise
Personalisation is a great way to make people feel appreciated, and when it comes to wishing birthdays, it means a lot. Most people will type (or copy and paste) the same boring “Happy Birthday!” message, so adding that personal touch will make you truly stand out from others.
Always include the client’s name in the message, ideally alongside some personal references such as the names of their spouse and/or children, their pets, or their favourite foods. This context will show that they’re more than just a customer to you.
If it’s an extra special milestone such as their 50th birthday, you can also include a reference to their age; but just make sure it’s acceptable as some people or cultures may not find this appropriate. Adding emojis can also make your wishes more fun and vibrant.
Send the message through the right channel
Sending the message through the appropriate channel is important for the best impact. People have different preferences when it comes to sending and receiving messages. For instance, some prefer messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, iMessage and SMS, while others prefer emails and social media messaging.
Look at where you’ve interacted in the past alongside your client’s messaging preferences before sending them a birthday wish. You shouldn’t email a birthday message to people who rarely open their email inboxes, or if all of your interactions have been on WhatsApp so far. They may never know that you’ve wished them on their birthday. On the other hand, commenting on social media like Facebook or LinkedIn may make them feel like you wished them because the app reminded you of their birthday or you saw others do it first.
Delivering a birthday message through different channels can be a great idea, but it makes more sense to the recipients if they get the message on their personalised channels first. It makes them feel that you’re truly aware of their special day.
Depending on your relationship, sending a hand-written card via physical mail can also be another way to make it special, especially if accompanied by a small gift. Although people do not exclusively use physical mail like in the past, most feel great about receiving special messages this way. Just make sure you send it out a day or two beforehand so the letter arrives in time.
Send the message at the right time
Timing is crucial for any message, and when it comes to birthdays, wrong timings can make a message totally ineffective. So when’s the best time to send a birthday message? Well, people like receiving birthday messages from friends and family as soon as their special day begins.
However, if your relationship with your client is strictly professional, sending birthday wishes at midnight may seem awkward. The best time could be early office hours or during lunchtime.
Sending a birthday message at 6 pm or later is a bad idea in most cases. It may make your customers feel like you forgot or that they aren’t a priority for you.
What to avoid in a Birthday Message
If you’re sending a birthday message, why not put some effort into it and make it perfect? We already covered some points to include, but it’s also important to know what to leave out. Here’s a list of what you should avoid in a birthday message:
- Generic templates: If you search for a birthday message template online, you’ll find hundreds of them. Even social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn offer generic templates to send in one click. While you’re free to use them, they aren’t unique and likely used by many people. Such birthday messages add minimum value to your relationship because your recipients know where they’re coming from, plus they aren’t personalised.
- Mentioning the wrong name: It’s annoying and even embarrassing to receive birthday wishes with the wrong name. As silly as it sounds, this can easily happen if you’re copying and pasting the message. Read the message carefully before sending it.
- Trying to make a sale: A birthday is a special day for the birthday person. Don’t try to make it about you. Always make sure your birthday messages don’t include any advertising or sales pitch whatsoever. That being said, you may mention the products or services they’ve purchased previously. For instance, as a property agent, it’s okay to say “Hope that you and your family are enjoying your new home!” in your birthday message to clients you’ve previously sold a house to.
- Phrases that look automated: Automated phrases make a message look dull because people see them elsewhere often. The more original and creative you are with your message, the more special it will be to the recipient.
3 Birthday Message template examples
An effective birthday message is short, relevant, and personalised. If you’re sending a birthday message to your client, it’s best if your message also includes context around their personal situation. Here are some templates with fictional scenarios about writing a good birthday message.
Scenario 1: Veterinarian
Your client Henry is a pet lover who visits your clinic regularly. He lives with his family of four and a dog named Ringo.
Dear Henry,
Happy Birthday from all of us at ACME Pets Clinic! 🥳
Wishing you, your family, and Ringo 🐶 all the best on your special day with lots of love, joy, cake, and doggie biscuits 🍪
– Katherine & your friends at ACME Pets Clinic
Scenario 2: Real Estate Agent
Your client is a young married couple, Joy and Roger. It’s Joy’s birthday, and she’s pregnant. Plus, the couple has just moved to a new house that they bought from you 3 months ago.
Happy Birthday, Joy!! 🎉
Wishing you all the health and happiness together with Roger as you prepare to welcome your baby into your family and new home 👶 ❤️ 🏠
I’m sure the coming months will be filled with an abundance of heartwarming experiences and special memories!
With Love,
Katherine
Scenario 3: Insurance Agent
Your client is a family with twin toddlers. Michael, the father, has a new job and recently insured all members of the family through you. He is turning 50 this year and loves golfing and coffee.
Dear Michael,
Happy 50th Birthday!! Wishing you, Lisa, and your beautiful twins a truly magnificent celebration on your extra special day 😊
May the coming year be full of precious memories 👨👩👦👦, delicious coffee ☕, hole-in-ones ⛳
Sincerely,
Katherine
How to manage personalised client relationships at a scale
Birthday messages are just a tiny part of the complex client relationship management process. If you have a small number of customers, you should be able to easily manage important dates and personalised communication with them manually. However, when you have many clients to manage, you could end up spending a lot of time and effort just to keep track of them and their key milestones. That’s where tools such as CRMs can help.
A CRM (Client Relationship Management platform) can help you manage your leads and clients at scale while preserving the human touch and personal relationship. It easily manages the individual data of all your clients, making sure you don’t miss a single follow-up or event. That being said, data management is a small part of what the right CRM can do for you.
The right CRM, such as Privyr’s mobile app, can integrate with your communication channels, help you create personalised messages, build effective schedules, and automate processes that would otherwise take a huge amount of time and effort. The best part is that you can do it all from your smartphone or laptop, making it easy to stay on top of your client relationships no matter where or when you need to.
Conclusion
Birthday messages are a great way to express to your clients that you truly care about them. Don’t miss the chance to nurture your relationship by sending a generic and dull message. Putting a little more effort into knowing your clients better can help you create great, personalised messages. You won’t regret the time you’ve invested in it when you see the results.
Privyr is a mobile-first CRM that can help you manage client relationships from your smartphone or any other device that you prefer. It easily manages your client data and also assists you in creating personalised messages and setting up effective follow-up schedules. Furthermore, it also integrates with messaging apps like WhatsApp, SMS, and iMessage, and social platforms like Facebook and TikTok, so you can connect with your customers from wherever you are. Try Privyr for free today.
FAQs
You can wish your client a happy birthday like wish anyone. However, keep in mind that everyone does it these days and generic messages may not add much to your relationship. To make it effective, make sure you have personalised your message by mentioning the name and a bit of background of the client. It’s also important to send the message through the right channel and at the right time.
Saying happy birthday professionally is nothing different from saying it casually. In fact, people prefer receiving casual birthday messages over highly formal ones.
Other than your birthday wish, you can write client’s name and mention their background if you know it in a client’s birthday card.
