The birthday flow, built on a date somebody chose to give you
The smallest automation in the stack. It's the only one that arrives because of who somebody is, not what they just did.
One field, one reason to hold it, and a send that arrives early
Every rule here is ours, and we set it against your own calendar.
A date the customer typed in themselves
Somebody filled in a birthday field you own: the second step of a sign-up form, or the preference centre. Nothing appended, nothing bought, nothing guessed.
Day and month, and a reason for the year
The send needs the day and the month. Ask for the year only where something on your store depends on it.
The field says what the date is for
One plain line beside it: you'll use the date to send them something around their birthday. A date given for an age check isn't permission to email.
It fires days ahead of the date, not on the morning
The only real decision in the whole build. A birthday gets spent, not planned: a send landing on the day turns up while somebody's out. A posted gift needs longer.
One note, about them, with one thing in it
Subject line · Something for you, before the day
Short, warm, one link. No grid of bestsellers under it. Brands that never discount still send it, because most of what it earns is just having turned up.
Did they use it while the window was open?
One reminder is the whole follow up. Anything later is a discount email with a birthday sticker on it.
Only for the people the first one didn't reach
Subject line · Still yours until the weekend
Same date, same offer, shorter. It only goes while what you promised is still live.
Once a year, and never twice
One run per profile per year, so a date corrected in the preference centre can't fire it again. An unsubscribe leaves the same day.
Every wait above is a starting point. We set the lead time against your own delivery window and your own calendar in the first month: a posted gift needs longer than a code does.
What a birthday flow is worth, and what it isn't
It stays small, and there's one decision to make about the offer.
It's small, and it stays small
Look, only the people who gave you a date qualify, and they're spread across a whole year. Against a cart flow it'll always look like nothing.
An offer is optional, an end date isn't
The note works without a code at all. Put one in and it needs a stated end date: an open ended birthday code becomes a general discount the moment it's forwarded.
What it earns is a feeling, and those compound
It's the one send in the calendar that isn't chasing something somebody just did. Read the unsubscribes as closely as you read the revenue.
What we look at when the year turns
Three readings, none of them a revenue chart: how many profiles carry a date, how many of those the send reached, and whether it costs you subscribers. If it does, the email's wrong, not the idea.
A date of birth is personal data before it's a nice touch
Five questions, in the order they matter.
A date of birth is personal data under UK GDPR, so holding it needs a lawful basis. For marketing that's consent: given for this, and recorded.
Day and month answers the question. Holding a full date of birth because the field offered one is what a data audit finds first.
Whatever the field promised is the only job the date may do. It doesn't become an age segment later.
When somebody unsubscribes or asks to be erased, the date goes with the rest. Keeping it in case it's handy isn't a reason.
If your shoppers can be children, this is a bigger decision than a discount code is worth. It belongs with your own legal advice.
None of this is legal advice, and none of it is a reason to skip the flow. It's why the field stays optional and the date does one job.
FAQs
What is a birthday flow?
A birthday flow is an automated email sent because one person's birthday is close, not because of anything they did on your store. It's the only flow triggered by who somebody is, and it fires once a year.
Where should you collect a customer's date of birth?
In two places, both of them yours: an optional second step on the sign-up form, once you've got the email address, and the preference centre. Never appended, never guessed.
Do you need the year of birth as well?
Usually not. The day and the month are all the send needs, so collect the year only where something on your store depends on age.
Is holding a date of birth allowed under UK GDPR?
A date of birth is personal data, so holding it needs a lawful basis and a purpose you can state. For marketing that basis is consent: given knowing what it's for, recorded, and used for nothing else. When the reason ends, so does the holding. And if your customers can be children, take your own legal advice first.
When should a birthday email be sent?
Before the day, not on it. A birthday gets spent, not planned, so a send arriving on the morning competes with everything else going on. Days ahead gives somebody time to use it.
Should a birthday email include a discount?
It doesn't have to. The message works as a note, and brands that never discount still send one. If you do put an offer in, give it an end date: an open ended birthday code becomes a general discount the moment it's forwarded.
How much revenue does a birthday flow make?
Less than any other flow on this site. It reaches only the people who gave you a date, spread across a whole year. Build it for the relationship, watch unsubscribes as closely as orders, and build the cart flows first.
The core ten, drawn as decision trees
The eCommerce Email Automation Playbook
Twelve pages of decision trees: ten evergreen automations, each with its trigger, delays, splits and exits drawn out. A birthday send isn't one of them, and it isn't meant to be. Build the ten that pay for the programme first.
Fourteen flows either side of this one
One automation each, with its real trigger, its waits and its exits.
- WelcomeThe first sequence after signup
- Site searchSearched, then went no further
- Category browseBrowsed a category, opened nothing
- Browse abandonmentViewed a product, then left
- Back in stockThe moment the stock lands
- Price dropOnly the people already watching
- Abandoned cartBasic and advanced, on one page
- Checkout abandonmentStopped at the payment step
- Post purchaseThe first order welcome
- ReplenishmentTimed to the reorder window
- Cross sellThe second product, not the same one
- VIPYour best customers, kept close
- WinbackThe dormant shopper, before sunset
- SunsetThe profiles that stopped reading
- The flow libraryAll fourteen, in one place
The channel is email marketing, the platform is Klaviyo, the map is lifecycle strategy.
Shall we see what your list already holds?
Bring your Klaviyo login to the first call. We'll count the profiles carrying a date, find out where those dates came from, and tell you straight whether you can use them. Even if the answer's no, that's worth knowing.
Book a call with our founder.
We're all about relationships built on trust, mutual respect and a shared vision for success. If that sounds like your vibe, let's make some waves together 🌊
