Birthday rewards convert better than any other automated trigger. Industry data: 28–35% redemption vs. 5–8% for generic promo emails. They’re easy to set up, easy to budget, and customers genuinely appreciate them.

How birthdays get captured

Three paths:

  1. Customer enters at signup. Optional field on Branded App and microsite signup. Most checkout flows can also offer it (“Add your birthday for a free dessert each year”).
  2. Customer enters in their loyalty profile. Adds a “complete your profile, get 25 bonus points” prompt for empty fields.
  3. Imported from your existing CRM. During migration, we’ll pull birthday data from Toast, Square, Olo, or any system that exports it.

Birth year is optional: only birth month and day are required.

What to give

Common rewards:

  • Free dessert: low cost, high perceived value, popular for casual restaurants
  • % off: 20–30% off any single visit during birthday week
  • Free entrée: for fine dining or operations with healthy entrée margins
  • Free delivery: delivery-heavy operations
  • Loyalty bonus points: 100–500 bonus points (no incremental cost)

Make it generous enough to bring them in. A "10% off" birthday reward is too small, most customers won't bother. 20–30% off, free dessert, or 500 bonus points is the sweet spot. The reward should make the customer feel celebrated, not nickel-and-dimed.

When to send

The morning of the birthday is the highest-converting send time. Some operations prefer “birthday week” (7 days, customer can use the reward any day) over “birthday day” (24 hours only).

7-day windows convert slightly higher (28–35% vs. 22–28% for 24-hour) because they accommodate “I’m at my mom’s house tonight, I’ll come tomorrow.”

How to set it up

  1. Open Marketing → Loyalty → Birthday Rewards. Toggle on. Pick the reward (free dessert, % off, free entrée, bonus points, or custom).
  2. Set the validity window. 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. We recommend 7 days for most operations.
  3. Set the message channel. Email, WhatsApp, push (if Branded App), or all three. WhatsApp wins on open rate; email is the fallback if the customer hasn’t opted into WhatsApp.
  4. Approve the Flamsy AI-drafted copy. Flamsy AI writes the message in the customer’s language with your brand voice. Edit if needed, approve.
  5. Done. Once enabled, the reward fires automatically every birthday for every customer with a birthday on file. No further action required.

Reading the results

Marketing → Loyalty → Birthday Rewards → Results. Shows redemption rate, average ticket on redemption, and incremental revenue (compared to non-birthday customer cohort).

Most operators see $25–80 of incremental ticket per redeemed birthday reward. If your monthly redemptions × incremental ticket is greater than the cost of the reward, the program is profitable. It almost always is.

See also: Loyalty Program Design, Win-Back Automation.