Send a happy birthday email to your constituents each year. It’s another way to show your appreciation, strengthen relationships with donors, and improve retention, all without directly asking for a donation.
Automate & Save Time
To send birthday emails, create a simple automation and let Bloomerang CRM do the work for you. Each year, Bloomerang CRM automatically emails constituents on their birthdate.
How It Works
Use Journey Automation to create a birthday automation. Constituents automatically enter this automation if they:
Are active individual constituents (not organizations)
Have a birthdate and valid email address in Bloomerang CRM
After you publish the automation, constituents enter the automation on their next birthdate. Right after 12 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), Bloomerang CRM sends a birthday email to constituents within the automation who are subscribed to a relevant email interest. Constituents then complete the automation. Next year on their birthdate, constituents enter the automation again and receive a birthday email. The automation runs continuously unless you pause it or archive it.
For detailed information about how the Happy Birthday entry source works, including timing, time zones, account creation, and birthdate entry or changes, read About Entry Sources in Automations.
Before You Begin
Before you create a birthday automation, decide which email interest and purpose to use.
Create a Birthday Automation
To create a Happy Birthday automation, you can:
Start quickly: Edit the example automation, which is named Happy Birthday Celebration. This draft appears if your organization has never created a draft automation from the Happy Birthday entry source. A guide also appears that walks you through how to set up a Happy Birthday Celebration. You can follow the guide or set up the automation how you’d like.
Start from scratch: Create a Happy Birthday automation from scratch.
To create a Happy Birthday automation:
Click Communications.
Click Journey Automation.
Do one of the following:
To start quickly:
In the Milestones > Current Donor Automations section, click the Happy Birthday Celebration draft automation. If you don’t see this draft automation, start from scratch.
In the entry source, click the three vertical dots and then click Edit.
To start from scratch:
Click New Automation.
Name your automation and click Save.
In the settings for that automation, click Choose an Entry Source.
In the Milestones section, select Happy Birthday.
Click Save. The automation saves as a draft.
Next, add an email to your Happy Birthday automation:
Click Add Step
.In the Actions section, click Send Email.
To use the Happy Birthday template or another template:
Click Select Email Template.
Click Continue.
On the Bloomerang Templates tab, select the Happy Birthday template. Or, on the Saved Templates tab, select a template that your organization created.
Enter a name for the email.
Click Next.
To copy an existing email:
Click Copy Email.
(Optional) To view the email type and purpose, and who last modified the email, click the down arrow next to the email.
Select an email to copy.
Click Continue.
From the Type list, select Constituent. This email type is required for birthday automation emails.
To save and finish setting up your automation, click Save And, and then select Go to Journey Automation. The email is now part of your draft automation.
To edit this email before you publish the automation, click the three vertical dots and select Edit or Delete.
(Optional) Send test emails from this automation before you publish it.
When you’re ready for constituents to enter the automation, click Publish.
Change a Happy Birthday Automation
To make changes to a happy birthday automation, you can edit or replace it.
Edit a Published Automation
To edit a published (running) Happy Birthday automation:
Replace a Published or Paused Automation
You can have only one published or paused Happy Birthday automation. You can create a new draft automation while your original automation is published or paused.
To replace a published (running) or paused Happy Birthday automation:
Do one of the following:
Create a new Happy Birthday automation.
Edit the copied or new automation, which is in a draft state.
Next Steps: Manage Automations
After you create and publish an automation, you can monitor participation, manage automations, view emails sent by automations, and view tasks assigned by automations. Read Manage Automations.