Email Ain't Dead Yet

Believe it or not, and much to our chagrin I'm sure, email is still alive and well. It's annoying, inefficient (on a net basis, I'd say) and the bane of my existence, but it refuses to die. In fact, it feels like marketers have finally - finally! - gotten the memo that email can in fact be a useful retention tool if used well.

Every year I take a very unscientific view of the state of email marketing by the amount of birthday emails I receive. It has always struck me how few I have gotten, given the fact that so many brands ask for birthdays, the sheer number of loyalty programs I belong to, and how incredibly easy it is to send a birthday email. It is a no-brainer, and yet for years I have only ever gotten a few. And the psychology of it is a no-brainer as well: who doesn't like being remembered on their birthday?

For the past ten years, I have received a celebratory email from 2 or 3 brands. But this year, I have gotten no less than 15 emails from a whole range of brands. No idea why the sudden increase, but I'm glad to see it as it's simply smart marketing. The highlights:

• No surprise: Almost every email contained an offer (couched as a special birthday gift, obviously), most often a percentage discount (the highest being 50% off at Sweaty Betty ) or ￡ off a minimum purchase (￡5 off at The Body Shop ).
• The offers were quite diverse: French grocer E.Leclerc offered me €12 worth of free photos, while The Ivy Collection offered a free dessert, and Bill's Restaurants offered a free bottle of champagne.
• Missed opportunity: Gotta hand it to my local yoga studio and to Swissair, for sending me nothing more than lovely wishes for a great year ahead. Bless.
• Most disingenuous: Come on, Hulu . Do you think that offering me a free month makes me feel special? I can't walk five feet without seeing this offer everywhere. At least pretend you've made an effort.
• Get it right: Remember how I said these are really easy to execute? That didn't stop Groupe NUXE from forgetting my name (hello ^firstName^), or Cult Beauty from omitting the promo code. Just because these programs can run in the background, doesn't mean they can be forgotten. Check in on them once in a while.

It's no surprise then that they tend to perform well. According to Campaign Monitor (a biased source, I grant you, but it makes sense to me), birthday emails earn 342% higher revenue than other promotional emails. And yet only 28% of email senders are using this tactic, according to a survey of 3,000 senders conducted by Sinch Mailjet. This survey also showed that it's not even a generational thing. It turns out Millenials and Gen Z - while professing to hate it - still use it too.

They certainly worked on me. I succumbed to Barbour 's 15% discount (my doggies need new coats, of course) and topped up my running togs at both Sweaty Betty and 耐克 , who both win the award for longevity, as they hopped on the personalisation train a long time ago. And every year, they can count on yet another repeat purchase.

What has your experience been? Have you seen an increase in birthday emails this year? Are there any that you religiously redeem?