Watson & Co. Chartered Marketing Customer Service and Marketing Tip: Go the Extra Mile to Make your Customers feel like Royalty on their Birthday or Special Occasion

When we first crafted this blog (21 April 2016) it was all about the Queen’s 90th birthday, we personally seen 121,000 tweets using the hashtag #HappyBirthdayYourMajesty appear before 3.30pm. Not only did it inspire us as marketers to think about hashtag creation and use for special occasions or promotions for the purposes of user generated content but it also made us wonder how your business makes customers, who chose your place to celebrate their special occasion, feel like royalty?

Today, on 1 August 2018, we revisited this blog to demonstrate how brands are using birthdays to deliver valuable birthday gift offers by post or email to their loyalty club customers to drive people into store.

To demonstrate how businesses are delivering marketing and customer service excellence we have detailed below some examples:

 

pizza express birthday email
~ free prosecco for your birthday party emails from PizzaExpress

~ pop into our shop on the Lisburn road for a free luxury long burning candle from us to you footfall driver delivered by email

~ personalised greeting cards signed by accommodation managers

 

 

 

 

~ Happy Birthday written in chocolate on serving plates

NB Birthday choc writing dessert plate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ personalised birthday name, date and age signage in Coco’s Adventure Playground

Joanne and family 9 sign at Cocos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ big theatrical firework candles in Downshire Arms Hotel

Ruth birthday candle downshire

~ staff popping out to the shop nearby to get little candles in The Thinking Cup Café for the 1st birthday of Lean In Belfast circle

~ the complement of customer facing staff singing Happy Birthday in harmony and

~ the once nightly playing of recorded sing song and simulataneous delivery of brightly lit up desserts in Zen

Janet birthday zen sing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2018, our benchmarking of organisations helping us, a customer who has taken the time to register for a loyalty programme or club, continued. Each gift received into our email inbox or in person delivered a valuable to us footfall driving offer and made us feel special on our special day:

~ Space NK email inviting us to call into their Lisburn road, Belfast store to pick up our N.dulge birthday gift bag of treats

Benchmarking marketing tactics from businesses using birthdays as a way to make their customers feel special A little present from Space NK to their customers on their birthday demonstrating email marketing that drives footfall into store

~ Marks and Spencer Sparks email gifting a free mug of our choice worth up to £7. We also happened to spot lots of shoes on sale when we visited to collect our birthday mug and spent lots in store – proving that this kind of marketing tactic not only makes your customer feel special but also acts as a footfall driver which can impact on sales

Postal marketing example from Marks and Spencer Sparks loyalty marketing programme

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ The Pizza Express offer of a free bottle of birthday prosecco still stands 2 years on, that in itself indicates that this marketing tactic works for both customer and business

 

Pizza Express offer of a free bottle of birthday prosecco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ The 5 Star Merchant Hotel surprise ‘Birthday’ cake from a waiter who simply overheard that it was our friend Marissa’s birthday night out

Mariassa with her private cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WorldHost NI businesses like Watson & Co. Chartered Marketing client James Street South restaurant specifically ask if your booking is for a special occasion –  you too can collect birthday intelligence for the purposes of going the extra mile to make your customers feel valued on their birthdays.

The little things can make all the difference in service delivery and creating positive moments of truth for those who make your business viable or successful does not have to cost a lot but achieve memorable experiences for more than just the birthday boy or girl.

Contribution by Chartered Marketer and Licensed WorldHost and Digital Business Skills Trainer: Christine Watson created 21 April 2016, edited with the assistance of Julia Wecker, who added images using the watsonsmarketing.com wordpress platform as part of her Erasmus Marketing Traineeship, on 1 August 2018.

Watson & Co. Chartered Marketing are licensed to deliver the world  renowned WorldHost customer service, sales powered by service and Digital Business Skills Training Programmes.

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