Anatomy of a Great Business Birthday Card: Examples and Tips
Birthday cards for business are excellent tools for strengthening customer relationships and improving workplace morale. Unlike traditional advertising mailers, birthday cards are welcome in your customer’s mailboxes, and they leave your clients feeling more positive toward your company than before.
Business birthday cards sent to employees offer you an opportunity to express your gratitude for the work they did the previous year. Brief, personalized, authentic birthday wishes sent once a year can boost productivity and create a more cohesive office environment. Best of all, birthday cards for business are inexpensive, which means they offer a high ROI with minimal risk.
However, not all birthday messages are made equal. To create a card that maximizes its potential, you’ll need to learn how to sculpt an effective sentiment. Below you’ll find message examples as well as various tips designed to strengthen your birthday message writing skills.
GENERAL BIRTHDAY CARD GUIDELINES
Customers and clients don’t generally expect to get a birthday card from the businesses they work with. This exclusivity is what makes them such an effective method for increasing goodwill.
Similarly, your employees will come to appreciate annual birthday cards. It’s the one day out of the year that’s theirs, and it feels nice to have you recognize and celebrate it. Here are some general guidelines to follow when writing birthday cards for business.
Short and Sweet
You don’t need to write a novel. In fact, a short message is preferable as it shows your customers and staff members that you value their time. If your birthday wishes are running longer than 100 words, consider slimming them down.
Stay Professional
Because birthdays are fun, it’s tempting to use the same casual language you might in a friend’s birthday card — you shouldn’t. Regardless of how close you are with your customers or employees, it’s a business relationship first, so keep your tone professional. You can be effusive and excited, just not overly casual.
Keep the Focus on the Recipient
The most critical component of an effective birthday card for business is its focus. You must keep it on the customer or your employee. They’re the star of the card. If you start talking about yourself at any point, your message will lose its authenticity. Your customer may decide that your birthday message is just a thinly-veiled excuse to sell yourself. Your staff might assume you’re just trying to butter them up. These reactions will spoil the sentiment, potentially damaging your relationship instead of improving it.
Personalize Your Message
Nothing promises the kiss of death more than a generic birthday message when sending birthday cards for business. If your chosen text fits regardless of which client or staff member’s name is at the top, your recipients won’t be impressed. They’ll likely feel like a number, which is precisely how you’re treating them.
To overcome this hurdle, use their first name, and add at least one personalized line into each card — something that only applies to the recipient. This small touch demonstrates that you were thinking of them specifically when you wrote the card, removing the stigma sometimes associated with business birthday cards.
SEE ALSO: Wondering How to Sign a Birthday Card? Here Are 5 Best Practices
HOW TO STRUCTURE A CUSTOMER BIRTHDAY CARD
There are a number of ways to structure your birthday messages, but we find the following works well. This structure keeps the card’s focus where it should be while providing a subtle sales nudge. You can substitute your particulars to create winning birthday cards. Let’s take a look at an example and then break it down.
Dear Leslie,
Happy birthday! It’s hard to believe another year has flown by! We wanted to wish you all the best on your birthday. Do you realize you’ve been working with us for over four years now? What a great run! We really do appreciate your continued patronage and hope to celebrate even more birthdays with you in the future. All of us here hope you have a super day. Thanks, and happy birthday!
Sincerely,
Jim Thompson, ABC Supplies, Inc.
Get Right to the Point
You’re sending a birthday card, so open with a birthday message. In this case, you can see that we started with a simple “happy birthday!” and then added a birthday wish.
“Happy birthday! It’s hard to believe another year has flown by! We wanted to wish you all the best on your birthday.”
Remember to Personalize
We started with our recipient’s first name. Then, after our initial birthday message, we added a light remark regarding the client’s tenure with the company. This is a simple bit of personalization that’s easy to automate (more on that later.)
“Do you realize you’ve been working with us for over four years now? What a great run!”
Add Subtle Marketing Language
Marketing language must be added carefully. You don’t want to pitch too hard, or you’ll undo the benefit you’re trying to achieve. In this case, we’re subtly suggesting the customer keep doing business with us so that we can keep celebrating their special day.
“We really do appreciate your continued patronage and hope to celebrate even more birthdays with you in the future.”
Close With a Second Birthday Wish
Now bring it home. Close as you started, with a heartfelt birthday wish. You’ll leave your recipient feeling positive about the experience.
“All of us here hope you have a super day. Thanks, and happy birthday!”
SEE ALSO: 10 Best Birthday Quotes and Wishes
HOW TO STRUCTURE AN EMPLOYEE BIRTHDAY CARD
Birthday cards for business employees can follow a structure similar to customer cards, with a few revisions. Employee cards will omit any kind of sales language. Instead, you should focus on expressing gratitude. Employer birthday cards are primarily morale builders, so include language that makes your employees feel heard and appreciated. Here’s an example.
Dear Bill,
All of your coworkers and I wanted to send you a warm “Happy birthday!” We hope the upcoming year is as good to you as you’ve been to our company. We appreciate the hard work you put in, particularly on the Davidson account, and wanted to make sure you knew that you were valued. We hope the enclosed gift helps make your birthday a bit more special. Happy birthday, and thank you for all you do!
Sincerely,
Jim
Open With a Birthday Message
The advice we gave about opening your birthday card in the last section applies here, too. Begin with the main reason you’re writing. You’ll notice that we’ve infused gratitude into our birthday wish.
“All of your coworkers and I wanted to send you a warm “Happy birthday!” We hope the upcoming year is as good to you as you’ve been to our company.”
Be Specific With Your Thanks
Next, express your gratitude for the contributions your employee made over the last year. Include a specific example to avoid a generic birthday message.
“We appreciate the hard work you put in, particularly on the Davidson account, and wanted to make sure you knew that you were valued.”
Mention Gifts If You Include Them
Mentioning an included gift accomplishes two things. One, it lets your employee know that something should be there, in case it was left out by accident. Second, it reminds them subtly that you gave them a gift.
“We hope the enclosed gift helps make your birthday a bit more special.”
Bring the Birthday Back
As before, close with a second birthday wish. Notice we sprinkled in gratitude here, too!
“Happy birthday, and thank you for all you do!”
SEE ALSO: 10 Funny Ways to Say Happy Birthday
AUTOMATE YOUR BIRTHDAY CARDS FOR BUSINESS
You can send authentic, pen-written birthday cards without ever lifting a pen. Best of all, you can automate the whole process, so your cards go out on time, every time. Simply Noted lets you queue up all of your birthday cards using custom fields to personalize each one automatically. This article will take you through the process of automating birthday cards. It’s the best way to get the most out of your investment!
