In this article, we will show you how to get set up an Automated Journey email to be sent on the patient's birthday. In this email, you might want to wish just them a happy birthday or send them a voucher or discount code.

🍰 How to send a birthday email 🍰

Step 1: Click 'Send email'

Step 2: Click 'Automation'

Step 3: Click 'Birthday'. We automatically upload a birthday email template for you to edit and send to your liking.

Step 4: You will now see the birthday email template. It will be set to be sent ON the patient's Date of Birth. However, if you click on the top box labelled 'On subscriber's Date of Birth date' you are able to change when it is sent. Once you click on that box, you will be given the option in a drop-down box in the 'When should this journey start?' to select 'Before'. If this is selected, you can then decide the time before the date of birth that the email will be sent. In this example, the email will be sent 2 days before the Date of Birth:

Step 5: Edit the email template by clicking on the bottom box that says 'Update content' when you hover over it.

Step name
Name this step in the journey. If you are just sending one email, you can leave it as 'Send email'. If you are planning on adding more emails to this journey, you might want to name this one 'Birthday email - 2 days before.'
Subject
This is what the recipient will see in their inbox. You can change it to suit the content. You can also use the drop-down box to insert personalisation, and it will autofill that information from the patient's file.
From
This will be the name and email that will show up in the inbox of the recipient.
Send any replies to a different email address
If you check this box, you will have the option of inserting an alternate email address for replies to be sent to.
Send to specific segments
When you check this box, you will see all of your segments. If this was to target specific segments, you can select them here. If you do not select any segments, this journey will send to your entire patient marketing list (provided they have a date of birth in their Cliniko file).
Content
Click 'Edit email content'

Here you can customise your email and the content within it. You can add images, links, videos and text. You can remove items already in the template by clicking on them and then the red bin image. To move the items, you click on them and then the arrows that point in all directions and drag them around the template.

To make the email more personable, you can add personalisation variables. Check out this article and have it on hand: Using personalisation in Automated Journeys and Campaigns

Notes - Because this is a marketing email, the 'unsubscribe' button is automatically added to the bottom of the email.

Send a test email or Preview, then save
Once you are happy with your email, you can send yourself a test email to see how it looks in the inbox. You will then want to preview, then save by clicking the green button in the top right of the page. It will show you what it looks like on a desktop (left image) and a phone (right image). You can scroll to make sure you are happy with it and then click 'Save and return to journey'.
Turn on journey
If you are happy with all the information you have, you can 'Turn on journey' with the green button, and it will start sending when it is your patient's birthday!

🎉 You have set up your birthday automation!! Now you can sit back, and we will get those emails out for you 🎉

🍰🍰 Did you want to send a series of birthday emails in this journey? 🍰🍰

Here's how:

Step 1: Before turning on the journey, you will want to select the + button under the first email. You will have the options to select 'Delay', 'Email' or 'Condition'. If you are wanting this email to be sent at a different time than the first email, you will need to select 'Delay'.

Here you can choose the time between emails. If your first email was 2 days before the birthday, and you want this email to send ON the birthday, you will go to 'Length of the delay' on the left of the page and type in '2' and select 'days' from the drop box. Then click 'Save'.

Step 2: You will need to select the + sign under 'Wait 2 days' and this time select 'Email'. Here, you will need to go through Step 5 of 🍰 How to send a birthday email 🍰.

Now you have multiple emails added to your birthday journey!!

📝 Note: If you need to delete any of the steps, you can click on it and then select the red bin and delete.

If you have further questions about the birthday automation, let us know. Thank you!