Automated anniversary celebration – holidays, name days, and birthdays

One effective way to strengthen and maintain a long-term relationship with a customer is to personally extend wishes on special occasions such as birthdays, name days, holidays, or other anniversaries. Boldem can automatically send the entire annual and holiday agenda on your behalf, complete with personalized salutations.

Automation goal

The objective of anniversary automation is to automatically dispatch personalized greeting messages to customers who are celebrating special occasions, such as holidays, birthdays, or other anniversaries, provided that you have recorded their respective dates. For holidays, particularly for Czech and Slovak clients, you do not need to manually input any data; Boldem will automatically determine the holiday date based on the customer’s first name, supposing all settings are configured correctly.

The automation includes only two or three steps, in which a message with a congratulatory message is sent to the recipient. Optionally, you can flag recipients who have received the email for further processing in the future. You can also automatically include promo codes within the email messages.

Prerequisites

To create the anniversary automation, you will require:

• Activated Standard or Boldem Profi plan.
• Fully verified sending domain.
• Mailing list from which you want to add recipients to the automation.
  • To use the name day automation effectively, individual recipients need to have a first name that Boldem can use to accurately identify the date of the recipient’s name day. This applies to Czech and Slovak first names, as they have specific name day calendars.
  • To ensure that the birthday anniversary automation works properly, recipients need a user field containing their date of birth or the date of another significant anniversary, such as the anniversary of their registration. This information is essential for accurately triggering and sending messages with personalized salutations on these special occasions.
• Transactional template – the message you intend to send to the recipient.
• Online shop or other kind of website integrated with your Boldem account (optional).
• Promo codes (optional) – if you decide to offer promo codes to customers as a part of your automation, you will need to add them first.

See the sections below for details on each step.

Integrating a website or online shop with your Boldem account

If you do not run an online shop or website to collect recipients and do not need to assess whether recipients have made recent purchases in your store as part of the anniversary automation, you can skip this step. However, in other scenarios, it is beneficial to integrate your website with Boldem.

To ensure that Boldem can efficiently retrieve data from your website (online shop or other systems) and make the most of its features, including automation and subscription forms, you must first integrate your website with your Boldem account. The following integration options are available:

• Generic integration that enables you to embed a form on your website for data collection.
• Instant integration of your online shop with the Shoptet or Upgates platforms to seamlessly sync your contact database, cart, and order data.
• Advanced integration of any website or online shop on any platform allows you to display forms, synchronize contacts, orders, or shopping cart data. However, such integration requires the intervention of a developer who will create a customized integration for you.

Below, you will find instructions on how to integrate different platforms with your Boldem account:

• Integrating your Shoptet store with Boldem.
• Integrating your Upgates store with Boldem.
• Integrating other websites with Boldem.

Mailing list

For the automation to work correctly, you need a mailing list from which recipients will be loaded into the automation.

You can easily import recipients into your mailing list. The procedure for importing recipients can be found here.

In order for the anniversary automation to work properly, the recipients need to be assigned a first name or a date in a separate custom field (birthday, registration, etc.).

Transactional template

Only so-called transactional templates can be used in automations. Any smart template can be set up as a transactional template. The prerequisite for a successful transactional template is a fully verified sending domain. You can manage the sending domain in Settings/Domains.

You can make a transactional template by following the procedures below. This method also allows you to modify an already existing smart template. If you wish to work with an existing template, open it and continue with step 4:

1. Log into Boldem and navigate to Templates.
2. Click Create a new template and select Create a smart template.
3. Choose whether you want to edit a ready-made template from the gallery, start working with a sample template, or start from scratch with a blank template.
4. Click the gear icon. The Information tab appears.

5. On the Information tab, fill in the template name, subject, and preheader.

6. Activate the transactional features by toggling on the Template is for transactional emails (automations and API) switch. This action will reveal additional transactional template fields.
7. Fill in Sender’s email, Sender’s name, and select your Domain router from the drop-down menu.

8. In the upper-right corner, click Done and select Save and leave.

Promo codes

If you decide to gift your customers promo codes as part of your anniversary automation, it is practical to assign a unique promo code to each customer. Before incorporating promo codes into a template, you must enter them into the system, either manually or by importing them from a file:

1. Go to Settings/Promo codes.
2. Click All groups and select Add group.
3. Enter the group name, select the group color, and confirm with Add.
4. Click New promo code.
5. Choose an expiry date in the Select expiry date drop-down menu. The date should match the date you have opted for in the online store, through which promo codes are being generated.
   • No expiration – all imported promo codes can be used for unlimited time.
   • Single expiry date – there is a set expiry date and time for all imported promo codes. Once selected, a field will appear and further request a date to be specified.
   • Individual expiry date – each imported promo code has a defined expiration date and time. To proceed with this option, two columns in the imported file must be filled in: one with the promo codes, and one with the expiry date(and time).
6. If you wish to import a file containing promo codes, click Select a file and confirm by clicking Create.

7. A small number of promo codes can also be imported manually by entering them into the Promo codes field. If this is the choice you opt for, make sure each promo code is written on a separate row. If you also wish to add an expiry date after the promo code, choose Individual expiry date from the Select expiry date drop-down menu and add a semicolon ;, or a vertical bar | after the promo code. Behind this special character, insert the date and time format set in your account (see the note above), e. g.:

PromoCode11;29.3.2028 11:38
PromoCode12|29.3.2028 12:00

8. Confirm the dialogue by clicking Create.

Using promo codes in template

Promo codes can be sorted into groups, each of which can be assigned different colours and names. Every group carries a unique identifier, e.g., {{coupons.group_794}}. Copy and paste the string into the templates you plan to use in campaigns or automations.

In the template, paste the copied identifier into the area of your liking. After dispatching a campaign, triggering an automation, or dispatching transactional emails, these identifiers will then show as unique promo codes.

Personalized salutation in template

When creating a template intended for your customers, always consider how the salutation at the beginning will appear to them. It should be as personal as possible. Boldem can assist you with:

Automatic first name declension

Boldem offers automatic declension of first names into the 5th case – vocative. The variable Vocative is used to generate salutations. Use this variable by inserting the following string into the template:

{{ vokativ contact.name }}

After dispatching the message, this string will be replaced with the recipient’s first name in the correct vocative form. For example, if the recipient’s first name is Jana, the template will display Jano. Alternatively, if you want to choose a more familiar approach with Ahoj Jano (Hi Jana), use the following string:

Ahoj {{ vokativ contact.name }},

For example, if your goal is to express gratitude for registering, use the following string:

Thank you for your registration, {{ vokativ contact.name }}!

Automatic last name declension with gender distinction

In a vast number of personalized salutations, not only do you need to correctly spell both the first and last names, but also to change the salutation to match the person’s gender. Since Boldem allows you to enter the gender of recipients, using the designated variable should make this process a walk in the park.

If you have set the gender of your recipients, you can use the string below in the template instead of manually addressing recipients:

Thank you for your registration {{ if contact.sex != null }}{{ if contact.sex == 1 }}, Mr. {{ end }}{{ if contact.sex == 0 }}, Mrs. {{ end }}{{ vokativ contact.surname }}!{{ else }}!{{ end }}

This string is actually a script code that evaluates whether the recipient has the correct gender setting, thus applying the salutation accordingly:

• If the gender is set to Male and the recipient’s last name is Novák, the following salutation will be used: Thank you for your registration, Mr. Novák!
• If the gender is set to Female and the recipient’s last name is Svobodová, the following salutation will be used: Thank you for your registration, Mrs. Svobodová!
• If gender is not set, the following universal salutation will be used: Thank you for your registration!

Naturally, you can modify the text of the salutation (bold text in the example) to your liking. We recommend that you always test the salutation thoroughly on a small sample of test recipients using every possible variation (i.e. with both genders and a recipient without gender).

Automation scenarios

Before creating an automation scenario, determine what you want to achieve with the automation – for example, whether you want to automatically contact all customers on the occasion of their holidays, birthdays, registration anniversaries, or other dates.

Additionally, it is essential to be clear about whether you want to offer the recipients a promo code in the email. If the answer is yes, decide on how many reminders you want to send. For online shop owners, it is also possible to assess if the recipient has made a recent purchase.

Below, we have provided examples of automation scenarios you can create for the purpose of anniversary automation. However, this list is not exhaustive, and you have the flexibility to adjust the individual automation blocks to meet your specific requirements:

• Automated celebration of customer’s name day.
• Automated celebration of customer’s birthday or other anniversary date.
• Automated anniversary celebration while considering the customer’s online shop engagement.

Automation scenario – celebration of name days

This automated name day campaign helps you reach customers who are celebrating a name day and send them one email message.

Creating automation

1. Log into your Boldem account and navigate to Automations.
2. Click Create new automation.
3. Enter the Automation name and description. Both entries are for your reference and can be changed later on the Settings tab in the automation details.
4. Confirm your entry by clicking Create automation.

This will open the automation diagram, with an overview of the blocks you can use in the automation on the left and a canvas on the right where you will insert these blocks. To insert a block, simply drag and drop it onto the canvas.

Trigger

First, we need to add a trigger block to specify how and how often the recipient will enter the automation. To create an anniversary automation, use the Anniversary event block.

1. Select the Triggers tab on the left, drag the Anniversary event block onto the canvas, and double-click it to display its settings.
2. From the Mailing list drop-down menu, select the list you want to load the recipients from.
3. Click Internal calendars.
4. From the drop-down menu, select Czech or Slovak, depending on whether you want to send automations to recipients with Czech or Slovak first names.
5. From the Select a field representing the name drop-down menu, select the recipient’s first name. By default, this is First name.
6. Do pole O kolik dní dříve (+), nebo později (–) chcete akci spustit? zadejte kladnou nebo zápornou hodnotu, případně ponechte nulu.
   • Value 0 – automation will start on the day of the recipient’s anniversary date.
   • Positive value, e.g., 3 – automation will start 3 days earlier than the recipient’s anniversary date.
   • Negative value, e.g., 2 – automation will start 2 days after the recipient’s anniversary date.
7. In the Start time field, enter the time at which you want to start the automation for the recipient.
8. Leave the other settings as default and click Save.

Email dispatch

Now, add a block to send the email that you want to use to reach the recipients. For example, this email could contain a promo code offer.

1. Select the Actions tab on the left, drag the Send email block onto the automation canvas and double-click it to display the block settings.
2. From the Template drop-down menu select the transactional template you want to send to the recipients.
3. Leave the other settings as default and click Save.

Connect the blocks by clicking and dragging the mouse:

Continue with Testing and starting automation chapter.

Automation scenario – anniversary celebration according to your own date

This anniversary campaign helps you automatically reach customers to whom you have assigned a date, typically a birthday or a registration anniversary to your online shop, and send them a series of email messages. The date must be assigned to the recipient via a custom field. For more information, see Custom fields chapter.

Creating automation

1. Log into your Boldem account and navigate to Automations.
2. Click Create new automation.
3. Enter the Automation name and description. Both entries are for your reference and can be changed later on the Settings tab in the automation details.
4. Confirm your entry by clicking Create automation.

This will open the automation diagram, with an overview of the blocks you can use in the automation on the left and a canvas on the right where you will insert these blocks. To insert a block, simply drag and drop it onto the canvas.

Trigger

First, we need to add a trigger block to specify how and how often the recipient will enter the automation. To create an anniversary automation, use the Anniversary event block.

1. Select the Triggers tab on the left, drag the Anniversary event block onto the canvas, and double-click it to display its settings.
2. From the Mailing list drop-down menu, select the list you want to load the recipients from.
3. Leave the Recipients’ data option selected.
4. From the Select a custom field drop-down menu, select the field that contains the specific date.
5. Do pole O kolik dní dříve (+), nebo později (–) chcete akci spustit? zadejte kladnou nebo zápornou hodnotu, případně ponechte nulu.
   • Value 0 – automation will start on the day of the recipient’s anniversary date.
   • Positive value, e.g., 3 – automation will start 3 days earlier than the recipient’s anniversary date.
   • Negative value, e.g., 2 – automation will start 2 days after the recipient’s anniversary date.
6. In the Start time field, enter the time at which you want to start the automation for the recipient.
7. Leave the other settings as default and click Save.

Email dispatch

Now, add a block to send the email that you want to use to reach the recipients. For example, this email could contain a promo code offer.

1. Select the Actions tab on the left, drag the Send email block onto the automation canvas and double-click it to display the block settings.
2. From the Template drop-down menu select the transactional template you want to send to the recipients.
3. Leave the other settings as default and click Save.

Connect the blocks by clicking and dragging the mouse:

Inserting delay

After sending an email, you can set a response delay. This is the time period you allot for the recipients to reply to your message. You can use this and the following steps if:

• the first email contains an incentive to buy something (e.g., a promo code offer), and you want to assess whether the recipient has made a purchase. If not, you can encourage them to take advantage of the offer, or
• you want to assess whether the recipient has opened the email or clicked a link in the email, and encourage them to take action.

The procedure for inserting a delay:

1. Select the Operators tab on the left, drag the Wait block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to display the block settings.
2. From the drop-down menu, select Over a period of time and choose a delay, e.g., 2 days.
3. Click Save.

Adding condition block

After the specified delay, you will want to determine whether the recipient has reacted to your message. To do this, insert a condition block into the automation. Here is how:

1. Select the Operators tab on the left, drag the Condition block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to display the block settings.
2. Click Select a new condition. A dialog will open to select the condition.
3. Depending on what you want to evaluate, select the appropriate activity type from the Source drop-down menu:

If you have an integrated online shop with Boldem and have encouraged recipients to make purchases in the initial email, select Recipients’ activity on the web.

1. In the Select a website drop-down menu, select the previously integrated online shop. If you do not see the online shop in the menu, it may not have been integrated correctly. Verify the status in Settings/Integrations or integrate your online shop with Boldem.
2. From the Recipients’ activity on the web drop-down menu, select Completed a purchase in store.
3. In the Time limit drop-down menu, select the time period after which the condition should be evaluated. In our case, we want to evaluate the last two days. Therefore, select In the last X days and enter 2 days.
4. Click Save rule.

If you don’t have a website integrated with Boldem or if you only want to evaluate recipient activity in a previous email, select Recipients’ activity in transactional emails from the drop-down menu.

1. In the Condition drop-down menu, select the condition according to your needs, e.g., The recipient opened email or The recipient clicked a link in email.
2. In the Template drop-down menu, select the transactional template you entered above in the Send email block.
3. In the Time limit drop-down menu, select the same period of time you entered in the previous Wait block. In our case, 2 days.

4. Click Save rule.
5. To save the entire block, click Save.

After the condition block, insert additional blocks that take the automation’s evaluation into account. We have two branches – one for a positive and one for a negative result:

Condition block branch – Yes

If the recipient meets the condition you have set, such as making a purchase in our store within the last 2 days or opening an email we sent within the last 2 days, you can leave this branch empty if you are satisfied with the result. In this case, the automation concludes for the given recipient.

If you want to track recipient activity by a custom indicator, you can create a custom field and assign a value to it using the Edit recipient block. To create and use a custom field, see Custom fields.

Similarly, you can insert recipients into another mailing list to, e.g., sort the active recipients. If you wish to do this, use the Edit mailing list action.

Condition block branch – No

If the recipient does not meet the specified condition, e.g., they have not made a purchase in your shop within the last 2 days or have not opened the email sent in the last 2 days, you can insert another block after this branch to send an email reminding the recipient of the earlier offer.

Adding a block to send an email:

1. Select the Actions tab on the left, drag the Send email block onto the automation canvas and double-click it to display the block settings.
2. Select the transactional template you want to send to the recipient from the Template drop-down menu.
3. Leave the other settings as default and click Save.

You can repeat the process and add another delay and re-evaluation if you believe it is necessary.

Connect the blocks by clicking and dragging the mouse:

Testing and starting automation

You can further customize the automation according to your preferences, e.g., change the number/types of emails, conditions, and the delays over time. Simply test what works best for your customers.

Once you are satisfied with the settings and number of blocks, save the automation by clicking Done/Save.

Test the automation thoroughly before starting! Testing procedures can be found in the Testing automation article. We recommend not underestimating testing and to start the automation only after proper testing.

Once you have completed the testing with a positive result, run the automation by clicking Run.