The best place to hang out on your birthday? Your inbox.

There are always those few special things that truly signal another year of being alive—a birthday cake in the office, cards from your parents, posts on your Facebook wall, and last but not even close to least: emails!

Birthday emails are a win-win for both marketers and subscribers. It gives them a reason to pause the constant cycle of promotion and celebrate together. In fact, birthday emails generate 342% higher revenue per email than promotional emails (Experian). 

And to prove this point, I decided to dedicate my birthday this year to the worthy cause of seeing who’s sending the best messages. (Okay, okay, I got some pretty great stuff in return, too! Just wait until you see these offers!) Allow me you to introduce you to the contenders:

1.  Madewell

Subject line: HBD, Kaitlin. 

I have to admit that this is the one birthday email I look forward to every year. I’m a huge fan of Madewell’s branding and clothes, and this $25 off coupon is just the added encouragement I needed to treat myself on my big day. Notice how they didn’t have to completely reinvent the wheel on this birthday email, using lifestyle product photography from what’s probably a recent collection of clothing. It shows that if your branding is strong and unique enough, you can easily recycle or reinvent content and images in creative ways that continue to surprise and delight your customers. 

2. Outdoor Voices

Subject line: A gift for you.

Outdoor Voice’s creative team does a great job of staying on brand while also spicing things up a little bit for this birthday greeting. This is an alternative way to add a birthday message into your email cycle without having to come up with something entirely new. Here, the gifa add a fun and celebratory tone to a simple-yet-genuine message. And a discount code never hurt anyone, either. 

3. TopShop

Subject line: Happy Birthday to you! Here's 20% off

This one is interesting because I’ve definitely purchased things from Madewell and Outdoor Voices, but TopShop is a store where I usually just browse online. Yet, they still sent me a birthday email, and that very well could lead to my very first purchase. Birthday messages are a great way to turn leads into conversions, and show your subscribers a side of your company that’s warm, personal, and not too busy to remember your special day. 

4. True Food Kitchen

Subject line: Enjoy a Birthday Dessert from True in Celebration of YOU

Birthday emails are a huge win, especially for restaurants. Because eating together is a natural way to celebrate, it’s more-than-appropriate to send a birthday greeting and a coupon for a free dessert off the menu. If your subscriber doesn’t have plans, now they know where to spend the rest of their birthday, and it’s with you!