Gift date reminders: birthdays and anniversaries that bring in sales

Part of what you sell ends up wrapped in gift paper. Someone who bought a birthday present for their mother last year will need another one in twelve months, on the same day. Whether they come back to your store or buy the first thing they find depends on whether they remember in time.

Gift date reminders solve that for the customer: they save the dates of the people they buy gifts for and, a few days beforehand, receive a notice with ideas. It isn't a promotion you push on them; it is a service that saves them from forgetting.

Where to ask for the date

Nobody fills in a dates form for no reason. You have to ask at the moment it makes sense:

• In "My account", with a dedicated occasions section where the customer adds, edits and deletes dates whenever they like.
• After a gift order: if the order includes gift wrapping or a message, that is the natural moment to ask "would you like us to remind you next year?".
• In an on-site notice for logged-in customers, without blocking browsing.

What data to store, and what not to

Ask for the minimum needed for the reminder to work:

• A name or nickname for the person ("Mum", "Laura"), not their full name.
• The relationship or type of occasion: birthday, anniversary, name day.
• Day and month. The year is optional: many people don't want to give away anyone's age, and it isn't needed for a reminder.
• Gift notes, if the customer wants to jot down tastes or sizes.
• Whether they want to receive a coupon or just the reminder.

The reminder is sent to your customer, not to the person receiving the gift. And since it includes product ideas and perhaps a coupon, it is a commercial communication: the customer must have asked for it when saving the date and must be able to unsubscribe.

How far in advance to remind

The lead time has to cover two things: giving the customer time to decide and getting the order there on time. If you pick and pack in 24 hours and the carrier takes two days, reminding three days before is cutting it too fine; people don't buy the moment they receive the email.

• Birthdays and anniversaries: around ten days before, with a second reminder a few days before, works well for most stores.
• Fixed calendar dates (Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, Christmas): it pays to be earlier, because they compete with every store's campaigns and carriers are busier.
• Personalised or made-to-order products: add your production time.

If the customer saves a date when it is already close, send a single reminder, not one for each configured lead time.

What the reminder should include

A gift reminder is not a newsletter. It works when it is personal and specific:

1. The occasion in the subject line: "Laura's birthday is on the 14th".
2. Relevant gift ideas: products you choose for that occasion, your best-selling gifts and, if there is one, something related to what the customer bought for that person last time.
3. Delivery deadline: the last day they can order for it to arrive in time.
4. The coupon, if there is one, valid until the date of the occasion, single-use and tied to the customer.
5. A link to edit or delete the date.

The coupon is optional. For many customers the value lies in the reminder itself. If you offer one, adjust it per occasion: at Christmas, when everyone is discounting, perhaps a little more; for a birthday, less.

Dates people no longer want to be reminded of

A partner who is now an ex, a relative who has passed away. An automatic reminder in those cases hurts and leaves a very bad impression. You can't know, but you can make it easy for the customer to sort it out: a delete link in every reminder, simple management in "My account" and a tone that takes nothing for granted.

How to measure it

• Dates saved per customer and growth of the total.
• Clicks on reminders, filtering out bots.
• Orders using the reminder coupon and attributed revenue.
• Performance per occasion: birthdays usually bring steady recurring sales; calendar dates bring peaks.

The interesting part is that the result accumulates: each saved date generates a reminder every year, with no new campaign.

Common mistakes

• Asking for the year of birth and the email address of the person receiving the gift.
• Reminding two days before the date in a store that takes three to deliver.
• Sending the same generic email for every occasion.
• Reminding twice for the same date because of a fault in the scheduled task.
• Not letting the customer delete the date from the reminder itself.
• Using those dates for other campaigns the customer didn't ask for.

Checklist

• An occasions section in "My account" and a question after gift orders.
• Nickname, occasion, day and month; year optional.
• Purpose explained in the privacy policy and one-click deletion.
• Lead time calculated from your real picking and delivery times.
• Gift ideas per occasion, ordering deadline and an optional coupon tied to the customer.
• Measure orders and revenue per reminder.

How to do it in PrestaShop

RKR Order Prep Calendar adds a section to "My account" where the customer saves who they buy gifts for, the relationship, the occasion, the day and month (year optional), notes and whether they want a coupon. It comes with nine editable occasions, with lead times per type of occasion. A scheduled task sends the email with ideas drawn from the products you choose, the customer's history and the best sellers, without reminding twice for the same date. The coupon is single-use, tied to the customer and valid until the celebration, and the dashboard shows you opens, clicks, orders and revenue attributed to each reminder.