Why You Should Wish Clients a Happy Birthday and How to Get Started

Showing your clients you care can come down to the small details — even typing their name in an email, rather than addressing the note as “Dear Client” can make a big difference. Building relationships with your clients is crucial to the success of your accounting firm. It will cultivate loyalty and increase the chances your clients will recommend your services to their peers. One easy way to build these relationships you can start today! It’s simple: start sending out birthday messages to your clients.  

Getting Started

You likely already have their birthdays on file, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find out when a client’s birthday is. The good news is you can take that info and automate the message. Simply use an email to send each client a happy birthday wish, or you can tailor each message to make them more personal. 

Some businesses use the opportunity of a birthday to offer a deal or discount to their customers. If your firm provides consulting, coaching or advisory services, you could offer clients a discounted consultation meeting to encourage them to try out that service. But, even if you don't decide to offer any special deal to clients, simply sending them a message can help solidify your client relationships. Let’s take a look at a few examples you can use for the birthday message itself. 

Craft Your Message

Like we mentioned, it’s up to you if you want to send a generic birthday message or something more specific for each client. Here are some examples you can use to help you get some ideas:

Example:

Dear (Client Name), 

We heard today was a special day … your birthday 😊 Everyone here at (Your Firm Name) wanted to wish you a happy birthday 🎉 We hope it is a great one.

Best,
(Your Name or Your Firm Name)

Example:

Dear (Client Name),

Happy Birthday from our team here at (Your Firm name)! Thank you for being a great client. We hope you have a great day! 

Best Wishes, 
(Your Name or Your Firm Name)

To make the message a little more visually appealing, consider adding a festive and fun GIF or image to your email. You can easily find birthday-related images and GIFs on Giphy.com or by searching Google images. If you’re not interested in that, you can always add an emoji to the body of the email. Or if you're really motivated, shoot a quick video. Even something as simple as a video on your phone of your staff jumping out from behind a desk shouting "Happy birthday!" can make a huge impression on clients. 

Set Up Automated Emails

You can automate the happy birthday emails to make even less work for you. You can use Google Sheets and Gmail to set these birthday emails up. For more information on that process, click here. 

In the end, sending messages to your clients once a year on their birthday is a nice gesture that will can make a big difference. You have their birthdays on file, so go the extra mile and make your clients feel special for their birthday. Finding thoughtful ways to build up your client relationships is always a good idea. After all, improving relationships with your clients is important to retention and client happiness.

What other ways have you boosted your client relationships? Let us know in the comments below.

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