Welcome to the first of our email inspiration series! Over the coming months we are going to give you inspiration about types of emails you can include in your email marketing campaigns. To kick things off, we're starting with birthdays! Who doesn't love celebrating a birthday? Birthdays are a great way to spread positivity - here's some ideas on how to incorporate them into your email marketing campaigns.

Celebrating a customer's birthday

Wishing your customer "Happy Birthday" is a great way to show them your appreciation and allows you to go the extra mile to prove that you value them as a customer. This simple greeting from Facebook is a nice way to show your subscriber that you care and keeps your brand fresh in their mind on their special day.

Find out when your customers' birthdays are

Of course, you can only wish your customer a happy birthday once you actually know when their birthday is! While some sites already have this information at hand from the customer sign up process, most mailing lists only require basic information such as name and email address. Encourage your subscribers to enter their birthday information by providing an incentive such as a discount or special offer - it could be straight away or on the big day itself. This clever example from Ivory Ella manages to create a sense of mystery, enticing subscribers to enter their birthday in order to discover what the surprise is.

Celebrate your own birthday!

Don't forget that you can also celebrate your business's birthday! Are you coming up to the anniversary of your business? Let your customers know and celebrate with them. It's great to be proud of your achievements and how far you've come together. Remember to thank them for their support and here's to another successful year! Mark and Graham celebrated their 4th birthday by offering customers 20% off plus free shipping. Sounds like our kind of party!

Think outside of the box

If you have another creative idea on how to bring birthdays into your email campaigns, don't be afraid to try it out! We all love a good reason to celebrate. Maybe it's your office dog's birthday, or the birthday of a prominent individual like the Queen or the President. Whatever it is, if you can market it - give it a go! This half birthday email design from American Apparel really made us smile - make your readers' day with a discount when they're least expecting it.