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WooCommerce does not send birthday or anniversary emails by itself. For birthdays, the most direct native workflow is AutomateWoo plus its Birthdays add-on. For anniversaries, choose the system that owns the date: ShopMagic for one year after a completed order, Brevo for a date stored in a contact profile, or MailPoet Premium for newsletter-style recurring birthday messages.

Choose the event before choosing a plugin

“Anniversary” can describe different dates, and each requires a different trigger.

Event Date source Best-fit implementation Timing available
Customer birthday Birthday field on the customer profile AutomateWoo Birthdays add-on Before, on, or after the birthday
First-order anniversary First completed purchase ShopMagic Delayed Actions 365 days after Order Completed
CRM or membership anniversary Anniversary date in a contact record Brevo for WooCommerce Annual email or series
Newsletter birthday campaign Date custom field in the mailing list MailPoet Premium Configured offset before or after the date

Decide whether the message is marketing, a service communication, or both. Collect consent appropriate to your jurisdiction, explain how the date will be used, and provide a way for customers to correct or remove it.

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Set up automated birthday emails with AutomateWoo

AutomateWoo’s birthday feature is an add-on, not a standalone WooCommerce setting. You must install and activate AutomateWoo, then activate the Birthdays add-on.

1. Install the required components

  1. Install and activate AutomateWoo in WordPress.
  2. Install and activate the AutomateWoo Birthdays add-on.
  3. Open AutomateWoo → Settings → Birthdays.

2. Decide where customers enter their birthday

Enable the optional birthday field at checkout, in My Account, or in both places. The field is shown to logged-in customers. Administrators can edit or remove a saved birthday. If the year is not needed for your campaign, configure collection to store only the month and day.

3. Build the workflow

  1. Go to AutomateWoo → Workflows and create a new workflow.
  2. Select Customer Birthday as the trigger.
  3. Choose whether the workflow runs before, on, or after the birthday.
  4. Add a Send Email action and write the message.
  5. Use {{ customer.birthday }} only when the birthday value is stored for that customer.
  6. Save, test with an internal account, and activate the workflow.

4. Add a birthday coupon

If the email includes an incentive, add a one-time coupon action or generate a unique coupon for each eligible customer. Set an explicit expiry date, usage limit, minimum spend, product or category restrictions, and whether the coupon can be combined with other offers. Make the expiry visible in the email rather than relying on fine print.

5. Use birthday dates in other AutomateWoo automations

AutomateWoo also provides Customer – Next Birthday Date and Customer – Last Birthday Date rules. These rules can qualify customers for birthday-month, win-back, or abandoned-cart workflows instead of sending only one annual message.

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Important AutomateWoo data limitation

AutomateWoo does not provide built-in importing of birthdays from another plugin or custom field. Moving existing dates requires a custom script. Before switching systems, map the source field, date format, customer identifier, consent status, and correction process, then have the migration checked on a staging site.

Send first-purchase anniversary emails with ShopMagic

For a “one year since your first completed purchase” message, ShopMagic’s Delayed Actions capability is a direct approach.

  1. Create an automation triggered by Order Completed.
  2. Configure a delayed action for 365 days.
  3. Add the anniversary email action and define any customer or order conditions.
  4. Include a coupon only if the offer remains valid for the customer segment and region.
  5. Test the automation with a completed test order and verify the scheduled action.

This method measures 365 days from the triggering completed order. It is not the same as a calendar-date anniversary and does not automatically use a separate birthday or profile date.

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Use Brevo for a CRM-style anniversary date

Brevo for WooCommerce lists an Anniversary date automation. Store the relevant date in the contact record, synchronize the contact with Brevo, and build an annual email or email series based on that field. This is suitable when the date belongs to a CRM profile—for example, a membership start date or customer-defined milestone—rather than being derived from an order.

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Confirm that the date is synchronized in the format Brevo expects and that contacts have the required marketing permission before activating the campaign.

Use MailPoet Premium for newsletter-first birthday campaigns

MailPoet supports recurring yearly birthday emails when the paid plan and Premium plugin are active. Create a Date custom field using the Year/month/day format, then populate it through a form, a WordPress profile, or CSV import.

  1. Create or verify the Date custom field in MailPoet.
  2. Collect or import dates with the required year/month/day structure.
  3. Create the birthday automation.
  4. Choose the offset before or after the stored date.
  5. Design the email, set the audience and consent conditions, and send a test.

Because MailPoet requires a paid Premium setup for this feature, include that recurring cost in the implementation decision.

Consider a coupon-centered birthday extension

Coupon Email System for WooCommerce focuses on birthday coupons. Its birthday trigger targets registered users whose saved birthday matches the current date, can add birthday fields, and uses a daily Action Scheduler job to send matching coupons.

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This approach is most appropriate when coupon issuance is the primary requirement. Verify that customers are registered, that the birthday field is populated, and that the daily scheduled task is running before launch.

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Design the email and offer

Birthday message

  • Use the customer’s name only if that field is reliably populated.
  • State the offer, eligibility, and exact expiry date.
  • Include a clear button to the relevant shop or category.
  • Explain how to update or remove the saved birthday.

Anniversary message

  • Name the milestone accurately: first purchase, membership start, or another stored date.
  • Avoid implying a date was calculated from an order when it came from a CRM field.
  • Show the redemption conditions for any coupon.
  • Provide a plain-text or accessible version of the message.

Consent, account, and privacy checks

  • AutomateWoo’s checkout and My Account birthday fields are shown to logged-in customers; guest checkout customers will not automatically have a persistent account birthday.
  • Collect only the precision you need. Month and day may be sufficient for a birthday campaign.
  • Tell customers why the date is collected, how long it is retained, and how to correct or delete it.
  • Separate transactional order notices from promotional birthday or anniversary offers where consent rules require it.
  • Limit access to date data in the WordPress administrator and document any synchronization to an email or CRM platform.

Pre-launch checklist

  1. Classify the event as a birthday, account anniversary, or first-order anniversary.
  2. Confirm the required paid plan, add-on, or extension.
  3. Define the date field, precision, consent wording, and correction path.
  4. Configure the trigger and timing offset.
  5. Write a branded email with a visible expiry date when a coupon is used.
  6. Use only personalization fields the selected system actually stores.
  7. Apply customer-value or purchase-history rules only where the platform supports them.
  8. Check import limitations and privacy obligations.
  9. Test delivery, links, time-zone behavior, and coupon restrictions.
  10. Monitor delivery and coupon redemption after activation.

Troubleshoot missed or duplicate messages

No birthday email was sent

  • Check that the customer has an account and a valid stored birthday.
  • Confirm the Birthdays add-on and workflow are active.
  • Review whether the workflow is configured to run before, on, or after the date you expected.
  • Verify WordPress scheduled tasks and email delivery rather than assuming the workflow failed.

A first-order anniversary is wrong

  • Check which completed order started the 365-day delay.
  • Confirm the order status actually met the Order Completed trigger.
  • Remember that a 365-day delay is elapsed time, not necessarily the same calendar date in every leap-year case.

Customers received duplicates

  • Look for overlapping birthday workflows or simultaneous AutomateWoo, MailPoet, Brevo, and coupon-extension campaigns.
  • Ensure each system has one owner for the same date and audience.
  • Check that a coupon is configured as one-time use and that retries cannot create a second message.

The Bottom Line

Use AutomateWoo Birthdays for the most direct WooCommerce birthday workflow, ShopMagic for a 365-day first-order anniversary, Brevo for CRM-held anniversary dates, and MailPoet Premium for newsletter-led birthday automation. Match the tool to the date source, confirm the paid requirements, and test consent, scheduling, and coupon rules before enabling the campaign.

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