Birthday & Anniversary Automations in AcelleMail — Date-Triggered Sends

Why date-based automations earn their spot#

Birthday and anniversary emails are reliably the highest-converting transactional sends most senders run — 5-10× the click-through rate of standard newsletters. They're personal, they're expected, they coincide with a high-affinity moment.

The setup is a one-time configuration; once it's running, every subscriber whose date matches fires the email automatically. No manual scheduling.

What you need on the list#

Before building the automation, the list must have the date field you want to trigger on. Three common patterns:

For birthday, add a Date field via Audience → [list] → Fields → New field → name birthday, type Date, optional.

To collect the value on signup, edit the signup form (Audience → [list] → Signup forms → [form] → Edit) and add the birthday field with the date picker. Keep it optional — required birthday on signup tanks conversion.

For existing subscribers with no birthday, fill via import or via your account UI — you'll only fire emails for subscribers where the field is non-empty.

Build the birthday automation#

Open the visual automation builder#

In AcelleMail's left sidebar, click Automation → Automations. The index lists every automation in this account with its current state:

Click New automation in the top-right toolbar. The trigger picker opens:

For birthday emails:

1. Trigger: Date relative in the trigger picker
2. Date field: birthday
3. Schedule: On the date (offset = 0 days) — fires at midnight in subscriber's timezone if known, or in the campaign's default timezone
4. Repeat: Yearly — re-fires every year on the same month/day

The trigger picker shows the date-relative option:

After the trigger, drop in the email step:

• Subject: Happy birthday, {{ subscriber.first_name | default('friend') }}!
• Body: a short personal note + a discount code or gift

The configured flow:

Save. Going forward, every day at midnight AcelleMail evaluates every subscriber's birthday field; matches fire the email.

Build the anniversary automation#

Same pattern, different field:

1. Trigger: Date relative
2. Date field: created_at (the built-in signup-date)
3. Schedule: On the date + Yearly
4. Email step: thank-you for being-a-subscriber-N-years note

Subject: It's been a year, {{ subscriber.first_name | default('friend') }} — thank you 🎉
Body: One year ago today you joined us. As a thank-you, here's a code for 20% off your next order: ANNIV20.

For "two years since signup", run a second automation with offset = -730 days from created_at + 1095 = checks "exactly 3 years ago". (Or use the created_at Date-relative trigger and a condition WHERE year_diff(created_at, now()) == 2.)

Build the renewal-reminder automation#

For subscription / contract renewals, fire 30 days before expiry:

1. Trigger: Date relative
2. Date field: subscription_expires_at
3. Schedule: Before the date, offset = 30 days
4. Repeat: One-time per subscriber per renewal cycle
5. Email step: "Your subscription renews in 30 days — confirm payment method"

Then a 7-day reminder:

1. Trigger: Date relative
2. Field: subscription_expires_at
3. Schedule: Before, offset 7 days
4. Email: "Your subscription renews next week"

And a 1-day final notice:

1. Trigger: Date relative
2. Field: subscription_expires_at
3. Schedule: Before, offset 1 day
4. Email: "Tomorrow: your subscription renews automatically"

Common UI signals + fixes#

When to skip the birthday automation#

If your industry doesn't fit (B2B SaaS where birthday feels invasive, regulated industries where personalization triggers compliance review), skip it. The "year-since-signup" anniversary is a safer alternative that earns most of the engagement without the personal-data ick factor.

Automation 1: trigger 09:00 server time; condition timezone = 'America/Los_Angeles'
Automation 2: trigger 10:00 server time; condition timezone = 'America/Denver'
Automation 3: trigger 11:00 server time; condition timezone = 'America/Chicago'
Automation 4: trigger 12:00 server time; condition timezone = 'America/New_York'
Automation 5: trigger 13:00 server time; condition timezone = 'America/Halifax'
...

Stripe webhook 'invoice.upcoming' fires 30 days before renewal
→ your backend receives the webhook
→ calls AcelleMail API: trigger a "renewal_reminder_30d" custom event
→ AcelleMail automation triggered by event = renewal_reminder_30d sends the email

# CSV file: email,birthday (YYYY-MM-DD)
while IFS=, read email bday; do
  curl -X PATCH "https://acellemail.com/api/v1/subscribers" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACELLE_TOKEN" \
    -d "{
      \"email\": \"$email\",
      \"list_uid\": \"$ACELLE_LIST_UID\",
      \"fields\": {\"birthday\": \"$bday\"}
    }"
done < birthdays.csv

Date relative on birthday → email "Happy birthday, here's 20% off"
  Wait 3 days
  Condition: did NOT use discount code
    → email "Your birthday discount expires in 24h"

Related articles#

• Building a welcome email series in AcelleMail
• Advanced automation triggers and conditions
• Post-purchase follow-up automation
• Re-engagement campaigns — win back inactive subscribers