Last night Tracy got a free bottle of top shelf vodka at Sub Zero Vodka Bar in the Central West End because it was her birthday and she's in the Sub Zero Vodka Club. This club is free and easy to join. It's just an opt-in loyalty program … with one hell of an incentive and birthday reward.

Sub Zero is a nice bar with a huge selection of vodka from around the world. It's a local small business that has made its mark. It's been around for a long time and usually doesn't spark water cooler chatter. Yet this morning a dozen co-workers stopped multi-tasking and half-listening and joined the conversation when Tracy mentioned her free birthday bottle.

"Seriously?"

"Did you just say they gave you the whole bottle? Not just a free drink?"

"I'm going to sign up."

"I just missed this. My birthday was last month."

"I can't believe they gave you a good bottle. I wonder what that must cost them?"

"This is brilliant. We've been talking about it for ten minutes."

Even savvy 1:1 specialists have wow reactions to an impactful premium and a personalized offer triggered by a birth date. Birthday programs are highly responsive because your birthday is a magic number - it's special, relevant and engaging. That's why recognizing and rewarding customers on their birthday is a tried-and-true tactic. But if you make it worth talking about you can turn your CRM program into a brand builder with increased word-of-mouth, recommendations and awareness. So before you skimp on "Happy Birthday" to focus on revenue drivers, take a moment to think about what really drives revenue. After all, it's better to enjoy your Net Promoter score straight up than to have your brand loyalty on the rocks.

Cheers.