In this article:
Overview
The Birthday rule gives a customer points or a reward on their birthday, every year, without you doing anything.
Customers enter their own birthday in the Earn points section of your loyalty page. From then on we award the birthday activity each year on that date.
Setting up the birthday rule
Go to Program, then Rules. Either click Create rule and choose Birthday, or open your existing Happy Birthday rule and click Edit.
Under Customer gets, choose Points or Reward.
Set the value. If you use tiers, you can set a different value, or a different reward, for each tier.
Click Create or Update in the top right.
Give enough points for a customer to redeem at least your lowest-value reward, so the birthday is a reason to come back and buy rather than a small top-up.
If you choose Reward instead, you pick from your existing rewards.
Choosing a birthday reward
Which rewards you can use
The birthday rule can only hand out rewards that issue a discount code. That covers:
Discount vouchers, money or percentage off
Custom rewards that give out a code you have uploaded
These cannot be used on the birthday rule, and will not appear in the reward list:
Gift cards
Seamless free product
If the reward you want is not in the list, this is why. If your rewards list is empty here, you have no active voucher reward to offer yet.
To give a free product on a birthday, use the Birthday Bundle AI campaign instead. It can award a seamless free product and double points during a customer's birthday window.
Creating a birthday-specific reward
You can point the rule at a reward you already offer. Create a separate one when you want different settings for the birthday gift, such as its own expiry or minimum spend, or when you do not want it redeemable for points in your main program.
Create a new reward as usual.
On the Availability card, click Manage.
Under Reward distribution, choose Trigger-based distribution only, then click Done.
Save the reward. It is now hidden from the Available rewards section of your loyalty page, so no one can redeem it with points, but you can still select it on the birthday rule.
Rename birthday rewards so they are easy to tell apart, for you and your customers. "$10 off (Birthday gift)" beats a second reward called "$10 off".
Settings worth changing on a birthday reward
Reward expiry creates urgency, by giving the customer a set window after their birthday to use the gift.
Minimum spend protects your margin and lifts average order value, by requiring a basket of a certain size before the gift applies.
Collecting birthdays without the year
You can collect the day and month only, and leave the birth year out. That reduces the personal data you hold while the birthday rule keeps working exactly as before.
Go to Program settings, then Data and privacy, and set Customer birthday collection to either Day, month, and year or Day and month only.
Where an integration needs a complete date, we send a placeholder year of 9996, so webhooks, imports and tools such as Klaviyo keep working, and leap-year birthdays are still handled.
FAQ
When do customers receive their birthday points or reward?
Within the hour after their birthday begins in your store's time zone. The birthday job runs once an hour.
My customer has a birthday this year but did not get anything. Why?
A customer only earns the birthday activity if their birthday falls on or after the date they joined your loyalty program. Someone who joined in June will not get anything for a birthday in March that year, because it had already passed. They receive it the following March.
Guest shoppers do not earn birthday points either, as they are not enrolled in your program.
Can a customer change their birthday?
Not themselves, which protects you from someone entering a new birthday to claim the gift again. Your team changes it for them: go to Customers, open the customer, then Actions, then Change birthday.
If a customer's birthday is changed, when do they receive their points or reward?
We award the birthday activity once per calendar year. If they have already received it this year, changing the date does not give it to them again until next year.
A customer receives birthday points in June 2026 and changes their birthday to August. Their next birthday activity is August 2027.
Can a customer receive their points on the day they enter their birthday?
Not through the birthday rule, because it only fires on the date itself. On Shopify you can build this with a Shopify metafield and a Shopify Flow. Contact support@loyaltylion.com if you would like help setting it up.
When does the birthday rule show as completed?
On the customer's birthday, not on the day they entered it, because that is when the activity is awarded. Your points earned and activities completed charts follow the same date.
If a customer enters their birthday while creating their store account, do they get the points?
No. We only award the birthday activity for a birthday entered on your loyalty page, or one we have imported for you. See birthdays import.
Do customers have to enter their year of birth?
That is your choice, set under Customer birthday collection. The rule works the same either way.
Which birthday dates are accepted?
Any date from 1900 up to today. A date in the future, or before 1900, is rejected and we ask the customer to enter a valid one.