Recognising a member's birthday or a significant moment in their membership makes them feel valued and keeps your club front of mind. Smart Workflows lets you automate these personal touches so no member gets missed. This article uses the Birthday Greeting template as a worked example. If you want to mark other milestones, such as membership anniversaries or visit targets, you can build a custom workflow from scratch using the same editor. See Smart Workflows: getting started with automation for a full walkthrough.
Before you start
📋 Note: This article covers setting up the Birthday Greeting workflow specifically. For a general introduction to Smart Workflows, including how to navigate to them and how templates work, see Smart Workflows: getting started with automation.
How to set up the Birthday Greeting workflow
Click the burger menu in the top left-hand corner.
Click Communication.
On the left-hand side under Navigate, click Smart Workflows.
Click Add New Workflow in the top right.
In the template library, scroll to the Engagement section and select Birthday Greeting.
You will see the full workflow structure. The trigger is set to Member's birthday, meaning the workflow fires automatically on the member's birthday each year.
Naming your workflow
On the right-hand side of the workflow editor, you can update the Name and add an optional Description to help you identify the workflow on your Smart Workflows page.
What the workflow does
The Birthday Greeting template includes one step:
Send message: Happy Birthday, [FirstName]!: a personalised birthday message sent to the member on their birthday.
Once the message has been sent, the workflow ends.
Customising the workflow
Editing the message
To edit the message, hover over it and click the pencil icon. This opens the Send Message panel where you can:
Choose when the message sends: Immediately (as soon as the workflow reaches this step) or After a delay (add a wait before the message goes out).
Update the Subject and Message body to suit your club's tone.
Personalise the message using the Insert personalisation options below the message body: First name, Membership number, Title, or additional fields via the More dropdown.
Choose the Channel: Smart (ClubRight automatically picks the best channel for each member), Email, SMS, or Push.
Set the Consent type required: Email Marketing or SMS Marketing.
Adding steps
The Birthday Greeting template starts with a single message, but you can extend it. Click Add step below the existing step to add further messages, wait times, or tasks, for example a follow-up offer a few days after the birthday.
Deleting a step
To remove a step from the workflow, hover over it and click the delete icon (bin) next to the pencil. This permanently removes the step from the workflow.
Re-enrollment
⚠️ Important: Re-enrollment must be enabled for this workflow, otherwise the birthday message will only be sent once and will not fire again in subsequent years. Enable Allow members to re-enter this workflow in the panel on the right-hand side before activating.
Before you activate: Ready to go live?
The Ready to go live? panel on the right-hand side shows three checks: trigger chosen, steps added, and every message has a channel. All three must show a green tick before you click Activate. If any check is incomplete, review the relevant step before proceeding.
Activating the workflow
When you are happy with the workflow, click Save to keep it as a draft, or Activate in the top right to make it live.
Setting up workflows for other milestones
The Birthday Greeting template is one example of a milestone workflow. To mark other member moments, such as a membership anniversary or reaching a visit target, you can build a custom workflow using the Blank workflow option in the template library. Choose the trigger that matches the milestone you want to recognise, then build your steps from there. See Smart Workflows: getting started with automation for a full guide to building workflows from scratch.
💡 Helpful tip: Keep birthday messages short and warm. A single, well-written message feels more personal than a long sequence. You can always add a small incentive, such as a complimentary class or a discount, to make the moment feel special.