What better way to tell customers that you care than to send them a beautiful customer appreciation gift? Your rivals might be trying to win over customers with stale thank you emails. You can now leave a deep impression.
The issue with thank-you gifts is finding out what to send. You can’t pick something that’s way too expensive, nor can you choose something that might be seen as worthless. You need to draw a thin line between price and practicality when choosing thank-you gift ideas.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- How to Use Gifts for Marketing
- How to Select Customer Appreciation Gifts
- 9 Thank-You Gift Ideas that Your Customers Will Love
How to Use Gifts for Marketing
While the specific purpose of a customer appreciation gift is to tell you to care, it has another aim too: to promote your online store. You surely want customers to feel appreciated and happy, however, it would additionally be nice if they were to suggest your store to their friends.
To utilize customer appreciation gifts as a marketing strategy, there are so many things you need to remember.
Explicit vs. secret gifts
Should you tell buyers about the gift or should you just send them as a surprise?
There are pros and cons to both approaches. Telling customers upfront might pursue them to purchase, particularly if they consider the gift as a “deal”. Simultaneously, it robs you of the customer happiness that comes with a surprise gift.
What approach you utilize will rely on what you desire to achieve with the gift. If your aim is to delight customers, increase word of mouth and build loyalty, Pick a surprise gift.
Maximize the impact of gifting
To benefit the most out of your customer appreciation gifts, there are a couple of things you should remember:
- As per the University of Miami study discovered “Customers purchase more when there is a “mystery” involved in the purchase”.
- Customers who get something free and unexpected are attracted to purchase more.
- As per an article in the Journal of Marketing, “Giving away a free gift creates instant word of mouth”
- Concentrate on gifting customers who are online on social media or have a history of sharing your products.
- Think about donating to charity on behalf of the customer rather than giving away a gift. Research recommends that charity donations work better than a practical gift, particularly when the original purchase is frivolous in nature.
How to Select Customer Appreciation Gifts
A customer appreciation gift is generally something physical, fruitful, and link with your business in some capacity. It has a basic purpose: to thank shoppers for their business. Regardless of whether the gift shows a “wow” or “eh” will rely on the quality of the gift.
There are so many rules you must follow when picking a customer appreciation gift:
- It ought to be useful
- A good gift is generally one that delivers some practical purpose. A useful gift will always remind the customer of your business every time they utilize it.
- It ought to have perceived value
- The gift ought to have perceived value. Even if it is cheap, it should fulfill a need or looks valuable to the customer.
- It should be easy to transport and store
- No customer wants to deal with an undesirable gift that requires too much storage space. Neither do you need to worry about the hassle of transporting a large gift? Always choose something that is small and easy to ship.
- It ought to be related to the business
- The most ideal gift is related to the business in some way so that it reminds the customer of you/your business. If you’re running a fashion store, choose a fashion accessory, not a book on macroeconomics.
- It ought to be harmless
- At Last, the gift shouldn’t be allergic, have sharp, dangerous edges, or pose a choking danger to children. Ask: can this gift create issues for anybody in my customer’s household? If your answer is “yes”, choose something else.
9 Thank-You Gift Ideas for Your Customers
Now that you have a list of rules for choosing gifts, here are a couple of ideas you can select from.
Give charitable gifts
Making a charitable donation on behalf of the shopper can work well as a gift idea, particularly if your customers are philanthropically-inclined and eco-conscious. Just ensure that the charity is well-appreciated and that there is enough proof of the donation.
Offer surprise upgrades
Win over customers by giving them a free upgrade to their current purchase. This works explicitly well if the upgrade is similar to however better than their existing purchase. Just make sure that you ask customers before making the upgrade — some may particularly need a lower-tier model.
Gift an experience
An experience — tickets to a local event, a spa package, and so on — is an incredible way to make yourself memorable. Make sure that the experience aligns with your customer profile and brand, i.e. don’t offer gift tickets to a metal concert if your customers are 60-year old women. Moreover, pick an experience that is simple to reach, doesn’t cost too much to affect your profitability, and has broad appeal.
Send a birthday gift
Sending customers gifts on their special occasions such as anniversaries and birthdays can let you win customer loyalty. It simply shows that you care enough to remember them.
Keep in mind that once you start sending birthday gifts, customers may expect them every year.
Feature customers on social media
Everyone needs their 15 minutes of fame, and your shoppers are the same. If you have a well-known social channel, featuring your customers or their projects can be a precious “gift”. This strategy works best if they interacted with you on social media before or the customer has uploaded a picture of your product. It shows them — and your social media audience — that you’re very well listening.
Offer a free consultation
Valuable advice can be a sort of gift too, specifically in industries known to be tough to approach. If you’re selling clothes, for example, you can offer a free consultation. If you’re selling fitness equipment, you can offer a workout routine and custom diet plan.
Create an exclusive group
How can you make your customers feel special? Easy: by creating an invite-only, exclusive group for your high-ranked customers. This can be something like a closed Facebook group. Offer the best discounts unavailable anywhere to show the exclusivity of the group.
Give away a free product from your catalog
A perpetual gifting favorite is to just give away a cheap however useful product from your product catalog. This product ought to be low cost but should have recognized value to the customer. Moreover, ensure that it is related to the original purchase, for instance: free socks with a pair of shoes.
Give away free swag
A key in gifting is to give away free swag — bags, t-shirts, notebooks, etc. Don’t add your logo on them. Doing so turns the swag from a gift to an overt promotion tool. Rather than choose something that shows your brand’s values or products but can be worn anywhere.
So there you have it — 9 fresh thank-you gift ideas you can utilize to market your online store. Use them smartly as gift costs can add up quickly. Similarly, think about the long-term impact of a gift on your future sales.
Have you tried out any gifts ideas so far? If yes, which one worked for you? Share with us.
