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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">What better way to&nbsp;show customers that you care than to&nbsp;send them a&nbsp;customer appreciation gift? Your competitors might try to&nbsp;win over customers with stale “thank you” emails. You, on&nbsp;the&nbsp;other hand, can leave a&nbsp;deep impression.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">The trouble with thank-you gifts is figuring out what to send. You can’t choose something that’s too expensive, nor can you pick something that might be seen as worthless. You have to walk a thin line between price and practicality when selecting thank-you gift ideas.</p>
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<h2 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-extra-large-font-size">How to&nbsp;Use Gifts for&nbsp;Marketing</h2>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">While the&nbsp;explicit purpose of&nbsp;a&nbsp;customer appreciation gift is&nbsp;to&nbsp;show you care, it&nbsp;has another motive as&nbsp;well: to&nbsp;market your online store. You certainly want customers to&nbsp;feel happy and&nbsp;appreciated, but it&nbsp;would also be&nbsp;nice if&nbsp;they were to&nbsp;recommend your store to&nbsp;their friends.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">To&nbsp;use customer appreciation gifts as&nbsp;a&nbsp;marketing tactic, there are a&nbsp;number of&nbsp;things you need to&nbsp;keep in&nbsp;mind.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-extra-large-font-size">Gifts vs. discounts</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Using discounts and&nbsp;offers to&nbsp;maximize sales is&nbsp;old hat in&nbsp;e-commerce.&nbsp;The question to&nbsp;ask is: how does a&nbsp;discount compare against a&nbsp;gift in&nbsp;terms of&nbsp;marketing impact?</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">To&nbsp;answer this question, you’ll have to&nbsp;consider two things:</p>
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<ul class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><li><strong>How often you offer discounts:</strong>&nbsp;The perceived value of&nbsp;a&nbsp;discount depends on&nbsp;how frequently you offer it. If&nbsp;you have frequent sales and&nbsp;offers, customers might not be&nbsp;too enthusiastic about yet another discount, no&nbsp;matter how steep.</li><li><strong>Discount value and&nbsp;conditions:</strong>&nbsp;A&nbsp;steep discount with liberal terms might end up&nbsp;costing you more than a&nbsp;free gift. On&nbsp;the&nbsp;other hand, if&nbsp;the&nbsp;discount is&nbsp;too low with strict terms, customers might not be&nbsp;interested.</li></ul>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Interestingly, research in consumer psychology indicates that people prefer to get more rather than spend less. A free gift might have higher perceived value since it gives them more.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Of&nbsp;course, this only applies if&nbsp;you’re actually telling customers that you’re giving them a&nbsp;gift. This brings us&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;next point.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-extra-large-font-size">Explicit vs. secret gifts</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Should you tell customers about the&nbsp;gift or&nbsp;should you just send them a&nbsp;surprise?</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">There are pros and cons to each approach. Telling customers upfront might convince them to make a purchase, especially if they see the gift as a “deal”. At the same time, it robs you of the customer delight that comes with a surprise gift.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">What approach you use will depend on&nbsp;what you hope to&nbsp;achieve with the&nbsp;gift. If&nbsp;your goal is&nbsp;to&nbsp;delight customers, build loyalty, and&nbsp;increase word of&nbsp;mouth (including social media), choose a&nbsp;surprise gift.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">On&nbsp;the&nbsp;other hand, if&nbsp;you want to&nbsp;use gifts as&nbsp;an&nbsp;incentive to&nbsp;buy more, tell customers about it&nbsp;upfront.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-extra-large-font-size">Gifting to&nbsp;some vs. gifting to&nbsp;all customers</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Another dilemma is&nbsp;figuring out who to&nbsp;gift&nbsp;— some customers or&nbsp;all of&nbsp;them?</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Gifting everyone has the&nbsp;obvious cost disadvantage. You might also not realize many benefits from gifting people who are inactive on&nbsp;social media or&nbsp;unlikely to&nbsp;recommend you to&nbsp;friends.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">At the same time, gifting only a few customers might make them feel special — at the cost of other customers. Customer B might wonder why Customer A got a gift and he didn’t. This can create resentment for your brand — the exact opposite purpose of gifting.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-extra-large-font-size">Maximize the&nbsp;impact of&nbsp;gifting</h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">To&nbsp;get the&nbsp;most out of&nbsp;your customer appreciation gifts, there are a&nbsp;few things you should keep in&nbsp;mind:</p>
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<ul class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><li>Customers buy more when there is a “mystery” involved in the purchase, as one University of Miami study discovered. Keeping the gift a secret can help in this regard.</li><li>Customers who receive something free and unexpected are driven to shop more, according to one study. Thus, it might be worth it to lose money upfront on a sale by giving a gift. You can make up for it with repeat purchases.</li><li>Giving away a freebie creates immediate word of mouth, according to an article in the Journal of Marketing. That is especially true if the gift is the first experience the customer has with your brand. Thus, besides your top customers, you can also target first-time buyers when giving away gifts to create a positive first impression.</li><li>Focus on gifting customers who are active on social media or have a history of sharing your stuff. Prompt them — gently — to upload pictures with their gifts on their favorite social network.</li><li>Consider donating to charity on behalf of the customer instead of giving away a gift. Research suggests that charity donations work better than a practical gift, especially when the original purchase is frivolous in nature.</li></ul>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">These are just some tactics to&nbsp;maximize the&nbsp;impact of&nbsp;your gifting. Your next challenge is&nbsp;to&nbsp;select the&nbsp;right gift. We’ll share some rules for&nbsp;gift selection below.</p>
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<h2 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-extra-large-font-size">How to&nbsp;Select Customer Appreciation Gifts</h2>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">A&nbsp;customer appreciation gift is&nbsp;usually something physical, useful, and&nbsp;related to&nbsp;your business in&nbsp;some capacity. It&nbsp;has a&nbsp;simple purpose: to&nbsp;thank customers for&nbsp;their business. Whether the&nbsp;gift elicits a&nbsp;“wow” or&nbsp;“eh” will depend on&nbsp;the&nbsp;quality of&nbsp;the&nbsp;gift.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">There are a&nbsp;number of&nbsp;rules you must follow when selecting a&nbsp;customer appreciation gift:</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>It&nbsp;should have perceived value:</strong>&nbsp;Above everything else, the&nbsp;gift must have perceived value. Even if&nbsp;it&nbsp;is&nbsp;cheap, it&nbsp;must fulfill a&nbsp;need or&nbsp;appear valuable to&nbsp;the&nbsp;customer.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>It&nbsp;should be&nbsp;useful:</strong>&nbsp;A&nbsp;good gift is&nbsp;usually one that serves some practical purpose. Souvenirs and&nbsp;trinkets that only take up&nbsp;space are easily forgotten. A&nbsp;useful gift will remind the&nbsp;customer of&nbsp;your business every time they use it.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>It&nbsp;should be&nbsp;easy to&nbsp;store and&nbsp;transport:</strong>&nbsp;No&nbsp;customer wants to&nbsp;deal with an&nbsp;unwanted gift that takes up&nbsp;too much storage space. Neither do&nbsp;you want to&nbsp;worry about the&nbsp;hassle of&nbsp;transporting a&nbsp;large gift. Always pick something that is&nbsp;small and&nbsp;easy to&nbsp;transport.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>It&nbsp;should be&nbsp;durable and&nbsp;lasting:</strong>&nbsp;A&nbsp;gift that is&nbsp;perishable or&nbsp;easy to&nbsp;destroy will quickly lose its value. Avoid fragile items or&nbsp;anything that might spoil over a&nbsp;couple of&nbsp;weeks.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>It&nbsp;should be&nbsp;related to&nbsp;the&nbsp;business:</strong>&nbsp;An&nbsp;ideal gift is&nbsp;related to&nbsp;the&nbsp;business in&nbsp;some way so&nbsp;that it&nbsp;reminds the&nbsp;customer of&nbsp;you. If&nbsp;you run a&nbsp;fashion store, select a&nbsp;fashion accessory, not a&nbsp;book on&nbsp;macroeconomics.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>It should be harmless:</strong> Lastly, the gift shouldn’t trigger allergies, have dangerous, sharp edges, or pose a choking hazard to children. Ask: can this gift cause problems for anyone in my customer’s household (especially old people and children)? If the answer is “yes”, pick something else.</p>
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<h2 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-extra-large-font-size">19&nbsp;Thank-You&nbsp;Gift Ideas for&nbsp;Your Customers</h2>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Now that you have a&nbsp;list of&nbsp;rules for&nbsp;selecting gifts, here are a&nbsp;few ideas you can choose from.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>1. Write personalized handwritten notes</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">A popular and extremely affordable gifting option is to simply send a personalized handwritten note to your customers. Make the message unique, personalized, and most importantly, authentic. Use pen and paper, not a printed message. It costs next to nothing except for your time.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>2. Send flowers</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Although perishable, flowers are a&nbsp;universally liked gift item. They’re also mostly brand agnostic, i.e. you don’t have to&nbsp;worry whether they align with your brand. Plus, the&nbsp;visual spectacle of&nbsp;a&nbsp;bunch of&nbsp;free flowers makes for&nbsp;a&nbsp;good photo opportunity and&nbsp;the&nbsp;social shares that go&nbsp;with it. Giving flowers to&nbsp;every customer is&nbsp;expensive, but if&nbsp;you pick the&nbsp;recipients (the most loyal customers, those with huge follower base on&nbsp;social media) and&nbsp;the&nbsp;occasion (birthday, Women’s Day) flowers can do&nbsp;magic.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">The only time flowers won’t work is&nbsp;if&nbsp;you’re targeting young, single male customer groups who usually don’t have an&nbsp;affinity for&nbsp;them. Remember to&nbsp;pick&nbsp;non-allergic&nbsp;flowers for&nbsp;your gifts.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>3. Offer books</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Books might not make an&nbsp;obvious choice for&nbsp;a&nbsp;gift, but for&nbsp;the&nbsp;right customer group, they can be&nbsp;a&nbsp;fantastic option. A&nbsp;relevant book not only shows that you understand the&nbsp;customer, but it&nbsp;will also stick with them for&nbsp;a&nbsp;long time, reminding them of&nbsp;your brand.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Further, books have a&nbsp;brand of&nbsp;their own. Sending a&nbsp;non-fiction&nbsp;book that pioneers new ideas can get customers to&nbsp;think of&nbsp;your brand as&nbsp;“innovative” as&nbsp;well. For best results, send&nbsp;non-fiction&nbsp;and&nbsp;non-controversial&nbsp;books.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>4. Give charitable gifts</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Making a charitable donation on behalf of the customer can work well as a gift idea, especially if your customers are eco-conscious and philanthropically-inclined. Just make sure that the charity is well-recognized, and that there is sufficient proof of the donation.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>5. Offer surprise upgrades</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Win over customers by&nbsp;offering them a&nbsp;free upgrade to&nbsp;their existing purchase. This works particularly well if&nbsp;the&nbsp;upgrade is&nbsp;similar to&nbsp;but better than their current purchase. Just ensure that you ask customers before making the&nbsp;upgrade&nbsp;— some might specifically want a&nbsp;lower-tier&nbsp;model.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>6. Help customers learn something</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">One of&nbsp;the&nbsp;best gifts you can give customers is&nbsp;the&nbsp;gift of&nbsp;learning. Perhaps you can put together a&nbsp;series of&nbsp;lessons to&nbsp;help them make the&nbsp;most of&nbsp;the&nbsp;purchase (such as&nbsp;a&nbsp;guitar store gifting free music lesson CDs). Or&nbsp;perhaps you can offer them courses on&nbsp;topics that complement the&nbsp;purchase (such as&nbsp;a&nbsp;handicrafts store offering a&nbsp;free pottery class).</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>7. Gift an experience</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">An&nbsp;experience&nbsp;— a&nbsp;spa package, tickets to&nbsp;a&nbsp;local event, etc.&nbsp;— is&nbsp;a&nbsp;great way to&nbsp;make yourself memorable. Ensure that the&nbsp;experience aligns with your brand and&nbsp;customer profile, i.e. don’t gift tickets to&nbsp;a&nbsp;metal concert if&nbsp;your customers are&nbsp;50-year&nbsp;old women. Also, pick an&nbsp;experience that is&nbsp;easy to&nbsp;reach, has broad appeal, and&nbsp;doesn’t cost too much to&nbsp;dent your profitability.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>8. Send a birthday gift</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Sending customers gifts on&nbsp;special occasions such as&nbsp;birthdays and&nbsp;anniversaries can help you win customer loyalty. It&nbsp;shows that you care enough to&nbsp;remember them.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Remember that once you start sending birthday gifts, customers might come to&nbsp;expect them every year. So&nbsp;pick something that is&nbsp;affordable enough for&nbsp;repeat gifting. A&nbsp;simple handwritten card works well enough for&nbsp;most customers.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>9. Offer a treat</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Cookies, chocolates, candy&nbsp;— sweet, customizable, and&nbsp;widely-loved&nbsp;treats make for&nbsp;a&nbsp;fantastic customer appreciation gift. Most customers will appreciate a&nbsp;tin of&nbsp;freshly baked cookies along with their purchase. You can even customize the&nbsp;packaging to&nbsp;include a&nbsp;personalized message or&nbsp;your brand logo.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">The only thing you have to&nbsp;look out for&nbsp;is&nbsp;food allergies. Try to&nbsp;avoid any&nbsp;treat with common allergens such as&nbsp;peanuts.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>10. Feature customers on social media</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame, and your customers are no different. If you have a popular social channel, featuring your customers or their projects can be an unusual “gift”. This tactic works best if the customer has uploaded a picture of your product or interacted with you on social media before. It tells them — and your social media audience — that you’re listening.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>11. Share local products</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Gifting customers local products (such as&nbsp;a&nbsp;locally sourced food item) works wonderfully well for&nbsp;two reasons:</p>
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<ul class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><li>It&nbsp;portrays your business as&nbsp;a&nbsp;“friend” to&nbsp;other local small businesses, thus improving your brand perception.</li><li>It&nbsp;shows customers that you care enough about them to&nbsp;personalize the&nbsp;gift as&nbsp;per their location.</li></ul>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Partner up&nbsp;with a&nbsp;local business to&nbsp;offer these products. Your customers will appreciate them, as&nbsp;will local businesses.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>12. Create an exclusive group</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">How can you make your customers feel special? Simple: by&nbsp;creating an&nbsp;exclusive,&nbsp;invite-only&nbsp;group for&nbsp;your top customers. This can be&nbsp;something as&nbsp;simple as&nbsp;a&nbsp;closed Facebook group. Offer deep discounts unavailable elsewhere to&nbsp;emphasize the&nbsp;exclusivity of&nbsp;the&nbsp;group.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>13. Offer a free consultation</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Valuable advice can be&nbsp;a&nbsp;type of&nbsp;gift as&nbsp;well, especially in&nbsp;industries known to&nbsp;be&nbsp;difficult to&nbsp;approach. If&nbsp;you sell clothes, for&nbsp;instance, you can offer a&nbsp;freestyle consultation. If&nbsp;you sell fitness equipment, you can offer a&nbsp;custom diet plan and&nbsp;workout routine.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>14. Send coupons to local businesses</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Sending customers coupons to&nbsp;local businesses has the&nbsp;same effect as&nbsp;gifting local products. It&nbsp;shows customers that you care about small businesses. It&nbsp;also demonstrates that you’re willing to&nbsp;personalize gifts for&nbsp;each customer.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Find a local business that can offer something related (but not competitive) to your brand. Work out a deal with them where your customers can get a discount on future purchases.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>15. Give away a free product from your catalog</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">A perennial gifting favorite is to simply give away a cheap but useful product from your product catalog. This product should be low cost yet must have perceived value to the customer. Also make sure that it is related to the original purchase, example: free socks with a pair of shoes.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>16. Throw a party for special customers</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Another way to&nbsp;make customers feel special is&nbsp;to&nbsp;throw a&nbsp;party or&nbsp;host a&nbsp;meetup. This works best if&nbsp;you have a&nbsp;lot of&nbsp;customers in&nbsp;the&nbsp;same location.&nbsp;Warm-up&nbsp;customers to&nbsp;the&nbsp;idea of&nbsp;a&nbsp;party by&nbsp;inviting them to&nbsp;an&nbsp;exclusive group first (such as&nbsp;a&nbsp;Facebook first). Once they’ve all gotten to&nbsp;know each other a&nbsp;bit, invite them out to&nbsp;a&nbsp;party.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">It&nbsp;might be&nbsp;expensive, but it&nbsp;will be&nbsp;an&nbsp;experience your customers won’t forget. Plus, all the&nbsp;social media updates from it&nbsp;will do&nbsp;wonders for&nbsp;your word of&nbsp;mouth.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>17. Gift a low-maintenance potted plant</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">A&nbsp;small potted plant makes for&nbsp;a&nbsp;great gift. Something low maintenance and&nbsp;hardy&nbsp;—&nbsp;such as&nbsp;a&nbsp;cactus&nbsp;— not only looks good but also emphasizes your “green” credentials. If&nbsp;your customers are&nbsp;eco-conscious,&nbsp;this can be&nbsp;an&nbsp;affordable and&nbsp;memorable gift to&nbsp;send.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Alternatively, send customers plant seeds or&nbsp;even small DIY growing kits (&nbsp;with seeds, soil, and&nbsp;pot).</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>18. Give away free swag</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">A staple in gifting is to give away free swag — t-shirts, bags, notebooks, etc. Try not to include your logo on them. Doing so turns the swag from a gift to an overt marketing tool. Instead, pick something that reflects your brand’s values or products yet can be worn publicly.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>19. Make one customer feel special</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Instead of&nbsp;sending an&nbsp;ordinary gift to&nbsp;every customer, you can get a&nbsp;lot of&nbsp;social media mileage out of&nbsp;making a&nbsp;single customer feel truly special. Pick a&nbsp;customer who has been exceptionally loyal to&nbsp;your brand, then make a&nbsp;gesture that goes far beyond a&nbsp;standard “gift”.</p>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">For example, Honda found out that one of its customers was about to hit 1 million miles in one of its cars. To make the customer feel special about this major milestone, Honda gave him a free new car and made a video about it.</p>
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<p>To read the full article, <a href="https://www.ecwid.com/blog/19-customer-appreciation-gift-ideas-to-thank-your-customers.html">click here.</a></p>
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