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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&nbsp;thank-you&nbsp;gifts is&nbsp;figuring out what to&nbsp;send. You can’t choose something that’s too expensive, nor can you pick something that might be&nbsp;seen as&nbsp;worthless. You have to&nbsp;walk a&nbsp;thin line between price and&nbsp;practicality when selecting&nbsp;thank-you&nbsp;gift ideas.</p>
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<h2 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-extra-large-font-size">How to Use Gifts for 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&nbsp;consumer psychology indicates that&nbsp;people prefer to&nbsp;get more rather than spend less. A&nbsp;free gift might have higher perceived value since it&nbsp;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&nbsp;cons to&nbsp;each approach. Telling customers upfront might convince them to&nbsp;make a&nbsp;purchase, especially if&nbsp;they see the&nbsp;gift as&nbsp;a&nbsp;“deal”. At&nbsp;the&nbsp;same time, it&nbsp;robs you of&nbsp;the&nbsp;customer delight that comes with a&nbsp;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&nbsp;the&nbsp;same time, gifting only a&nbsp;few customers might make them feel special&nbsp;— at&nbsp;the&nbsp;cost of&nbsp;other customers. Customer B&nbsp;might wonder why Customer A&nbsp;got a&nbsp;gift and&nbsp;he&nbsp;didn’t. This can create resentment for&nbsp;your brand&nbsp;— the&nbsp;exact opposite purpose of&nbsp;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&nbsp;a&nbsp;“mystery” involved in&nbsp;the&nbsp;purchase, as&nbsp;one&nbsp;University of&nbsp;Miami study&nbsp;discovered. Keeping the&nbsp;gift a&nbsp;secret can help in&nbsp;this regard.</li><li>Customers who receive something free and&nbsp;unexpected are driven to&nbsp;shop more, according to&nbsp;one study. Thus, it&nbsp;might be&nbsp;worth it&nbsp;to&nbsp;lose money upfront on&nbsp;a&nbsp;sale by&nbsp;giving a&nbsp;gift. You can make up&nbsp;for&nbsp;it&nbsp;with repeat purchases.</li><li>Giving away a&nbsp;freebie creates immediate word of&nbsp;mouth, according to&nbsp;an&nbsp;article in&nbsp;the&nbsp;Journal of&nbsp;Marketing. That is&nbsp;especially true if&nbsp;the&nbsp;gift is&nbsp;the&nbsp;first experience the&nbsp;customer has with your brand. Thus, besides your top customers, you can also target&nbsp;first-time&nbsp;buyers when giving away gifts to&nbsp;create a&nbsp;positive first impression.</li><li>Focus on&nbsp;gifting customers who are active on&nbsp;social media or&nbsp;have a&nbsp;history of&nbsp;sharing your stuff. Prompt them&nbsp;— gently&nbsp;— to&nbsp;upload pictures with their gifts on&nbsp;their favorite social network.</li><li>Consider donating to&nbsp;charity on&nbsp;behalf of&nbsp;the&nbsp;customer instead of&nbsp;giving away a&nbsp;gift.&nbsp;Research&nbsp;suggests that charity donations work better than a&nbsp;practical gift, especially when the&nbsp;original purchase is&nbsp;frivolous in&nbsp;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 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&nbsp;should be&nbsp;harmless:</strong>&nbsp;Lastly, the&nbsp;gift shouldn’t trigger allergies, have dangerous, sharp edges, or&nbsp;pose a&nbsp;choking hazard to&nbsp;children. Ask: can this gift cause problems for&nbsp;anyone in&nbsp;my&nbsp;customer’s household (especially old people and&nbsp;children)? If&nbsp;the&nbsp;answer is&nbsp;“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.&nbsp;Write personalized handwritten notes</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">A&nbsp;popular and&nbsp;extremely affordable gifting option is&nbsp;to&nbsp;simply send a&nbsp;personalized handwritten note to&nbsp;your customers. Make the&nbsp;message unique, personalized, and&nbsp;most importantly, authentic. Use pen and&nbsp;paper, not a&nbsp;printed message. It&nbsp;costs next to&nbsp;nothing except for&nbsp;your time.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>2.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;Give charitable gifts</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Making a&nbsp;charitable donation on&nbsp;behalf of&nbsp;the&nbsp;customer can work well as&nbsp;a&nbsp;gift idea, especially if&nbsp;your customers are&nbsp;eco-conscious&nbsp;and&nbsp;philanthropically-inclined.&nbsp;Just make sure that the&nbsp;charity is&nbsp;well-recognized,&nbsp;and&nbsp;that there is&nbsp;sufficient proof of&nbsp;the&nbsp;donation.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>5.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;Gift an&nbsp;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.&nbsp;Send a&nbsp;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.&nbsp;Offer a&nbsp;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&nbsp;social media</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">Everyone wants their 15&nbsp;minutes of&nbsp;fame, and&nbsp;your customers are no&nbsp;different. If&nbsp;you have a&nbsp;popular social channel, featuring your customers or&nbsp;their projects can be&nbsp;an&nbsp;unusual “gift”. This tactic works best if&nbsp;the&nbsp;customer has uploaded a&nbsp;picture of&nbsp;your product or&nbsp;interacted with you on&nbsp;social media before. It&nbsp;tells them&nbsp;— and&nbsp;your social media audience&nbsp;— 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&nbsp;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&nbsp;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&nbsp;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&nbsp;local business that can offer something related (but not competitive) to&nbsp;your brand. Work out a&nbsp;deal with them where your customers can get a&nbsp;discount on&nbsp;future purchases.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>15. Give away a&nbsp;free product from your catalog</strong></h3>
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<p class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size">A&nbsp;perennial gifting favorite is&nbsp;to&nbsp;simply give away a&nbsp;cheap but useful product from your product catalog. This product should be&nbsp;low cost yet must have perceived value to&nbsp;the&nbsp;customer. Also make sure that it&nbsp;is&nbsp;related to&nbsp;the&nbsp;original purchase, example: free socks with a&nbsp;pair of&nbsp;shoes.</p>
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<h3 class="has-black-color has-text-color has-large-font-size"><strong>16. Throw a&nbsp;party for&nbsp;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&nbsp;low-maintenance&nbsp;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&nbsp;staple in&nbsp;gifting is&nbsp;to&nbsp;give away free swag&nbsp;—&nbsp;t-shirts,&nbsp;bags, notebooks, etc. Try not to&nbsp;include your logo on&nbsp;them. Doing so&nbsp;turns the&nbsp;swag from a&nbsp;gift to&nbsp;an&nbsp;overt marketing tool. Instead, pick something that reflects your brand’s values or&nbsp;products yet can be&nbsp;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&nbsp;its customers was about to&nbsp;hit 1&nbsp;million miles in&nbsp;one of&nbsp;its cars. To&nbsp;make the&nbsp;customer feel special about this major milestone, Honda gave him a&nbsp;free new car and&nbsp;made a&nbsp;video about it.</p>
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<p></p>
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<p>To read the full article,&nbsp;<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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