The holidays are a time of joy and giving, making them the perfect time to show your customers just how much you appreciate them. Spread a little holiday cheer with these ideas.
- Send Them Free Money
This is an especially useful way to get people to shop with you if they have been inactive for a while. Send everyone a free $10 or $25 gift card that they can use, without having to spend anything over the amount of the gift card. Let them know it’s because you appreciate their business in the past – and you wanted to give them a little something to say thanks for the holidays. You can do this via mail or email – whichever you feel is most appropriate for your business and customer base.
- Offer a Free Gift with Purchase
If you’re in a niche that’s popular over the holiday season and you know customers will be shopping with you to cover your gift-giving needs for others, offer a small free gift with purchase. Or, offer multiple gifts, allowing them to get a larger gift depending on how much they spend. This tells them you appreciate them because you’re willing to give them a little something extra for investing their money with you.
- Host an Event for Your Best Customers
It doesn’t have to be a holiday party, but if you can, host an event and invite your most valuable and loyal customers, making sure they know it’s exclusive. If you’re in ecommerce and can’t coordinate with customers who are located all over the country or the world, you could easily host a live webinar event where you provide an exclusive discount and product or service giveaway for attendees.
- Provide Value-Added Products or Services
Listen to what your customers are asking for, or think about products and services that complement your own. For instance, if you’re a massage therapist, connect with another local business that offers natural body care products.
- Give Referrals
If you’re in the B2B market, offer your customers referrals. Send your leads a personalized letters with a testimonial from you. Then, send a copy of that testimonial to your customer. Arrange for them to meet so you can get the initial exchange going. This shows your clients you really mean business when you say you are focused on helping them.
- Loyalty Program? Surprise Everyone with Bonus Points
Much like giving your customers free money, simply load everyone’s loyalty accounts with random amounts of points. Shop Your Way Rewards does this regularly for customers. You can do the same thing rewarding your most loyal customers with higher bonus point values.
- Give Charitable Gifts
Reach out to your customers and let them know you’re interested in making a contribution to a charity of their choice in their honor. As an alternative, you can give them a memorable charitable gift. Use a service like Oxfam Gifts to buy gifts in bulk – a grove full of trees, a hive full of bees, a tribe of goats, cows, chickens, or sheep, and name them after your clients.
If you want to take the concept a little further, also offer a surprise for your customer’s birthday, wedding anniversary, or other holidays. Better yet, create your own Customer Appreciation Day to spread the love throughout the year.
At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.
