How to Thank Your Clients This Christmas

We all know how much it means when someone says a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ but did you know…

“Brands with superior customer experience bring in 5.7 times more revenue than competitors that lag in customer experience.” Forbes 2019

Christmas is a common time to send thank you gifts, cards etc but you could adapt the suggestions below and use them at any time of year.

1. The “Free” Thank You – Send them a lovely email

It might sound boring but how many times have you received a personal email thanking you for supporting a small business? Probably not many.

So here’s my suggestion, send one to your clients this Christmas. To keep things manageable draft a template email that you can use as a basis for each one, then adapt and personalise it to each recipient.

This might be tricky if you sell products and have 578 customers but you could use the same method and use merge fields to achieve this in an automated email campaign.

2. The Cheap(ish) Thank You – Send them a handwritten card

The next step up from sending a personal email, is sending a personal, handwritten card.

Now the reason I’ve said it’s cheap(ish) is because the cost can vary depending on how you want to play it.

The cheapest way to send a card to all your clients is to buy some off the shelf cards that represent something about your business.

Things to consider if you choose this option are:

• choose a design(s) that goes well with your brand colours
• consider where you buy the cards from. Buying a pack of 50 cards from the Card Factory that are covered in glitter will give a very different impression to buying multiple packs of 10 cards made from recycled paper from a small business owner. I’m not saying one of these options is superior to the other, that comes down to your brand values.
• think about whether it would be appropriate for your brand to buy charity cards and if it is, think carefully about what charity you choose.

These might seem like small silly things to consider but remember, every touch point gives someone an impression of your business.

The slightly more expensive option is to buy a branded, generic card. What I mean by that is a card that has already been designed but can be customised with your logo/brand colours/message.

These will be more expensive than buying cards off the shelf but they are easily made on brand and they’ll be unique to a degree. The recipient won’t receive exactly the same card twice, even if someone else happened to choose the same design and have it customised.

The most expensive card option is to have a bespoke card designed to suit your business, like the one in the picture below, which I created in 2019 for Spence Willard, an Isle of Wight based estate agents.

If you look closely at the design you may notice:

• the card is predominantly dark blue and yellow – their brand colours
• is made up of houses – they’re estate agents
• there are tiny little ‘To Let’ and ‘For Sale’ signs which match their real ones (see below)
• I created a little office with properties in the window (see below)
• at the front is the harbour – because their main office is in Cowes
• the boats are branded with their logo – because they sponsor lots of sailing events

This is the most expensive option because unless you’re a creative/designer yourself you would need to pay a designer to create the card for you, as well as paying for the printing. As well as being the most expensive card option, it’s also the most impactful and unique, so it’s worth considering.

3. The Most Expensive Thank You – Send them a gift

This is the most expensive option for obvious reasons but it’s also the one that could be most memorable for your clients, making them feel truly appreciated.

“The top reason customers switch brands is because they feel unappreciated.”

Forbes 2019

There are lots of gifting options out there, from pre-made gift boxes you can have sent directly to your recipients, to bespoke or handmade items from small businesses. You could even go down the route of included branded gifts, such a stationery or confectionery.

I’ve just completed a top secret project (until after they’re gifted), designing and printing some To Do List Pads and stickers which are going to be sent out as a thank you by one of my clients, who were inspired by my own thank you boxes (pictured below).

So what are you going to do to thank your clients for supporting your small business this year and how can I help?