How To Show Gratitude to Your Customers
by Jaidyn Farar
Thanksgiving is all about gratitude—taking time to recognize the things that make life worth living. But Thanksgiving isn’t the only day of the year you can (or should) focus on gratitude. For small businesses, showing gratitude and appreciation for customers is essential all year round.
Why express gratitude to customers?
At its core, ecommerce is simply a fair exchange—the customer pays you, and you provide a product in return. But going beyond the transactional details makes a huge difference. These statistics illustrate the importance of prioritizing the customer experience.
- Sixty-five percent of customers believe a positive experience with a brand is more influential than great advertising.
- About 75% of consumers say that if a brand understands them at a personal level, they’re more likely to be loyal.
- Fifty-two percent of customers go out of their way to buy from their favorite brands.
- Nearly 40% of customers will spend more on a product from a favorite brand, even if there are cheaper options out there.
- Fifty-nine percent of consumers report that once they’re loyal to a brand, the brand has their loyalty for life.
The great thing about customer appreciation is that it creates a feedback loop, reinforcing brand loyalty. Customers buy from your store, you show gratitude with personalized gifts, messages, and more, and the positive experience makes them want to buy from you again.
In the next section, we’ll cover four simple ways to show loyal customers you’re grateful for their business.
How to show gratitude to customers
In life, it’s often the little things that have the biggest impact. With thank you messages, free gifts, discounts, and loyalty programs, you can tell your customers you appreciate them—without breaking the bank.
Send thank you notes or messages
Try including a handwritten thank you note in each package you send out. Notes can be short and sweet; just thank the customer for their purchase and express your hope that they’ll enjoy it. If your business ships a high volume of orders, handwritten notes might not be feasible. As an alternative, send a personalized thank you email whenever someone makes a purchase.
Include free gifts or samples
Who doesn’t love getting a gift? You can show your appreciation and improve the customer experience by including free gifts or samples in packages. These gifts don’t need to be expensive—they can be as simple as a sticker, a snack, or whatever else you can dream up.
Offer post-purchase discounts
Give customers a discount on future purchases. This can come in the form of an email, but it’s extra special when it’s a physical coupon. Including a coupon (complete with your company branding) in packages gives customers a pleasant surprise and makes the unboxing experience more exciting.
Start a loyalty program
With a loyalty program, you can keep showing appreciation for loyal customers all year long! Loyalty programs incentivize customers to spend more time with your brand, make the online shopping experience fun, and reward customers for choosing your store. Consider these incentive ideas:
- Members-only sales
- Free products or samples
- Free shipping and returns
- Early access to new products
- Personalized offers and recommendations
Show gratitude on Thanksgiving and beyond
There you have it: four ideas to thank your loyal customers for supporting your business. As you incorporate customer appreciation into your ecommerce business strategy, you’ll keep people coming back to your store time and time again. Which idea will you try first?
Enhance the customer experience even more with EasyPost
Showing appreciation is essential, but it’s not the only thing you need to worry about. In fact, the most surefire way of keeping customers happy is to deliver their product on time, to the right location, without exorbitant shipping costs. The EasyPost Shipping API can help with that! Get started today to save money, improve your shipping, and create a top-notch delivery experience.