Last week’s blog answered the question, “Why do people jump ship on brands that they love?” The short answer was, “Because they didn’t feel appreciated.”

One way to show your clients and customers just how thankful you are for their continued patronage is by gifting them something special. While gifts should not be the entirety of your customer appreciation strategy--they can be a nice added bonus. A travel mug, a hat, an enamel pin, or even a non-physical item like a discount at your shop or a portion of their payment going to charity--all are appropriate “thank you for being a loyal customer” gifts.

And while we know that for most of you--there’s no additional added benefit needed, gifting can actually help you in multiple ways:

1. Customer loyalty. If a client or customer was starting to feel neglected, you could save them from unsubscribing. 
2. Passive advertising. Every time your customer wears that t-shirt with your logo on it in an Instagram post, or uses that canvas bag you gave them at the Farmer’s Market--there will be eyes on you. It might not mean anything to the people seeing it now. But it starts the recognition process. Maybe down the line someone does need your services and even though they can’t quite remember why they know you--you’ll seem familiar to them.
3. It feels good. I don’t know about you, but there are very few better feelings than knowing you got something the perfect gift.

So this holiday season, consider giving a little. It doesn’t have to be a big gift to have a big impact.