Customers Appreciate Gratitude — Here’s How You Can Show It

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Gratitude is not just about feeling - it’s about showing appreciation for people. It can be as simple as saying “thank you,” or something bigger like giving an unexpected gift or providing an act of service. Anything genuine that comes from the heart (and ideally something that will be meaningful to the person receiving it). 

When we embrace gratitude and embed it in our daily lifestyle, it sparks an ongoing cycle of positivity that makes the world a brighter place. It is also vital for developing deep and meaningful relationships. 

Don’t feel like gratitude must be an obligatory “this for that” exchange; expressing gratitude without expecting anything in return can uplift your mindset and change how you view the world entirely. 

As you prepare for the upcoming holidays, including American Thanksgiving, there are many ways you can consider showing gratitude to your customers and colleagues. Here are three ideas to help you start brainstorming:

Idea 1: Provide free bonuses. 

• Consider providing a surprise gift or special bonus with customer orders. 
• You can allow customers to select free samples to accompany the order, which gives them the ability to choose something they want. Or, you can make it a surprise entirely so it may be extra memorable. 
• You could even send something without the customer needing to make a purchase, like a special care package.

Idea 2: Support causes they care about. 

• People appreciate when organizations channel their resources and networks toward charitable causes. 
• The holidays are an especially valuable time to host a program or social media campaign that encourages customers to share a hashtag or take a simple action, and your organization will make a donation on their behalf in return.

Idea 3: Send a special message. 

• Writing a handwritten card or sending an email celebrating them and their milestones with your organization can go a long way!
• Customized video messages can convey more emotion than written word can, if you have the time to film. 
• (Just don’t try to pitch them on a sale in the same message; there are plenty of other opportunities for that at another time.) 

Of course, it’s perfectly okay if you don’t have time to do something in the coming weeks. I know there’s been a lot going on, and I don’t mean to add any pressure to your plate. 

This could be a great article to bookmark and revisit when you have time to consider ways to express gratitude in all sorts of customer interactions throughout the year. 

If you’d like other ideas and examples of what I’ve shared, check out my blog post and free resource for more ways to show customer appreciation. 

In addition to this newsletter on Linkedin, I also publish a separate series called The Weekly Win by email. If you'd like, you can sign up for access to that series at experienceinvestigators.com. I wanted to share this message from last week's edition with our community on LinkedIn as well. Thanks for reading!