1. Create Custom Logo Signs for Your Clients

Ally Compeau, Founder & CEO, Woof Signs

When working with small and even medium-sized businesses, they are often strapped for cash or even bootstrapping and have little extra money to spend on even table stakes for their business. For a small business owner, there is nothing they are more passionate about than their brand. Why not combine both of the sentiments above and gift them something truly memorable. Create a custom sign to recognize your customers. Not only will it be something useful (and something they may not have the extra funds for) but it’ll also be something that will tug at their heartstrings. There is really nothing better than seeing your brand come to life — it’s a very proud moment.

2. Give Perks to Customers Who Gave Recent Five-Star Reviews

Chas Cooper, CEO & Founder, Rising Star Reviews

Give award perks like products, gifts and memberships to customers who recently gave your business a five-star rating on Google, Yelp, Facebook or another online review site. Comment on the review site to let them know how much you appreciated their business and mention contacting you about the award perk. This sends a message to all other customers viewing your customer review profile that you value your customers highly, and that they, too, just might earn a perk if they write a five-star review too. Be careful not to promise any perks for future reviews as this is strictly prohibited by law. But, offering a perk after someone leaves an excellent review is a completely fair and legal way to give your best customers a wonderful surprise and make their day.

3. Offer to Sponsor Your Customer for an Event

Matt Edbrooke, Director, The Mac Store

Brands too often fill their social media feeds with products or sales. Get your customers talking and see if they have anything coming up you can support. A customer may tell you “I’m training for a marathon,” “supporting a charity” or “my band has its first gig tonight.” If so, you have to jump in with “Wow, that’s awesome! Could we sponsor you and give you a shout out?” or “When and where’s the gig? If we have a rock star in the store right now, we have to let our followers know what’s going down!” You get content, get to support something important and build a bond with your customer for life!

Katie Ervin, Marketing Manager, Whitebox

We work with so many wonderful CEOs and entrepreneurs that often our team finds books that we like and that really spoke to us, so we will send a copy to a client that it made us think of. For example, “In the Company of Women” was a very popular book on the desks of our female staffers, so they went out of their way to send a couple copies out exceptional women that we work with who we thought would appreciate it as well.

Andrew Wheller, Digital Marketing Executive, Snap Products

I believe that promotional gifts are still a great way to show customer appreciation in 2018. Branded products are an awesome way to show appreciation to customers and are a surefire way of building loyalty toward your brand. When picking out promotional items, it’s advisable to choose a product relevant to your industry or, better still, a product that will be useful to your customers. There are certain products which are useful to any recipient like bags, drinkware and technology.

The best thing about gifting promotional products that have practical uses is that each time they are used your customers will be reminded of your brand and the relationship they have with your company.

6. Treat Your Customer on Your ‘Sales Anniversary’

Nate Masterson, Marketing Manager, Maple Holistics

For example, you’re the primary office furniture supplier to a very large company and have been supplying them for 10 years. This is a very important client and you no doubt have a relationship going with whichever manager is in charge of purchasing over there. Take your contact out for lunch or dinner at a nice restaurant on the anniversary date of your first sale together. This is a great way to build a personal bond with your customer, making you more than just another number on an invoice sheet and showing them that you appreciate their business.

In addition, making your relationship more concrete means that if your competition starts making competitive offers for their business, you are certain to have the edge going into negotiations as a long-term, known, trusted and liked business partner.

7. Send Thank You Notes in the Form of Gift Cards

John Baker, Chief Technology Officer, DeployBot

Amplify the power of a handwritten “thank you” note by including a personal touch: a gift card to your client’s favorite restaurant, custom stationery or another high-quality gift that simply expresses your appreciation for the client.

Tip: Don’t use this as an opportunity to sneak in a coupon code or to promote your business. This is simply a thank you for the business relationship, which is worth more than a quick promo.

8. Give a Charity Gift In Honor of Your Customer

Tyler Butler, Founder & Principal, 11Eleven

Reach out to your most loyal customers and inquire about their charity of choice. Making a donation in their name is one of the most meaningful ways to show gratitude for their support. Another format of this philanthropic giving as a customer reward could be to leverage a round up for charity program via your checkout process. Except as a reward to those customers who opt-in and do decide to round up and donate to charity, show your appreciation by matching that donation. It is tax deductible, leaves a sustainable and positive experience in the customer’s memory and provides as a way to make a positive impact.

Also, tracking these results can add a great storytelling piece to your annual report or for your social media.

9. Celebrate Customer Appreciation Day

Carie Kelsey, Founder & Vice President, Real Deals

Several stores, including Twin Falls, host a barbecue each year for customers with hamburgers, hot dogs and Italian sodas. Customers get to mingle with store owners and each other. This activity is very significant in the sense that it builds a sense of community and family.

10. Remember Their Birthday

Justin Lavelle, Chief Communications Officer, BeenVerified

Track your customers’ birthdays. Create a customer appreciation birthday recognition program. Ask your customers for his or her birth month and date. Record it in your customer logbook. A week prior to the birthday, send out a handwritten birthday card, wishing him or her a happy birthday, and include an invitation to come into the store and pick up a special birthday gift. This will encourage customers to return to your store and show them you value them as your customer. The gift can be simple and include your company’s logo.

For example, it could be a notepad and a pen, both including your company’s logo. You can have a box of prewrapped birthday gifts and a vase of roses at the checkout desk for when customers arrive to receive their gift. Ensure that all of your employees are aware of the components of the birthday recognition program and how to provide excellent customer service.

11. Reward Your Customers With a Loyalty Program

Customers in loyalty programs return twice as often. Did you know that Square has a loyalty program? Square offers a great free point-of-sale (POS) system, which can be expanded to include a loyalty system. You can customize the program to give rewards based on visits or amounts spent and manage it all from your Square dashboard. Once you have this in place, you should see more frequently returning customers. Sign up for a free Square account and try it free for 30 days.

12. Give a Yearly Gift That Indirectly Relates to Your Business

Ed McMasters, Director of Marketing, Communications & Design, FUSIONWRX

Each year, we celebrate our customers with the gift of wrapping paper and a thank you for helping us wrap up another great year. For the past 10 years, we have worked with a company called Richwrap. What we like about the gift is that because we are a printer and marketing company, so we believe that the giving wrapping paper is truly a link to our business. It is also a very unique and highly appreciated gift. We receive numerous thank you notes each year.

13. Offer a Free Consultation

David Kosmayer, CEO, Bookmark.com

We made it a habit to always strive to provide more than being paid for. One of our favorite methods is to provide our customers with free and random one-on-one design consultation sessions. This not only results in nicer looking websites but we also found that the serendipity factor often led to higher customer retention rates and an overall happier customer.

14. Be Creative In Your Gift Ideas with 3D Prints

Biying Maio, Owner & Co-founder, Hot Pop Factory

We help clients make ideas real with laser cutting, laser engraving and 3D printing technology. Brands love us because we help them stand out and be personal in fun and creative ways. We designed a playful kaleidoscope as a thank you to clients and partners. It combines 3D printing and laser cutting with a clever flat pack design. It’s unexpected, easy to mail and a delight to the eyes. Easily customizable, it’s also a great way to make mail interesting again.

15. Ask for Their Feedback and Then Act On It

Jonathan Fox, CEO, Eco Vessel

How many times do we complete a survey, then never see or hear of it again? Encourage your customers to leave feedback by providing a small gift, such as a discount code on their next purchase or free samples. Then, look at the feedback and implement recurring issues that you come across. You can always drop each customer a line to let him or her know that we have implemented the changes that they recommended. How much more could you actually show them how much you value their custom?

16. Adopt a Text Messaging Program as Alternative to Email

Joel Lee, SEO Marketing Specialist, Trumpia

No matter how a small business chooses to show gratitude — sending a thank you note, a coupon or whatever else — it simply will not have the desired impact if the token of appreciation isn’t seen by the customer. Emails never get read (22 percent read rate) and letters require the customer to actually read it. So, in 2018, businesses would be smart to adopt a text messaging program — 98 percent of all texts get read. On top of that, 90 percent get read within three minutes of delivery, catering to the modern-day need of instant gratification.

So, whether you are a restaurant owner or retail store manager, you can send a text message to your most loyal customers about special deals and promotions and know that it’s seen. Setting up a text messaging software is easy and can deliver promising customer relationship results in 2018.

17. Design a Custom e-Commerce Loyalty Program

Your customer appreciation strategies shouldn’t be limited to cold and impersonal ideas just because your business is online. With the right approach, you can attract and retain customers as easily as when you conduct your business face to face. This article by Sleeknote will show you eight powerful customer loyalty program examples for e-commerce business.

18. Give Away Free Movie Tickets That Reflects Your Customers’ Interests

You can’t go wrong with complimentary movie tickets. These are popular consumer rewards that will be appreciated by anyone, so send out a couple of these to your best customer for the month to show you value his or her business. Find out how you can set up your own with Fandango right down to customizing movie certificates.

19. Leverage the Power of Social Media

Almost everyone is on social media at some time every day, so knowing how to use this platform effectively to show customer appreciation can make you look great in the eyes of your audience. Go beyond the usual shout out and find the number of ways to use social media to show appreciation to your customers.

20. Use a Well-thought-out Coupon Design

Freebies and special sales should be supported with a well-designed coupon. Like other printed business material, how your coupon looks affect how much value your customer puts into your giveaway, so make sure it reflects well with your brand. Check out these coupon templates from Canva and edit them for free to create the best impression with your customers.

21. Know How Loyalty Programs in the Food and Beverage Industry Differ

The food and beverage business is highly competitive and will need to have a strong customer appreciation strategy to retain patrons. Repeat purchases are important but would not be possible if customers don’t feel appreciated. While there are similarities, loyalty programs for retail stores differ from restaurants. Here are some examples to get you started.

22. Know How to Create Your Own VIP Club

Having a VIP club is a great way to show appreciation to your customers, but it takes some strategy to create one that people actually want to be a part of. Think exclusivity and perks that will make your customers aim for membership. Find out the steps and tips in creating your own customer VIP club in this article.

23. Host an Event for Your Customers

Elmer Tamayo, Web Developer & Owner, EV Web Directory

A simple gathering or event invitation for your customers is one of the best ways to show your appreciation. By hosting a yearly event for your customers, you help them to realize how important they are to your business. Perhaps you might want to give them certificates or plaques as well to help your customer feel they are valuable to your business.

24. Inexpensive DIY Gift Baskets for a Special Customer

Gift baskets are a great way to show appreciation for your customers, but they don’t always have to be expensive. Simple tokens and everyday items that you know your customer would love will be seen as a thoughtful gesture that will endear you more to your patrons. This article gives you a rundown of inexpensive gift ideas for every occasion.

25. Plant a Tree in Your Customer’s Name

Who doesn’t want to contribute to the environment? Regardless of the nature of your business, your customers would appreciate it if you sponsor the planting of a tree in their name. You can even create a certificate to symbolize the tree and gift it to your customers. Check out this link to an organization that allows you to plant trees online as one farmer takes care of the tree on your behalf. You can find out the features and where it’s growing. It even has an online diary you can share with your customers.