Eight Suggestions for Giving Thanks to Your Customers

It’s that time of year when it feels right to show some customer appreciation. How do you thank your print customers? There are lots of easy ways, and most won’t break the bank.

Since most corporations have strict policies on gifts from vendors, you’ll have to find out ahead of time what your limits are. Here are eight suggestions:

1. Send a Thank You card in the mail. It’s inexpensive and personal. Doesn’t get much better than that.

2. If you’re not the company president, have him or her pick up the phone and thank your best customers. We all like to know we matter to the top brass.

3. Host a “Customer Appreciation Event” for a group of customers. Print buyers and designers like meeting their peers. Have an open house. Inject fun into the festivities. It can include a meal, but doesn’t have to.

4. Donate to a charitable cause during the holidays in lieu of taking customers to lunch or sending candy. Let them know.

5. Spotlight a customer in your monthly newsletter. (You do have a newsletter, right?) Or have one issue devoted entirely to customers. You don’t have to spotlight individuals. Write articles about customers in general.

6. Make a big deal of customer visits to the plant. Many companies announce these events on message boards in the front lobby. Who doesn’t like to see herself recognized publicly?

7. Find a book that’s meaningful to you and would be the perfect thank you gift to customers. Send it with a Thank You card.

8. Get a little wacky. Send a singing telegram. Or a balloon-carrying clown. Or find a specialty bakery to make one of those gi-normous cookies (big enough to share) that spells out your personal message in icing.

The more creative you can be, the bigger the impact. If someone wrote me a song or a poem, or gave me a personalized coffee mug, mouse pad or refrigerator magnet, I’d have a hard time forgetting them.