How To Show Customer Appreciation

Creating customer loyalty, or brand loyalty as it’s also known, is incredibly important for every business. Even in a pandemic, the statistics still prove it’s nearly 5x as expensive to get a new client than it is to keep your current ones. This is one way that COVID-19 has not affected our lives.

Since the beginning of April I have been teaching (ok, some may say “preaching to”) my clients to focus on their existing clients and keeping them around, rather than trying to go after new ones during such uncertain economic times. Your existing clients already know, like and trust you so fostering that brand equity with them is both less expensive, time consuming and flat out smarter than trying to start from zero with someone new.

So how do you say “Thank you for continuing to work with me”?

A personalized something. Whether it’s a handwritten note (my personal favorite) or a gift, the point is to make sure it’s personalized to the recipient.

Example A:

I have an event planner client who lost her drive and got bogged down by the things outside of her control, rather than focus on what she could control during such an uncertain time when having live events just wasn’t feasible.

What did I do? I sought out a way to turn that negative mind frame into a positive and productive one. The answer: a “Fresh out of f**ks” coffee mug from an Etsy store. I heard how she was feeling but also knew that if I could make her laugh, or even chuckle each morning as she used it, that laughter would feed good feelings, which eventually helped to shift her mindset and productivity began again.

Example B:

A lot of my clients are working mothers and have had to make the difficult decision about whether they should send their kids back to school part time, full time or do at home, virtual school this semester. Add to that stress with a husband who experienced an accident rendering him sofa-ridden and a business to run and this one client was about to lose it. I knew she loved red wine so I sent a bottle of one of my favorite reds to her along with a note ala “You can 100% handle this crazy situation you are in right now, but on the days you can’t here’s a little assistance to get you through.”

In each of these instances a small inexpensive gesture showed that I truly heard what my clients were saying to me and responded to them. When it’s not feasible to send a gift to each one send a handwritten thank you note to all, or at least to your top clients. These are so rarely sent in today’s society where email is faster from sender to recipient, the impact of the handwritten note is exponentially larger.

If even that is still hard to manage (say for a major brand with a huge customer list) then send a simple email with no styling, no graphics but employing that wonderful merge tag for the recipient’s first name. Write the copy like you are sending it to only one person and it’ll come across more authentic, more personal and more human. You want to foster that 1-1 connection, even if you are sending to thousands.

The Takeaway

So take the time to send the note and remind your clients that not only do you care, you are thankful for their business and there to work through this crazy time together.  When you show you care about them as humans, you’ll further solidify your business relationship with them. We all want to feel seen and this is just a few examples of how you can do that.