Here’s our guide to the importance gratitude marketing at Christmas – as well as the business opportunities it offers.
The importance of gratitude marketing
Simply saying thank you, especially over Christmas and new year, is an important gesture to make to your client base.
72% of people surveyed felt that a message of gratitude from a business is still meaningful whether or not it’s accompanied by a discount or a gift, so you don’t always need to bust the bank with giveaways. Sometimes it really is the thought that counts.
Gratitude and brand loyalty
Brand loyalty is an important factor in customer retention. Relationship building is a huge part of loyalty and retention, especially for B2B businesses. The more this is recognised and acknowledged with interactions that work on a social, as well as a business level, the closer those bonds are allowed to grow. The perfect representation of this over Christmas has to be a Christmas card.
Christmas cards
It’s Christmas after all and a card is an ideal opportunity to show your appreciation and bolster business relationships.
44% of the people we surveyed did NOT agree that an email was a valid substitute for a card from a business. So that’s a sizeable chunk of your client base that WILL be expecting a card from you.
Plus, 92% of traditional mail is opened, so your customers are more likely to open a physical card than a thank you email.
If your business sends a corporate Christmas card, take a look at our video. In it, you’ll learn all about what to consider when it comes to imagery, messaging, paper stocks and print finishing.
Show your human side
Your Christmas card might form part of a gratitude marketing push that’s based around the people within your organisation. As a break from product-led strategies, you can use Christmas as an opportunity to focus your messaging on the personal effort that goes into the goods and services you provide. Put the spotlight on the real lives and livelihoods that thrive as a result of the business you do together. Such a campaign encourages customers to keep that good thing going by remaining loyal to your people and your brand.
A price promotion that shows you’re genuine
With so much Christmas-themed marketing activity going on, it’s important to make sure your message of thanks can’t be interpreted as empty words. You need to express your gratitude with an authentic gesture that cuts through noise of Christmas.
If you’re looking to come across as genuine, try putting your money where your mouth is with a price promotion. Make them an offer that’s useful and valuable.
Targeted gratitude marketing
In order to make sure you’re showing your gratitude to the people that matter, why not use company data to segment, for example, your top 20% most valuable customers? If you have a healthy subscriber list, serving a voucher code via email is simple and straightforward. But for the personal touch, send a ‘golden ticket’ in the mail to your top customers, entitling them to a discount.
Gratitude as a retargeting opportunity
If you haven’t heard from a customer in a while, drop them a line to see how they’re doing over the festive period. You might just remind them about your business. Most businesses hold data that allows them to segment customers that haven’t ordered in a given period. If you have something new to offer since their last visit, why not take the opportunity to point it out and extend the season’s greetings at the same time?
Be careful to abide by regulations governing data storage and protection, though. Falling foul of these will lose good will as well as potentially incurring penalties from the authorities.
January “thank you” promotion for B2B
If you’re thinking of offering a January deal, you could brand it as a “thank you” offer – especially if you’re a B2B company or if you’re not in a sector that traditionally holds a January sale.
That way your promotion message becomes more about offering a lower price in recognition of their valued custom over the past year – and less like a pushy message that’s focused on driving sales.
A competition at Christmas
A great way of adding to the festive fun and giving something back at the same time is to hold a Christmas competition. If this is something you would like to know more about, check out or blog post about running a Christmas competition which includes some handy tips.
Promotional gifts
Gratitude marketing is all about gratitude – but it’s also about marketing. A gift with a bit of branding on there is a good way to achieve both goals. If you distribute presents to clients, using promotional items can boost awareness.
67% of people surveyed felt that branded gifts helped to remind them of that business beyond Christmas
The trick is to pick a promotional item that’s so fiendishly useful that they’ll want to keep it close by. Any logo or copy you manage to apply to the item will then increase brand awareness every time they glance at it. If the item is particularly indispensable to them, it can also build positive associations for your brand.
A desktop calendar is a classic way to claim valuable real estate on your clients’ work surface, keeping your brand in their line of sight for a whole 12 months. But you can also expand your ideas to include all manner of handy items.
Here’s just a handful of the wide range of items that you might consider giving away as a branded gift at Christmas:
If you want to explore how promotional items and print can help you to express your gratitude to your own audience, visit us at www.solopress.com or give us a call on 01702 460047.
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