Customers love to be thanked for a purchase or be surprised with a gift for being a great customer. However, this can take up a lot of time to pick out the gift, pay for it, and send it. If you are packing and mailing the gift yourself then that takes up even more valuable time. Sending a thank you gift to both customers and employees can be a noble gesture but many businesses will abandon any long-term gift program because of the effort and time needed from the staff.

Benefits of a Gift Program

There are a number of benefits to giving gifts. You can build relationships and help keep your brand at the top of customer’s minds. It also helps to distinguish your company from the competition. It helps to convert new clients and retain existing ones. It can also be a way to reconnect with past clients. It helps boost morale and nurture loyalty for employees and generally adds value to your business.

If you don’t have a gift-giving plan and just place your company logo on your gifts around the holiday season and without a budget, you need to rethink your strategy. The main benefit of a strategy is that you can delight your customers and show that you value their relationship. Clients will be happier as well. When it comes to employees, it helps increase worker productivity and morale. You can also encourage friendly competition and use an incentive program to recognize the top performing employees with the right gifts.

With an automated gift-gifting program, gifts can be delivered without you having to do anything so you can focus on everything else that matters in your company. The gift-giving program should be customized to suit the unique needs of your business and help with the gifts that should be given throughout the year.

When to Give Gifts

Gifts shouldn’t just be for the holidays. In fact, if you only give gifts during the year-end holidays then it can become expected. If you want to be different and really make an impact then you will need to think of other random times you can give gifts. Sending gifts throughout the year can show more appreciation. Of course, you do want to be careful that you don’t give gifts too frequently. An easy way to figure out the timing of a gift is to think of the customer or employees and the reasons for giving the gift. For example, thanking a customer for a purchase. Gifts for both important customers and employees can be given for special, occasional, and life events such as birthdays and new babies. For your employees, gift giving for new hire on-boarding and welcomes can go a long way. You can also acknowledge employee anniversaries as well as recognition and incentives. For your customers and clients, think about customer appreciation and anniversaries, VIP welcomes, gifts for trade shows, conventions, and meetings, and of course holidays.

Personalization and Decoration

For any gift, it’s important to consider how you are decorating what you are giving away. Whether it’s an employee or corporate gift, it's not really considered a gift it you print your company logo on it. If you are placing the logo on the gift then it is advertising and you aren’t necessarily showing appreciation. If you want to give a gift then you should make sure it is personalized and not imprinted with your company logo. There are plenty of gifts you can personalize with your employee's name or client’s logo. This is a much better way to make employees and customers feel appreciated.

A gift-giving program makes it much easier to give gifts but still be sure to do research to make sure gifting is allowed at the company you are giving gifts to. It helps to do research on what they like and don’t like. For example, you don’t want to give a wine gift basket to someone who doesn’t drink.