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8 Best Yet Inexpensive Customer Appreciation Ideas

Contributed by Christina Lee

Most businesses consistently thank their customers for doing business with them. This simple act of demonstrating gratitude to consumers who support your business is not to be underestimated. Customers want to feel appreciated. And the more appreciated they feel, the more likely they are to become a return customer and recommend your business to others. If you want to show your customers your appreciation, here are eight great yet relatively cheap ideas to try.

Treat Them On Their Birthday 

Many businesses offer some sort of birthday reward. To show your appreciation to a customer on their special day, you can offer them a free product or service. This can be something as small as a free beverage or free dessert on their birthday if you’re in the food industry.

Have A Customer Appreciation Sale  

Sales are a great way to appreciate your customers and drive sale volumes. To express your gratitude for your most loyal customers, hold an exclusive sale just for them. The makeup retailer, Sephora, does an excellent job of rewarding their biggest spenders by granting them early access to sales and a higher discount than other customers.

Listen To Their Input

If customers have voiced concerns or made suggestions in the past, listen to their feedback. If their suggestions are a good idea or their concerns are valid, make the necessary change. The next time you see the customer, inform them of the changes you made and thank them for their feedback. This informs the customer that you value their opinion.

Connect With Customers  

Taking the time to have a conversation with a customer can show them that you’re grateful for their business. It’s also a sure way to form a connection and convert them into a loyal customer. Perhaps, you have a shared interest or they shared details about their family with you. Make sure to remember these tidbits of information and ask about it the next time you talk to the customer.

Surprise Them With An Upgrade

Upgrading your customer’s product, service, or experience is a great way to show your appreciation. The costs of upgrading are typically cheaper than giving something away for free. If you manage a theatre or concert hall, you could surprise a customer by upgrading their seats to better ones at no cost on the day of the show. Those seats are going to be empty anyways. You might as well show a customer appreciation by improving their experience.

Give Them A Freebie

Delighting a customer with a free product or service is the ultimate way to show your appreciation. This is an amazing way to reward and encourage customer loyalty. If your products or services are quite expensive, this idea might not be as feasible. However, if you manage a business like a restaurant, you can show your appreciation by giving a regular customer their meal or dessert on the house once in a while.

Go Above And Beyond

While you might not always have the time to go out of your way for a customer when it’s busy, doing so when you have chance can show how much you appreciate them. For example, if an item the customer is looking for is out of stock, you could order it in specifically for them or help them track down the item at another location. On the other hand, if you know a customer orders the same thing every single day, you can have it prepared and ready for them as soon as they enter your store.

Provide Personalized Service

It takes little to no effort to provide personalized service to a customer, and yet, it can make their day. If you know your customer’s name, ensure you greet them by their name. If you conversed with the customer before about an interest or a hobby, ask them about it. Providing a customer with a personalized service can make them feel special. It also lets them know that you care enough to actually listen and remember facts about them.

Conclusion

As a business, customers are at the heart of what you do. Making your customers appreciated not only makes their day, but it can also greatly benefit your business. With so many ways to show your customers gratitude, there’s really no excuse not to.

Christina Lee is a business development manager at College paper and Essay help. She writes about business growth and customer engagement strategies for such services, as OX Essays, and others.