When it comes to customers, 82% will take their business elsewhere simply because they don’t think you care, according to a survey by The Rockefeller Corporation. Don’t leave your current and prospective clients feeling down in the dumps. Here are a few tips to spread holiday cheer and show them how much you appreciate them all year.
CUT THE SALES TALK
Holiday greetings should be about thankfulness and appreciation — so leave the sales pitches for another day. Instead, use your holiday greetings to build meaningful connections and foster personal relationships. Incorporate messages that focus on how much you truly value their partnership and connection, not their money.
MAKE IT PERSONALIZED
Rather than sending the same gift or greeting to every client, make your messages more impactful with unexpected levels of personalization. This can be as simple as addressing your clients by their names or including small gifts or exclusive offers you know they’d enjoy. Showing them you listen to their preferences or remember individual interactions provides an extra touch of thoughtfulness.
Also, check out exceptional subscription-based services. American Greetings, for example, offers a plethora of personal, creative ways to send messages with SmashUps and Creatacard — and you can even add a gift card to these special greetings.
SmashUps are highly personalized, smile-inducing shareable videos that can be personalized in a variety of ways, including adding their name or a message right into the audio and graphics. With tons of holiday themes, messages from celebrities and more, they’re sure to entertain, surprise and delight your clients. Additionally, with SmashUps you can schedule delivery ahead of time to stay on track with deadlines and reduce the “out of office” emails around the holidays.
For a more modern twist on a classic holiday tradition, Creatacard is a new, personalized virtual greeting card that includes the most-loved features of paper cards. Unlike eCards, Creatacards are designed to “virtually” look and feel like traditional cards: they arrive in a virtual envelope that opens; feature folded or flat designs that open or flip over like a paper card; but also include unique digital features such as animation, video or music. In just a few easy steps, you can create, personalize and even sign your favorite digital cards.
AVOID HOLIDAY-SPECIFIC MESSAGES
With an abundance of different cultures and traditions around the world, not everyone celebrates the same holidays. When creating your holiday greeting recipient list, make sure your messaging is appropriate for your client — or to be safe, use more generic and inclusive sayings such as “Happy Holidays,” “Season’s Greetings” or “Warm Wishes.”
SEND A CUSTOM GIFT PACKAGE
If you’re a more traditional company, embrace your roots and in addition to your digital greetings, send a physical gift package to your customers and prospects. Receiving a gift filled with branded items, a bottle of wine or spirits, assorted baked goods, or gift certificates can really showcase how much you care about them.
DON’T FORGET THE ASSISTANTS
Consider sending cards to your main contact’s assistants, partners or other critical team members. A little can go a long way when showing your appreciation to every integral team member of their business — from the assistant to the CEO.
Sending holiday greetings is a smart way to keep your business top of mind before employees go on vacations around that time of year. Companies can get in the groove of sending out the same messages year after year, or get busy with other work, which can lead to pressed time and less ingenuity.
