5 Customer Appreciation Ideas From Top Brands

The holiday season is right around the corner, and after a tumultuous year for ecommerce businesses, brands are searching for ways to demonstrate their care for customers. During this time of year especially, showing customer appreciation will start the season off right and make customers feel excited to shop.

In Gladly’s 2022 Customer Expectations Report, nearly a third of customers said they’d “fall in love with a brand” because of great customer service. To get shoppers to fall head over heels during the holidays, here are a few customer appreciation ideas that will show you value them.

1. Customer Appreciation Idea: Sending Notes of Gratitude

Notes of gratitude show your customers their business is special to you and that your brand doesn’t take them for granted. These can be shipped with an order or sent out around the holiday season to get shoppers in the spirit.

Here are a few potential messaging options:

• Saying “thank you for shopping with us” in a note
• Wishing customers “happy holidays” in a card
• Sending a note of appreciation for their repeat business
• Sharing information on new or returning items you think they’d love

Brand spotlight: Chewy

Long known for their exceptional service, Chewy has been called out online a number of times for the heartwarming, handwritten thank you notes they send to pet owners. Acts of appreciation like this are essential to strengthening the loyalty brands have built with customers.

2. Customer Appreciation Idea: Offering Specialized Discounts

A well-timed, personalized discount can be all it takes to turn a one-time shopper into a loyal customer. By demonstrating your deep understanding of the customer’s product preferences and offering discounts to facilitate those purchases, you’ll prove you appreciate their business and even give them a reason to spend more in the process.

Brand spotlight: Starbucks

Starbucks offers coffee drinkers points, or “Stars,” every time they purchase their favorite beverage, which they can then redeem on future orders. Their robust rewards and loyalty program is continuously changing and expanding to better utilize transaction data.

3. Customer Appreciation Idea: Giving Gifts or Samples

Brands with the budgets to do so can take advantage of a few customer appreciation ideas, such as offering free products or samples. Without handing out full-size offerings, adding these small gestures when a shopper reaches a spending limit will make them excited to spend more with your brand.

Brand spotlight: Sephora

Sephora famously offers regular shoppers product samples with their purchases. The brand attributes much of their success to the fact that shoppers love their Beauty Insider loyalty program.

4. Customer Appreciation Idea: Highlighting Customer Stories

Some customers go above and beyond for the brands they really love, and by giving those loyal shoppers a shoutout on your blog or social media, you’ll make their days while showing the rest of the world that appreciation goes both ways.

Brand spotlight: Patagonia

Patagonia is known for their product quality and durability. To reinforce their sustainability mission, the brand has a designated hub where they share stories from customers who’ve written in about how much they’ve enjoyed their used and resold products.

5. Customer Appreciation Idea: Create a Community Space

Gestures of customer appreciation create a sense of community between shoppers and brands. This holistic brand building makes your business the first thing your customers think of when they recommend their favorite products or services to friends. The goal is to provide the optimal customer experience, through personalization, appreciation, and relationship development, thereby creating a strong sense of loyalty for shoppers.

Brand spotlight: Chubbies

Chubbies built their own popular customer community using Gladly as their support center platform. This technology lets them apply a personalized touch to their customer service, which in turn creates positive overall experiences. In Gladly, Chubbies found a partner that could help them leverage customer appreciation as a marketing initiative.

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