Thank you.

These two simple words mean a lot to your customers.

Customer appreciation can bring a lot of benefits to your business. Customers who feel valued can quickly become your biggest and best ambassadors. They are likely to recommend your brand to a friend or post about your products on social media. 

Most importantly, they are even more likely to shop with you again. After all, repeat customers are the secret to generating more revenue, spending up to 67% more on average than new customers.  

It can also help to increase customer retention and long-term brand loyalty. Remember, it costs five to 25 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one!

But where do you start? 

Customer Appreciation – Why You Need It

Just as it sounds, customer appreciation is a means of showing gratitude to people who support your business. 

Why is it necessary? There’s no rule that you have to give back to your customers. But, at the same time, you have nothing to lose when you do this. It will only bring more benefits to your business. When your customers feel valued, they develop a strong relationship with you. 

Besides, ecommerce businesses have a lot of competition. Your customers will always find another store selling the same products as you do. Showing gratitude and appreciation to your customers is a great way to make them choose your store over your competitors. 

How to Show Customer Appreciation 

Showing customer appreciation doesn’t always have to be a grand spectacle. Even small gestures can bring a significant impact to your business. Here are five tried and tested ways that are guaranteed to show your customers that you appreciate them.

Say thank you – or write it! 

You can set your business apart by adding a simple handwritten thank you card to the shipment. It might seem like a small gesture, but most online deliveries contain an invoice, packing material, and nothing more, so it can have a significant impact.

Taking your time to write a quick note is an easy way to show that you genuinely value your customer’s business. And it makes the whole shopping experience feel more personal.

Of course, this may not be possible for all online retailers, depending on the size of your business. But even a printed thank you card with a handwritten name and signature can be a pleasant and unexpected addition to your customer’s shipment.

You can also use the note to share unique and special details about the product they bought from you.

For example, Switzerland-based coffee roasters – Ibex Coffee – send printed cards in their delivery saying, “All Ibex employees thank you for your order and wish you happy coffee moments. Take care of yourself.” 

They also use the card to give customers details about their delivery, such as when to use and drink the coffee, and to encourage customer feedback. This only shows that they value their customer’s thoughts and opinions. It can help their business make changes or improvements to create better products for the customer. 

Social media shares

Everyone gets excited when their favorite brand likes or re-posts their content. For ecommerce retailers, it is a simple but effective way to recognize and thank customers for their purchases. 

Engaging with your customer’s social media posts is not only a great way to show that you appreciate them but also helps to boost your customer review portfolio!

One great example of this is Osprey’s Instagram feed. 

They encourage customers to tag their posts with the Osprey Instagram handle in their bio. So, while they have some original content on their feed, it’s mostly images that happy customers have shared and re-posted on the brand’s page – and it is difficult to tell which is which!

Osprey’s strategy is not only showing customer appreciation. It also helps boost their brand identity by showing their product in action in multiple landscapes and terrains around the world.

Potential new customers have more information to help them make a purchase and previous customers feel validated – a win, win!  

If you’re wondering how to curate your customer’s photos, you could try Loox. Loox is a reviews app that helps you collect photos and video reviews from your customers which you can then repost to your social platforms. 

You also have the ability to incentivize customers to write reviews which is another easy way to show your appreciation.

Loyalty programs

The whole idea behind loyalty programs is to reward repeat customers for their continued business. 

That could mean giving away a free coffee after their 10th purchase, providing airline miles towards their next flight, or inviting them to exclusive brand events and early access to seasonal sales. 

For example, H&M offers rewards to customers who sign up for their loyalty program – including a 10% discount when they sign up.

It is a two-tiered program, giving customers an incentive to achieve a 500-point target to unlock more rewards. Their program also resets on an annual basis. So customers need to start from 0 every year to earn the same rewards, which is a good way to encourage repeat customers year-on-year. 

Incentivized shopping: free shipping, gifts, and discounts

Giving customers free shipping after they reach a minimum spending threshold is a great way not only to say ‘thank you’ to your customers but also to encourage customers to look through your store to see if they can reach the minimum to get free shipping. 

In fact, nine out of 10 consumers say free shipping is the number one incentive for shopping online!

You can also give customers exclusive discounts or a free gift or a sample product when they reach a minimum spend to incentivize future purchases. 

Nordstrom even has a dedicated ‘gifts with purchase’ page on its website to showcase the current deals that they have in-store and online.

Birthday and celebration deals

Birthday emails are a sweet treat – both for customers and retailers! 

In fact, they have a 481% higher transaction rate and generate 342% more revenue compared with other promotional emails. They also have a major impact on brand loyalty.

Birthday emails show that you pay attention to your customers and – bonus! – they are super easy to set up using Shopify apps such as Happy Birthday Discount. 

For example, Disney gives customers 20% off their online purchases which is valid for one month. By giving customers unique codes, they can track the purchases to see who is redeeming the offers.

Key Takeaway

Gratitude is the key to customer growth. This is why finding thoughtful ways to thank your customers will improve their loyalty and even attract new customers to your business. 

Customer appreciation doesn’t take too much effort but the rewards can be huge! It could be as simple as a social media share or a little more technical like automated birthday discounts. 

Whichever method you try, prioritizing customer appreciation helps create a lifetime of loyal supporters.