#announcements
Important info for Customer Marketers & Community members
Thread
Hi All - I've noticed there is a trend towards cutting back on gifting efforts to save money and focus on sustainability. What is this group's sentiment around holiday client appreciation gifts? Seems like people expect to receive something during this time but it's often more work to stand up than it's worth, not to mention the costs :thinking_face::gift:
Great question! I've been thinking about this recently - I'm very much on the gifts are expensive and I don't like the environmental impact of them side. I also typically decline gifts when offered to me by vendors. I'm leaning towards gifts for only our very top accounts, and donations in honor of everyone else.
I think it made more sense when everyone was in the office and you could give one gift to the whole team (snacks). Now that everyone is scattered it seems less impactful.
If it were me, I'd rather receive a personalized card from the vendor with how much our business has meant to them/year in review notes on what we've been able to achieve together. Donations are good too if you know it's a cause I care about.
In lieu of physical gifts, we've been going back to covid-era virtual events and offering virtual team events as a thank you for clients' partnership (with larger accounts, we specifically only organize for that brand - for SMB/MM, we combine them so people can network as well). We've done homemade pasta classes, sushi classes, wine & chocolate tastings, mixology classes and murder/mystery happy hours...all of which have gone over extremely well and touches across re-engagement, surprise & delight, and appreciation tactics. While some classes still do have to ship items out, you could still plan something more fun for your clients around a fully virtual event.
@Crystal Anderson How do I get on the invite list?? Haha, but seriously, those activities sound amazing. Are the costs comparable to a physical send?
We arrange events by tiers to fit budget - our top ARR accounts have the higher end events (sushi making /wine tasting classes), while our SMBs/MM typically have less than 50 people at the events and are typically between $1,500-2K. I would say it is comparable, but really depends on whether you're sending $25 items vs. $50 items, etc.
[disclosure: I work for Alyce]
It doesn't need to be an either/or situation. There are a lot of sustainable gifts on the market that would be great for favorite customers; bags made of recycled materials, reusable mugs and cups, food items, etc. and of course, donations. For Alyce specifically, gifts are only sent once the recipient accepts a gift invitation, which massively cuts down on shipping/transport and their associated environmental impact.