33 ways to reward your customers

by | 43 Comments

Last week I wrote a post on how you can humanize your social media presence. One of the methods that I recommended was rewarding your customers. Sophia.C commented and shared her thoughts that rewarding customers is tough because small businesses have a limited budget.

True, you shouldn’t blow your budget. Little things means a lot in my honest opinion, its the small things that makes a big difference. Some ideas won’t cost you a lot, if they do, you could always do them on a smaller scale.

Here is a list that I have complied with the help of some of my friends from Google+, Facebook and Twitter.

Reward Your Customers

  1. Most importantly, don’t just reward or give discounts to new customers for buying your product, offer them to old customers too. Old/loyal customers as have a higher life time value.
  2. Random acts of kindness- read that Hyatt Hotel does this by picking up hotel massages or bar drinks tabs.
  3. Listen and Act – When @ThomasMarzano tweeted that he loved the hotel bed and bathroom at Four Seasons Hotel, the next day they left Thomas a bottle of bath salt and a handwritten note in his room.
  4. Upgrade your customers status. (Eg: VIP member)
  5. Upgrade membership. (Done by Ebay)
  6. Upgrade service/delivery.(Done by Zappos)
  7. Surprise your best customers by sending them something they have tweeted /“wishlist”/based on what they like/bio etc. @GaryVee did this.
  8. Send small gifts to best customers.
  9. Hide a hand written thank you note in a pocket of a pants/shirt/dress/bag/somewhere etc. (remember reading this somewhere)
  10. Surprise customers by visiting them and hand delivering items. (inspired by @PretzelCrisps)
  11. Offer FREE shipping. (Catches my attention every time)
  12. Offer exceptional service.
  13. Offer exceptional product.
  14. Offer exceptional customer service.
  15. Say thank you.
  16. Invite customers to a meetup/tweetup.
  17. Offer customers incentive or early access/test drive/beta test a product/service/event.
  18. Have customers participate in the event. (Judge etc)
  19. Remembering your customers business -@nysses 
  20. Straight forward pricing without silly rebates -@niki_dav
  21. Early notifications on sales -@theomseka
  22. Send them a special welcome message – @mohitpawar
  23. Respond to customers ASAP. Less than an hour if possible. Of course not when you’re asleep.
  24. No limited time offers – Sonia Munoz (Eg: No limited time free shipping at #6)
  25. Free stuff when customers purchase an item. @TheDigitaleb
  26. Give them personal attention, online or offline
  27. Birthday handwritten note. (Nobody writes these anymore)
  28. Random rewards without them expecting it  - @rhysorwin
  29. Have a reward program: Airlines have miles, vip lounge, etc
  30. Perks! Goodies! – mayhemstudios
  31. Make them a brand ambassador of your product -@e_mhotep
  32. Don’t try to sell to them 24/7
  33. Get customers to play a role in your business. Eg: Design a logo, a book cover, a book title, slogan, name of a new menu, etc.

What do you think? How do you reward your customers or how would you like to be rewarded as a customer?

Share your thoughts below and I’ll add them to the list.

Photo Credit: FamZoo

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  • Rhysorwin

    Nice post. I have a great reward system for Google+ business pages. I will write an article and see what you think.

  • AskAaronLee

    @Rhysorwin Cool! Will wait for it.

  • AskAaronLee

    @Rhysorwin Also thank you for sharing your thoughts too :D

  • Rhysorwin

    @AskAaronLee I think we can end up being part of the new generation of social media marketers but it is so difficult for ideas to gain traction with the current crop of marketers.

  • AskAaronLee

    @Rhysorwin We don’t have to, we’ll make a new crop of marketers. I think we’re always ahead on that don’t you think so?

  • Rhysorwin

    @AskAaronLee I really do feel like it. We have fresh ideas that are not restricted by preconceived ideas and concepts. All we want to do is bring brands and customers closer and make a relevant and personal experience for everyone involved.

  • AskAaronLee

    @Rhysorwin I agree, its something that I want to achieve in my own business and hopefully we’ll be able to do that for other businesses too.

    I think both of us fit in Vayner Media really well don’t you think so? Who knows maybe a Vayner Media of our own. We’re passionate people :D

  • HarshAjmera

    Amazing article, thanks Aaron

  • AskAaronLee

    @HarshAjmera thank you mate! thanks for dropping by

  • http://www.facebook.com/extremejohnfp ExtremeJohn

    Good stuff Aaron, I like the new stuff you’ve been putting out. Need to slap up a LinkedIn share button if you’re going to keep crushing the business related articles.

  • AskAaronLee

    @ExtremeJohn Thanks for the compliment John! Glad you’re liking the new articles, took me a while to finally decide to go with it.

    Will get working on the linkedin button ASAP, thanks for the tip.

    Have a beautiful weekend mate

  • http://www.facebook.com/extremejohnfp ExtremeJohn

    @AskAaronLee no doubt a move well made, you’re killing it. I know I look forward to seeing new articles from you in my reader, keep’em coming.

    Have a great weekend Aaron

  • knikkolette

    I love all these ideas @AskAaronLee ! I will have to share with everyone I know! :)

  • AskAaronLee

    @knikkolette Awww thank you so much for that! thank you for dropping by! Have a beautiful week!

  • johndavies71

    I have been trying to establish a practical rewards system for clients that stands out. I think that one of the most important parts of the process is to frame it as a reward and make sure that it is not understood to be an incentive. These are two different things and occupy two different areas in customer head space. Incentives can be a slippery slope. When one company starts offering free shipping as an incentive then another one reacts and then another it becomes standard practice and your ‘special’ ain’t so special anymore. But if you were to offer a freight rebate to select or repeat clients then you run less of a risk of drawing a reaction, retain your ‘good guy’ status and not alienate new or potential clients.

    Thoughts?

  • AskAaronLee

    @johndavies71 Good points John,

    Well there are a couple of ways to look at it sure for sure.

    As a small business owner myself, we offer free shipping to customers. It makes everyone feel special here. Since free shipping is quite common these days and businesses set an amount to spend, we wanted a no limit free shipping. Or just pay shipping one and enjoy a month free like Rue La La. (Great idea). Shipping isn;t really an incentive these days i think.

    For our best customers or repeat customers, we offer them something else. Small gifts, hard written notes, etc. That way they will feel extra special and its something that others wouldn’t know or can’t do.

  • AskAaronLee

    @johndavies71 Our best rewards are usually “surprises”. Its hard to copy and it stands out for sure. Today we hand delivered an item and our customer was so happy, she said she will be the first to purchase our next item (launching next week).

  • http://sproutsocial.com/ Brittany at Sprout Social

    All great ideas! I really liked Thomas Marzano’s example of listening and acting. It shows that you, as a brand, care and are making the effort to go the extra mile for your customers — which will likely differentiate you from the competition. As a consumer, I’m far more likely to go back to a hotel that acts on both negative *and* positive online comments!

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  • LauLau81

    Thank you for sharing these perfect ideas on how to give rewards to my costumers… I would surely apply some…

  • CSWCorp

    These are all great ideas. When possible the more personal touch is best. One idea to make your gesture a win win relationship is to provide a useful branded tool that can be used by the recipient. For example, the best promotional product I’ve personally received is a small durable tape measure with a bubble level. It’s been in my desk for over fifteen years and I use it weekly. I’ve always appreciated having it. What if your customers were reminded of you the same way for fifteen years. This makes it win win for both parties. Brand a useful item and provide it to qualified leads. You are integrating tangible marketing with rewarding your customers.

  • http://deliberateink.com/ ShakirahDawud

    As a B2B business, I like to forward HARO queries to customers I think would like exposure and could contribute something beneficial. It lets them know I know who they are, respect what they do, and I’m encouraging them to let the world know.

  • http://www.advantageforcats.net/ Advantage for Cats

    Great tips for rewarding the costumers. I like the costumers participating with our events! This can build good relationship between my costumers and I. Thank you for the ideas.

  • http://justicewordlaw.com/ Justicewordlaw

    Hey @AskAaronLee really great blog post that you wrote here. Really nice and creative ideas that you shared.

  • AskAaronLee

    @Justicewordlaw thanks mate!

  • AskAaronLee

    @Advantage for Cats Do share your experience with us

  • AskAaronLee

    @ShakirahDawud Haro is indeed a great feature, love to know more

  • AskAaronLee

    @CSWCorp Food for thoughts for sure. Definitely something to think about. Tough to get that idea for sure

  • AskAaronLee

    @LauLau81 Let us know what works :D

  • AskAaronLee

    @Brittany at Sprout Social Thanks Brittany, always glad to see you here. I like to say, consumers can copy advertising, but they can’t copy passion and Four Seasons showed us that.

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  • http://www.mynotetakingnerd.com/ Lewis LaLanne aka Nerd #2

    On 9 I couldn’t help think that a dry cleaner could prosper with strategy. The cleaner could put a packet of on-the-go stain remover along with the note in the pocket of a suit or dress shirt along with the little handwritten note.

    The “Free shipping” example made me think of how Zappos.com made a space for themselves in a relatively new niche – one that had a logical resistance to ordering online (buying shoes). I can’t imagine how big their effort to lower the hurdle of doing business with them has paid off.

    Loved this list Aaron! Thanks for putting it all together in one place for me to pluck from. :)

  • fergusonsarah

    Those ways are definitely helpful and customers will be glad with it…Thanks a lot!!

  • hospitalityfan

    Nice list!

    1.Recognize them by name in the offline and online worlds.

    2.Focus on treating their children like kings when they visit your business.

    Happy I came across your site…going to RSS. Have a great week!

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  • http://www.blackmoldremovalproducts.com/ BlackMoldRemovalProducts

    Thanks for the list you have here and I think I have to share this too…

  • RBCud

    Great list. I’ve found that offering discounts is what is most attractive to people but depending on the market you’re targeting or what kind of product you have other stuff like superior customer service might work best.

  • http://toooldtogetpregnant.com/ toooldtogetpregnant

    Very nice list . very basic but right type of attitude to clients imo

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  • Hasitha Prabath

    wow great list.

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