Using surprise and delight marketing strategies can be a great way to keep customers on their toes and excited about a company’s brand. It can be even more effective in conjunction with various holidays throughout the year, creating a stand-out and memorable experience for customers.
Any company can be well on its way to having a more successful holiday season through the power of surprise and delight with these helpful tactics.
Create a celebration
Offering tailored loyalty rewards is an essential element of any holiday promotion, but companies should be sure they are providing rewards that are truly valuable. An excellent way to do this is by infusing the holiday spirit into many different elements of a company’s daily operations. For example, a bank could offer complimentary warm apple cider around Thanksgiving and hot cocoa during the December holidays, supplying shoppers with a beverage that keeps them toasty during the colder weather and eager to go back.
For gift-giving holidays, surprise and delight customers by offering a free gift wrapping service. Shoppers tend to be more anxious around the holidays when they need to contend with shopping crowds and may be spending a significant amount of money on others, so anything that relieves some of their stress will be welcome.
Let customers know they are appreciated
Use the holiday to let your customers know how much you appreciate them. Sending holiday greeting cards and emails is a perfect way to celebrate the relationship you have with your customers. Make these communications extra special and help them save money during the holidays. You can embed discounts to retailers in greeting cards or emails to help them stretch their shopping dollars further. Or, you could provide them savings at local restaurants with a Dining Advantage card so they don’t have to cook during the hustle and bustle of the stressful season.
Be authentic; stand out!
Keep customers engaged and connected all year round by hosting promotions that center around unexpected holidays. For instance, The Cheesecake Factory draws in diners every year by celebrating National Cheesecake Day with half-price slices of their desserts. Beyond that, hotels could offer special travel-related discounts in time for Summer Solstice or December’s Mountain Day, while May’s Jazz Day could be an excellent opportunity for a company to team up with local music venues to offer discounts or invite customers to join them for a concert in their own stores. The options are endless!
For any holiday, customers want to feel a sense of magic. Times of celebration often make customers think back to their childhoods and the wonder they felt when experiencing new things, getting together with family and friends, and receiving memorable gifts. Companies that recreate those strong emotions through surprise and delight strategies are sure to earn loyal customers, boosting customer retention and bottom lines in the process.
