SMEs: 5 steps for your end-of-year customer gifts

SMEs, find your end-of-year customer gifts with a quick and efficient process. As a specialist in business gifts around Swiss wines and local products, we give you our tips.

Customer gifts can aim to thank them for their trust and loyalty, to present your best wishes to them and to wish them a happy new year. From a marketing point of view, it is a unique or additional contact that you develop and maintain with your customers. So, this is an opportunity to get closer to them throughout the coming year by marking the occasion. To capture the attention of your customers at the end of the year, your greeting card or your present must stand out. Discover our 5 steps to differentiate yourself with your customer gifts.

1. Target: who are your customer gifts intended for?

To your customers, but to all your customers? Theoretically yes, some deserve more, right? Since still theoretically, 20% of your customers generate 80% of your turnover: your customer base is made up of customers who buy more than others. Do you know them ? Is this information actionable: can you make a list of your best customers? Would you like them to receive a larger gift? By defining the number of customers receiving your gift and/or greeting card, you total the number of gifts to give. You are able to calculate your budget. Is your customer list unusable? You cannot or do not wish to differentiate between your customers: it is your choice, it is your business and therefore your strategy. Is the recipient of your gift only a customer or should you also thank your partners, collaborators, colleagues or even suppliers?

2. Objective: define the purpose of your end-of-year gift

If an end-of-year gift or greeting card is intended to deliver your best messages to your customers, it is also an opportunity to serve a marketing objective. It's up to you to decide. Here are some objectives for your end-of-year gifts:

• send your best wishes for health and happiness,
• remind you of your dormant customers (customers who have not ordered in a year for example),
• inform you about new services by offering your customers a special Christmas offer,
• retain your customers with a special action,
• thank your loyal customers or all your customers for their trust, etc.

3. Determine the budget for your customer gift

You know the number of people who will receive your gift. Simply divide your total budget by this number to get the price you can set for your gift. As far as we are concerned, we can offer you personalized gifts for almost all budgets . Be careful, be sure to maintain a proportion in relation to the services you offer, neither too little nor too substantial.

4. Choose the gift for your customers

The choice of gift must be in line with your positioning, your image and your services. At SWISS GIFT SELECTION, we have developed a whole range of corporate gifts to satisfy all the needs of your customers:

• you are sensitive to local, offer them a box 100% Swiss made and recyclable
• you want your customers to spend a friendly moment with colleagues or family, offer them a blind tasting
• you do not want or cannot offer alcohol, offer them a box of revisited local products
• you want to mark the occasion for your best customers, offer them a luxury Swiss wine box

It all depends on your goal and target. This is why it is very important for you to know your customers and define what you expect from your Christmas gift, without forgetting: what will please your customers.

5. How will you deliver the gift to your customers?

Will you deliver your gift by hand, by someone else like one of your salespeople, or by mail? Once again it all depends on your positioning:

• your strength is in proximity and you have few customers: offer your end-of-year gift in person
• you have hundreds of customers and proximity is not in your differences? Use delivery services like post. This is also an option that we offer to our customers.
• you have a lot of customers, promote proximity: make a choice and meet some of your customers to present your wishes.

NB: don't forget to plan your deliveries if you wish to hand deliver your present. And if you opt for postal delivery, include shipping costs in your budget.