There’s no better excuse to celebrate your customers than their birthday. But these days, it takes more than an emailed discount luring customers to your website to make them feel appreciated and generate some unexpected birthday word-of-mouth. Instead of assaulting customers with messages, promotions, or your own agenda, try finding creative ways to acknowledge loyalty with a twist of unexpected delight – we’re looking at you Southwest Airlines birthday drink ticket.
Here are some ideas of how companies are going beyond the ubiquitous “Happy Birthday” Facebook wall post, and surprising customers with something special.
Here’s how to avoid falling into the generic-birthday-email-club
- For those looking to build stronger relationships with customers, take a look at 6 tips for treating your customers like friends
- Check out Andy Sernovitz’s tips for creating birthday word-of-mouth
- If you want to get fancy, let customers celebrate each-other like Starbucks has done with it’s “Give a Gift” application
- Finally, see how Google (client), Anthropologie, and The American Cancer Society create surprise and delight
Celebrating customer birthdays is an opportunity to cement your relationship and show you care. Regardless of which tactic you select to execute, a well thought-out idea can go a long way in generating loyalty karma. Ultimately, we can apply the motto our mothers taught us when we received that hideous sweater from Grandma – it’s the thought that counts.
An Ant’s Eye Point-of-View is curated and written by Senior Social Business Consultants: Kristy Bolsinger, Jenna Jantsch, Joann Jen, Geoff Knox and Ali McCourt. Ideas and reactions are welcome in the comments section.
After graduating from the University of Virginia with a degree in Anthropology, Sam has dedicated his professional life to understanding the behaviors of online populations (humans and ants). Over the last 10 years, he has honed his experience as a marketer and community manager including start-ups to Apple, Inc. A self-confessed analytics and marketing technology fanatic, Sam is an active participant in many user groups and has presented at events like Social Media Club and the Eloqua Success Tour.