Gift options for your top-spending customers

Julie replied to my article about finding loyal, high-spending customers with a question:

I'd love for you to do a follow up email explaining what to do with or for (gifts?) those high spenders in our store(s).

What you use for gifts will depend on a lot. Your merchandise, margins, and shipping costs will determine many of your options.

One example I gave in a metric review to a Repeat Customer Insights store was to a include a belt or scarf with each dress order by VIP customers. They could easily find one that worked with the outfit, it didn't add a lot of shipping weight, and was a relatively inexpensive (but quality) gift.

Another example is to include a trial or single use version of a product. If you sell specific snacks (e.g. sell UK snacks to a US market), including single servings packages as a gift is an easy win. (You could also bundle a bunch of single use products into one purchasable product, but now I'm way off on a tangent topic...)

Gifts don't have to be sent only with orders either. You can send your best customers an email saying you'd like to send them something and let them agree or even choose what they'd like to get. If you give them choices, aim for 3-5 options and adjust them all the time.

When it comes to gifting, think: "complimentary product" and "introduction to a different product line".

Not every product will work but most stores should have a few product options that could make great gifts.

And don't forget to track how the gifted customers perform. Gifting to a specific segment of customers like the ones in Repeat Customer Insights is probably the easiest way to track their performance.

Eric Davis