As a business, it’s essential to note that while corporate gifting is often used as a marketing personalization tool, it can also be used to delight clients and reward members of staff. After all, it is through these two groups that business goals are set and ultimately achieved.
In this blog, we highlight how well-planned, high-quality birthday gifts can increase and maintain staff morale, and help make your clients feel seen and appreciated beyond closed deals and extended contracts. Read on to find out how gifts can add the ‘hip’ to your staff and clients’ ‘hoorays’.
Sending Birthday Gifts Trigger Emotion
While gifting is a simple exchange of items, it triggers emotional and psychological impulses such as recognition, appreciation, and the unenforced obligation to reciprocate. To the receiver, the giver is pouring their emotions into the item and hopes the encrypted message is received as intended.
The current corporate culture exudes ‘you’re on your own’ energy, and since being forced to isolate for extended periods, more and more people have realized that places of work don’t simply represent income opportunities, but are also where they spend a significant amount of time. As such, they prefer to drop the ropes on employers that put processes before people and opt for ones that care about their people, and recognize that members of staff are the business’ most important assets.
Similarly, when clients are treated as cash cows and not offered an environment that, while transactional, remains welcoming and relationship-focussed, they non-hesitantly take their business to the competition, and never look back. Ever come across individuals that would rather dine in old cabin food places than patronize larger and fancier restaurants? The proof isn’t in the pudding, it’s in the service.
So, whether in a workplace or business setting, people feel at ease in places that positively trigger their emotions, and gifting does exactly that.
Gifts Boost Morale, Productivity and Increase Loyalty
If the pandemic stretch taught us anything, it’s that things aren’t always as they seem and change is constant. While some businesses suffered complete and irreparable losses that resulted in the laying off of staff, others managed to retain staff members through pay cut consequences. How did leadership manage to convince their teams to stay despite the negative income changes?
Morale, that’s the answer. When staff feels appreciated and seen, they reciprocate the energy and give their best selves to their work. Resulting in increased productivity and consequently, increased revenue. So, when the most important day in your year swings by, receiving a gift from your employers shows that they’re paying attention, and most of all, you matter.
On the other hand, when an unexpecting client receives a thoughtful gift from a business they patronize on their birthday, their ‘buyer morale’ shifts positively. Remember, gifts remind recipients of the giver, and as such, when a need arises, a buyer will always remember the goods or service provider that thinks of them. Unenforced reciprocation.
Choosing The Right Birthday Gifts For Staff & Clients
Despite birthday celebrations being personal, businesses can partake, but need to take discretionary measures when choosing gift items to be addressed to staff and clients. So, when filling those carts, make sure that:
- Gifts do not have religious connotations.
- Gifts aren’t suggestive or too personal (personal use items, flowers of romantic nature…).
- You steer clear of branded SWAG. While these are a great option when gifting for select campaigns, birthdays are personal, and gifts should reflect that.
- Gifts align with the recipient’s interests.
- When in doubt, offer gift cards or vouchers.
- The messaging is celebratory yet still maintains professionalism.
- Gifts aren’t too cheap or overpriced.
Birthday Gifting Through The Giftsenda Platform
At Giftsenda, we understand that it isn’t always possible to get birthday gifts right, especially considering the mind-boggling ‘don’ts’ that accompany the process. So, we’ve designed our platform so that recipients have a say in what kind of gifts they’d like to receive and when they are to be delivered. With the Giftsenda platform, your recipients can:
- Choose to accept, reject or donate their gift offers to a listed charity.
- Swop gifts for items of a similar value, available in our marketplace.
- Choose gifts from specially curated gift collections.
- Decide where and when to receive their gifts. This way, the possibility of unsuccessful deliveries is eliminated.
Additionally, our easy-to-use interface allows you to track the rates of response, and when gifts are delivered. This way, you track your budget and how it’s utilized.
In a nutshell, a birthday is arguably the most important day in anyone’s life, and the emotion that comes with being celebrated is intensely unmatched. So, instead of using corporate gifting exclusively for sales and conversion purposes, include commemoration, recognition, and rewarding of staff and clients.
