Thankful Gestures, Earnestly Given

July 30th, 2009

thankyou

Yesterday while on one of my all-too-frequent Starbucks runs, I was reminded of just how powerful small gestures of thanks, given earnestly, can be. After receiving my drink I took the time to look the barista in the eye and say “thank you” and “have a wonderful day!” The surprise in her eyes told me how infrequently she gets this sort of acknowledgment, a slightly sad bit of insight.

That moment got me thinking about some other examples from throughout my career:

The senior executive who took the time after a large, cumbersome, and painful conference call to personally phone the junior staff who did the work to make it happen, and say thank you.
The event I hosted with contributors from all over the company, where I sent a simple bottle of wine and a nice handwritten note to the event planner to show my appreciation, and her genuine shock and delight at the recognition.
The small, inexpensive yet nicely personalized thank you card I received from one of my favorite consumer brands, unconnected to any campaign, call-to-action, holiday promo, or expectation.

With all the talk about social media strategies, influencer engagement, affinity networks, customer rewards, and so on, the power and potential impact of small gestures of genuine thanks often gets lost. To be effective they tend to be personal in nature, which means they’re hard to scale and as such fall off grand marketing plans when budget time comes.

Never discount their impact however. A small gesture, an honest thank you to some of your passionate user evangelists, a valued partner or vendor, or especially the too-often-ignored small customer, can go a long way towards creating a true emotional connection to you and your brand.

Don’t tie it to a marketing promotion. Don’t wrap it up in a shiny new affinity program. Don’t mass produce it with [insert value customer name here] obviousness. Don’t do anything to cast doubt on the genuine nature of your appreciation.

Just connect with you customer, your partner, your vendor directly and deliver a heartfelt “thank you” for being part of your world. If you haven’t been doing it already, the shock or suspicion might take a while to wear off. But you, and your company, will be better off in the long run.

Photo by vernhart on Flickr via CC License.