15 Sources on How and Why to "Thank Customers"

Should you tell your customers "thank you"?

As part of our planning about how we can better help our clients our strategy guy Jeff put together a list of thoughts on the topic of how should a company say thank you.   Here it is.

Sprouter:  Why a Thank You program? It can beat a loyalty program.

LinkedIn:  "Marketing and Sales" Group Q&A

Customersrock: Thanking makes an impact

AML: 18 Ways to Thank Customers PDF

Jim Novo's thoughts on loyalty

Bizjournals: Shocked at companies that don't thank customers

Prime Performance: The power of thanks at banks

Green Industry Pros: Five Inexpensive Ways to Say Thank You

Traffic Builders: Thanking customers with a personal approach

Management Help: Onboarding new customers

Banking My Way: Banks are pushing referral programs

Amadeus: Including referral program in thank you program

Idle Air: Example of new customer referral offer as part of 'Thank You'

stylistbuzz: Sample of a simple new customer thank you card

Scrbd: Sample new customer welcome letter

Fedex: Sample welcome landing page


I'm sure there are many other sources and examples, please add your favorites....

Social Media vs. Social Technology

Does it matter what we call it?

Earlier this week I sat on a panel at a Utah AMA event.  One of the questions we fielded was: What's the next big thing in 'social media'?   Now, if any of us on the panel knew the answer, we probably wouldn't have been on the panel - we'd be busy launching it.

The point I made was to first throw out the word 'media' and replace it with 'technology'.   The reason was that media is often associated with business, marketing and advertising and that clouds our thinking about the art of the possible.   Two of the biggest platforms - Facebook and YouTube - started as technical solutions to the real and personal problems of the founders, not as business tools for delivering messages.  Based on the feedback, this line of thinking resonated well with the audience.

So, if there is something that frustrates you and your insights allow you to imagine a solution that leverages or facilitates human interaction then it might be the next big thing in social technology.   Whether it is media, is a chapter to be written later.

Tetherless Brands

What to read on the plane?

Just finished Rick Mathieson's books "Branding Unbound" and "On Demand Brand".   Both books cover the world of marketing in a wireless, digital age.   They take the approach of presenting a set of 'rules' of guidelines and then follow them up with interviews with industry players to make the points more personal and interesting. 

Fascinated to see the change in the examples and maturity of marketers over the five-year time frame between publishing dates - 2005 and 2010.