5 ways to impress your customers this Christmas

With everyone trying stand out from the crowd this Christmas, impressing customers requires more than just cutting prices. Thankfully, the simplest and most cost-effective strategies are often the best.

Tradition has it that we all owe the act of giving at Christmas to three magi “from the East” some 2,000 years ago. What a claim to fame! These good folks get the credit some two millennia later for retail sales in the US that are predicted to grow 3.5% this year. All this expenditure in the name of gift-giving.

Talk about the gift that keeps on giving. As well as the immediate thoughts of friends and parents who traditionally are the givers, the gratitude must surely still be in the minds of all the retailers as their cash registers ring.

The concept is not new. But how exactly do you impress your customers during this festive season and increase customer satisfaction?

Step 1: Christmas is a feeling  

Shopping is about the customer experience (CX), defined as “everything related to a business that affects a customer’s perception and feelings about it”.

But Christmastime is more than just transactional. As late American author Edna Ferber once said, “Christmas is a feeling”. To express feeling requires considerably more emotional strength than is readily available in many businesspeople.

That rarity is the opportunity. Go where others don’t dare. Impress your customers with your generous acceptance of the season. Share the feeling of celebrating Christmas with them. Be part of their Christmas.

Then comes determining how to get them to remember that you celebrated Christmas with them.

Step 2: Be generous  

Give more than ever before: not necessarily in money, but in spirit – which is a lot less demanding on cash flow.

A simple way of doing this is to decorate your workspace. This humanises you and your business, demonstrating to visiting customers that they are dealing with real people.

Staff morale will likely increase too. Extensive research by Oxford University found a conclusive link between happiness and productivity: happy employees were found to be 13 per cent more productive.

So, find yourself a big tree, a big Santa, and a few reindeer to create a festive mood and showcase your generous, fun-loving holiday spirit.

Step 3: Seasonal specials  

Share the spirit of Christmas with specials.

Big pictures of fun items that you are prepared to share, for a most reasonable price, with your clients. Gatherings, gifts or exclusive product or service offerings also work.

Importantly, specials in this context doesn’t necessarily mean price discounts: we’re talking about something special for the festive season.

Step 4: Express gratitude  

Giving by consequence also means receiving. Express gratitude for everything you receive from customers.

Acknowledge every person that you can communicate with. Thank customers for their ongoing support and continued loyalty, especially those who stuck by you during lockdowns and natural disasters.

A simple thank you goes a long way. In fact, research shows that expressing gratitude affects not only the grateful person, but anyone who witnesses it.

Step 5: Embrace the silly season 

Now, go for broke and really join in the celebrations. Wish everyone on your contacts list a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. A fun email with noise and bright colours is a great start.

The above may sound silly. But that is the clue: no one really looks silly in the silly season (just go easy on the eggnog or punch!).

And when the new year comes around, go back to step one and repeat. The worst that will happen is that your customers will think that you are crazy but fun: but they’ll still remember you were part of their Christmas!

Written by Alan Manly OAM.

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