Throwing in an unexpected gift after the sale can be a great way to keep customers, encourage people to buy more and incite them to tell others about you.
I buy coffee online – I just scoot out to the site, follow a well beaten path to the order form, done in 60 seconds. It also means no stops along the way to check out other items.
When I unpacked my latest shipment of coffee, there was a nice surprise – a small bar of fair trade organic chocolate. I happen to love chocolate 
. This gift had a number of effects:
a) It was a nice surprise, leading to even more warm and fuzzy feelings about the business
b) I’m reminded that they sell chocolate – something I had forgotten about
c) I’ve been back out to their online store to check out other goodies I’ve missed seeing on past visits.
d) Even if I wasn’t a chocalate fiend, I likely would have given the free bar to someone who was and told them where it came from.
e) I’ve written about the business on my own site as a result of my positive experience with them
f) Given it was a no strings attached gift, there’s a greater chance I’d buy it in the future. It was far more effective than a written blurb about the chocolate. There’s only so many ways you can paint the concept of melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolate.
All this positive stuff from a bar that might have cost the business a dollar. Of course, not everyone would be as excited as I was about this small gift; but chocolate? I mean, it’s pretty hard to go wrong with that!
One of the other great aspects about this strategy is that it felt very personal. There was a handwritten note accompanying the chocolate with just 3 words on it – “With compliments, Robert”. The paper the message was on didn’t even have the company logo on it; which further added to the personal feel.
Free gifts you can provide
If you’re not in the business of selling coffee or chocolate, but other physical goods; consider using low cost items you’re overstocked on and having trouble shifting. Alternatively, request samples from manufacturers that you can then distribute to your customers. Your suppliers may be more than happy to provide these samples to you for free if you explain how you intend to use them.
Old favorites such as pens with your logo or other trinkets that have some practical value are well received. Bought in quantities of a thousand, refillable pens with your logo printed on them can cost as little as 35c each.
What if you don’t sell physical goods? Then the gift you provide doesn’t have to be a physical. Here’s some suggestions for purely online businesses selling digital goods and services.
Subscription bonus
After a few months of subscription, give away a free month to select clients. Flag the free gift with them via a personal email, recognizing their loyalty. Including a gentle reminder for them to let others know about you doesn’t hurt. Ask this as a personal favor rather than as an expectation.
Software
If you have low priced software items that you sell, surprise your clients who have bought other more expensive titles with a free license - encourage them to give it to someone else if they can’t use it.
You can also pick up cheap premium software packages from other software companies offering reseller rights. In these arrangements, you can distribute the software without charging for it as part of a existing commercial relationship with a client, but you can’t give it away totally free to just anyone that visits your site – that way the software title retains some perceived dollar value.
Another effective strategy is providing clients with a software item that’s reached the end of its life cycle. The software is still useful, but not popular enough to warrant promoting or supporting it any more. Let the client know what the retail value of the software was.
Reports and white papers
Put together a *useful* report or white paper that isn’t generally available to non-customers; and be sure to flag this when you distribute it to your clients. Don’t use the white paper as a hard sell for another product; it’s meant to be a gift of value to make your clients feel special. Be sure to let your customers know what their bonus is worth.
Remember the gift principle
The power of the unexpected bonus is simply that the client hasn’t had to do *anything* to get the bonus and it’s totally unexpected. If you make people jump through hoops to get the freebie or hint about it in your pre-sales pitch, it loses the feeling of being a gift.
