Gifting is a culture as old as human life itself. Even the cavemen gave gifts, although their idea of gifting was quite different from ours.
Over the years, gifting trends have changed and evolved. We have come a long way from gifts of unique stones and cattle to smart speakers and door locks. However, the reasons for giving gifts have not changed. They have always been a means of expressing feelings of love, joy, appreciation, praise, or gratitude, and they still do.
Where there are humans, there will always be feelings and emotions, and the corporate world is not any different. Corporate gifts are a way to affirm business relationships and boost personal connections between clients, customers, and employees.
Given the fact that gift-giving helps communicate meaningful messages, it is no wonder that it has become an integral part of our corporate culture.
Besides, because corporate gifts have been proven to deliver up to 10x the returns, trends indicate that it is on the rise and will continue to grow as automation and personalization make gifting easier.
Corporate Gifts: Whom To Give?
It is simple! You could give gifts to anyone you are associated with professionally.
They could be:
i) Clients
- Past
- Present
- Future
ii) Employees
iii) Others
- People associated with your business (e.g., suppliers, vendors, etc.)
The Different Types of Corporate Gifts
Corporate gifts are of different types and can be given for a variety of reasons. You could be thanking loyal customers, reminding someone of your business, or recognizing a loyal and hardworking employee.
Here are some examples of corporate gifts:
1. Closing gifts
You have just closed a deal, and you want to let your buyers or sellers know that you enjoyed doing business with them and look forward to doing more transactions in the future. The best way to express this sentiment is through a thoughtful gift.
2. Gifts to prompt brand recall
You could use unique promotional items and corporate gifts as tools in your marketing and communication strategy. They are relevant, cost-effective, and most importantly, keep your brand on top of the mind for the recipient.
3. Referral gifts
Gifts make people feel connected, and clients who feel personal about your business generate referrals and repeat business. Hence, it is a wise choice to use gifts strategically to boost your business.
4. Gifts to treasure marquee clients
There are always some clients that bring in a lot more value to your company and you share a special bond with them. Sending occasional gifts to marquee clients will keep reminding them that they are always a priority. It will also convey to them that you care about building a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust and don’t just care about profits.
5. Employee gifts
Your employees are the backbone of your company. You could use gifts to thank them for their hard work or to motivate them to work harder. Give a branded onboarding gift to a new employee and they will instantly feel more personal about their job. Employee gifts could also be rewards for reaching defined goals, sales quotas, and exceptional attendance.
6. Gifts for prospective clients
If you are wondering how to show prospective customers that you would like to do business with them or form an alliance with them, the answer is…gifts! Gifts increase brand awareness and make your company memorable to prospective clients so when the time is right, you will be top of mind.
7. Gifts to unhappy customers
Mistakes happen, and that’s part and parcel of doing business. You will likely, at some point, have to deal with an unhappy customer. However, apart from listening to the customer and addressing their grievances, sending a gift can be a good way to appease them, express your apologies, and leave them with a good impression of your brand.
Corporate Gifting Is Essential, Here’s Why!
Expressing appreciation, gratitude, and showing that you value your clients and employees is a crucial part of running a business. It is one of the many factors that define successful client/employee relationships and says a lot about you as a professional.
Gift giving and incentives have different strategic purposes and practicalities. More companies are discovering the value and benefits of corporate gifts and are choosing to make them an integral part of the company culture.
Corporate Gifts for Clients
1. Can bring ROI
Gifting can be a psychological influencer in decisions of reciprocity (in this case, business deals). Hence, the investment in gifting is negligible when compared to its potential impact on your pipeline and revenues.
2. Cement professional relationships
Corporate gifts are a great way to enhance corporate image and create goodwill. They are an effective way to keep in touch with clients, nurture a relationship, and encourage future business. Most people would want to do business with a company that values relationships and thoughtfulness.
3. Increase brand recall and reinforce your brand
Many corporate gifting services can customize branding, which means your business logo will be associated with the delight felt by the recipient upon receiving the gift. They will also remember your brand every time they use the token that you sent them. Many people like to share about the gifts they receive and their special experiences on social media, and who knows your branded gift might go viral.
4. Help in getting referrals
You could ask your customers or people you do business with for referrals without giving them an incentive, but then you would have to hope that they are generous enough to give you one. People are busy, and it would be unlikely for them to go out of their way to make time. But, if you threw in an incentive, they would feel obliged to take the time to give you a referral.
5. Improve the impression of you and your company
Gifts improve opinions and create deeper emotional associations. This is just one of the many magical things gifts accomplish. Your clients are more likely to have a positive impression of your brand and want to do business with you if they receive a gift from you.
6. Nudge prospective clients into positive action
Gifts can open up the lines of communication for you and a potential client. If you send a gift, then the client will most likely reply, providing you with the opportunity to discuss business.
7. Can bridge divides
Regardless of what the divide is, whether it is cultural or geographical, sending your clients gifts can make them feel closer to you.
8. Can set you apart from the competition
You are probably not the only company your clients work with, but gifts can put you on the top of their list. Business is all about relationships. And sending a thoughtful gift is the best way to enhance a relationship making you a favored partner and setting you apart from the rest. Sending personalized gifts can make you stand out from others and keep your image memorable.
Corporate Gifts For Employees
Employee gifts (as compared to cash incentives) avoid awkward rivalry within the office. Employee gifts have many benefits and can be given at any level of the hierarchy.
Employee rewards could be for exceptional accomplishments, going over and above to please customers, working overtime to complete a project, closing a large sale, or saving the company money.
1. Can express gratitude and appreciation
Businesses in the US spend over $90 billion gross on non-cash employee recognition rewards every year says a popular survey report. Sums up its value, right?
As humans, we all have a deep desire to be recognized and appreciated. An employee recognition gift is a great way to reward, thank, and motivate your team.
2. Can help to retain dedicated employees
Feeling undervalued or underrecognized is one of the main reasons that employees leave organizations. Hence, recognition impacts employee retention.
Recognizing the contributions of your employees will help retain your valued talents.
3. Help in building bonds with the employee
Recognizing your employees shows them that you value them and their contributions. When your employees feel appreciated, they become more invested and engaged in their work and in the company.
4. Build morale
Gifting on any occasion can help boost the morale of your team. Employees believe that gifts reflect the value the company has for them, and so they become more than just material tokens.
Especially now, in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is uncertainty and great upheaval that is resulting in low morale in remote working teams. As an employer, it is your job to understand what your teams are going through and help boost their morale. Even a small gesture can help lift the spirits of your team.
5. Act as a motivator
What happens when you have a team that feels valued, has high morale and has strong bonds with the company? Simple! They are more motivated to invest in their jobs.
When that happens productivity automatically increases, benefitting the company as a whole.
Which brings us to…
The Perfect Time to Send Corporate Gifts
Well, there is no perfect time to send corporate gifts. You can send gifts throughout the year.
To help give you ideas, here are a few examples of possible gift-giving occasions.
- For the holidays.
- If your client or employee is unwell, and you want to say, “get well soon!”
- On work anniversaries.
- On Employee Appreciation Day (first Friday in March).
- Any other special occasions.
What Makes the Perfect Corporate Gift
The most perfect corporate gift is sent in time for an occasion and not after. Sending gifts on time adds to the thought accompanying the gift.
If you have got that right then, good corporate gifts are:
- Things that will be appreciated by the recipient.
- Gifts that are sensible and not overly lavish.
- Personalized and not mass gifts.
- Good quality.
Which brings us to…
How to Choose Corporate Gifts – The Painful and Outdated Way
The whole process of gifting can be quite painful – especially when you do it the traditional way.
- First, you have to consider the occasion and the relationship that you have with the client or employee.
- Then you consider what you hope to achieve through the gift.
- Then you have to decide what to buy (this gets even more painful when you are unsure about what the recipient’s interests and preferences are).
- Following this, you check to see if it fits in your budget.
- After this, you have to actually buy the gift, pack it, and take care of the logistics of having it delivered.
- Then you worry if your money was well spent and if the gift will be liked by the client/employee or not! Since you are most likely not going to directly ask for feedback, you will never know if you hit the bull’s eye or well, not.
All of this is a terribly time consuming and painful process.
This is why you should read on to find out …
The Smart Way to Choose the Best Corporate Gifts!
As we said before, gifting has come a long way.
At first, we physically went out and shopped for gifts. Then technology evolved to allow us to shop for gifts online, from the comfort of our desks or homes.
But we have progressed even further and if you thought buying gifts online was the latest trend in corporate gifting, you have never met…
Eva Gifting Assistant
When we call Eva a gifting assistant, we are just being humble! Eva can take total charge of your monthly and yearly gifting programs while you get to focus on other areas of your business. No need to scratch your heads over sending corporate gifts anymore!
Want to know how?
All you have to do is:
- Log into Eva.
- Specify who you want to give a gift to and how much you want to spend.
- Email the personalized link that Eva generates to the gift recipient.
We know you are not going to believe this, but your work here is done! Of course, you are still in charge and can choose to have as much control over the process as you want to.
What Eva does
- When the recipient clicks on the link, Eva chats with the recipient and finds out what the interests of the recipient are along with any dislikes or allergies, etc. they might have.
- Based on the personal information collected on the chat and other collected data, Eva picks a gift.
- Eva also collects their birth date, the gift delivery address, and requests them to leave you a review with a link to your preferred platform (Yelp, Zillow, FB, Google, Social Survey, etc.).
- The gift which is beautifully packaged (so that the recipient also has an excellent unboxing experience) is delivered to a thrilled recipient with a personalized note. (Eva can also put your branding on the gift if you specify so.)
And this is why we said Eva is the smart way to corporate gifting!
The Benefits of Using Eva Gifting Assistant
As they say…there are two sides to every coin. In this context, there are the gift giver and the gift recipient.
Using a gifting assistant like Eva has several benefits for both sides.
For the Sender
1. Saves you oodles of time- because practically nothing is required of you.
2. Scale is no problem- because Eva can handle any number of gifts you may want to send out with ease.
3. You do not have to wonder what to buy- because Eva figures it out for you.
4. Job done speedily- because what you would take hours or days to do, Eva does in minutes.
5. It works well even in a crunch situation- because of the above three reasons.
6. Innovative gifts every time- because Eva sends fun, innovative, and trendy gifts every time. You don’t have to worry about gifts being repeated.
7. You do not have to wonder if the recipient liked the gift- because when done the Eva way, the recipient practically chooses what they would like to have.
8. Satisfaction guaranteed- because if the gift is rated less than a 4 out of 5 by recipients, Eva sends them another one – No questions asked.
5-star response from Kelly O'Quinn for Chrissi Jasso at @tryevabot – Thank you so much for all the help and support of selling my property. Wonderful group of people will recommend to all my friends. 👍👍 https://t.co/VO4lhvybhf
— Chrissi Jasso (@chrissijasso) September 22, 2020
For the Gift Recipient
1. Thrilling, trendy gifts- because Eva sends the best corporate gifts.
2. Gifts are more relevant and useful- because what is the point in gifting things that the recipient has no use for?
3. A better opinion of you and your brand– because thoughtful gifts bring people closer together and create good impressions
With all of these compelling reasons, why would you not want to use a gifting automation tool like Eva for your corporate gifting needs?
Thank you @jdradcliffe Jeremy Radcliffe of SWBC Mortgage for sending me this wonderful Eva Gift 🤩 — personalized to my taste👌 It made me feel really special👍👍 @TryEvaBot pic.twitter.com/znX54AMRoT
— Jeff Bradburn (@aimhighhunter) September 17, 2020
Eva’s Best Corporate Gifts in 2020
When it comes to gift-giving, Eva is the expert. We do not expect you to keep up with gifting trends, so Eva does it for you! And because it is based on AI, Eva will collect data on the gift recipient, the gifting trends, the weather in your area, and several other data points and find the best corporate gift for the recipient.
Here are some of Eva’s gifts that were just loved by recipients:
1. For the techie
Eva has sent out some exciting photography equipment like underwater cameras and these highly adaptable indoor cameras, much to the delight of all the techie recipients.
This crazy robotic ball also pulled in rave reviews from the delighted recipients.
2. For the foodie
Eva knows exactly what to send the foodies! Whether it is these artisan chocolates, dry fruit, and nuts, or these delicious bars to boost their energy! All of these gifts were just loved by recipients.
3. For the fitness enthusiast
Music is essential when you are working out! Eva has delighted recipients with wireless earphones and shoe ties so that they don’t have to keep tying their laces. Then there are cold therapy balls, trendy fitness devices, and these amazing, self-cleaning water bottles that recipients were thrilled to receive.
4. For the gadget-lover
Everyone who has a front door needs a lock. All those who received Eva’s choice of smart locks were excited about their gifts! And the digital photo frame that Eva has sent, brought back many beautiful memories for recipients.
5. For the experience junkie
Eva’s gifts of spa treatments have left recipients enchanted at the thoughtful gestures.
6. For the corporate
Eva knows that corporates have a lot of signing to do and many dinners to attend, so the gift of a pen with a tracker or a wallet tracker ensures that thrilled recipients will never lose their pens or wallets again.
7. For the alcohol connoisseur
Eva has only gotten rave reviews for the gifts of whisky and wine -and the trendy and fun bar accessories like these mug shots, whiskey poker sets, and hip flasks that recipients have loved and found extremely useful.
8. For the tea teetotaler and coffee lover
Eva has hit a home run every time with delicious coffee and exciting coffee accessories like the coffee press that every recipient has enjoyed receiving. Then there are also these unique tea drops sent to tea lovers that have left them refreshed and longing for more.
9. For the animal lover
Eva can sense an animal lover! These pet conscious gifts and pet accessories are highly rated by recipients.
Oh, And Eva can also add a personalized, hand-written note with the gifts… Yeah, check this out!
The Curious Case of an Angry Customer
(We chose not to mention names in this case study as it is a sensitive issue for our client.)
The character of a company can be seen in the way it responds to complaints and unhappy customers. Customer satisfaction and service is a crucial way of building and keeping brand loyalty.
With social media, it is now easy to voice dissatisfaction, and this often impacts other customers or potential customers who might end up reading these reviews.
One of Eva’s clients in the hospitality business had a dissatisfied customer. However, they were quick enough to realize that an angry customer could mean a loss in the range of $100,000 for their company. So, in addition to addressing the customer’s concern, they smoothed things over by using Eva to quickly dispatch a gift to him.
The customer was impressed with the way his issue had been addressed. And furthermore, he was left with the added sweetness of a gift from Eva. The gesture was a success because his final experience with our client was a good one that would leave a lasting impression.
To Sum Up
Up until now, gifting has always been a difficult task but not anymore. There are no more excuses (especially with Eva around) not to invest in your employees and clients.
With Eva to help you maximize and reap the benefits of your gifting program as well as free you from its laboriousness, you can now use your gifting program strategically to grow your business!
So, go ahead and let Eva’s most perfect, personalized corporate gifts express your gratitude and appreciation to all those who contribute to your business.