How Corporate Gifts Will Create 3 Times as Many Loyal Customers than Digital Media

Have you ever wondered how corporate gifts work? Or even just whether they work at all? Well, you need wonder no longer. To celebrate Promotional Products Week (15th-19th September 2014), we used data collected last year to show the relevancy of corporate gifts among other digital media used by marketers. These statistics from the BPMA, the British Promotional Merchandise Agency, demonstrate how well promotional products work for achieving three core business goals: making customers feel valued, creating a loyal following of customers, and increasing conversions and sales. The findings of the study were released in 2013 by the BPMA after being collated by an independent research agency. The survey was conducted on 1000 individuals from a wide range of job sectors, including finance, IT, charity and education. Here is what corporate gifts can do according to the findings:

Make Customers Feel Valued

Source: Promotional Products Week

The conductors of the survey found that for making customers feel valued, promotional products were almost 6 times more effective than other forms of marketing. Only 8% of online and print ad viewers said that they felt valued by those brands. A mere 9% felt valued by direct mail, and 11% of respondents said that TV advertising made them feel appreciated by a brand. However, a whopping 64% said that they knew they were appreciated by a business after receiving a promotional product. This goes to show that for creating a caring and generous brand image, promotional gifts are by far the best choice of advertising. By giving out promotional pens or keyrings alongside other purchases, or in your direct mailings, you will dramatically increase your customers' levels of satisfaction. This also means they will be far more likely to remember you in future.

Create a Loyal Following of Customers

Source: Promotional Products Week

Because they are good at making customers feel valued, promotional products are also very effective at generating repeat business, with people being 3 times more likely to remain loyal to a brand that has a given them a corporate gift, than to one using just print, TV, web and direct mail advertising. The survey results show that 60.1% of people who receive promotional gifts will remain loyal to a brand. Meanwhile, TV advertising generates loyalty in just 16.9% of people, print 8.7%, online 7.9% and direct mail a measly 6.4%. One way in which loyalty can be created is by giving gifts to customers who have used your services for a certain amount of time. For example, any client that has been loyal for over a year could receive a personalised, engraved glass coaster, like this one. It will make them feel especially valued and ensure that they remain with your for many more years.

Increase Conversions

Source: Promotional Products Week

50.7% per cent of those targeted by the survey revealed that promotional products make them take action! This is compared to 19.4% being motivated to respond to TV advertising, 11.2% to online marketing, and just 9.8% and 8.9% to print and direct mail respectively. This means that promotional merchandise is more than twice as effective as the next best marketing method at getting customers to respond and use that company's services. However, this does not mean that just conversions and sales will be increased - promotional products can also encourage other types of transaction. For example by including CTAs - clear, urgent and eye-catching ones will give you the most success - you can also get people to scan QR codes, follow you on Twitter or download your ebook. By getting customers to do these things, you will make them more engaged with your business and more likely to use your services in future.

Why are Corporate Gifts Better at Improving Appreciation, Loyalty and Conversions?

While the results above are proving that it is a good idea to use corporate gifts to motivate or create loyalty, they are not showing why these striking differences happen. My thinking is that digital media are both visual and temporary. This means that when you see an ad or read a post, it will soon get drowned out by the multitude of other media. What makes corporate gifts different, is that they are a tactile experience that invites interaction. In addition, they can be kept and reused, which means they have a higher number of impressions than digital media. So there is really no reason not to take advantage of the fantastic potential of corporate gifts, as these statistics clearly demonstrate the benefits they will bring to business. However, if you still aren't convinced, you can read more BPMA statistics showing how corporate gifts increase brand awareness and loyal customers here.

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