Jingle all the way to a booked calendar by hosting an annual customer appreciation event. Planned well, an appreciation event can help you build customer loyalty, book parties, generate sales, find new recruits, meet new people, and (bonus!) motivate you to get your home holiday ready. That’s right, I’m talkin’ ‘bout an in-person customer appreciation par-tay in your home. If your business is all online, inviting customers over (gasp!) might be way out of your comfort zone. But don’t panic! Because going LIVE to connect with virtual guests will be one of the fun activities at your party.
Here are 7 clever customer appreciation event ideas you need now:
Theme it and they will come.
So, if you’ve been reading my blog, you know I’m a big fan of theme parties, and that’s because they add a fun-factor which equals more people attending and bringing friends to your appreciation party. Think: Ugly Sweater, Santa Cause (read below for more about that), Christmas PJ party, Fire Pit Friday, or S’more Prizes.
Include a charity focus.
Theme your event “Christmas Cause Customer Appreciation” if you want to include a charity focus. Play Santa and ask guests to participate in a toy drive or bring a canned good for a local food bank. You could also reach out to a women’s shelter or local church to support a family in need. Your charity of focus may even advertise the event for you, or attend with some of the workers (which is what happened for me). #allthefeels
Be strategic about prize drawings.
As guests arrive, hand out raffle tickets for specific prize drawings. This will get everyone into the holiday spirit. Include the prize drawing categories on the invite so they know what to bring or do ahead of time. Be strategic here and pick categories that help you get results.
Here are my top objectives for a customer appreciation event and the prize drawing category that helps you achieve it:
Meet new people = Bring a friend: 10 tickets
Host Rewards = Repeat Host: 5 tickets for every party booked this year
Customer Rewards = Placed an order this year: 5 tickets for each order
Action Rewards = Do or bring something that relates to your theme (for example, wear an Ugly Sweater or bring a canned good): 5 tickets
Once guests arrive at your customer appreciation event, include bonus categories that reward shopping:
Place an order: 5 tickets
Place a $50+ order: 10 tickets
Time-saving tip: Tear double-sided raffle tickets in groups of 5 ahead of time so you can hand out prize drawing tickets quickly. You can even delegate this job to a customer or host who arrives early and name them the VIP Host/Customer of the event. They’ll be feeling so special they just might wanna do what you do.
Book parties and recruit newbies.
Save the “booking a party” prize announcement for later so guests have a chance to see the product displays and get excited about gathering with friends. A fun idea to create a little FOMO is to decorate your Christmas tree with small gift bags with early January dates (Jan. 1 – 15) on them. Guests who pick a date can pick the gift bag off the tree and discover the gift inside. Smart hosts will take notice of your gifting tree and scoop up the best dates before you even mention it.
And here’s a really clever idea to take FOMO to the next level. Place small, medium, and large gift bags under the Christmas tree. As guests start scooping up your available party dates, announce that the more guests who book, the bigger the bonus booking prize drawing will be (one winner)! Example (adjust numbers based on your head count): 3 bookings = small bonus gift, 4 – 6 bookings = medium sized bonus gift, 7+ bookings = large sized booking gift.
Note: Let hosts know you’ll bring the gift to their party, which helps you prevent cancellations. And don’t sell retired products cash and carry. Instead, repurpose retired products and use them for giveaways which means all these prize drawings cost you nothing!
You can probably guess what the final bonus prize drawing is…. join your team! Tell guests they can earn a “last chance” bonus ticket for asking you any question about your job and end with a call-to-action to book a launch party in the next month. Woohoo!
Create interactive displays.
Display products around your home that help you reach your objectives.
Examples:
- Kitchen Island/Counter: Booking display featuring booking rewards
- Coffee table: Recruiting display featuring starter kit products
- End table: “Reveal” display featuring new catalogs/products
- Dining room: Interactive “try me” display featuring customer specials so guests can touch and feel products; take selfies they can post on Facebook and Instagram
Include visuals in front of each display with a fun fact, tip, catalog, or flyer (customer special, host reward, etc…).
Bonus tip: Create a scavenger hunt of all the fun facts or tips so guests mix, mingle, and stop at every display to “hunt” for the answers.
Be social.
An in-person customer appreciation event can help you create content for your social sites for the entire year, and help you create a buzz for next year’s event. But wait, there’s more! Make short videos of customer and host testimonials that you can use for Facebook, Instagram, and virtual parties.
Go LIVE.
Don’t forget long-distance customers, because they can participate, too! Expand your reach and Go LIVE (in the event or VIP Group) during the party. Give shout outs to virtual guests who have earned entries in the prize drawings. Write their name on the ticket so they don’t need an actual ticket. Virtual guests can do everything an in-person guest can do: wear an Ugly Sweater (ask them to upload a selfie in the comments to be in the prize drawing), donate a toy/canned good, shop, book, join your team, bring a friend, etc..
If your first event is a flop, try not to get discouraged. It might take several attempts to make it work, but as the saying goes, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
I’d love to hear from you. Have you tried a customer appreciation event? If so, what were your results?
