Christmas – T’is the Time for …
Communicating Well With Clients

How can you ensure your Christmas messages strike the right note with your clients and customers this Christmas?

Regardless of whether you are in touch with your customers and clients during the year (which of course you should be!), do not ignore them at Christmas.

You might wish to send your A-clients a gift but your B-clients should receive, at the very least, some kind of message that indicates you appreciate their business.

December, in short, is the time to communicate with all your clients and customers.

But, just as your clients are not all the same, neither should your messages be stock-standard.

One of the most insulting – to me, anyway – Christmas messages is a printed card signed by a company’s entire staff (most of whom I may not even know) that lacks any kind of personal message. Cards like this I bin immediately.

What about you? What do you most dislike about the messages you receive at Christmas?

And what are you doing that’s different?

Why Send a Message at Christmas?

Showing gratitude for a client’s business at Christmastime has long been accepted business practice. We wish them a merry Christmas while thanking them for their business. The two are largely synonymous.

Thanking a client makes them feel valued and enhances your business relationship. It’s the one time of year they will read what you send because it is unlikely to be a sales message. (Please, whatever you do, don’t make your year-end communication about getting more business out of them!)

But as our world has become more secular, Christmas messages have changed. Where once cards and messages almost always had religious overtones, nowadays the reverse is true.

Some of your clients will be religious, some will be anti-religion and the rest won’t care much either way whether your message is religious or secular.

If you know a particular client is keenly religious, do not risk offending them by sending a secular message. The reverse also applies.

One way around this is to send a holiday message instead. Forget Christmas entirely and focus on wishing your clients happy holidays and a great 2018 (or something similar).

Christmas Message Options

How are you best to deliver your Christmas or holiday best wishes? By email? By snail mail? By card? A gift? Or something innovative like a donation to charity in their name?

With both the rise of online communication and concern about the environment, sending an e-message in some form is becoming more common and more acceptable. It is also much cheaper, quicker and requires less labour. But do make sure your card is professional-looking with a relevant image and well thought-out text.

However, an e-card may be an insufficient demonstration of your gratitude to A-clients so think carefully about whether you might be better to go the extra distance for those who have spent the most money with you and send a gift (see below).

Cards printed with your company name are another popular option. But instead of the anonymous, boring example I mentioned above, consider giving each staff member their own cards and asking them to write individual, personalised messages to their clients. Depending on their abilities, you may want to provide a selection of pre-approved messages for them to choose from.

Sending a Gift

Choosing the right gift that will be valued by all your clients can also be a bit tricky.

An insurance client of mine is this year giving its best clients an environmentally friendly tote bag (to replace plastic bags) and a recipe book that has been compiled as a charity fundraiser. Both these demonstrate the company’s dedication to its local community.

At our company, we give a jar or two of handmade preserves made from locally grown produce, wrapped in an organza drawstring bag. These simple treats are always well received.

Handmade or self-designed gifts or cards, and gifts that benefit the community or a cause, seem to be the current trend in Christmas communications.

The good old stand-by of wine also still seems to be popular but with more people reducing their alcohol intake, this is perhaps less appropriate than it once was.

Gift baskets, too, still make highly valued Christmas gifts.

The Personal Touch

No matter what form your Christmas message takes, the number one priority is that it should be personalised.

If you are sending an email, address it by name to your recipient, instead of “Dear Valued Customer”.

If you are sending a letter, the same applies.

E-cards send by a mail program such as Mailchimp are also able to be personalised, but if your lists don’t currently include a first name, updating them with those names should be a priority.

For customers and clients to feel truly valued, you need to address them by name.

Message Content

What you say is as important as how you deliver your message. “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” is a cop-out. Be individual and unique. By being different from all the other messages your client receives, you will stand out from the crowd.

You might like to include your Christmas opening hours in your message, if this is relevant. But don’t, whatever you do, use it to ask for business. (E.g. Time is running out to … and by the way, Merry Christmas.) Definitely bah humbug to you for that!

Put some thought into your message and if you can tailor it to the individual recipient, even better. That way they know it is unique to them, that you thought about them as a person, that they are not just another name on a list.

In other words, send messages and gifts that you yourself would like to receive.

If you would like help with your Christmas message campaign, please do talk with us.