Are Thank You notes just a nice thing to do?
Don’t bet on it.
When we get very busy serving our customers and filling our funnels, we find that even “thank you note believers” will put sending out notes on the bottom of their to do list. The value of a Thank You note is a hard thing to quantify, unlike getting an order filled on time or landing a new customer. So it stands to reason that if something has to be left for another time, it would be the thank you.
Unfortunately, study after study shows that when you demonstrate gratitude to your customers, they are warmer on follow up visits, spend more with you and become talking billboards for your products and services. And customer loyalty is quantifiable – it costs 5 times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep a current customer.
Saying thank you to vendors results in better service, delivering on time and keeping your cash flowing. Employees who are appreciated are more productive and stay longer. Thank you’s do pay big dividends wherever they are given.
At the end of the day, it is because all these transactions are based on relationships – human to human, even in this highly digital age. And one of the most basic human needs is acknowledgement. Acknowledgement is the action of expressing or displaying gratitude or appreciation for something. Think about any relationship you have that isn’t working as well as you would like and the chances are that an abundance of acknowledgement or appreciation is missing. Casual thanks are nice, but are missing the “effort” factor. Acknowledgement in the form of a simple thank you note is absolute magic.
But we still have the problem of time to do it. While there are digital solutions, e.g. email and automated follow up letters, they do not always convey the sincerity that we want. Fast and easy most often is interpreted as fast and easy, i.e. limited impact. We want speed and convenience and we need the personal impact. Thankfully, there is new technology that gives us both the convenience and the personal touch.
ThankYouPro is an iPhone app that allows us to create and mail a real paper note (not a postcard!) in less than a minute. The paper note is mailed with a first class stamp almost immediately. This sophisticated app is totally customizable, provides a variety of handwriting fonts, and best of all, lets you sign your card right on the phone. The result is a handwritten look in short expressions of gratitude, perfect for sales call and interview followups, gifts and even friendly catch-ups. This class of thank you notes definitely helps to end the email vs paper note dilemma, providing an even higher level of convenience than email while making it a personal experience for the receiver. Check out ThankYouPro at the app store for the most sophisticated and convenient app for thank you notes.
