I stumbled upon this quote the other day and it really resonated with me.

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."

Mother Teresa

Sometimes, we can forget how easy it is to make someone’s day.

A simple thank you, smile or personal note can have a lasting and meaningful impact on a customer, and help create an emotional connection they won’t soon forget.

Heck you should be doing this to all people...all humans.

Not just your customers.

But let's focus on your customers for the purposes of this message.

You should really be thanking your customers and clients all year round, not just when they purchase something or in December around the holidays.

But what's the real reason behind this?

1) Your customers want to feel valued.

I speak about this all the time in my gratitude talks around the country.

We're human.

We all want a feeling of acknowledgement, belonging and connection.

That means we want to feel valued.

No one likes being in a one-way relationship - the kind where you’re the only one committing any time or attention to keeping it going.

When you’re always giving and never receiving, it’s easy to feel unappreciated and undervalued.

60% of businesses have lost a customer because they feel the business is indifferent to them.

Clearly customers expect a little gratitude in return for their business.

In order to avoid losing them, the simplest thing you can do to make a customer feel valued is to continually thank them for being part of your community.

Through social messages, personal videos and handwritten notes, you can remind customers that you are aware of their business and appreciate it.

2) Thanking customers and clients have financial benefits.

Studies have shown that 38% of customers attribute a good customer experience to personalization, and a good customer experience is what will keep delighting your customers.

When your customers are happy, they’re bound to come back to your brand, join your community, and make more purchases as a result!

In fact, it turns out that 86% of shoppers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience.

If we put those two points together, we can see that customers want a personal, emotionally driven customer experience.

As a result, building a personalized experience leads to a better customer experience which customers are willing to pay more for.

If you want to increase profitability, start getting personal!

When you acknowledge each of your customers individually for being engaged members of your brand community, you demonstrate a desire to get to know them and continue building that relationship.

So what's the easiest way to start thanking your customers?

Handwritten thank you notes.

You can start by sending a thank you note anytime a customer places an order with you.

This is by far one of the easiest and most effective strategies to start implementing.

Writing a genuine handwritten note will go such a long way.

You can brighten their day by acknowledging their business every time they place a new order.

But don't just send notes each time they place an order.

You want to show gratitude for them all year round.

Remember, your customers want to feel valued.

In a world driven by texts, Snapchat and Instagram, there are few things as exciting as receiving a handwritten card.

There’s something special about knowing that someone took the time to sit down and address them personally that makes it immediately more valuable.

This goes a long way in a world that has become obsessed with automation, and will help you further distinguish yourself from your competition.

Need some cool cards that give back to kids in need? Check these out.