Whether you are a veteran or new to using corporate gifting in your marketing and sales strategy, you should constantly analyze your communication channels' performance and spend your budget on what is showing the best results.
Even with a strategy that works, you want to test and optimize to get the greatest 'bang for your buck.' Testing new strategies is also a great way to keep things fresh and capture recipients' attention.
Here are some ways to test your gifting program:
What stage prospects are you targeting?
This is a great place to start if you've had some success with gifting and want to replicate it up or down the pipeline. Suppose you have a gifting strategy that is impactful in bringing the buying team together or re-engaging cold deals. In that case, you might try a similar approach further up the pipeline to get more meetings booked at the top of the funnel.
Examine how and why a gifting strategy works at one stage and modify it for different stages of your sales pipeline. Sending a courtesy gift like a coffee for a quick intro meeting could be expanded for more mature deals to include a cocktail set or premium snack package. Similarly, if you send a high-cost customized package to help close a sale, a lower-cost customized treat with eye-catching branding may make an impact earlier in the sales process. Knowledge Management platform Guru was able to 5X their response rate with a campaign sending cupcakes to over 300 cold prospects with a personalized note.
What types of gifts are you sending?
The ideal gift will vary based on whom you are trying to reach and your target outcome. How much of an impact do you need to get your prospect to take action?
You may need a more personalized gift if you have a particular target audience that is difficult to connect with. There are only so many opportunities to catch the attention of a small list of decision-makers in a competitive market. That's why Meta, formerly Facebook, sent highly personalized packages based on their interactions with prospects, such as books about women in leadership, to prospects who attended a speech by Meta's female management.
On the other hand, you will want to choose a more budget-conscious approach for a more extensive contact list. MachiningCloud doubled its partners and increased revenue by 97% by sending eGift cards for coffee to leads who abandoned their purchase orders before inputting project requirements.
Test Gifting for Special Campaigns and Events
Gifting is a great way to boost attendance at an important event and to squeeze more value out of an important campaign. Why not 10X the ROI when you already invest time and energy into a big event?
This works best when you tie the gifts to your brand and the event to create a lasting impression that sticks with prospects. Data Management company Seamless leaned into the camp theme for their annual Digital Content Camp with camp-themed content by gifting flannel shirts and other gear and offering Yeti coolers as prizes for those who stayed for the entire event. This led to a 70% increase in signups and a 63% increase in engagement.
As our prospect's inboxes become more cluttered by the day, we need differentiated gifting strategies to stand out and open doors that build robust pipelines. In today's environment, ads, marketing emails, and social media aren't enough to cut through the noise. It's time to reexamine the performance of your channels and reallocate budgets to increase top-line revenue.
Revitalizing our reach and effectively engaging our target audience requires a dynamic and integrated approach leveraging offline and online channels. As traditional channels return weaker results, we must adapt and streamline. When we implement these fresh strategies, it is essential to keep an eye on key metrics like pipeline performance and sales KPIs. That's the best way to make smart budget decisions.
For corporate gifting that cuts through the noise, Sendoso is a must-have in your marketing budget.
