Build Customer Goodwill With Promotional Products

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education

Promotional Strategies: Build Customer Goodwill With Promotional

Products

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Promotional products foster customer goodwill (positive attitudes and feelings) toward a company and its salespeople. This study, completed by Baylor University in 1992, involved a textbook publisher sending 4,000 educators either: (1) pocket calculator plus a letter, (2) a lower-priced highlighter pen plus a letter, or (3) a letter only.

FINDINGS

Customers who received a promotional product expressed more good will toward the company and its salespeople than those who did not receive a promotional product.
The attitudes of those who received the calculator were consistently more positive than for those who received the less expensive highlighter pen.
Customers who received the pocket calculator or the highlighter pen rated the proficiency and ability of the sales representatives as 34% and 16% (respectively) higher than those who received only the thank you letter.
On questions relating to the customers' personal feelings toward the company and its sales representatives, customers who received the calculator scored 52% higher than the letter only group (see table above).

REAL WORLD SUCCESS STORY

Objective:
To conserve water and help customers reduce their water bills.

Strategy and Execution:
Water consumption during the summer had always been a great concern to the Rockland County, New York water company because of the increased usage of water for lawns and gardens. The water company targeted its 53,000 residential customers with a mailing announcing a new conservation program and a bounce-back card offering an information packet. Respondents were sent an information video tape, refrigerator magnet and a slide chart to calculate the amount of water needed to keep a healthy lawn. It was used in conjunction with a watering guide number, known as ET (Evapo-Transpiration), that was published daily in the newspaper and based on rain and humidity levels.

Results: Anticipating an 8 percent return, the advertiser actually received 15 percent with 7,950 responses. Projections indicated that approximately 5,000 gallons of waterwould be saved per participating household, thereby passing on a savings of $75 each based on an average $200 water bill for the summer months.