One year anniversary with company- appropriate gift?  

Mormons don't drink coffee or tea as part of their religion. The reason I'm hesitant to send a Starbuck's card to any of our customers is that we don't know them well enough to know which customers we may be offending. You didn't sound ignorant, by the way! I'm sorry I forget that in other areas the Mormon beliefs aren't as well known as they are in my area.

I have several good friends who are Mormons, so I have a good sounding board there. They are allowed to watch videos, and I think a $10 gift card for Blockbuster would cover a movie rental plus some popcorn. I just don't know if that is enough to say thank you. Would you appreciate that as a gift or think we were cheap?

No I would not think you were cheap.
As I was not expecting a gift in the first place, my only thought would be,how nice and thoughtful you were.

Thanks for being honest. My husband and I were talking about this again last night. He fears that us looking cheap would be worse than not doing anything at all. I think sometimes he forgets that we are still a very small company. I can understand where he is coming from, though.

Tell hubby once he has to send out hundreds of vouchers he will love the idea.
There is no way anyone is going to think you are cheap.
As I said before no one is expecting a gift from you, everyone is going to think what a wonderful idea it is.

I tried using that arguement, but it didn't go over well. After telling him about what was being suggested here he decided he liked the idea of a discount on the customer's bill the most. That was really surprising. What was even more surprising is that he wants to do a 50% discount on the next bill. Ouch! That's okay, we'll go ahead and try it for this first customer and see how it goes over. It's only around a $50 discount, but I think that will really add up once we are doing several of them per year.

Ouch alright that is a big discount.Once you start getting more and more customers it will add up over time.
I will wish you Good Night now it is my bedtime. This is so weird, it is your morning and my night.

Yeah, it is a big discount that will add up. My husband has a good point. It is only off one bill, and if it keeps a customer for another year it is well worth it. That makes sense if I sit down and really think about it. It does cost us much more than $50 to get a new customer to replace that one.

Good Night, Goodie!

Lol personaly i would say $25 gift card if you have any, I don't know how good that would be as i live in the UK dollars are worth less then pounds etc But $25.00 sounds nice, and is also is just free for the customer, so Yeah. although you've already decided on a $50 one =P
,
toycat

We run our business out of our home, so we don't have any visitors to our place. I definitely agree that a gift is of no value if it doesn't come from the heart. That's why I want to do something that is fun for all of the customers when they reach the one year mark without offending any of them.

Thanks for giving your opinion based on the view point of the customer. I do send a gift to the refering customer when they send business our way, too. I didn't know vista prints did coupons. That's good to know! We had them do some business cards for us awhile back. I was thinking the discount on their next bill was kind of boring when I was thinking about it myself, but you have definitely given me some food for thought!

I had that same thought about the paper anniversary! Unfortunately to have pads made up you have to order in bulk. At least that's what I've found so far. The business can't afford to put out the kind of money that would take right at this time. I do like that line of thinking, though!

Let me ask you this... If the average customer's bill is $110 for the month does $10 discount really make an impression on the customer? I just don't want the discount to look cheap, where as a gift card takes effort and thought. I would like to do a discount on the bill, I just wasn't sure what the customer would think of it.

Well, $10 doesn't seem too great off of that, but the garden store is an idea don't you think?

I do like the garden store idea. I'll have to look into good ones near us. Thanks for your thoughts!

I was thinking a discount would motivate the customer to continue using our services, too. I just wasn't sure how it would look as far as being of interest as compared to a gift card. It sounds like most people are for the idea of the discount, though!

Those are good ideas. I'll have to see what I could come up with near the price range that would still allow us to do engraving.

My husband and I were talking about this last night after I told him some of the things that were being brought up here. I guess he has decided that we are going to give a 50% discount on their next monthly bill. As the company bookkeeper I had a heart attack, I'm sure. But, I can see his point. It's only about $50 once per year per customer. It really doesn't come out of our pocket that way, but it is an impressive gift that will motivate the customer to stay with us. Wow, I sure wish some of the people we do business with would give that kind of discount! LOL

Oh, please do sound thrifty! That is me all the way. LOL My husband tells me I'm being too thrifty in this area. He is really worried that looking cheap would be worse than doing nothing at all.