Why The Power Of Choice Is So Important With Gifting

By Tara Benyousky on March 24, 2023

There’s an old saying that until something is accepted, it’s not a gift. 

And when you send a thousand people the same thing chances are good that more than a few won’t be accepted. Even when you’re executing a personal gifting strategy it’s bound to happen. Withholding the power of choice has been the norm with direct mail and gifting for as long as it’s been around – you get what you get and you don’t get upset. 

But the world has changed to become buyer-centric. Our marketing and sales efforts should be customer-led. So when a prospect doesn’t want your gift, let it happen.

It doesn’t mean that you’ve failed at your job or that your direct mail strategy wasn’t well thought out. It just means when you’re executing a personal gifting strategy, there’s a mindset change that you need to embrace: the person receiving your gift may not want it. 

Because you can’t read the minds of our prospects and know exactly what they want. 

And it’d be a little creepy if ya’ COULD. 

Instead, you can try to be as personal and relevant as possible with your gift, but also be respectful and give your prospects the option to exchange the gift or donate the dollar value to the charity of their choosing—give them the power of choice.

Let’s say they do exchange the gift or donate to a charity close to their heart. Don’t be hurt. Now you have another talking point, another opportunity to build rapport with the gift recipient. The point is to keep the experience focused on the receiver’s needs, not on your, the marketer’s, wants. That’s the power of choice in action.

Need some help making the most out of your direct mail? Learn how to avoid a #directfail and optimize your gifting strategy.

Ultimately, the way you’re going to drive responses through gifting is by creating a personal experience that’s delightful and makes them want to talk to you. 

Here’s an example to better understand what I mean:

Let’s say you send a prospect an invitation for a gift, a new Herschel duffle bag, and while they’re impressed because you knew about their love of traveling, they don’t need another bag right now. With Alyce, that recipient can exchange the duffle bag for something else, such as another travel accessory they don’t have yet. 

Thanks to the ability to exchange, you, as the marketer, can increase the number of prospects who are happy with their gift. 

And the happier your prospects are with their gift, the more meetings you can arrange. And usually, the meetings are more successful as well. Because you have that additional information to bond over.

At the end of the day, you want the recipient to have something that they’re excited about, whether it’s the gift you originally sent them or the gift that they exchanged for. As long as it’s accepted, then that’s the proper gift. 

Including your recipient in your gifting process brings you two closer together. By allowing your prospect to have the power of choice, they become a more active participant in your marketing, sales, or customer success efforts, which will create a stronger relationship between you two.

As the person who sent the gift invitation, you can (and should) feel happy knowing that you:

• Were thoughtful and sent something relatable to their “#5to9™” life
• You were respectful and gave the recipient the power to choose something they actually wanted

Want to start giving your prospects the Power of Choice? Let’s talk more about how Alyce can work for you!