Give your customers a gift

A gift to take home. A token to show their friends. A reminder of how much they enjoyed your product.

I enjoyed this wine on a recent flight, St Hallett - Poachers Blend.

It was really good, so I read the label. On the back you can see is a little tab that you can pull of the label. It has the name of the wine and more information on the back.

Very neat - now I know which wine to get!

I didn't check but they could take it one step further and on the back have a coupon (so only those that have taken it off find it) - 10 per cent off if you buy in DutyFree once you jump off the plane.

Just a thought but I think they are already doing enough.

Tourism companies are fantastic at this, at the end of the jet boat trip you can purchase some photos, a video, a postcard or even at-shirt (if you really want).

However you don't have to, you can view them before purchasing. For the provider it's a low marginal cost product but high value to the client.

In some circumstances firms gain more from the 'gift' they give their customers to take home than their core service.

Even better, by giving your customers a gift you are providing a conversation starter for them, once they get home they have something to talk about, to share their experience.

Not only is it a win on the bottom line it's a double whammy by allowing your customers to help spread the word.

So why not give your customers a gift? You can even charge for it.

* Ben Young of Bwagy.com is the author of The Best Ideas are Free.