🎓 Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

Photocopies work just as well as originals. In experiments, they increased future customers spending 2x. They must be handwritten.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 [Open in browser]( [🎓 Handwritten thank you notes increase sales]() Photocopies work just as well as originals. In experiments, they increased future customers spending 2x. They must be handwritten. [Thomas McKinlay]( Sep 6 [Comment]( [Share]() New to [Ariyh]( Join 13,073 evidence-based marketers for 3min practical insights 💡 from scientific research 🎓 to get better marketing results 📈 [Subscribe]() --------------------------------------------------------------- Today’s insight is brought to you by… [Weglot]( 43% of marketers say localization is one of their top challenges in reaching global audiences (HubSpot’s 2022 Marketing Report). [Weglot]( uses Machine Translation (with full editing control) to solve the problem. Translate, display and manage a multilingual site in minutes not months. 60,000+ websites use it, from HBO to the U.N. Why? Because it works wonders. Weglot has a 4.9/5 rating on Trustpilot. [Take a look or try it for free]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Want to sponsor Ariyh? [Here’s all you need to know](. 📝 Intro When people buy from you online, human contact is minimal. But we’ve seen before that there are [many benefits to humanizing your business]( such as higher sales and customer satisfaction. Today we look at a new way to do that. And it’s incredibly easy and effective. P.S.: Join me today for a [special webinar by Vimeo and Marketing Week]( I will be sharing some of my favorite science-based insights on how to convert leads. [Sign up here](. It’s happening at 2pm BST / 3pm CET / 9am EST today, Tuesday 6th September. --------------------------------------------------------------- Previous insight: [Don’t sound weak. Use negations]( (100+ more insights [here]( Thank customers with a copy of a handwritten note to increase sales Channels: Ecommerce | Shipping | Packaging | Customer experience For: B2C. Can be tested for B2B. Research date: July 2022 📈 Recommendation Give customers a high-quality copy of a handwritten note to thank them for their purchase. They will be more likely to buy from you again. Don’t combine it with a discount or other promotions, or the positive effect disappears. 🎓 Findings - A handwritten thank you note - or a photocopy of one - increases future customer spending. - This study focused on notes in ecommerce deliveries, but [previous research]( suggests the effect extends to service context too (e.g. hotels, restaurants). - The positive effect: - Only works on customers with some feeling of loyalty towards the brand - Reduces or disappears if given at the same time as a free gift (e.g. a free product sample) or a discount coupon for future purchases - An experiment with a South Korean online beauty retailer tested different types of notes on 1,232 customers, then analyzed their future spending. People that received: - No note, spent $25.97 - A photocopy of a handwritten note, spent $52.07 - double the amount - An original handwritten note, spent similar to those that received a photocopy - A machine-written note (in Malgun Gothic font, similar to Calibri), spent similar to those that did not receive one Customers that received a photocopy of a handwritten note spent 100.5% more than those that received no note 🧠 Why it works - Handwritten notes are a human touch that make us feel that the company is warm, caring, and sincere. So we are more likely to buy from it again. - A discount offer or a free sample are obvious incentives to get us to buy again. These contrast with the warmth of a handwritten note, so they reduce the effect. - When we feel closer (and loyal) to a brand, we appreciate warmth from them more, so a handwritten note has a much stronger effect. --------------------------------------------------------------- 📚 If you’re writing or have written a non-fiction book, you need an elevator pitch If you can't describe your book in a sentence, you may not be able to finish writing it. And if you've already finished writing it, you need to be able to sum it up on podcasts, TV and… well, elevators. That's why I’ve created the simplest elevator pitch template that exists: a way for you to plug in a few words and then have one concise sentence you can share with the world. [Get your book elevator pitch template]( - Anna David, NY Times bestselling author and Founder, Legacy Launch Pad --------------------------------------------------------------- This announcement was [sponsored]( ✋ Limitations - Notes in this study were not personalized (they used “Dear customer”). Personalizing notes with the customer’s name could increase the effectiveness of handwritten notes. - It’s unclear whether and how the effect changes once customers expect a handwritten note. For example, because they received one in a previous order or they know the company always sends one to customers. - The study only tested beauty products, which are highly hedonic and emotion-related. The effect may be different for utilitarian products (e.g. a screwdriver). - The experiments used short notes (3-5 lines). It’s unclear if more detailed notes (e.g. describing the product’s origins) would add to the effect or detract from it because they become too long. - Does a picture of a handwritten note shared digitally (such as the one I wrote below) have a similar effect? What about a thank you message on a website that is written in a [handwritten-like font]( We don’t have direct answers to these questions from this study, but they may be worth testing. 🏢 Companies using this - The vast majority of companies don’t use handwritten notes. - There are a few exceptions, mainly in the luxury and fashion world. Audrey Leighton includes a note with a handwritten-like font when sending orders. It’s unclear if it has the same effect as a purely handwritten note. They also scent their packaging, which [as we’ve seen before is a smart technique](. ⚡ Steps to implement - Personally write a note or find someone with a nice and readable handwriting to write it. - Thank the customer for buying from you and wish them well with using your product. - Photocopy the note in high quality so that it looks and feels as if it’s an original. - If your customers regularly repeat buy from you, consider writing different versions of the note and rotating them to keep things fresh. - Remember that you can also use handwritten-like fonts on your packaging, website, or ads to [increase sales - if your product is hedonic](. My personal thank you note to you (pardon my handwriting) --------------------------------------------------------------- 🔍 Study type Online experiment and field experiment (on 1,232 customers of a South Korean online retailer between February 21 and February 28, 2017) 📖 Research [Do Handwritten Notes Benefit Online Retailers? A Field Experiment](. Journal of Interactive Marketing (July 2022). 🏫 Researchers - Sanghwa Kim. Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. - [Jeonghye Choi](. School of Business, Yonsei University. - [Seung Hyun Kim](. School of Business, Yonsei University. Remember: This is a new scientific discovery. In the future it will probably be better understood and could even be proven wrong (that’s [how science works](. It may also not be generalizable to your situation. If it’s a risky change, always test it on a small scale before rolling it out widely. --------------------------------------------------------------- Rate today’s insight to help me make Ariyh's next insights 🎓 even more useful 📈 How was today’s insight? [Loved it]( | [Great]( | [Good]( | [Meh]( | [Bad]( Congratulations Nick S. for winning the $1,000 Amazon gift card for participating in last week’s sweepstake! - 📘 Want to optimize your pricing? 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