Best Gifts to Give Interior Design Clients (and what to stop giving)
Updated September 2023
NEWSFLASH: Your Client Doesn’t Want Gifts With Your Logo on Them
Back in the day, when I had my wedding planning business, I LOVED sending handwritten cards and gifts to my clients. As someone who always has a stack of blank thank you cards on my desk, it was an easy step to add to my process.
There was always a big discussion with my brides and hostesses about what the best gifts are to give. We talked about what to include in the guest welcome bags, what to give for wedding/party favors, and what to give for bridesmaids/groomsmen gifts.
As a professional consumer of fine goods myself, I loved brainstorming to come up with the best gift ideas that reflected my clients, but that also would be useful to their guests. Because COME ON, no one wants a personalized beer koozie, some Jordan almonds, or a rock with their name in beautiful calligraphy on it.
With my current clients, we have the same conversation about what the best gifts are to give to clients when we’re designing their client experience. We talk about when the best times are to send gifts, what types of gifts they should send, and how much they should spend on client gifts.
The types of gifts to send to interior design clients throughout the client process
Here are a few tips for you as you are figuring this out for yourself:
Handwritten cards. I like to send these when I first start working with someone, and when there is any downtime in their project (like when I'm working behind the scenes and there isn't a lot of visible "movement" on their end).
Sending a card at the beginning is also a great opportunity to keep them excited and feel like they are “getting something” if there is a wait before you actually get started with their project.
Welcome gifts. These are so specific to your industry and your clients but welcome gifts for interior designers and wedding planners should be something of high quality that your client will use often, not something arbitrary that has your logo on it. I repeat: NOT SOMETHING WITH YOUR LOGO ON IT.
If you are B2B (you sell to other businesses), you could send a welcome gift that’s in your client's brand colors or would be useful to your client's business. Add THEIR logo to it if you can, not yours. And please, make sure it’s not clutter!
If you are B2C (you sell to consumers), you could send a welcome gift in your client's favorite colors, or that would be used by their family, or that has their initials on it. Something they would use every day--not a small trinket or something that will clutter up their home!
Closing gifts. Depending on your industry and if your work is one where you have repeat clients and referrals, I recommend also sending a closing gift when the project has been wrapped. This again should be specific to your client and something they will use.
Annual / holiday gifts. While there is some controversy on whether you should send holiday gifts vs gifts at an unexpected time, most businesses do send something out during the holidays. I think it’s key here to focus on your VIP client list, not necessarily your entire client list. The VIP list will be the clients who consistently send referrals your way, who are wonderful to work with, and who have a great reputation in the community. Also, keep in mind: client gifts can be written off (sadly, only $25/client) BUT these gifts may be part of your overall branding and client experience and may fall under the Marketing/Advertising tax expense bucket. (Always check with your tax accountant for what is allowable).
How to identify your best interior design clients for client gifting
Work through your client roster to identify the top clients - your favorite clients or the ones who send you lots of referrals. This will help you to determine where to focus your marketing dollars. Then once you have the list of clients and the marketing budget identified, you can start planning your gift strategy.
A few favorite gifts: anything they will use everyday, luxury items they will use but wouldn’t necessarily splurge on themselves, something the whole family will use, an experience gift, or something monogrammed with your client’s initials (NOT YOUR LOGO).
I’d love to hear what you send to clients, or what your favorite gift has been to receive over on Instagram where you can see what others have shared in the comments.
If you aren’t sending anything and need help mapping out your client experience process, I’d love for you to check out my done-for-you Client Experience Templates or download my client experience blueprint below to identify where you can refine and elevate your process.
Talk soon!
Katie
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