You can use online technology to say thank you to your frequent customers by offering gifts, coupons, information – or by selling more product. Hold on a second – by selling more? That’s right!

Here’s how:

Some “big brands” offer thank you gifts online. Only those who have signed up for an e-mail list or check the site often will hear about the special promotion. When people share it with their friends it only means valued customers are sharing their love for a brand.

• Alternative Rock band Coldplay offers a free download of their live album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft, on Coldplay.com in exchange for an email address.
• Zappos, the largest online store, emails their shoppers about Free Shipping, Free 365 Day Returns and Weekly Free Clothing Giveaways. The weekly winner received merchandise of up to $200 from Zappos.com.

When people visit your site and fill out a simple contact form and hit submit, they probably get redirected to a Thank You page. Are you using this page to truly thank your customers? Are you also using it as sales opportunity?

As soon as a website visitor joins your e-mail list or fills out a form, s/he has one question: “What happens now?” First, let your reader know they have successfully accomplished the goal of the form that loaded the Thank You page. (eg: “Your message has been received by customer support. Someone get back with you shortly.”) Tell them in detail what comes next. Do you have a new product to direct them to? A great news story for them to read?

A thank you page can also be a great place for a video. Here you can describe in detail, as only you can, face-to-face, why you appreciate the user visiting your website and what you have to offer that no one else does.

If you’ve ever ordered printed items online from Vistaprint, you probably know that their website is the King of Thank You’s. Offers automatically appear after your purchase with notes like: “Thanks for purchasing your magnets from Vistaprint. If you act in the next 25 minutes, you can order matching address labels for Half OFF with no additional shipping! ACT NOW!” Only those who have actually made a purchase will be able to view these special offers.

Online Social Networking also offers opportunities to say thank you. You can “follow” a business or promote their content on Twitter, “Like” their page on Facebook, “Share” their online message with those you are connected with online, write a recommendation on LinkedIn, or you can contribute to a discussion on their blog. Obviously, these are smaller thank-you’s and are only appropriate for the smaller occasions. Someone who introduced you to your new boss probably deserves more than just a “Tweet”.

THE CLIENT

Hess Pediatric Ophthalmology Specialists is an experienced father-son team helping children in Florida’s Tampa Bay Area with their eyecare needs. From simply needing glasses to more serious eye surgery, they try to help children feel comfortable and part of the process.

The team just moved into the newly built Outpatient Care Center of St. Petersburg, Florida’s All Children’s Hospital, and used the move as an opportunity to develop a brand to match the look and feel of their new office space.

THE PROJECT

Over the years, the Drs. Hess never developed a brand, website, logo, etc. We started from scratch, using the interior decor of the new office as our guide. We were given the wall colors, the pattern of the brightly colored floor tiles, and the following adjectives: Clean, Euro and Streamlined. Everything in the office needed to be built to withstand hundreds of children each week – plastic, leather and vinyl in bright hues of green, orange and blue.

DISCUSSION

We were asked to develop a logo, business cards, a web site and a postcard to help referring physicians announce the Hess relocation. After meeting with Dr. Hess’ wife, we determined that the logo should reflect eyes, not eyeglasses, and should be kid friendly, modern and bright. We chose a font online together, and she also asked that the website background match the bright pattern on the office floor.

SOLUTION

Brand: The Hess logo design is simple black and white font-based art with the addition of a brightly colored eyeball. Marketing studies show that the human eye is drawn to other eyes (and the bigger the pupil the better), so this round eye creates a focal point and helps viewers absorb the message. It also reflects the kid friendly and approachable tone they required to lessen the seriousness of the “big words” in their corporate name.

The logo can be reproduced easily on a variety of marketing materials with a different colored background. We suggested the royal blue from their office as the standard background color, because blue often represents both trust and medicine.

The one eyeball in the artwork gave us a hint of a one-eyed monster of some sort. To this end, we imagined a one-eyed Ophthasaurus, with the idea of allowing their young patients to determine what an Ophthasaurus should look like. The kids’ drawings could be pasted up in the office.

We worked with a local sign company to make a vinyl version of their logo to stick on the wall of their waiting area (shown below). Office signs were also made for the front door and to direct parents from the exam room to the check out area using the same font and colors.

Business Cards: The business cards reflected the as-yet-to-be-seen Ophthasaurus, with the use of a white “blob” to house contact information on the front of the card. Because the office was not only new to the doctors, but new to the downtown skyline, we used the back of the business card to provide a map for patients.

Web Design: The custom designed website was built using WordPress software along with our own HTML and PHP programming, so that future updates, including posting patient forms, may be made easily by office staff. It reflects the approachable tone of the logo and office culture.

We utilized an eye chart in the site design to immediately let web visitors know if they were on the right web site. (Not every person Googling “Dr. Hess” would be on the right site, and not everyone being directed to the site knows what an Ophthalmologist does.)

Professional photos of actual patients gave us adorable photos for the web site. Rather than purchasing stock photography, we increased the probability of people in the local community recognizing a friendly face on the website and finding an immediate emotional connection with the Hess office.

Postcard: The same smiling photos found in the office and on the website were used on the postcard design. Pediatricians who recommend Dr. Hess’ office will receive a stack of postcards to hand out, which include the new address, phone number, web address and a map to the new location.

WHAT THE CLIENT THINKS

“The logo and map are fantastic!”

“I adore the business cards. I am so impressed.”

“I love the postcard and think it is perfect!”

“Putting our logo up on the wall of our office completed what was missing.”