Surprise and delight: What it is and brands who get it right

Hosting a surprise birthday party is on my bucket list. What better way to celebrate a loved one than with meticulous, secretive planning complete with a bounty of presents and delectable eats?

Marketers can take a play from the event planner’s book by implementing surprise and delight for their audiences through social media.

In this article, we’ll define what surprise and delight means, along with some ideas to get you inspired. We’ll also showcase brands that have embraced their inner hostess with the mostess to surprise their customers and develop their brand affinity.

What is surprise and delight?

Surprise and delight is a marketing technique that attracts and nurtures potential and current clientele by offering positive customer experiences and/or unexpected rewards like gifts or one-of-a-kind events.

This approach can foster brand awareness and affinity because it creates memorable moments with customers, especially if the brand personalizes the gift or experience. Some companies use it as a retention strategy as well.

Everyone loves random acts of kindness, but if a brand is able to show they understand the wants and needs of their customer base, they can gain customer loyalty. If a surprise and delight idea is executed well, customers are more likely to advocate for the brand, especially on social media.

How to surprise and delight customers

Surprise and delight marketing in practice can take various forms. Gifts like coupons, discounts and certificates are used, but brands can get creative when it comes to surprising their customers.

Use social listening to power connections with your customers and fuel your surprise and delight marketing ideas. After all, the goal of surprise and delight is to foster or maintain a relationship with your customers.

Reviewing customer conversations and trending topics can help you pinpoint opportunities for your brand.  By paying attention to social listening trends, you can figure out what is capturing your audience’s attention. For example, if there’s a trend that your audience loves, it’s probably a good indication to hop on the wave.

Along with social listening, use social media sentiment analysis to see how your customers feel about your brand. This will help inspire surprise and delight efforts based on your customers’ perception and expectations.

Surprise and delight ideas

Here are a few quick bulleted ideas to help you understand what surprise and delight looks likes in practice:

Rely on emotion. The heart of social media is human connection, so sending an emotional gesture like a thank you card can go a long way.Host an event. Turn your online connections into a real-life experience.Digital surprise. Send a phone screen background or customized profile picture. Get creative with today’s tech.Offer a free sample. This one is self-explanatory—we all love free stuff.Help them celebrate a milestone. Send a bouquet, trophy or another celebration gift.Send a care package of personalized goodies. Show you took the time to think about what your customer would enjoy.Provide a solution. Show you care for your customers by giving them personalized assistance.

Surprise and delight examples: the brands who’ve won over hearts

Let’s go over a few examples of brands who really understand surprise and delight marketing—they would definitely be go-to coordinators for a surprise party:

Qualtrics

Qualtrics made guests' dreams come true at Brandweek 2019. The experience management company asked conference attendees to Tweet them a wish and they promised to deliver in real time.

A pillow, a dog, a margarita and a lot of @PopeyesChicken sandwiches were dreams made real at #brandweek. Meet the @Qualtrics Dream Team that made it happen. https://t.co/eROFs1ZUcZ pic.twitter.com/qH6OOXOT9I

— Chris Ariens (@ChrisAriens) November 14, 2019