Suggestion Boxes - Start the Conversation

They're certainly not a new innovation and may not be the first product you'd think of to add impact to your in-store merchandising, but suggetion boxes or donation boxes are a great way to engage your customers and improve branding.


When a customer or client has a bad experience while shopping or doing business with your company they won't necessarily tell you about it. Sure, some people will let you know exactly what they think, but the other 90% will just keep there complaints (or compliments!) to themselves. Can you really afford not to know if customers are repeatedly having a bad experience or coming up against roadblocks in the buying process

This is where the suggestion box comes into it's own. It's a great non-threatening way to create a dialogue with your customers that allows you to keep your finger on the pulse of your business efforts.

The use of a donation box on the other hand is more of a positive branding excersice. Of course first and foremost it's a genuine means of giving something back to the community and helping those organisations and charities that do the important work of helping others, but undeniably your brand also stands to gain from an association with your charity of choice. It's a win-win scenario!

Suggestion boxes are often also used as ballot boxes by retailers and merchandisers. Sometimes shoppers need that extra allure of a prize to have them start their conversation with your brand. By creating a competition entry form that collects some particulars of your customers you then have a means of staying in touch with them and building a relationship. Think of all that money invested on your lease, the visual merchandising fixtures, the advertising and marketing material, all with the aim of getting customers through the door and to the register? Then what? They make a purchase and you might never see them again!

To get the best value from your marketing and merchandising spend, you need to engage with your customers and having a means of contact, whether it's email or postal addresses, is the first step in that relationship.

Of course you can take that ballot box and competition prize combination to a new level if you are able to incorporate a short survey into the entry form without deterring your customers. By asking a few basic questions you'll be able to collect information on a sample of your customers that can, over time, grow into an invalueable resource of information on your target market.

So there you have it, the wonders of suggestion boxes. Whether you use them as a donation box for your favourite charity or a ballot box for conversation starting competitions, they're a great way to engage your customer base and provide some valueable additional branding.