30 Ways to Say “Thank You” to Collectors Who Buy your Art

By Aletta de Wal in Art Business Advice > A-Z Art Marketing Guide

Welcome back to “The ABC’s of Art Marketing”—an alphabet guide to marketing your art, from A to Z.

In today’s article, I’ll be focusing on the letter “T” for “Thank You.”

As you may remember, in S is for Sales I wrote about the importance of saying, “please and thank you.” That’s because in the excitement of exchanging art for money, it’s easy to downplay the many great gifts that art viewers bestow on us.

Not to mention, with so much business done online these days, you don’t always get the chance to say thank you in person. That’s why I believe it makes even more sense to make your “thank you’s” stand out.

Here are thirty ways for you to thank your collectors, fans, friends, and anyone else who supports you as an artist:

1. Say “thank you” in person with a smile on your face and in your eyes.
2. Say “thank you” on the telephone with a smile in your voice.
3. Say “thank you” in writing with a warm message.
4. Say “thank you” in a video with an artifact that connects you to each other.
5. Say why you’re thanking them.
6. Create classy plain notecards with their name embossed.
7. Create notecards with the piece of your art they bought.
8. Take them out to lunch or dinner at their favorite restaurant.
9. Take them to a play, musical, or sports event they would like.
10. Take them for a drive in the country or a trip to the city (wherever they’d prefer.)
11. Send a taxi, limo, or a designated driver to pick them up for openings.
12. Send a donation to a charity they support.
13. Send flowers or fruit with a balloon or chocolate.
14. Bake them a cake with “thank you” in icing.
15. Give them a gift card.
16. Give them a gift.
17. Ask if there is anything you can do for them.
18. Offer a gift with initial purchase, like a set of notecards.
19. Offer a service for the second purchase, like framing at cost.
20. Offer advanced notice and a preferred price for purchases three and up.
21. Offer to do an artist talk at the clients’ home for the unveiling of their purchase.
22. Register art and give certificates for insurance.
23. Arrange custom framing at cost and donate your time and labor.
24. Deliver art they purchased to their home.
25. Install art for them (any art, not just yours.)
26. Clean art for them (just yours—other art may require different methods.)
27. Rotate art for them (all art, not just yours.)
28. Select and install proper lighting for their art collection.
29. Take them to VIP events at galleries and the museum.
30. Invite them to a special preview of your new work “For VIP Clients Only.”

What other ways do you say thank you?

P.S. If you have international clients, here are some translations of the phrases “Thank You!” and “Thanks!” in other languages: http://budurl.com/ThanksTranslations, http://budurl.com/ThanksVideo.

Follow the links below to read more articles in “The ABC’s of Art Marketing”—an alphabet guide to marketing your art, from A to Z:

A – Appreciating your Audience

B – Building your Business Base

C – Communicating Clearly, Consistently and Cleverly

D – Diversifying Your Delivery

E – Educate, Entertain, Engage, Enrich, and Evolve

F – Fostering Friendly Familiarity

G – Give to Gain

H – Hiring Help

I – The 5 “I’s” of Art Marketing

J – Joining Juried Shows

K – Creating Good Karma