Surprise and delight marketing is all about going beyond the transactional, to create unforgettable, unexpected experiences for your customers.It’s about surpassing expectations and sparking genuine joy—leaving a lasting impression that transforms casual shoppers into lifelong advocates for your brand.

When it comes to surprise and delight campaigns, they can be a lot like flossing. You know it’s essential, but finding the time, energy, and motivation can feel like a challenge. And let’s not forget the biggest hurdle in retail—budget. How do you justify the ROI on initiatives centered around emotional connections, personal loyalty, and relationship building?

The answer lies in one simple question: What is your customer truly worth to you? How do you quantify the value of a loyal brand advocate—someone who keeps coming back, shopping with you for years, and enthusiastically recommending your brand to everyone they know?

In my opinion, that kind of loyalty is priceless. This (lost) art of surprise and delighting our customer is back with a vengeance. Here are three tips to build priceless loyalty.
 

Getting started:

So, where do you start? With your most valuable resource—your Customer Service team. They’re on the front lines, engaging with your customers every single day. They see it all—the wins that make your brand shine and the pain points that hold you back. Their firsthand experience offers invaluable insights into who you should be targeting and when, setting the foundation for a truly impactful campaign.

Next, tap into your PR team’s creativity. They’re experts at crafting branded moments, designing standout mailers, and coordinating with the right vendors to bring your surprise-and-delight initiatives to life.

Here’s an example: we recently had a customer reach out because her same-day order hadn’t shipped, and she needed her outfit that night for a party celebrating the end of her cancer treatment. This customer shops with us almost weekly, so our Customer Service team quickly arranged a personal courier to deliver the outfit on time. But they didn’t stop there—they reached out to let me know about the situation so we could take this brand experience to the next level.
 

Working with our PR team, we sent her one of our deluxe PR mailers along with a few MESHKI pieces she’d wish listed but hadn’t purchased, accompanied by a note thanking her for her loyalty and congratulating her on completing her treatment.
 

With the right tools, like Klaviyo, you can go even deeper with these core moments. By analyzing customer data—what they’re browsing, wish listing, and buying—you can ensure your surprises feel deeply personal and aligned with what they love most about your brand. Surprise and delight doesn’t always have to be grand. Sometimes, the simplest gestures, backed by smart data and genuine care, can leave the biggest impression.

On a smaller scale, surprise and delight can be as simple as paying attention to your customers’ behavior. If someone is shopping with you every week, take a closer look at their activity data. Do they have items sitting in their cart or wishlist that they haven’t purchased yet? These are golden opportunities to make their day. Imagine the impact of sending them a product they’ve been eyeing, completely out of the blue—it’s a thoughtful gesture that shows you’re paying attention.

Brands frequently send free products to influencers, hoping for exposure, but the new age of social media has shifted the game. Today, it’s genuine, customer-generated content that’s making waves and going viral. When you delight an everyday customer, the authenticity of their excitement resonates far beyond a paid partnership. It’s this organic, heartfelt reaction that turns a simple act into a viral moment, amplifying your brand’s reach and reinforcing your connection with your audience.

Calendared moments:

There’s also power in leveraging key calendar moments to create thoughtful campaigns that still align with your core marketing messages cross-channel.

Earlier this year, we ran a Valentine’s Day surprise-and-delight initiative, sending bouquets of roses, heartfelt notes, and $50 gift vouchers to 40 of our top customers around the world who had shopped our Valentine’s Day collection.

Using Klaviyo’s segmentation tools, we identified the perfect customers for this activation based on criteria tailored to the campaign, making it both strategic and heartfelt. This ensures your efforts are laser-focused on the right people, maximizing the impact of your campaign. Segmentation transforms a great idea into an actionable plan.

Starting Small:

At this point, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by the time and resources these campaigns seem to require. But here’s the good news—it’s easy to start small!

Begin by creating a segment of your most loyal customers. This could be based on factors like purchase frequency, total spend, or their tier status within your loyalty program. Once you’ve identified your VIPs, start reaching out to them regularly with something simple yet impactful: an all-text email that feels personal and thoughtful, as if it’s coming directly from a member of your Customer Service team.

In these emails, include small but meaningful gestures to show your appreciation. It could be a code for free express shipping, an exclusive sneak peek at an upcoming collection, a gift card for their next purchase, or even just a heartfelt thank-you note acknowledging their continued support. These little surprises go a long way in building emotional connections and loyalty.

The beauty of this approach is that it doesn’t require a big budget or elaborate planning. It’s about starting with what you have and focusing on creating genuine, one-to-one moments with your best customers. Over time, you can scale these efforts and experiment with more elaborate campaigns. But for now, keep it simple, authentic, and heartfelt—your customers will notice and appreciate the effort.

TL;DR: Harness customer insights to deliver unexpected joy
1. Partner with your Customer Service and PR teams: Collaboration is key—lean on your team’s expertise to know when and how to act.

2. Harness the power of your data: Have a brilliant idea for a campaign but no idea who to target? Look to your data. Tools like Klaviyo enable you to segment your audience based on specific criteria, such as purchase history, browsing behavior, location data, demographic criteria and more!
 

3. Truly know your customer: Understanding your audience goes beyond surface-level data. Dive deep into profile-level insights to uncover what resonates with them. What products do they love? What moments are they shopping for and how does your brand align with their lives? By identifying their preferences, you can create campaigns that feel genuinely delightful. A campaign isn’t just about the gesture—it’s about ensuring the gesture feels meaningful.

Combining team collaboration, data-driven targeting, and customer insights through Klaviyo allows you to make informed strategic decisions. You’ll know exactly who to target, the perfect timing to surprise them, and how to delight them.  Start small, but think big—every act of delight builds brand loyalty, turning customers into lifelong advocates who not only return but share their experiences with others.