People freaking LOVE getting gifts. And it’s not only me saying that – research has actually proven that offering someone an unexpected gift is one of the quickest ways to form a bond with that person. We are wired to appreciate favors & treats! We love getting free stuff. And when that “free stuff” happens to be totally awesome, beautiful, inspiring or helpful? Instant love and connection happens.

What is a Welcome Gift, exactly?

A Welcome Gift is a free gift that you offer your customers — or potential customers — to say “thank you” for visiting your yoga studio, visiting your website, joining your social media tribe, attending a workshop, or hopping onto your mailing list.

A Welcome Gift can be…

A physical item. For example: You give new students a free yoga mat when they sign up for a yearly class pass or a beautiful gift bag to your retreat guests.

A digital item. For example: You give new mailing list sub-scribers a free in a PDF format.

A free taste. For example: You give new website visitors a free yoga video that gives them a taste of what your yoga classes are like.

A challenge. For example: You offer new mailing list subscribers a “Yoga Bootcamp Challenge” as a “thank you” for signing up for your list. Five days of daily emails with a link to a yoga video and more tips.

A checklist. For example: You give potential customers a pack list for a yoga retreat.

Anything you want — as long as it’s valuable for your audience and easy for you! (“Easy” meaning: it’s free or cheap for you to give, doesn’t take too much time to produce or distribute, and doesn’t make you feel “resentful” when you give it away.)

The point is to be generous, while showing people how smart & awesome you are — not just “build a bigger mailing list” for the hell of it.

If you’re feeling stumped and not sure what kind of Welcome Gift would be ideal for your customers — here’s a great question to ask yourself:

What is the biggest thing my customers are struggling with when they first arrive in my world?

And what’s one gift that could help them with… that?

It probably won’t be the full solution — you should encourage your gift recipient to come to your classes or workshops for additional support, of course — but it could be a great start.

How to share the goods

Once you’ve figured out what kind of Welcome Gift you want to create, it’s important to put it somewhere prominent and easy-to-spot. Don’t hide it away.

I recommend featuring your Welcome Gift somewhere on your website homepage, up towards the top, so people don’t have to scroll down to find it.

Like here on Wanda’s website:

Here are some other ideas where to tell people about your Welcome Gift…

• At the bottom of your blog posts. (“Get my free yoga xyz here…”)
• At the very bottom of your website (that’s called the “footer”).
• In the side area of your website (that’s called the “sidebar”).
• In a “pop-up” window.
• As a quick one-liner or “PS” in the signature field of your emails, below your name & contact info.
• On social media. (Maybe post an excerpt from your welcome gift with a link back to your website. Just a friendly way to remind people that you’ve got an awesome Welcome Gift waiting for them, in case they never noticed, or forgot!)