We all know that gift-giving is a science, but what exactly does that mean? It means learning what people like and dislike. The more information you have about the person you are buying for, the better chance of success you have. This article will help to teach you how to give gifts so they are not only appreciated but remembered!
On average, people in the UK spend around £500 on gifts. This is about $650 in America. Giving a gift makes you happy and can help to strengthen relationships. But if you give something that someone does not like, they might not be happy or feel closer to you.
Choosing the wrong gift can be damaging for relationships, according to Elizabeth Dunn of The University of British Columbia in Canada. Her research has shown that undesirable gifts can sometimes have a negative effect on how a person perceives future relationship potential with the gift giver.
“The wrong gifts can leave bad impressions,” Dunn says, “but there are still plenty of great or neutral ones that won’t.”
Price doesn’t equal success
Giving a thoughtful gift does not have to be expensive.
Research has shown that the more you spend on someone’s gift, the higher expectations are on their level of appreciation. But while givers associate spending more money with thoughtfulness, receivers do not always feel that your generous gesture is enough of an improvement over anything less than a certain amount.
This means that a gift of any size or price can result in the same level of appreciation from your receiver if you show them some thoughtfulness and creativity when choosing their present.
“There is evidence that recipients are not sensitive to the cost of a gift when they determine how much they’ll enjoy it,” said Jeff Galak, an associate professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business in Pittsburgh.
Galak, who studies consumer behaviour and decision making, acknowledges that tradition or expectations may require you to hit a certain price threshold in order for the gift giver to feel satisfied with their purchase. But once they do so what matters most is not how much something costs but instead it’s just about giving them an item regardless if it’s more valuable than another. “So the price of a gift is not something that determines how much they like it.”
This is an indication that the gift, not its price tag or value, can determine how well people like you.
This study suggests we should stop focusing so much on what to buy and instead focus on who it’s for because different gifts will produce a variety of emotional responses from recipients even if they cost about the same amount.
Givers give gifts to the people they love. They want to see the person smile when they get it. But what recipients care about is if they are happy with their gift over a long time period.
However, this doesn’t mean you should just grab anything on sale and call it a day. It’s important to consider the person you are buying for when making your purchase.
In other words, a movie-streaming service subscription might not be exciting to open on Christmas morning for the gift giver, however, for the movie loving recipient who isn’t a fan of going to the cinema, 12 months of Netflix or Prime video will be a gift they enjoy every day. if you’re lucky, they might even invite you round to watch with them
Another example is a subscription to their favourite magazine or an annual massage package – both gifts always appreciated by recipients who enjoy spending time catching up with magazines and/or getting regular massages themselves. A personal trainer’s gift certificate can also be a gift they’ll use to enjoy the company of someone else when putting in their workouts.
Ultimately, remember the joy of seeing someone opening the gift will never last as long as the enjoyment they will get from that gift so focus less on the big ‘wow’ and more on what the gift will mean to them in the long term.
Your gift doesn’t have to be unique
We all strive to give our recipients a gift they would never have thought of, however, a gift does not have to be unique in 