### Nearly 31% of all promotional products orders are for wearables. The next favorite purchase is writing instruments (10%), then calendars (6.5%).  So if you are looking for the tried and proven, think shirts, caps, jackets, tshirts, pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, wall and wallet calendars, desk diaries, pocket secretaries, etc.

*** Generate customer referrals using promotional products. A study by Baylor University found that customers who received promotional products are more willing to provide leads than customers who don't receive promotional products. Of the 200 people who responded to the survey, 14% of the customers who RECEIVED promotional products provided referals. Salespeople who GAVE promotional products received 22% more referrals than salespeople who didn't. Providing promotional gifts to customers increases the likelihood of them providing your salespeople with business referrals and increases the number of leads generated. Used within a one time promotion to expand your customer base OR as an approach to insure the continuous growth of your business, promotional products are an effective tool.

*** Promotional products can increase the traffic to an exhibitor's trade show booth. A study conducted by Exhibit Survey Inc., found that using promotional products can give you an advantage over other exhibitors for buyer attention. To learn which gift combinations had the best results, researchers measured booth traffic, post show memory of having received the invitation and registrant goodwill toward the company after the show. Invitations were sent to 4,900 trade show registrants who received zero to three gifts (before, at, and/or after the show). Booth traffic was significantly higher for attendees who received a gift before and at the show than those who did not.  The response rate was highest for those attendees who were sent a "gift set" of a coaster prior to the show and a mug at the show. This gift set also increased the memorability of the invitation to visit the booth and proved to increase the goodwill towards the company after the show.

***Customers who receive promotional products, on average, return sooner and more frequently, and spend more money than customers who receive coupons. In two separate studies, SMU researchers tested whether promotional products would out perform coupons in the area of repeat business. In the first study of a Food Delivery Service, customers who received promotional products reordered more quickly (up to 18% sooner) and ordered more ( again up to 18% more) than those who received coupons.  In the second study of a Dry Cleaner, over an eight month period, new customers that received promotional products spent 27% more than those who received coupons, and 139% more than those who only received a welcome letter. Promotional product recipients were also 49% more likely than coupon recipients and 75% more likely than letter recipients to patronize the dry cleaner in EACH of the eight months studied. In summary, new customers who received promotional products spent more and were more regular customers than those who did not receive promotional products.