Surprise and Delight: Meaning and How to Use It

By Alva Chew · Updated 2026-11-07

Definition Surprise and delight marketing is an unannounced reward given to a customer who did not expect it, such as a free pastry or a bonus on their points. Research on unexpected in-store coupons suggests a pleasant surprise can lift what shoppers buy on that trip. For a small shop the cheapest way to run it is as an occasional gift in the same points currency your regulars already collect.

What is surprise and delight?

Surprise and delight is a tactic where a business gives a customer a reward they did not expect. Examples are a free cookie with a regular’s order, a thank-you on a customer’s birthday, or a bonus on their balance after a quiet week.

The key part is the lack of warning. A reward the customer was promised is a loyalty benefit. A reward that arrives unannounced is a gift. That is why the tactic is usually run next to a program with published rules and not in place of one.

What does the research say?

The most direct academic test is a 2002 paper by Heilman, Nakamoto and Rao in the Journal of Marketing Research. It studied unexpected in-store coupons, such as electronic shelf coupons and peel-off coupons.

Question	What the authors predicted and tested
Does a surprise coupon change the size of the basket?	They predicted it raises basket size on that trip
Does it change what else is bought?	They predicted more unplanned purchases, and which types of item
How did they test it?	An in-store experiment plus analysis of shopper data

Source: Heilman, Nakamoto and Rao, Journal of Marketing Research 39(2), 2002, publication record read 7 November 2026. The full text and numerical results were not accessible, so no figures from the paper are quoted here.

Two limits matter for a small shop. The study is about coupons in a store, not gifts in a café. And it describes one trip, not whether customers come back more often over months.

How does it compare with a points program?

	Surprise and delight	Points program
Customer knows the rule in advance	No	Yes
Customer can plan around it	No	Yes
Cost is predictable	Only if you set a budget	Yes, through the earn rate and reward cost
Works as a reason to come back	Weakly, because it cannot be counted on	Yes, because the balance is visible

A surprise cannot replace the visible balance. It adds a pleasant moment on top of it.

How do you run it on a small budget?

Set a monthly cap. Decide the total in US$ you will give away before the first gift.
Cost the gift at what it costs you. A US$4 pastry that costs US$1 to make uses US$1 of the cap.
Pick moments, not rules. A customer’s tenth visit, a rainy day, or a first return after a long gap.
Give it in person. Say it out loud at the counter so the customer connects it to you.
Keep a note of what you gave. You will want to know if the same customers receive it every time.

Why give the surprise in points?

A bonus on the balance is cheaper and simpler to track than a free item. It costs you nothing until the customer redeems, and the customer can see it land in the balance they already watch. It also keeps everything in one currency, which avoids new rules such as separate vouchers or gamification mechanics that regulars have to learn.

A points bonus works best when the base program is clear. Set your earn rate first, and read loyalty rewards customers actually redeem so the balance a surprise adds is worth spending. A one-off sign-up bonus is the one reward most programs already give that works like a planned surprise.

What goes wrong?

It becomes a habit. A gift that happens every Friday is now a promise.
It goes to the wrong people. Customers who already visit weekly may need it less than those who have drifted away.
It is not counted. Without a budget and a note, you cannot tell what it cost.

How Gimify fits

Gimify is a points-only program in which staff add or redeem points on any phone at the counter, and members see a live balance on a card in Google Wallet. That gives a small shop one balance to build any gift around. The free plan covers one outlet with unlimited members.

Questions owners ask

What does surprise and delight mean in marketing?

It means giving a customer something they were not promised, such as a free item, a bonus or a handwritten note. The customer did not know it was coming, so it reads as a gift and not as a deal.

Does surprise and delight actually increase sales?

One peer-reviewed study of unexpected in-store coupons predicted and tested that a surprise coupon raises basket size and unplanned purchases on the same trip. Nobody has published a figure for a small shop, so treat any result as something to measure yourself.

How is surprise and delight different from a loyalty program?

A loyalty program has published rules: spend, earn, redeem. Surprise and delight has no rule the customer can see. The two work together, because a points balance gives you a clear way to hand out a gift.

How much should a surprise cost?

Set a small monthly budget before you start and count the real cost of the gift, not its menu price. A pastry that costs you US$1 to make costs US$1, even if it sells for US$4.

Can customers learn to expect the surprise?

Yes. Once a gift becomes predictable it works like a promised reward. Vary who gets it and when, and keep the guaranteed rewards in your points program.