Hey y’all, 

This morning, I got a package. I was expecting it – an order from a teeny tiny brand outside of Prague (probably a one-woman operation if I’m being honest). Maybe 7500 followers on Instagram. Tiny. 

So when I ordered, I kind of expected the tiny brand thing, where it takes a little longer to ship out, might not get a tracking number – you know the drill. 

But I ordered it 5 days ago. I had a tracking number the next day. 

I was pretty excited to get this order, but inside was something I didn’t expect: 

And yes, the pottery is stupid cool, but I want to draw your attention to the tiny Post-it in the photo.

“Thank u for such a big order! It really made my day! <3”

🥹🥹🥹

It’s clear she has a general thank-you card she adds to all her orders, but she took the time to pull a post-it, write a personal thank-you, and stick it on top of that card. 

It got me thinking about the little things that make a big difference. And naturally, as I was unboxing my badass spikey cauldron mugs, my mind wandered, and I couldn’t stop thinking about hand-written notes. 

Over half of them specifically mentioned a handwritten note in a gifting package. 

They weren’t prompted. The question wasn’t leading – it was an open-ended text box. 

Those handwritten notes do something to us. 

You’re used to the stickers. You’re used to the invoice. You’re even used to the immediately-recycled printed thank-you card included in the box. 

But that scrawled ballpoint monstrosity makes the neurons in your brain buzz. 

I work from home and see my colleagues once a year. Most of my closest friends live on the other side of the planet. My family is an ocean away. 

Those little human touches mean everything to me. I’m probably not alone in terms of general social isolation. We have the circles that we see in person, we go shopping, and we interact with people. 

But, if you’re anything like me, those interactions are getting fewer and further between. Post-Covid, life basically moved online (more than it already had been).

I’m sure we’ve all heard “touch grass.” Hell, it was so popular that Nike did a whole campaign about it. 

My point is, humans are social creatures. That’s the whole reason influencer marketing even exists in the first place. Humans love humans, despite ourselves. We love talking to each other, watching each other do things, and interacting. 

And in a world where you order your groceries, and you’re no stranger to opening brown, lifeless boxes – a tiny handwritten note reminds you “another human packed this for me.”

It’s no wonder that creators highlighted that as something that made them feel special. I feel special. 

I know that sometimes, you can’t. You might work remotely, and your logistics department is located in a completely different place. I get it. 

If that’s not the case, though, it’s free real estate. It’s something that costs you maybe 30 seconds per package – and yeah, that time is expensive because it adds up. 

But it could be the difference between a creator posting or not. It doesn’t cost much to make someone feel special. 

Now, I’m not going to tell you that a handwritten note is going to get Pedro Pascal to post about your shaving cream. 

I’m also not going to tell you that a handwritten note will be the teaspoon of sugar that helps your laundry list of demands go down. 

What I will tell you is that when you meet the baseline standard of what a creator expects, and you throw in that 10% of extra, it makes a huge difference. 

Especially when all the others aren’t doing that. 

You know I already ate all the candy, 
Whitney 🦇
Content R&D at Modash. Send hate mail to LinkedIn 

Who they are: Samia Benchaou – a modest fashion influencer based out of Copenhagen. 

Why she’s worth a follow: I adore Samia for her absolutely unapologetic confidence. She went viral for her styling videos “as a hijabi” – and she is fierce. She shows how to style different high-fashion pieces in a modest way (or as she says, “to keep it halal”). She’s also super innovative – I’ve seen her use earrings as faux lip rings or charms on a jacket. Just absolutely infectious energy all around. 

Dream collab: I know there are modest high-fashion brands out there. Samia would be the absolute perfect person to showcase those brands and get them out into the general consciousness. She’s to a point where she’s reaching non-muslim audiences (hello) – so it would be great to see more of those brands highlighted for the general public too. It’s only summer 6 weeks out of the year anyway (maybe that’s just Normandy, though).