Do you run a business where you deliver products to customers? Maybe you sell on Etsy, have a Shopify store, or sell at craft fairs. If so, are you using professionally branded thank you stickers on your packaging?
I bet you are probably thinking it would cost a fortune to have custom branded thank you stickers for your business, right?
Well, good news! They aren’t expensive to make at all.
Today, I am going to show you exactly how you can DIY your own custom stickers using Canva, a thermal printer, and thermal sticker paper.
I am using:
- the pro version of Canva
- a Rollo thermal printer
- 2.25×2.25 round thermal stickers from OFFNOVA
You can achieve similar results with the free version of Canva. You just can’t use all of the pro sticker design templates I show in the video. But you can totally DIY your own sticker image using the instructions I’ve provided, or just choose one without the little crown in the corner.
This will also work with any thermal printer and any brand of thermal stickers. You can get sticker that are squares, circles, rectangles, or a number of different shapes and colors.
Video Tutorial Showing You How To Design A Custom Thank You Sticker With Canva
I made this video to show you step-by-step how to make custom thank-you stickers for your e-commerce business.
Pretty cool right?!?
There are so many different things you could use this process for.
You could make brand labels for your products, QR codes for freebies, and so much more. The possibilities are endless once you have the supplies and know what you are doing.
Set Up Canva To Make Your Circle Thank You Stickers
The first thing you need to do is create the sticker design in Canva.
If you don’t have an account, you can signup for a free account here and even get a 30-day free trial of the pro version. If you’ve got an account already, just sign in to your account.
Next, create a custom size template.
For this particular sticker, I am using a 2.25″ x 2.25″ inch size.
Once you have the blank page open, you can actually search for designs that are already made! Canva has a ton of thank-you sticker templates already made.
The ones that have the crown on the right corner are available only in the pro account, all the others can be used with the free account!
Using these thank-you sticker templates, you can literally have a custom sticker done in less than 5 minutes from start to finish.
To make sure that your design will fit on your sticker, you can use a circle shape element as an outline. Stretch the circle to fill the full box.
Before you print the sticker, just make sure to remove the circle in Canva, since you wouldn’t really want a circle inside of the circle sticker.
You can add custom text, branded font, your logo, icons, and more to the sticker.
If you aren’t sure what to do, just pick one of the thank you sticker templates they offer and customize those.
Seriously, using the templates makes the process so fast! Way better than just staring at a blank screen for a long time.
Once you’ve finished your design and have it how you want, download the image and print it out! *Don’t forget to remove the original circle outline if you used one*
Click the “Share” button on Canva, then “download” the sticker image as a png.
Once you have the image on your computer, you’ll print it out using your thermal printer.
Just like that! You’ve got custom thank you stickers you can put on your shipping supplies or directly on the packaging of your product.
Supplies Needed To Print Your Own Thermal Stickers At Home
Now that we have covered exactly how to design, create, and print your own thank you labels, let’s look at the supplies you need on hand to make them. To print thermal stickers from home, you just need 3 things.
Design Software To Create Stickers
You need something to create the sticker design. I use my computer and the Canva design software.
Canva has a free option as well as a pro option that is like $12.99 a month. I have been a paid member for years now.
You can get a free 30-day trial of the pro account here if you don’t have the account already.
You can also use any other design program that you are familiar with. Some people use procreate on their iPad, some people use Photoshop, and some use PicMonkey. I’m sure there are even more design programs I’m unfamiliar with.
I just use Canva since I already have it and am familiar with it.
Plus, they have a ton of Thank You sticker templates available for free, so it makes it that much easier for me.
You can even upload your own images.
That means you can upload your logo or any graphics that you use in your branding.
Thermal Printer To Print Your Stickers With
For this thank-you stickers tutorial, I’m using my Rollo thermal printer. But, you can use any thermal printer.
There are even some specially made for printing small stickers. I’ve seen many people talking about the Phomemo label maker.
I just haven’t used it myself so I can’t say how good it works. I did notice the biggest size it can print is 48mm, so just under 2 inches. That means it wouldn’t work with the stickers I have.
If you are shipping in your business, I highly recommend getting a thermal printer that will work for your shipping labels as well. This will save you a lot of money on ink and they print so much faster thank an inkjet printer or even a laser printer.
Here are some of the printers I recommend checking out if you don’t have a thermal printer already.
Thermal Sticker Paper To Print Your Thank You Stickers On
Thermal printers use special sticker paper to print on. These are usually called thermal labels rather than thermal stickers, so keep that in mind when searching for thermal sticker supplies.
The stickers I use in the tutorial video above are the OFFNOVA 2.25″ x 2.25″ White Circle with Pink Ink.
There are a lot of really pretty labels available that would work well for printing your own thank you stickers.
Most of the time the ink is black. So, your color comes from the sticker itself. For mine, I fell in love with the colored ink on white. I also have rectangles with white sticker paper and blue ink.
Next I’ll be trying these rainbow stickers with a wavy edge. They look really fun! I’ll just have to figure out how to make the design fit in the spot. I also hope they are as iridescent as they look in the image.
How Much Does It Cost To Print Your Own Thank You Stickers At Home
I know how important it is to keep costs down as much as possible when running a small business. That’s why I love this option of printing my own stickers at home rather than ordering them from a company.
And let’s face it, I prefer to change things up quite often so having the ability to just print a few at a time gives me that option.
For this first cost breakdown, I’m going to assume you don’t have any of these sticker printing materials yet.
So, if you already have some, then the overall cost will be much lower.
Getting Started Supplies Expenses:
- Rollo Printer – $200
- Canva Pro – $13/month
- 500 Circle Stickers – $25.00
This brings the startup cost for your first batch of custom thank you stickers to $238.
Once you have the initial supplies, you would be looking at a cost of under $.05 for each thank you sticker if you use the same ones that I did.
If you wanted to print custom thank you stickers from stickermule they would cost $152 for 500 of them.
The roll of sticker labels I used costs $25, so that’s a difference of $127. That’s almost enough to pay for a Rollo printer and it’s definitely enough to pay for a less expensive thermal printer on Amazon.
Benefits Of Using A Thermal Printer To Make Your Custom Thank You Stickers
You may be asking yourself why I am using a thermal printer to make these custom thank you stickers instead of a regular inkjet printer. And that’s a great question!
Using a thermal printer to make your own thank you stickers offers several benefits.
Firstly, thermal printers are designed specifically for printing labels and stickers, which means that they are capable of producing high-quality, precise prints that look professional and crisp.
They are also super fast and can handle large volumes of prints, making them a great option for small business owners who want to print a large number of stickers quickly.
Another considerable benefit is thermal printers use heat to create the print, which means there is no need for ink or toner cartridges. This means the overall cost per print is much less, and there is not a lot of waste.
Thermal printers are also generally compact and easy to use, making them a great option for those small business owners who want to make stickers at home without the need for a large, complicated industrial printing setup.
Overall, using a thermal printer to make thank you stickers is a great option and one I highly recommend.
15 Ways You Can Use Custom Thank You Stickers In Your Small Business
As we wrap up this tutorial post, I thought it would be fun to give you 15 ways you can use your custom printed thank you stickers in your small business. Since you can print these stickers, on demand, from home or your office the possibilities are endless!
Here are 15 ways you can use your new thank you stickers:
- Place thank you stickers on shipping packaging or product packaging as a gesture of appreciation to your customers.
- Use thank you stickers to seal envelopes or packages.
- Include a thank you sticker with promotional or marketing materials to reinforce brand recognition.
- Customize thank you stickers with the customer’s name or order details for a personalized touch. Think about how a customer would feel if their name was ON the thank you sticker!
- Offer a discount or freebie to customers who share photos of their products with the thank you sticker visible.
- Create seasonal or holiday-themed thank you stickers to add a festive touch to packages or products.
- Encourage customer reviews or feedback by including a thank you sticker with a request to leave a review, this can even be done with a scannable QR code right on the sticker.
- Create thank you stickers in multiple languages to show appreciation to customers from different countries.
- Use thank you stickers as part of a packaging design to add a unique and memorable touch.
- Customize thank you stickers with a special message or offer for repeat customers or VIPs.
- Use thank you stickers to promote a social media hashtag or encourage customers to share their experience buying from you.
- Create thank you stickers that promote a cause or charity that your business supports.
- Create thank you stickers that are designed to be collected or traded, adding an element of fun and excitement for customers. This would take more work, but could be really fun!
- Use thank you stickers to promote a special event or sale, encouraging customers to come back and shop again.
- Create thank you stickers with QR codes that lead to a special offer or exclusive content for customers.
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial for creating custom thank you stickers!
