Have you noticed that every year there have been fewer traditional printed Christmas cards arriving in the post? Seems that many businesses are 'saving the trees' and also some money by sending electronic cards but ... do they mean the same?

First let's look at why it's so important to send any type of greeting card. Have you heard of Joe Girard? Yes he's an American but also the world's greatest salesperson. Joe Girard, sold 13,001 cars during his fifteen year selling career and for 12 consecutive years he outsold every other salesperson in the USA. In fact, he sold so many cars he was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records so perhaps we could learn something from Joe.

Greeting Cards Were His Secret Weapon

As reported by The Detroit News, Joe sent out nearly 13,000 cards a month. Birthday cards, Christmas cards ... any celebration was an opportunity for Joe to send a card and build relationships. You see Joe knew the secret of putting energy into retaining existing customers rather than only chasing new customers.

It's true sending your clients a greeting card is smart marketing to increase customer loyalty and sales just by showing them you care, but unlike Joe most businesses don't get to employ two people dedicated to sending cards. And perhaps when Joe was sending out paper cards there was no such thing as an environmental conscious. Perhaps emailing greeting cards is a better alternative but ensure you reflect a professional image for your business.

Eight Tips for Great eCards

1. Don't skimp on the graphic design

What you save on printing and posting spend on a good graphic designer. Don't send a homemade looking eCard. Research shows that a quarter of people who receive an email card from a company think they send it that way because of cost saving - so whatever you do don't make your eCards look cheap.

2. Tailor it to your business

Do not use a generic off-the-shelf eCard design. Your logo must be included into the graphic design and not just 'dropped' into a space. Make it specific to your industry, even have some information about your business. 40% who receive an email card from a company think it is a branding exercise so make sure your branding exercise is a positive one.

3. Add an offer

Give something away, especially for birthday eCards. This could be a voucher, special 'deal', even a free report but it must be of value to your customer. Make it only available via the eCard so you can also measure its effectiveness, and making it exclusive to the eCard also makes your customer feel extra special.

4. Comply to Spam Laws

Make sure there's a functioning unsubscribe that will also cancel all pre-set eCards as well as remove them from your email newsletter list. You can be fined if a subscriber removes themselves from your list but then later receives something from you, even if it is an eCard.

5. Use humour

People like to laugh. Even purchase a cartoon to use. There are some great sites by very reputable cartoonists that allow you to choose categories of comics. Make sure you change it every year - people don't want the same cartoon two years in a row. Research has shown that two thirds of people prefer to receive eCards to paper greeting cards from business; 16% for environmental reasons. (Great Look Email Marketing)

6. Track the forwards

Measure how many people forward your eCard to friends. If you your eCard is worth forwarding to friends, you might initiate a successful viral campaign. According to a 2009 survey almost half of people who received an emailed greeting card forwarded it on.

7. Less is more

Reduce the number of words. Make the picture the focus, just like you would with a traditional card. And don't try to "sell" on the eCard - it will be counterproductive.

8. "Hi John"

Use your customer's name. From the Email Newsletter Survey 2007 we know that 35% of people like personalisation and only 7% don't (the others don't mind) so do not address it to "Dear valued customer"!
What if you sent a card to clients throughout the year for other occasions? Like their birthday, a renewal or on the anniversary that they started dong business with you. All this is fine if you have the system in place and/or the man power. So if sending birthday cards is one of those things you are always going to get around to, then set it up to be done automatically via your email newsletter subscriber list.

A final word. Sending greeting cards via email might sound a bit impersonal but at least you are doing it. In fact research is showing that it doesn't really matter how you do it, if you acknowledge a client's special day, like a birthday, they see you as caring.

www.profitune.com