"You Ask…I Answer" – Should I Send Clients Holiday Cards?
Question:
Dear Susan:
What are your thoughts on holiday cards? In my old firm we used to begrudgingly send them out every year. I am reconsidering sending out holiday cards this year and maybe do something else instead. Like donating the money I would have spent on holiday cards to my favorite charity and maybe sending out e-cards instead. Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Answer:
You ask a good question. In terms of marketing, the purpose of holiday cards is to let your clients know you are thinking of them and to remind them that you are their lawyer. Also, a tangible reminder stands out in this day and age of digital communications. In a strange way it's delightfully startling and rather intimate to see a hand written note and therefore a memorable communication.
Traditionally, by sending them out around the winter holidays, it is a gentle reminder you are around in January when most people take ’action’ on legal matters they put off because of the holidays.
That being said, you also want to stand out. Imagine if instead you did donate to a charity and the charity sent a thank you card to each individual client letting them know you donated on their behalf? You wouldn’t have to spend money on anything additional such as cards and postage to notify the client of the donation.
In the alternative, I’ve known people who send out cards on ’off’ holidays to stand out. Some will send out Thanksgiving cards to get a jump on the holiday season and hope the card stays visible from Thanksgiving through New Year's.
One client who just represents fathers in custody battles sends out Father's day cards designed by her clients' children! What could be more appropriate for her practice than that!
Ultimately, you have to do what is right for you. If you’d rather donate to a charity, get the tax deduction and have the gesture stand out to your clients, this may be the way to go.
However, I would not send out e-cards as follow-up. That is highly impersonal. If the charity sends cards as a thank you for the donation on your clients' behalf, best there be a tangible piece of mail they receive as follow up. Why? Besides being more personal it is a conversation piece which will get displayed on a mantle along with other holiday cards and will showcase what a civic minded guy you are to your clients' family, friends, etc. It becomes a marketing piece to those people your client would be most inclined to refer to you.
There is nothing wrong with being naturally civic-minded and allowing this generous act to serve double-duty as a marketing opportunity with your clients.
Hope this helps.
And if my readers have other ideas, please do share.
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I would agree that sending an e-card is not a great idea. In today’s fast paced world of the internet, emails, social media and the like, a card in the mail really gets someone’s attention. Emails and e-cards are quickly forgotten and discarded. Most wind up in the spam folder and aren’t even opened.
If you really want to make a donation, then you can always send a simple postcard to notify the recipient about the donation. You can even send a personalized postcard or card for less than $1.
I agree wholeheartedly with Ivette. The ubiquity of spam e-mails with subject lines like “You have a Hallmark e-card from a friend” has, in my view, pretty much destroyed the value of actually sending an e-card.
I also agree with your observation that printed greeting cards are tangible items that are put on display. In addition to individuals displaying cards at home, most businesses I’ve worked in and visited display cards in their offices. On the other hand, I’ve never heard of anyone printing out an e-card and displaying it.
Greeting cards continue to be popular in the electronic age because they are what Hugh McLeod of gapingvoid.com calls “social objects.” As Hugh explains,
“The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that “node” in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.
Example A. You and your friend, Joe like to go bowling every Tuesday. The bowling is the Social Object.
Example B. You and your friend, Lee are huge Star Wars fans. Even though you never plan to do so, you two tend to geek out about Darth Vader and X-Wing fighters every time you meet. Star Wars is the Social Object.
Example C. You’ve popped into your local bar for a drink after work. At the bar there’s some random dude, sending a text on this neat-looking cellphone you’ve never seen before. So you go up to him and ask him about the phone. The random dude just LOVES his new phone, so has no trouble with telling a stranger about his new phone for hours on end. Next thing you know, you two are hitting it off and you offer to buy him a beer. You spend the rest of the next hour geeking out about the new phone, till it’s time for you to leave and go dine with your wife. The cellphone was the social object.”
(For more on social objects, see http://www.tinyurl.com/r9ttcd).
Now, I must admit, I’m not an entirely dispassionate observer here. I’m one of the principals of The Billable Hour Company, which sells humorous gifts and greeting cards for lawyers and legal professionals. You can find our card store at TheBillableHourCardStore.com.
As Hugh McLeod observes in this post, http://www.tinyurl.com/yz4ae2b, one thing that makes for a great social object is that it’s fun to share.
What’s more fun than sharing something that makes you laugh?
The Billable Hour Card Store carries more than 300 legal humor cards that are *exclusive* to The Billable Hour Card Store – you can’t find them anywhere else, on or off the web.
Rather than going on and on here and risk having Susan cut me off for promoting my company, I invite your readers to learn more about how The Billable Hour Card Store can help them stay in contact with the people who are important to them at http://www.tinyurl.com/yj7quva.
Lisa, the only reason I’m letting you plug The Billable Hour is because I learned so much from your comment!!! Social Objects is a very powerful concept and you explained it quite eloquently. It is also an important marketing lesson for lawyers. One should always allow for a fresh perspective on things they take for granted or are quick to dismiss as no longer having value. Just because there are ‘new’ ways of doing things in the world does not diminish (and sometimes actually heightens) the value of the way things used to be done.
Great points again Lisa – we are like two peas in a pod!
I am not a “dispassionate observer” either – I am an independent distributor for Send Out Cards.
However, I am a distributor because I believe in the product, I believe that you can build relationships by sending thoughtful cards and I am a mom of two beautiful baby girls under 2. So the simplicity of SOC to send greeting cards with the option of sending a gift fits my life perfectly right now. I have no reason to forget birthdays anymore with the online reminder system either – no more embarrassment with the family and late cards!
The power of a greeting card never ceases to amaze me. When I send a real greeting card through the mail, I actually get a phone call from the recipient, thanking me! That’s a powerful tool in my book!
Looks like I am going to be the only person to defend e-cards. My firm usually sends out real cards, but I like e-cards because so many of my contacts are overseas (I know cutting costs is not a good marketing argument). But mostly, I know that I would probably not take the time to do the physical cards right and even though I know e-cards are a really momentary thing, they are something and they are better than nothing at reminding people you exist.
Dan, overseas clients…I would imagine given they expect to work with you through e-mail it would be ‘better than nothing’. It’s just how impressive if you even hired someone to actually send something tangible (do it right)….not even a card but something else which has the same effect. Brings the world a little closer, no? And your clients…well, I think they would be impressed and it would drive the point home, ‘reminding people you exist.’
@ChinaLaw, I certainly understand the issue created by having contacts who are primarily overseas.
By “tak[ing] the time to do the physical cards right, do you mean not having time to hand-write a personal note in each one? It’s true that many business etiquette professionals recommend doing that.
Other than the question of whether you are going to hand-write a personal note to each recipient, at The Billable Hour Card Store (and, to be fair, also at Ivette’s Send Out Cards store), it takes no longer to create a printed greeting card online than it does to create an e-card. Since that’s the case, isn’t it better to maximize the ROI from your investment of time by sending printed cards?
I’m going to go one step further and say that, not only do I prefer physical cards to ecards, but I also highly recommend physically signing each card and writing a short, personal message for your most important contacts. An impersonal, entirely typed, vague holiday card is just as bad as a spam email.
I’m also a fan of sending cards for more unusual holidays that fit your firm so your card won’t be lost in the crowd; still, you don’t want to be the only company that doesn’t send a winter holiday card.
Ordering cards online doesn’t mean that they’re impersonal, even if you have the printer mail the card directly to the recipient. You can always create a card with a very personalized message. For example, just the other day I sent a card thanking a client for a referral, and mentioning the name of the person referred. The recipient understands the thought that goes into including a message like that. A scanned copy of my signature also appears at the bottom.
Also, I want to clarify my earlier response to ChinaLaw. At The Billable Hour Card Store (and, I assume at Ivette’s site as well), you can have cards (such as holiday cards) printed in bulk, addressed (with your return address and the recipients’ addresses) and then shipped to you, so that you can hand-write a personal message in each card before mailing it out. That way, neither you nor your staff has to spend time printing the envelopes (or applying labels).
Susan, I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to clarify a couple of things. Based on our exchange of comments on this great topic, I think I need to explain a little about what Send Out Cards is.
Send Out Cards (SOC) is an online service that allows you to pick a card, type a message (even in your own handwriting) and send it. Then SOC prints the card, puts it in an envelope and mails it for you. You even have the option of uploading pictures or custom graphics and can send a gift with the card. The cost is less than half the price of a card at the traditional greeting card store, and there are over 13,000 premade cards to choose from.
Again, based on the comments, I wanted to clarify because it seemed as though most had never heard about Send Out Cards. And the system addresses 3 of the main objections here: time (convenience), cost and personalization.
If anyone is interested, you can try out the system and send a card to someone. You can visit my website http://www.sendoutcards.com/83644 and click on my banner for a gift account.
I agree with Julie that a personalized message goes a long way. That’s actually one of huge benefits of sending cards through SOC. You can even upload a font in your own handwriting and add your signature to each individual card.
With all these options, it just doesn’t make sense to send e-cards anymore when you can send a real one in the mail. Plus, in today’s state of the economy, it’s nice to go to the mailbox and find something for you – other than a bill! (Lisa I saw some of the cards you have available and they ARE hiliarious!)
Even if a card cost $5 per client to send this holiday season, you just simply cannot afford not to send them a card. $5, $10 even $20 is a drop in the bucket compared to all the business they have provided you and potential referrals. This is why relationship marketing is so important these days. People want to do business with people they like, and who genuinely care about them! A card, any card says, “Hi! I was thinking about you today…”
I even wrote a blog post about the importance of relationship marketing a few days ago: http://www.wahmbahm.com/business-lessons-obgyn-relationship-marketing-work
It doesn’t matter what profession you are in – everyone wants to be remembered, treated well and cared for. Customers, clients and colleagues want to know they matter to you. It is one of our intrinsic needs that begs to be fulfilled. You would not believe the difference you can make in someone’s day and life by sending them a card – any card!
Thank you all for a wonderful exchange of comments!
I have a unique holiday card created every year that I send to clients and other business contacts. I come up with a concept and have an illustrator bring my concept to life. My clientele are in creative industries and they appreciate this approach. It lets them know I’m creative, too, and understand their world. Recipients often thank me for the card and ask “How are you going to top this next year?” I take it as a great compliment that they are actually looking forward to getting the annual card I send. As a plus for me, I have a lot of fun doing it!
Precisely! Now you’ve created an event for them that both of you enjoy and you KNOW they are showing it around to their friends (potential clients). Congratulations! You took doing something you like to do and turned it into marketing fun that pays dividends. This is so important
I agree with a speaker I saw at the CAOC conference last year. December cards get lost in the swarm of other people’s cards. He sends out ‘New Years Gifts.’ He emphasized actual gifts, not merely cards but then they had million-dollar contingency cases. In any case, I think January is an excellent time to do stuff, compared to December. As Susan pointed out, it’s after the holidays, time to get to work, and a greeting from your lawyer may be well timed.