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Build better connections with customers

Best practices for building an effective mailing list to maximize direct mail marketing ROI.

Introduction

The holiday season is right around the corner. Now is the last chance for your business to send holiday notes. And you absolutely should! Holiday cards, letters, and notes are a great way to show your customers and business partners that you care. They can make your lucky recipients feel appreciated and will show that you want those relationships to continue. Before running straight to the store to stock up on glittery cards depicting snow-covered fields and penguins in knitted hats though, you should take the time to properly plan the giving of your holiday notes. Sending lots of cards can be costly, and in the end, you’re going to want a return on your investment. Consider what you’re putting in when you send out holiday notes: time, resources, and you even have to pay for postage! Start your plan by looking at a list of customers and business partners to confirm just how many holiday notes you need to send and give yourself a budget. It’s a good idea to make note of your partner businesses’ holiday dates. You’re going to want to make sure your notes get to them before they close for their break. I’ve given a few other reasons you should send holiday notes this year, and also provided a few tips to remember to optimize the experience.

Why You Should Send Handwritten Notes

We live in a digital world where almost all communications have become electronic. As the distance between us grows bigger, returning to the communication methods of the past like a handwritten note can help you stand out.Studies show that 41% of Americans look forward to checking their mail each day and 59% say that they like receiving mail from brands that they enjoy about new products. If people get that excited about marketing, imagine how thrilled they’ll be when they receive something personal and meaningful.Your customers and business partners will be delighted to receive colorful, personally handwritten cards during the holiday season. More importantly, they’ll appreciate hearing from you! It’s also worth remembering that while sending notes and cards may not necessarily lead to immediate sales, the holiday season often coincides with budget planning for the new year. That’s why it’s a great idea to stand out and do something memorable so that business partners have you on their mind while looking at how best to spend their money.

How to Write the Perfect Message

Once you’ve made your list of recipients, it’s time to come up with the message itself. It may be tempting to just throw in the typical “Seasons Greetings” and sign your name, but relationships are built on openness. You’re not trying to make a sale here, you’re trying to maintain and strengthen your relationships. Your message should be simple but genuine. You could let your customers and partners know that you are grateful for them and the impact that they’ve had in growing your business. Thank them for all they’ve done and wish them well in the coming year.Remember you are writing to people, not corporations. Don’t write just one general message to an entire workforce. If you have the contact details of a few individuals in a company, send a holiday note to each of them. These are the people you want to maintain relationships with. If you know them well enough, you can even tailor your notes to their specific beliefs. If they celebrate Christmas, send a Christmas card. From Kwanzaa to Hanukkah, if you have the information available, personalize each note to the recipient's preferred holiday.

Send Personalized Handwritten Notes Using Technology

Even though you can gain a lot from sending holiday notes this season, we’re not going to just ignore the large investment of time that it requires. Many companies attempt to ‘divide and conquer’ to deliver handwritten holiday notes, distributing their list of recipients evenly among a few employees. The problem with this method is that it can lead to many inconsistencies in your holiday notes and you run the risk of delivering a message of unacceptable quality.Another option is tasking a single employee with creating your handwritten notes, but because your recipient list could be in the hundreds or even thousands, it would be hard to imagine anyone volunteering themselves. Your employees might just be too busy, and if they’d undertaken the task a previous year, they’re likely to remember the weeks up subsequent wrist ache. Many companies fall back on producing notes with their office printers, but in doing so they lose all the personalization and genuine sentiment that is conveyed with a handwritten note. The result is a cold, impersonal message.Handwritten marketing services like Scribeless can help you send personalized notes to your loyal customers and hardworking business partners, no matter how many you are lucky to have. We have a selection of handwriting styles to suit you, and each note will be unique to its recipient. You can even input your own handwriting so we can send limitless handwritten notes penned in your own style. Our notes are highly customizable (they can even display your company logo) and we handle production and distribution.Our technology can help your business maintain strong business relationships without the need for you to invest the hours, or the extra money paying your employees overtime. Sending thousands of handwritten letters is now as easy as writing an email. Even better than that, the entire process can be automated so we can deliver all manner of handwritten notes (thank you notes, product recommendations, etc.) all year round! Click here to send personalized handwritten holiday notes.