Personalized Holiday Cards and Customer Retention
With the holidays approaching, now is the time to think about how you can improve customer retention. Personalized holiday cards are a go-to marketing tool business owners use to show customers appreciation. And research has proven that personalized holiday cards work well with improving customer retention.
Research on the Positive Effects of Sending Personalized Holiday Cards to Customers
If you want to improve customer retention while building loyalty, sending personalized holiday cards may be what you need. According to a survey conducted by Ask Your Target Market, of those surveyed who received cards in the past, 43.5% have said that the cards made them think more highly of the company that sent the card.
While electronic holiday cards have become a popular choice for most businesses due to the convenience, your customers won’t experience the same pleasant feeling they will when they receive a physical holiday card. If you are debating with sending e-holiday cards over personalized holiday cards, this study about the deeper emotional footprint physical paper leaves versus digital should help.
A case study conducted in the UK by Millward Brown, an ad agency, found that customers emotionally respond better to physical mailings versus mailings that are delivered to them virtually. Millward Brown used the help of functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery (fMRI) scanning to “understand how the brain reacts to physical and virtual stimuli.” Results from the scans showed that tangible materials left a deeper impact on the brain and that physical material requires more emotional processing. The latter is important for memory.
In an article that appeared on Staples’ website, an expert suggests that personalized holiday cards encourages customers to never leave. “It’s the handwritten, personal cards that are most meaningful, and therefore the most effective. A financial advisor we work with sends a gift every year on the ‘anniversary’ of our working together and includes personal messages such as, ‘Enjoy the scuba trip next month.’ His customers never leave.”
How to send Holiday Cards to increase Customer Retention
When sending holiday cards to increase customer retention, be sure to include customers who have been with you for a while. These are the loyal few who have referred family and friends to your business and who continue to buy from you. Once you have the names and addresses for your customers, Entrepreneur suggests making it personal, avoid going digital, and keep your cards generic. The last point of keeping it generic is important.
Not everyone celebrates the same holidays and to avoid offending or taking away the personal effect of sending a personalized holiday card, it’s best to keep it simple. This means wishing customers happy holidays instead of being specific and wishing them a Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukah.
The only exception is if you know for a fact that your customer celebrates the aforementioned holidays. But it’s simple to keep your card generic. Double check you’ve gotten your customers names correct and that you include a special message in your card.
Last, get your holiday cards in the mail by December 10. This will make sure that your customers receive your personalized holiday cards before the holidays. The last thing you want is for your customers to receive your holiday cards on January 1st unless you are wishing them a Happy New Year.
You might also want to consider including incentives like coupons or discounts with your holiday cards as doing so can have positive effects on customer retention. According to the same Ask Target Market’s survey mentioned earlier in this post, almost half of the respondents (49.8%) said “they would like to receive information about discounts or coupons with their business holiday cards.”
Are you interested in sending personalized holiday cards to your customers?
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