As the holiday season comes around once again, you’ll undoubtedly want to show your clients how much you appreciate their efforts in supporting your business over the past year, and an excellent way to do so is by sending out holiday cards. Your clientele will be happy you thought of them during such a busy season.
With that being said, though, you may wonder whether you can design your holiday cards in such a way that ensures client retention, and the answer is a resounding “yes!” Below, we’ll break down how you can design holiday cards that will keep clients coming back for more, as well as how digital printing services can streamline the process.
The Importance of Client Retention
According to the book “Marketing Metrics,” the probability of selling to an existing customer falls between 60 and 70%, whereas the probability of selling to a new prospect only falls into a range of 5 to 20%. These statistics show just how vital of a role client retention plays in generating sales, and as a business owner, it’s thus wise to focus on prospects who have bought from you in the past.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t focus your efforts on new leads at all, but anything you can do to ensure repeat customers is worth your time, given that the average American company is said to lose 23% to 30% of its customers annually due to a lack of customer loyalty.
The question, therefore, lies in knowing how to make your business the outlier that defies that statistic, and holiday cards offer an easy yet effective answer to improving client retention. Going the extra mile to show your customers you care will allow you to reap the benefits of repeat buyers and enhanced customer loyalty.
How to Use Holiday Cards as Marketing Tools
It’s likely that you’ve received holiday cards from retailers you’ve purchased from in the past. These cards usually feature a coupon or promotional code in addition to well wishes for the approaching new year, and they are part of these retailers’ client retention strategies.
Suffice it to say, those strategies work quite well, as there’s a unique type of joy that everybody feels when receiving a holiday card, usually associated with warm and fuzzy feelings during a season that can be just as busy and stressful.
When someone takes the time to send a personalized message, there’s an urge to want to thank them. Keep that in mind when investing in digital printing services and designing holiday cards for your clients this season. They’ll appreciate the gesture and will most likely thank you by purchasing something from your business in return, especially if you offer a coupon or promotional code that saves them some money in the process, which makes for a total win-win.
The Benefits of Holiday Cards
In addition to improved client retention, personalized holiday cards help your brand stand out in the best way, given the following benefits:
They Make Your Business Memorable
Consider how many retailers your customers purchase from in a given year. Chances are that they’ve interacted with a lofty number of different brands, which means — even if they had a pleasurable experience — they may forget about yours after a while.
Be that as it may, customers will remember if you go out of your way to send them a custom holiday greeting, as doing so helps establish your brand within their subconscious as a respectable presence and prevents it from slipping through the metaphorical cracks.
They Show Off Your Company’s Humanity
People like it when a company displays its humanity, and a personalized holiday card will do just the trick. Show your customers the people and purpose behind the brand, and they’ll be more inclined to purchase from you. After all, no one wants to purchase from what they see as a soulless money-making machine.
They Keep Relationships Strong
Holiday cards can help you forge healthy relationships with your customers, encouraging them to become loyal buyers. The more you interact with your clients on a personal level, the more willing they’ll be to choose your business over the competition. You may even build personal relationships that last a lifetime.
Physical vs. Digital Holiday Cards
The collective amount of time, money, and effort that goes into designing and sending out physical holiday cards in this digital age can feel a little worthless when, in theory, an E-card would be much easier to create and deliver.
With that being said, however, it is because physical cards are harder to come by these days that they actually stand out so much more. Emails are discarded easily and quickly, if they even get read at all, but physical cards are more engaging by their nature, and they give your business a personal touch that clients will appreciate.
Sending out physical holiday cards can also help you recover customers who haven’t purchased from your business in a long time, reminding them that your company is still around without coming across as too sales-y.
Designing the Perfect Holiday Cards
Designing a holiday card that’s equal parts personal, aesthetically pleasing, and cost-effective is challenging. You want your customers to feel valued, but you don’t necessarily have the time to customize every single card and mail them out yourself. After all, the holidays are the busiest time of year for many companies.
Fortunately, there’s a way to streamline the process without sacrificing customization in the process. You can partner with a digital printing company to get the job done. Just explain your vision for your holiday cards, including your personalization goals, and let the printing company do the job for you.
Try to find digital printing services that include a graphic design team; that way, they can create a holiday card featuring custom images like your business’s logo. You can even have them mail the cards out on your behalf, saving you a lot of time.
Complete Mailing & Printing Makes Designing Holiday Cards a Breeze
Designing personalized holiday cards can help improve client retention. By taking the extra time to show them you’re thinking about them during the holidays, you can foster increased customer loyalty and expect increased sales, especially if you offer a promotion or discount code in your holiday cards.
The key to designing the perfect holiday card is to get personal. That’s where digital printing services from Complete Mailing & Printing come in. Our graphic design team can help you create the perfect holiday cards, and we’ll print them out and mail them to your customers, too. All you have to do is sit back, relax, and watch your sales grow. The holidays have a way of sneaking up on us, so be prepared for the season with digital printing services from Complete Mailing & Printing. For more information and to request a quote, contact us today.
