Special Edition: Tips for Holiday eCards, Invitations and Surveys
Creating, Sharing and Tracking Holiday eCards
Making the shift from printed holiday cards to online holiday cards can be scary; but, we're here to help you turn your online holiday card campaign into a blessing. Even if you are familiar with sending holiday eCards, the following tips will help make the process less labor intensive and hopefully even better received by your eCard recipients. We've also included tips and tricks that you probably haven't even thought of.
Step 1. Creating your eCards
When selecting a design, you can choose one of CorpNote's holiday card designs or upload your own photo or artwork. Either way, you have the ability to customize the text that appears below your eCard image. You can also customize what is displayed in the signature at the bottom, including your company logo, name, contact info and social media links. (View the tutorial: Create Your own eCard Designs from Photos or Graphic Art.
The eCard signature is one of the most overlooked and important features of the CorpNote system. We recommend that you add all of your information when setting up your account. You then have the opportunity, on each individual eCard, to easily select what you want to display (or not display). So for a business holiday eCard, you might want to include all of the fields, but for an eCard to your nephew, you might want to omit the signature entirely. (View the tutorial: Custom Signature)
Setting up eCard templates is another important feature to consider when setting up your account. Templates let you save a "send-ready" holiday eCard complete with image, message and signature style. You can then use your holiday eCard template, address it and send it in less than 30 seconds.
To save a template, create an eCard and send it to yourself. Once you have determined that it looks the way you want it to, you can then save it as a template. Not only will this make the sending of your holiday eCards faster, but here are two additional reasons templates are beneficial:
- Templates ensure that you have proofread and like the eCard you are sending. (Once it goes out, you can't take it back)
- Templates can give you a base from which to work from. For example, when use the template, you can modify your message, signature options and even change the eCard design.
Step 2. Sending and Sharing your eCards
When is the best time to send your holiday eCards? Statistically, Tuesday is the most popular day of the week for sending emails because many people find they see higher email open rates. But, when it's holiday time, all bets are off. You may want to avoid sending during peak email times like Black Friday through Cyber Monday because your email has a higher chance of getting ignored in someone's overwhelmed inbox.
But there are other equally important factors to consider if you are thinking of open rates. First, it is imperative to verify that your email list is up to date and you have removed any bounce backs or unsubscribe requests from your last mailing. Second, create a strong subject line to ensure that your eCard recipients will recognize the email and be prompted to open it. Good subject lines and a high quality permission-based email list will always give you the highest eCard pickup success rate.
Effective Email Subject Lines. Sending an email isn't effective if your recipient doesn't open the message. One of the first and most important things your recipient sees when they check their email is the subject line.
Here are some tips for creating effective subject lines:
- Most email software, including the one used on iPhones, limits the subject line display to a certain number of characters. Resist the urge to create long subject lines and keep them below 50 characters.
- Make the most effective use of each character. It's time to think like you're writing a short Twitter Tweet. Come up with a creative line that catches attention rather than a typical phrase like -- Your newsletter is here!
- Place your name or your company's name in the beginning of the subject line. Your recipient can then immediately recognize you or the brand and they will be more willing to open the email.
- Test your subject lines with co-workers or friends etc. A quick glance by someone else reviewing your subject line may give you a different, unbiased perspective. Send several emails, with different subject lines, to yourself and a sample group to see how they look on various devices and how people react to them.
- Don't be "Spammy" – avoid phrases and punctuation that will get your message blocked or caught in people's junk mail filters. For more information view our FAQ, "My eCards are going into SPAM. What can I do to reduce this?"
Tips for sending an eCard to Multiple Recipients. CorpNote allows you to send an eCard to 250 recipients at a time, with a single click by copying and pasting emails into your address list. But, what if you want to send your eCard to a larger list? It's easy!
Use the CorpNote address book to create Groups of contacts before your send your eCards. For example, you may want to create groups for employees, customers, vendors, friends etc. and then send a different eCard design and/or message to each group of people. (View the tutorial: How to use the Address Book)
Sharing eCards on your Website and in Social Media. You can use CorpNote's 'Direct Link' feature for posting your holiday eCard on your website. Send the eCard to yourself, and then go to your 'Sent Cards.' Each eCard you send has an option to 'Copy Link,' which provides the website address for that specific eCard. You can use this same technique for sharing your eCards in social media or you can choose the option to 'Share' your holiday eCard in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+. (View the tutorial: Direct Link to your eCard)
Use 'QuickSend' to send an eCard in Less Than 30 Seconds. There are lots of face-to-face networking opportunities during the holidays, so be prepared to send a quick follow up eCard either at an event or just after. Set up your QuickSend eCard templates in advance and then when the opportunity for a "thank you" or "it was nice meeting you" comes up, you've got an eCard ready to send. If you've just met someone and sent them a QuickSend eCard, you can automatically import their name and email address into your CorpNote address book at any time in the future. (View the tutorial: QuickSend eCard Templates)
Step 3. Tracking your eCards
With traditional printed holiday cards, you don't always know when the card has been received, and a printed card doesn't encourage the recipient to respond. This is an area where holiday eCards really shine. Depending on the method you choose to send your eCard, you have different ways that you can track the eCard pickup. (View the tutorial: Tracking your eCards) But, in all cases, the recipient can quickly and easily respond by clicking 'reply' to your eCard since your email address is always the "sent from" email address.
Read the next blog in this series: Managing Holiday Party Invitations
