Question

Sending Christmas greetings to customers: why and how to do it

Answer 1

Why congratulate customers on Christmas?
Email or postcard to congratulate customers on Christmas?
Create eye-catching Christmas cards for clients
What should you avoid when congratulating your clients on Christmas?
Ten examples of Christmas greetings to clients
The right treatment
An original text
The farewell formula
Use the wrong format
Include inappropriate content
Send the greeting at the wrong time
Learn from mistakes

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Sending Christmas greetings to customers: why and how to do it

By congratulating your clients on Christmas, you are also thanking them for their trust throughout the year. It does not matter if it is a large company, an SME, a startup or a freelancer: sending Christmas greetings to customers, partners, followers, fans and friends is also a way of advertising . Although for this, both the content, the idea and the form, must be correct; otherwise, the opposite effect may be achieved..

Index

1. Why congratulate customers on Christmas?
2. Email or postcard to congratulate customers on Christmas?
3. Create eye-catching Christmas cards for clients
   1. The right treatment
   2. An original text
   3. The farewell formula
4. What should you avoid when congratulating your clients on Christmas?
   1. Use the wrong format
   2. Include inappropriate content
   3. Send the greeting at the wrong time
   4. Learn from mistakes
5. Ten examples of Christmas greetings to clients

Why congratulate customers on Christmas?

Every year the same question: do I send Christmas greetings to my clients? And, if so, to all or to some? How to make the congratulation catch their attention? Do I send Christmas cards the old-fashioned way or do I go digital?

However, before you get into the nitty-gritty on the creative side of the matter, you should ask yourself why it's so important to send Christmas greetings to customers.

Not all companies congratulate their customers on Christmas every year due, in many cases, to the lack of an updated customer database. Smaller companies often do not have a complete list and, therefore, decide not to send Christmas greetings for fear of forgetting a customer..

However, customer loyalty is essential, and celebrating the holidays properly can reinforce it.

In addition, these Christmas details are a sign of the level of professionalism of the company when it comes to corporate correspondence. You can quickly see which company has done its homework and built a mailing list. In these cases, the customer is already loyal and the Christmas greetings come as no surprise..

advice

An effective tool for freelancers and SMEs to professionalize customer loyalty is G Suite by Google Cloud, available from IONOS. With it, you can not only create mailing lists, but it also allows you to work simultaneously and together on different projects, appointments, meetings, etc.

The client must perceive the Christmas greetings as a serious and professional gesture. In addition, this type of correspondence also serves to promote the company itself. It is not the material value that matters, but the authenticity.

advice

For larger companies, Microsoft 365 is a good tool to professionalize internal and external processes in communication with customers.

Email or postcard to congratulate customers on Christmas?

Despite living in the technological age, many companies continue to bet on the classic Christmas cards . There are many who continue to show great esteem for analog, because, in this way, the client receives something physical and tangible.

However, this postcard rarely resembles a letter or letter to use. As a general rule, corporate Christmas cards are individualized for each client. In addition, they have a creative touch that makes them stand out from all the others. This could be a group photo signed on the back, a handwritten letter in a scented envelope, or a small detail, such as a chocolate or cookie, to accompany the postcard.

Even so, greeting customers Christmas in digital format is increasingly common. A company can make use of technology to demonstrate to its clients that it acts in accordance with the times: it is committed to sustainability , saving on paper and on resources related to delivery routes, and underlines its digital affinity . Also, the Christmas greetings sent to clients in this format have no creative limits. You can send videos, Christmas carols or interactive Christmas cards, among many other options.

Choosing one way or another will depend on two factors: the profile of your company and that of the client. It is useless to create an attractive digital Christmas greeting if the customer hardly uses the Internet. But, at the same time, you cannot put aside originality. Your congratulations should be good enough so that it does not get lost among the rest of the Christmas letters and postcards.

Create eye-catching Christmas cards for clients

To achieve the desired effect, you have to first think about what goal you are pursuing. ¿ What is your business relationship with the customer and how would you like?

One possibility, of course, is to thank the customer for the trust placed in your products during the last year. However, congratulations can also be used as tools to intensify business relationships, expand contacts, and build trust. With a creative and original message you can even get back customers with whom you had lost contact.

For a corporate Christmas card to be effective, it is not necessary to invent anything new. It is enough for the customer to know that the company has remembered him and that the good wishes are sincerely sent.

The right treatment

To appeal to the receptivity of the recipient, it is necessary to give him the correct treatment and the way in which you address him depends on the business relationship you maintain. A basic distinction can be made in the relationships you have with new clients and those you have with your old client portfolio:

1. Formal treatment . If Christmas greetings are sent to potential or new customers, can you opt for the formula? Dear Mr./Mrs. + Surname ?. This builds initial trust and can serve as the first step in a business relationship.
2. Informal treatment . If the relationship with the client has been around for some time, you can include the first name in the greeting. You can also address more than one person, which shows respect for the team.

An original text

For the congratulation itself you can use standard texts, although it is much more effective to resort to quotes or formulate a completely original and personalized message. After all, many customers also send Christmas greetings and quite possibly know the template texts.

Quotations from books, movies, and songs with Christmas references are stylish, as long as they're marked as such. They are also very useful if you want to write personalized greetings to customers. For example, if you have a friendly relationship with some of your clients, you can rewrite a verse from a Christmas carol to refer to the mutual business relationship. In the case of a formal relationship, simply wish her a Merry Christmas and a good start to the year.

The farewell formula

The final greeting should appeal to the customer relationship:

1. Formal:

• With the best wishes
• Best regards
• Yours sincerely

1. Focused on the Christmas season:

• We say goodbye with best wishes for next year
• We wish you happy holidays to you / you and your / your family
• With best wishes for these holidays, you sincerely welcome

Sign the congratulation by hand , even if it was typed or on the computer.

What should you avoid when congratulating your clients on Christmas?

An inappropriate Christmas card for clients can backfire on the business relationship. This happens, for example, if you are not correct in the type of relationship they have with your company, you make a mistake when writing their name or you write an inappropriate message. Here are some of the most common mistakes in written business communication, which will also help you when you go to write your corporate Christmas cards.

Use the wrong format

There are two formats for greeting customers on Christmas: by post or by email. Fax, SMS, WhatsApp or social networks are not recommended channels.

If you opt for email, it should not contain different recipients . Avoid links as much as possible and, if you attach a file , try not to exceed the minimum size, otherwise, your greeting may end up in the junk mail folder.

advice

Also keep the following tips in mind: Emailing is also important for the rest of the year.

Christmas greetings can be sent as a card or as a letter. In this case, you also have to take care. If you opt for cheap paper printed in black and white, the congratulation will lose its meaning. Clients may consider it impersonal and done with little appreciation.

If the greeting contains a Christmas motif, it should not be obscene or childish, as it can be embarrassing and unprofessional. If you write it in letter form, change the usual layout of the format: avoid the standard letterhead that contains information about your company, such as address, department, logo, etc.

Include inappropriate content

The message should focus on wishing your customers happy holidays. Therefore, under no circumstances should it contain any information related to business activity , for example a late payment reminder. If, for any reason, the conditions of the commercial relationship may change in the following year, you must indicate this in a separate letter. This also applies if you want to communicate new appointments or information about ongoing projects.

The content of the Christmas greeting should not appear to be a text written for commitment, so it is recommended not to use standard text templates. Also avoid sending the same text every year.

Send the greeting at the wrong time

As a general rule, the 50th week of the calendar is considered a good time to start sending Christmas cards to your national customers. In the case of dealing with international clients, the entire process should be in place by week 49. If you haven't been able to send your Christmas wishes by then, consider whether it is appropriate to do so late. Wishing for happy holidays late can give the impression of a lack of organization.

Learn from mistakes

What if you have made some of the mistakes mentioned and have already sent the Christmas mail to your clients? Keep calm, you can no longer change what has been done. Apologizing in this case is not a valid option. It is more efficient to analyze errors and discover what can be improved for future occasions:

• Annual analysis : which clients have stayed? Which ones are gone?
• CRM training : customer relationship management is the basis of any strategy that seeks to build customer loyalty.
• Communication concept : has there been a clear and authentic intention in the communication exchange with the client?
• Customer recovery strategy : Promotions and special offers can be a good method to win back customers who have left.

Ten examples of Christmas greetings to clients

Original and personalized Christmas greetings are the most successful among customers, although no one starts from scratch. Here are some examples to inspire you:

1. Formal Congratulations :? We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We thank you for your trust and we are very happy for our cooperation and the successes achieved.
2. Formal thanks :? I want to thank you for placing your trust in us this year. Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
3. Short and concise :? Merry Christmas and thank you for this great year. Our best wishes.?
4. Personalized Christmas Greetings :? When the time has come to put aside emails, calls and delivery dates to spend more time with the family, we can only wish you the best this holidays. It has been a pleasure for us to have been able to share this year with you.
5. Informal Christmas Greetings :? Thank you (client's name) for these months of collaboration! Now it's finally time to rest and enjoy at home with family and friends. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and we wish you the best for next year. Until next year!?

These days, it is not enough that the text is good for the Christmas greeting to have an effect on customers. Many companies have extended creativity to other fields. Here we show you some ideas.

6. Christmas greeting with personalized image . Instead of using templates, personally create the motif for the Christmas card that you will send to your clients. For example, you can include a team photo or make an attractive design with Christmas motifs.
7. Send Christmas cookies . If your client portfolio is manageable or you want to give your most important clients a very special treatment, you can surprise them with some homemade sweet. Bake and decorate some cookies and send them along with the greeting. Success is guaranteed.
8. A corporate Christmas card that becomes a craft. The fashion of handmade is back, so a good option may be to include this trend in your Christmas greeting. For example, the greeting could itself be a template that can be transformed into a paper Christmas tree for the desktop.
9. Christmas carols . If you find it difficult to formulate personalized Christmas greetings for clients, you can turn to a useful alternative: use familiar carol lyrics and include them in a short video. You can send it to clients via email.
10. Seed packet . No matter how unique, creative and successful the Christmas greeting you send to clients is, when January rolls around it disappears - it's either saved or thrown away. But if you accompany it with a package with seeds, for example, the client can plant it and have fresh flowers in spring.

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