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Thread: Holiday Cards?

  1. #1
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    Holiday Cards?

    I wanted to get a poll of hosting owners that send out holiday cards to thier customers. Just a brief show of hands so I can get an idea it it would be a good thing to do this year for our clients?
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  2. #2
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    Nope. Costs too much and probably doesn't make a difference as far as whether or not the client will stay with you. We always send out a holiday email though.

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  3. #3
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    I've been thinking about do it this year, but I am still on the fence about it.

  4. #4
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    Ask yourself what you will gain from doing it. I have NEVER stayed with a company based on the fact that they sent me a Christmas card. In fact, almost all Christmas cards that were mass-sent to me get promptly chucked in the trash. I don't display them with our friends and family cards at all.

    Seriously, figure out what the business benefit and cost will be.

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  5. #5
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    Christmas Cards

    jmcallister,

    All of our clients will receive christmas cards this year; however, I am not doing them in bulk and they will not have the company logo. There will actually be Happy Holidyas. I have had clients with us since we opened up almost two years ago and I think that should be rewarded and known that we do appreciate their business.

    Just an example when two of hour clients went in for surgery Christmas cards were sent out. I received responses from both how much they appreciated that there was a company who CARED for them as clients and then they proceeded to remember that.

    It is worth while if you have a small client base and they have been with you for a while. Stories do get around and it is known when a company cares.
    Synersis Media | Boutique Technology Marketing Agency

  6. #6
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    I should have mentioned that I was only thinking about doing it for a few of the long standing clients. I wasn't planning on mailing every client.

    I might do the email instead though. Probably will get filtered as spam though. :/

  7. #7
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    i do it every year.

    why not????

    clients send us cards.

    http://www.pens.com/pens/Product_Det...CardsCDImprint

    that includes a christmas music CD imprinted with your message/company name.

    if you cant afford to spend 1.55 per client, you may be having a problem!

    i strongly discourage the scrooge attitude and throwing out cards that people spent the time to send to you.
    if you haven't considered chapter 7 bankruptcy, maybe you should.
    eliminate your debt, keep the property you want, most people qualify.
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  8. #8
    Yes, we've been doing it every year for the last 7 years. I'm looking at a big box of cards to be signed right now (sitting in the corner of my office). It's an inexpensive way to show them you are grateful for their business.
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    Ask yourself what you will gain from doing it. I have NEVER stayed with a company based on the fact that they sent me a Christmas card. In fact, almost all Christmas cards that were mass-sent to me get promptly chucked in the trash. I don't display them with our friends and family cards at all.

    Seriously, figure out what the business benefit and cost will be.

    --Tina
    I think it might not work for you since you are a web master and if hosting a site know what you are a doing, a lot of normal people (not that you are not normal ) are going to stay with a host a lot longer and put up with a lot because they feel cared for and a christmas card to those type of people might be of great benefit.

    For web master type people I think we could care less, I know I wouldn't care but my parents/grandparents/nontech small biz ownsers would like it if they had a site and their host sent them a card.
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  10. #10
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    Actually, from a consumer point of view:

    How many here actually stay with a company because they sent you a Christmas card?

    How many of you actually keep/display a Christmas card that a company sends you?

    Yes, its a nice gesture. I'm not disputing that. But, does it have any real proven value?

    To me, it sort of feels like Company X is taking advantage of a holiday to say "Hey, we're thinking of you...please continue to send us your money!".

    --Tina
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    Actually, from a consumer point of view:

    How many here actually stay with a company because they sent you a Christmas card?

    How many of you actually keep/display a Christmas card that a company sends you?

    Yes, its a nice gesture. I'm not disputing that. But, does it have any real proven value?

    To me, it sort of feels like Company X is taking advantage of a holiday to say "Hey, we're thinking of you...please continue to send us your money!".

    --Tina
    This is my point, this forum is full of web masters and tech people, not normal people. Of course we don't care but normal non tech people do IMO, I know companies who send my parents cards get note and have been mentioned to me.
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  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    Yes, its a nice gesture. I'm not disputing that. But, does it have any real proven value?

    To me, it sort of feels like Company X is taking advantage of a holiday to say "Hey, we're thinking of you...please continue to send us your money!".

    --Tina
    I'm sure there are a few people who feel the same. But the key here is: Its a testament to how they run their business.....not a "look at me, I care about you" thing. (at least I hope thats not why people send out cards)
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  13. #13
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    well, if you are doing it only to try and keep customers, what is the point.

    you should be doing it because you like your clients and value their business.
    if you haven't considered chapter 7 bankruptcy, maybe you should.
    eliminate your debt, keep the property you want, most people qualify.
    contrary to popular belief - no attorney is necessary!

  14. #14
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    We do this. We even ear-mark the clients who we talk with often to receive more than just a 'happy holidays' type message.

    We don't do it to prove anything, or to show off, we do it because we simply like our clients.

    Another bonus to this, is you get to find out who's been keeping up to date contact information and who hasn't!

    Realistically, we probably spent about $3 or so per client to do it last year, and hey, maybe we're crazy, but it's just one of the things that I enjoyed doing the most, so we'll probably keep doing it.

    Plus, it definitely didn't hurt being in chat with a potential client and having someone come in and say 'Thanks for the christmas card!!' But that's just one of those nice side bonuses.
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  15. #15
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    (edited)

    I actually just realized that any way I explain it is going to end up making me look uncaring, which is probably why the people posting here are all about "We do it to be nice cuz we love our customers so much".

    --Tina
    Last edited by Tina J; 11-18-2006 at 05:33 PM.
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  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    All "warm fuzzy" feelings aside. Yes, sending out Christmas cards makes us all feel like we're spreading Holiday cheer. However, how many of you received a Christmas card from, say, your bank or your car dealership, and thought "Wow. This is so cool that they sent me a card!". Personally, I don't even read them and they usually end up in the junk mail pile at the bottom of the trash bin.

    My point is that its a nice thing to do, but FROM A BUSINESS SENSE, it can't be very cost-effective and probably doesn't serve a purpose (unless perhaps you have few enough customers that you can actually hand sign and jot a personal note in each one). I don't think its going to sway customers to stay with you or gain their loyalty.

    PS: Anyone who says "Yeah, we just do it to be nice. We don't care about the business aspect of sending out cards." is either full of it or doesn't understand cost/benefit analysis.

    --Tina
    Sigh I don't feel like you are reading my posts, I'll post how its valuable "FROM A BUSINESS SENSE" again:

    1. For clients like say my parents, or small business owners or anyone non technical, choosing a host is not easy, you will retain their business more with a holiday card, they say oh look this person cares about my busienss. Or say you have some downtime, they probably will give more leeway if they know you are a good company, aka you send out cards showing you care.

    2. Let me say this again, you are not the person to be influenced by a holiday card, neither am I, we are web masters who know are way around hosting, we don't' have loyalty except to performance. I doubt most of your customers know that much about hosting, please see above.

    3. keeping contact info current

    4. can also include a christmas coupon or other marketing info in the card.

    5. increase word of mouth marketing, people spread your name, show card or like lots of people leave cards in house over holidays when relatives visit. so say your uncle is like oh i hear you got a website now, and the person is like blah blah and then he asks who host is and you can show them card or so on.

    6. Showing people you care is marketing in some ways, some companies on here do it for the right reasons but its still marketing.

    7. its cheap per customer, esp with word of mouth and upgrading and so on.


    Online cards are nice too probably just not as good. If you want more info on the benefits go look at some case studies on marketing sherpa... marketingsherpa.com

    http://www.marketingsherpa.com/barri...contentID=2550
    http://www.marketingsherpa.com/barri...contentID=2550
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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    (edited)

    I actually just realized that any way I explain it is going to end up making me look uncaring, which is probably why the people posting here are all about "We do it to be nice cuz we love our customers so much".

    --Tina
    I wasn't implicating that we hand-note each card, because, honestly, we don't know all the clients well enough to do so, but we do know a good many of them, and we would very much like them to know that we do appreciate them.

    Now, if we're going to send cards to a handfull of clients, ... what would happen if one of those clients mentioned it in chat when another client who we don't know so well happened by, and the client thanked us for the card?

    Whoops, now you've alienated one.

    So, because we do want to be sure the clients we see regularly do get cards, we send them to absolutely everyone, because we wouldn't want to leave anyone out as well. Sure, it's silly, and it takes money to do, as well as time, but they are hand written and hand addressed, even the ones who get generic seasons greetings.

    It's one of those 'personal touches'.

    Now, if we were doing address labels and using a stamp to sign the card, sure, skip it, because yeah, I do toss those. But when I receive a hand addressed card, I typically give it a good look over, and we got many thanks from our clients last year when we did it, so why not keep it up?

    Also, from a business point of view, in the next year or two we will have some other systems and services in place, and it would be a great opertunity to include gift certificates / cross promotions for those other services.
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  18. #18
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    not only that, but it can also be a good idea to include some kind of coupon or special or important news thing or something.

    errrr, i posted that at the same time!!
    if you haven't considered chapter 7 bankruptcy, maybe you should.
    eliminate your debt, keep the property you want, most people qualify.
    contrary to popular belief - no attorney is necessary!

  19. #19
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    My comments in bold:

    1. For clients like say my parents, or small business owners or anyone non technical, choosing a host is not easy, you will retain their business more with a holiday card, they say oh look this person cares about my busienss. Or say you have some downtime, they probably will give more leeway if they know you are a good company, aka you send out cards showing you care.

    Its not about technical or non-technical customers. Its about ANY business sending customers Christmas cards. Everyone I know (and I recently asked, actually) chucks commercial Christmas cards into the trash and look at it the same as a company sending a cheap plastic keyring. Its consider commercial SWAG.

    2. Let me say this again, you are not the person to be influenced by a holiday card, neither am I, we are web masters who know are way around hosting, we don't' have loyalty except to performance. I doubt most of your customers know that much about hosting, please see above.

    Again, I'm not talking about our industry. I'm talking about the business decision to send out Christmas cards.

    3. keeping contact info current

    That's a pretty darn expensive way of figuring out if your clients' addresses are correct. How often do you actually NEED a correct mailing address for hosting clients anyway?


    4. can also include a christmas coupon or other marketing info in the card.

    Now you're talking business sense. But, we all know that mailed marketing gives you like a 1% ROI - and sending one out in a Christmas card is going to be a fairly expensive way to send out a mailer.

    5. increase word of mouth marketing, people spread your name, show card or like lots of people leave cards in house over holidays when relatives visit. so say your uncle is like oh i hear you got a website now, and the person is like blah blah and then he asks who host is and you can show them card or so on.

    That's probably not going to happen. I'm not putting my bank's Christmas card on my mantle along with the card my brother sends me. That's just...cheezy.

    6. Showing people you care is marketing in some ways, some companies on here do it for the right reasons but its still marketing.

    Absolutely. But, again, the effectiveness of Christmas cards as marketing...is it really effective? Are there better and more cost-effective ways to show customers that you care?

    7. its cheap per customer, esp with word of mouth and upgrading and so on.

    I disagree completely. The articles you linked to actually seem to prove my point quite well:

    "SUMMARY
    Every year up to 50% of the names on your business prospecting files and networking rolodex tm go bad because people change jobs, titles, emails... So when you send out holiday cards (or anything else), it's a wasted effort. Check out this Case Study to learn about a creative "help me clean my records" email campaign that got marvelous results."


    --Tina
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  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by WO-Jacob
    I wasn't implicating that we hand-note each card, because, honestly, we don't know all the clients well enough to do so, but we do know a good many of them, and we would very much like them to know that we do appreciate them.

    Now, if we're going to send cards to a handfull of clients, ... what would happen if one of those clients mentioned it in chat when another client who we don't know so well happened by, and the client thanked us for the card?

    Whoops, now you've alienated one.

    So, because we do want to be sure the clients we see regularly do get cards, we send them to absolutely everyone, because we wouldn't want to leave anyone out as well. Sure, it's silly, and it takes money to do, as well as time, but they are hand written and hand addressed, even the ones who get generic seasons greetings.

    It's one of those 'personal touches'.

    Now, if we were doing address labels and using a stamp to sign the card, sure, skip it, because yeah, I do toss those. But when I receive a hand addressed card, I typically give it a good look over, and we got many thanks from our clients last year when we did it, so why not keep it up?

    Also, from a business point of view, in the next year or two we will have some other systems and services in place, and it would be a great opertunity to include gift certificates / cross promotions for those other services.
    You're assuming your customers actually appreciate the cards. From my experience and asking around - most people don't. Getting a Christmas card from someone you pay money to isn't really as "special" as you might think. Again, when's the last time you got all giggly about a Christmas card that you received from a vendor? I know...you know...customers know...its all marketing that's taking advantage of the Holidays.

    --Tina
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  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    Its not about technical or non-technical customers. Its about ANY business sending customers Christmas cards. Everyone I know (and I recently asked, actually) chucks commercial Christmas cards into the trash and look at it the same as a company sending a cheap plastic keyring. Its consider commercial SWAG.
    It is about tech or non tech customers, non tech customers in my exp do appreciate it and its a powerful way of encouraging word of mouth marketing and loyalty. Esp if combined with a coupon or any other quasi gift. Maybe the difference is in the type of customer, or our geographic location or whatever.


    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    Again, I'm not talking about our industry. I'm talking about the business decision to send out Christmas cards.
    Ok I'm talking about the business decision to send out christmas cards in our industry.

    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina

    That's a pretty darn expensive way of figuring out if your clients' addresses are correct. How often do you actually NEED a correct mailing address for hosting clients anyway?
    True, that is why it was just one reason. Of course if your client pays you $500 a month or maybe even 500 a year, you want to keep tabs on them, and in the long run if you combine this benefit with the marketing and other benefits I don't think it is that expensive.

    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    Now you're talking business sense. But, we all know that mailed marketing gives you like a 1% ROI - and sending one out in a Christmas card is going to be a fairly expensive way to send out a mailer.
    I think the immediate effect would be 1 to 3%, but long term the benifits are way more, customer loyalty over years and years results in more customers reffered, upgrades, increased trust in cross selling etc. And its really not that expensive I dont think, maybe your clients are all on cheaper hosting plans then I am thinking.


    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    5. increase word of mouth marketing, people spread your name, show card or like lots of people leave cards in house over holidays when relatives visit. so say your uncle is like oh i hear you got a website now, and the person is like blah blah and then he asks who host is and you can show them card or so on.

    That's probably not going to happen. I'm not putting my bank's Christmas card on my mantle along with the card my brother sends me. That's just...cheezy.
    As I said above this doesn't apply to you and me in this industry , but for non tech people it is, have to think outside of our box. For example my parents got a card from their honda dealership and I ended up on their rec trying them first for a used car and bought one, why because i know nothing about cars, non tech people do this the same way, got to keep your company on the tip of their tongue to recommend instead of just giving your name out when things go bad.

    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    6. Showing people you care is marketing in some ways, some companies on here do it for the right reasons but its still marketing.
    Absolutely. But, again, the effectiveness of Christmas cards as marketing...is it really effective? Are there better and more cost-effective ways to show customers that you care?
    I think its a good one, what other ones do you have in mind?

    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    7. its cheap per customer, esp with word of mouth and upgrading and so on.
    Want to do a case study with me based on say 1k of your clients over a one year period? We will send chirstmas cards to 1k of them, watch for immediate actions say with a coupon or etc, and then we will monitor cancellation rates over the year as well as refferal rates compared to your general hosting population?
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  22. #22
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    Yes, see, but you're talking the average clients.

    One of our clients, in particular, hopped on the net from the hospital to tell me his wife just had a boy. That was cool.

    Having the live chat develops some very strong client relationships, and the cards help (even if in a very small way) to maintain that relationship.

    Remember, the hosting business isn't exactly like other businesses. Not all the time, anyway, and not all the businesses. Sure, for the businesses who have minimal interaction with the clients, at least from the higher ups (such as the bank, or whatnot), sure, a christmas card is something that just gets tossed.

    Many of our clients let us know they appreciated the cards last year, assuming of course they wern't lying. So it makes sense for us, both on a personal level, and on a business level, to continue to do so.

    To each their own though. The other bonus, is Mike likes making the cards. He gets a kick out of doing design stuff (oh yeah, did I mention that we have cards custom printed for it?) so it cheers us up, it cheers them up, everyone wins.
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  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lauren Stephens
    i do it every year.

    why not????

    clients send us cards.

    http://www.pens.com/pens/Product_Det...CardsCDImprint

    that includes a christmas music CD imprinted with your message/company name.

    if you cant afford to spend 1.55 per client, you may be having a problem!

    i strongly discourage the scrooge attitude and throwing out cards that people spent the time to send to you.
    I got that same offer from Pens.com

    Ordered mine last week.

    EDIT: Most of my customers I work with on a personal level. I care about my customers and it's worth the extra money to do something nice for them.

    To Tina: You may think that commercial Christmas cards are just a big joke. But, I take the time to personally write in the customer's name, a message, and personally sign it. I don't just print off labels, stuff envelopes, and send them. I take the time to make my customers feel appreciated.
    Last edited by Nick H; 11-18-2006 at 08:12 PM.
    Big things coming soon

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nick H

    To Tina: You may think that commercial Christmas cards are just a big joke. But, I take the time to personally write in the customer's name, a message, and personally sign it. I don't just print off labels, stuff envelopes, and send them. I take the time to make my customers feel appreciated.
    If you go back and read what I said, I specifically mentioned that "unless you have few enough customers to personally sign them". If someone I did business with PERSONALLY signed a card and made the effort to personalize it, that puts it in a whole different category.

    <<snipped>>

    --Tina
    Last edited by anon-e-mouse; 11-19-2006 at 03:58 AM.
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  25. #25
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    While this isn't something that I would personally consider doing (I agree with Tina - I don't really think it will affect if they stay with you or not), I do know a company that does do this (they have very good customer relations to begin with though)
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