Holiday Greetings: Efficiency, personalization, environment

This blog post on the Harvard Business Review site got me thinking. They point out that this time of year is hectic, and that holiday cards have a way of getting lost in the shuffle. Either we spend too many hours personalizing greetings, leading clients to wonder what better use we could have made of the time while we resent having to cram yet another task into an already too busy calendar. Or we take a quick and easy route and send out impersonal, mass-mailed, automated efforts that let us check the task off the list but may make the recipient feel … underwhelmed. And, if you’re HBR, underwhelmed could mean a disaffected customer.

HBR doesn’t go there, but my other peeve about holiday cards is the fact that they are a (lovely, colorful) use of paper, a precious resource that might be put to another use and will only clog up a landfill or recycling center in January. Too, the postage fee will make our struggling Post Office happy, but that money could be used for causes that need it more urgently.

So what’s a conscientious person to do? Last year, Schnitger Corporation emailed out personalized holiday greetings, with a nice seasonal scene and the message that the money not spent on holiday cards and postage would go towards feeding the hungry and housing the homeless in my little part of New England. We’ll likely do something similar this year, when even more people are struggling to make ends meet.

Last year, several people emailed to say that they appreciated both the email and the donation;. Since holiday greetings don’t normally generate thank yous, I’m guessing that people liked the idea.

But what do you think? Will your business be sending paper holiday cards, an electronic message or doing something else? Flip it around: what’s your favorite type of greeting to receive? Send us an email to let us know!