Business Holiday Thank You Cards or Email?

Every year, I get emails from folks like you about this topic. So here’s a post that covers the issue of what to do if you receive holiday gifts from business partners or customers.

Do you send a Thank you card via snail mail, or will an email suffice?

That is a great question and one I know others have wondered about, too.

Think about it this way… The effort you put into something shows your level of sincerity and gratitude. Thank you notes, when sincere, contribute to building those oh-so-important business partnerships.

For example, when a client does something nice for me, sends flowers for my birthday, or a gift around the holidays, they get a handwritten and personally addressed thank you note via old-fashioned snail mail. That note goes out the very next day.

I mailed one out just today. Some say that makes me old-fashioned. But I don’t think so. Some things never go out of style, and a handwritten thank-you note is one of them. More so in a day when almost everything is technology or AI-created.

Regarding my clients, I am blessed that we are on a first-name basis. Many I have worked with for decades. In most cases, our relationship goes beyond the client/vendor formality. Because of this, a thank you email would not seem adequate.

Choices Make a Statement

Yes, I could send my thank you by email. After all, I am in the technology business, which would make sense. Some folks wouldn’t think twice about taking that approach.

But would that show my sincere gratitude as much as taking the time to buy the card, write my note, hand-address the envelope, pay the postage, and send it off?

Probably not…

PRO TIP:
Next time you go to the store, check out the card section and buy yourself a box of lovely thank-you cards to have on hand. I tend to collect packs of cards — I like having them right there when I need them.

How Personal is the Relationship?

On the other hand, I have vendors that send me holiday gifts. It is a nice sentiment, but they aren’t really from a person to me. They are from a company and mass-mailed to everyone like me who supports their business. In that case, I sent a thank you email to my contact at that company, thanking them for the gift and for thinking of me.

Business is all about fostering mutually respectful, successful relationships. Taking the extra time to send a hard copy of a handwritten note of gratitude helps you do just that.

As with most topics we discuss, use your discretion based on the relationship you have (or would like to have) with the giver. So here I go, talking about discretion again, right? So many things end up returning to that word, don’t they?