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Dear Ms. Cards Etiquette, Why is the return address printed on the back of the envelope? I’d like to put it on the front, and I notice that Cards Direct only allows me to print on the back of the envelope. - Curious & Contrary Dear Curious, In all matters, I generally advise erring on the side of caution. In this case, putting the return address on the back of the envelope is more formal than putting both addresses on the front. While a friend or relative will almost never be bothered by receiving a formally-addressed card, a stuffy professional contact might potentially be affronted by seeing a casual return address. We chose to err on the side of formality in deciding how to print our envelopes for our business greeting cards. After all, offending a business contact could cost you a major contract or client. Tags: address-envelopes, Greeting Card Etiquette Dear Ms. Cards Etiquette- I need help writing a thank you card! I dread it because I don’t know what to say or how formal to make it. -Thankless in Tennessee I feel your pain, Thankless. As a child, you could almost guarantee my thank you note, if it ever arrived, would be months after the fact. I felt like I had to write at least a whole page letter to everyone, and I couldn’t face the pressure. But really, a basic thank you isn’t as difficult as it seems when you’re staring at a blank piece of stationery, pen in hand, suddenly tongue-tied. First things first, go buy a nice Thank You card. Cards look lovely, and have less room to fill with writing! Then, remember this three step formula, and thank you note anxiety will be a thing of the past …
Whether or not to make your note casual or formal is relatively simple. If you call the gift giver by their last name, make it very formal. If you only know the person at work, it can be casual for an equal or subordinate employee if you’re on friendly terms, but should be formal for a superior regardless. And if you’re writing a note to a friend or family member, take a deep breath and relax. An example casual thank you note: “[Step 1: Dear Friend, Thanks for inviting me to your dinner party last week, I had a great time!] [Step 2: I really enjoyed seeing Mutual Friend, and we both agreed that your Special Dish was to die for. I'd love to get the recipe, unless it's a family secret.] [Step 3: Say hello and thank you to Your Significant Other for me too, and be sure to give me a call if you're on my side of town some time. We should meet for lunch! Thanks again, An example formal thank you note: “[Step 1: Dear Mr. Giftgiver, I wanted to write to say thank you for the lovely engraved desk pen set.] [Step 2: I've always enjoyed quality writing instruments, and the pen is a joy to write with. I look forward to writing many thank you notes with it in the years to come.] [Step 3: I hope you enjoyed your holiday break. Please feel free to call me if I can be of any professional assistance during the coming year. With Thanks, Now, put a stamp on the envelope, and drop it in the mailbox. There you see, that wasn’t so painful after all, now was it? Tags: Greeting Card Etiquette, Thank You Cards, Thank-you-notes A referral or sales lead is like a particularly valuable gift in the business world, and should be “thanked for” accordingly. Initially, it’s the perfect opportunity to send a handwritten thank you note, as we discussed the just the other day. When you make an appointment to meet the lead, or make contact in whatever way the situation calls for, pick up a thank you card and write a quick note letting the person who gave you the referral know that you appreciate it, and you’ve followed up. In some cases, this may be sufficient. However, if it turns out to be a particularly good lead, it’s a good idea to periodically update your referrer on how the new business relationship is developing. If the lead turns into a job offer, or a lucrative sale, or a valuable contract, by all means send another card (maybe a bit fancier this time!), and perhaps a small gift. If you’re on friendly terms, a lunch invitation might be appropriate. A gift certificate or appropriate gift basket are both good choices for more businesslike relationships. And what do you do if the referral isn’t working out? If you’re having trouble contacting the lead, you might send a quick note to the referrer, and ask if they might pass along your card, if the lead is someone they have regular contact with. If you do contact the lead, and nothing comes of it, a quick note to say “just wanted to let you know that I wasn’t able to be of assistance to Mr. Lead, but thanks again for keeping me in mind” is the perfect way to keep your contact updated, and let them know that you still appreciate their efforts. Follow up notes like that are and excellent way to encourage the contact to keep you in mind for future opportunities. No need to dwell on the deal that didn’t work out, because the next one might! Need thank you notes? Tags: Greeting Card Etiquette, Thank You Cards Abby has it wrong. In her article dated 19 August 2007, Dear Abby told a grieving mother of a deceased child that she needed to write thank you cards as soon as possible to those people who helped her out in her time of need ‘to get it out of the way.’ “Because you can’t bring yourself to do this task yourself, enlist the help of close friends and family to help.” Basically, Abby told this poor woman to suck it up to get the thank yous written. Horse pucky. I could not disagree more. There are times in life when it takes all your strength to get out of bed in the morning and writing thank you cards is just too much to handle. Certainly the death of a loved one is one of those times — especially the death of a child. While I am anal retentive about people writing thank you notes promptly for most everything else, this is one case where I believe you just have to give someone a break. If you feel the need to write thank you notes to those who have expressed their sympathy after the death of a loved one, it is certainly ok to wait until you have the strength to do it. This is something that varies by individual: one of the office workers at Cards Direct said that writing the thank you notes a couple of weeks after the death of her mother was very therapeutic for her and helped her through the grieving process. Another office mate, a mother who lost a child, said writing thank yous were just too much to deal with and that she believed “a grieving parent should not be obligated to personally send hand written thank you notes to everyone who expressed their sympathy. This time of loss can be unbearable just to function, let alone tackle the task of personally writing thank you notes.” I agree. In the case of the loss of a loved one, you are under no obligation or time constraint to send thank yous. The bereaved get a pass on ‘normal’ social conventions for a year after their loss. As I’ve said before, a thank you card is never too late. Take the time you need to pull yourself together, and absolutely ask your friends to help you with this difficult task if you feel you must write thank yous to those who have helped you during the lost of your loved one. But understand, this is one case — and I can’t think of any other case — where it is not absolutely necessary. Tags: Greeting Card Etiquette, Thank You Cards, Thank-you-notes This is one of the oft-most asked questions, and there is actually some disagreement out there on this topic. I’ve actually looked around to try and find a truly definitive reference with no luck, so here is what I believe to be an offense-proof and sensible guide to addressing envelopes:
If you are more familiar with the recipient, you may send a card to their home. In this case, you need to address it to the recipient and their spouse, partner, and/ or family. This is where things get tricky.
Tags: address-envelopes, Greeting Card Etiquette Dear Miss Card Etiquette, Dear Katy, In some cases (most notably, the Christmas season postal rush), I would even suggest that two weeks in advance be your minimum lead time for sending cards. For other holidays and personal events though, especially if you live very far away from the recipients, you don’t want the card to arrive so early that it looks like you’ve forgotten the date, which is why two weeks is a good maximum cut-off for early mailings. (Of course, you can also add a note on the envelope that says “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL [date],” so they know you remembered correctly.) If you’d like to ensure your greetings arrive closer to their “target date” in the future, here are some general guidelines for letter mail delivery times: Outside of major holidays, most first class mail sent within the contiguous 48 US states will arrive at its destination within 3-4 days, even if you’re mailing from Florida to Washington state! If you’re mailing to Alaska, Hawaii or Canada, allow 2-3 days additional mailing time. Inter-continental airmail can often take a couple of weeks to recipients in heavily populated areas, and possibly longer to rural destinations. In short, I don’t think you did anything wrong in this case. Most people will certainly not mind your card arriving early, but there are always those folks who can (and will!) find fault with everything. In the specific case of your in-laws, you may want to mail your greetings just a week in advance next time, just to avoid a hassle … because sometimes it’s best to remember: You can pick your nose, you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family! Best luck to you! Posted in: Greeting Card Etiquette | No Comments » I think it is really cool that CardsDirect allows me to print my name on my cards. But do I still have to sign them? I’ve got a lot of things to do! -Busy Bee It is tempting not to sign your cards. We all have things to do, and signing greeting cards in mass does take time. However, you should always hand sign your greeting cards, regardless of what information is pre-printed on them. While sending high quality, hand-signed and addressed greeting cards can strengthen your business relationships, sending unsigned cards to your clients and business associates risks appearing impersonal, to the point that it can actually jeopardize valuable relationships with the recipients! On the one hand, you can send the message that each person on your holiday card list is worth the time and effort of your personal attention; on the other hand, with an unsigned card (even worse, with a pre-printed mailing label on the envelope) you send the message that you are just “going through the motions” of keeping in contact. Think of all the business greeting cards you’ve received over the years. Which cards left the best impression with you? The pre-printed cards with nothing personal on them to even show the sender knew who you were, or the cards that arrived in quality, hand-addressed envelopes, with a short handwritten note and signature inside? When in doubt on matters of business correspondence, always put yourself in your recipients’ shoes, and imagine how you would feel in their place. You’ll rarely go wrong! Our selection of embossed, die-cut holiday cards can be printed with your company name or logo, for an elegant, professional impression. Our custom logo Christmas cards are also an excellent choice for personalized holiday greetings … just don’t forget to sign them! Posted in: Greeting Card Etiquette | No Comments » Dear Miss Cards Etiquette, We are planning to move our business in a couple of months to a new location across town. Should we send out our moving announcements now? We are concerned of sending out our new location too early that people will go to there and find our business not ready for them. On the other hand, we don’t want to send our announcements too late and anger our current clients. What do we do? -Steve P. I feel your pain, Steve. Moving is a hassle, no matter what way you look at it. I recommend sending out moving announcements one month in advance of your move. If you send announcements earlier than that, your customers may forget, but if you give less notice than that you risk inconveniencing your clients with a last minute change in their plans. I recommend ordering custom-printed cards, with your new address and company logo, or possibly a photo of your new location if you already have one available. One popular (and effective) option for launching a new business location is with a Grand Opening sale/celebration. If you run a retail business, you might use your moving announcements as invitations to a weekend sale, including a discount for customers who bring their invitations to the store. If you run a service business, you might offer a small discount for clients who schedule appointments at your new location or who refer new clients after your move. While moving your business might seem like a headache at the time, it’s a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old customers, and give your business a boost to cover the expenses of the relocation. Our selection of custom printed greeting cards are a perfect way to announce your business move, and we particularly recommend our custom flat cards. With the choice of glossy or matte finish, as well as optional matching gold-lined envelopes, nobody will mistake your moving announcements for generic commercial mail! Posted in: Greeting Card Etiquette | No Comments » Miss Card Etiquette, A business associate passed away a little over a month ago. We just learned about the sad news recently, and we are unsure if we should send a note with our condolences or just ‘let it go.’ We wonder if it is considered rude to send anything at this point since so much time has passed. What should we do? -Redfaced Condolences are definitely something that should be expressed immediately, when at all possible. But if you didn’t learn about someone’s passing until a month after the fact, you can certainly still send a sympathy card. Much like a late thank you, it’s never too late. In fact, it’s better to send a sympathy card late than to not send one at all. But you want to take extra care that your tardiness doesn’t seem dismissive and that your message doesn’t sound as though you’re making excuses for yourself. Definitely include a handwritten note, and keep it simple, sincere and honest. Express your condolences, explain why your card is late, express concern for the well being of the survivor(s), and try to keep it at that. After all, if you knew the deceased well enough to be writing long personal letters about them, you’d certainly have heard about the sad event sooner. Something along these lines would be appropriate in most cases: “Dear [survivor], I just learned of [deceased]‘s passing. I wish I’d heard the news sooner, so I could have called or been able to help in some way. I’m very sorry for your loss, and hope you’re feeling alright. He was a good person, and will be missed by everyone. With sincere condolences,” Remember, simple and sincere is always the best policy in upsetting situations. Here is our complete selection of sympathy cards, all of which are appropriate for business situations. Posted in: Greeting Card Etiquette | Comments Off Dear Miss Card Etiquette, I received a gift about a month ago, and I hate to admit this, but I have not gotten around to sending a thank you card. I’ve been extremely busy, and time just got away from me. Should I even bother to send out a thank you? -Embarrassed While of course it’s best to send your thank you cards promptly (within a week or two is best), it is never too late to thank someone for a gift or kindness. The touchy part is how to say thank you, after more than a month has passed since the gift or event that prompted it. Naturally, you’re torn between simply saying thank you as if no time had passed, or writing a virtual diary of everything that’s happened since you should have sent your thank you, by way of an excuse. Neither of those options really works very well though. The first option shows disregard for the recipient, as if to say, “Well, thanks. But it wasn’t important enough to bother saying anything at the time,” while the second option comes across as if you’re making excuses at best, and at worst invites disaster (“Oh, you think YOU’VE had a hard time!”) if your recipient has had something terribly stressful happen to them As with most situations that involve apology, it’s generally best to keep your late thank you’s simple, but not flippant. A simple “So sorry I let the time get away from me, but I do want to thank you for X,” will suffice for most business correspondence. Then again, if you’re really good with humor, you might make up a story about being lost in the African wilderness after a photo-safari gone awry … Here is our complete selection of thank you cards, for expressing your prompt as well as belated gratitude. Posted in: Greeting Card Etiquette | Comments Off |
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