'One third of Britons will send electronic Christmas cards' this year
Howard Lake | 22 December 2003 | News
Charity Christmas cards might be facing a tough time if the British Computer Society’s (BCS) latest research is correct.
According to the BCS, “one third of British people will be opting to send Christmas e-cards to friends and family rather than the traditional paper version.” Does this spell problems for printed charity Christmas cards? In time it probably does: the research notes that while 20% of people over 30 will be e-mailing or texting their Christmas greetings to friends and family this year, nearly half of those under 30 will do so.
So what can charities do in the face of this change? First, it might not be such a challenge. The Royal Mail reports that 98% of people would rather receive a traditional, printed card. Secondly, they can move, as many already have, to offering supporters the opportunity to send branded electronic Christmas cards, but in return for a payment or donation.
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Of course there are plenty of sites offering free e-card services, but charities need to ensure that they generate income from any Christmas e-card service they offer, unless of course they are happy simply to consider them as promotional tools. To secure payments charities might need to offer something more sophisticated. For example, to attract business users wishing to e-mail charity cards to their clients, it might prove helpful to offer some kind of bulk upload facility for names and e-mail addresses. Few business people are going to spend time cutting and pasting names and e-mail addresses into an e-card facility that allows just one or a few e-mail addresses to be entered at a time. The BCS survey noted “Twenty per cent of British Companies too are now choosing to e-mail their Christmas greetings to contacts and clients in a bid to save money on postage and printing as well as to speed up the distribution process.”
Guy Clapperton discusses the issues involved in sending Christmas cards by e-mail at The Guardian.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.