E-Cards are easy, but might not convey what’s necessary

Not enthusiastic about signing a stack of printed holiday cards and thinking that an electronic one will suffice this year?

You might want to consider the following:

If your only relationship with someone is a digital one, an e-mail card is fine, according to what little research there is on this topic. If the recipient is critical to your business or referral network, or a flesh-and-blood personal or professional friend, a standard card, signed and with a personal note, is going to the best choice, in our opinion. Lawyers who feel signing traditional cards is burdensome should do fewer but do them well, and perhaps use an electronic card for the relationships they feel are less important.

More than 80% of all correspondence is now electronic, so it makes sense that we should want to express our Christmas wishes by the same means we express ourselves year ’round. That’s why e-mail cards are so popular. The drawback of an e-mail card is its brief lifespan. “It has just about as much impact on the recipient as the jokes, political musings, and urban legends sent during the year,” one columnist recently wrote, adding “The recipient is likely to give it just a few second of his or her time before hitting the delete button.”

The benefits of a signed traditional card sent through standard mail? Longevity and personal impact. “In a sense that card contains your DNA,” according to one article. True because you must hand-signed it and include a personal note or greeting showing you thought about the recipient and your relationship. It might be just a little bit of you, but it’s still more personable, says more about the value you place upon your relationship, than the digital approach.