5 Ways to Create Personal Connections with Your Consumers

Reaching out directly and individually to consumers is the most effective way to nurture a personal connection. There are many different ways to nurture authentic relationships with customers. But here at Hallmark, we have found that one of the best ways to do so is with a greeting card.

A personalized greeting card gives you a meaningful, high-touch way to engage consumers that gets opened, read, understood and acted upon. Below, we open up about the five ways to nurture your company’s personal connections with your consumers as well as some tips and tricks about how Hallmark Business Connections can help:

1. Connect with the right words

To connect with your customers, you need to speak to them with words that resonate emotionally. If all you do is sell, your attempts to create a relationship will seem forced and artificial. Hallmark Business Connections has a team of writers and editorial experts who specialize in crafting words that connect with people.

2. Take advantage of trends and research

Starting a relationship with your consumers requires communicating with them in ways they understand. Using the biggest trends in culture, color, subject matter, and editorial does just that, creating a more meaningful impact. Our team gathers insights into these trends to ensure your message resonates with your consumers in a way that advertising messaging cannot.

3. Turn your special offer into a gift

Sending a special offer in a typical advertising mail format usually means it will get tossed in the trash the moment your recipient sees it. But when your special offer comes in a greeting card, it is seen as a gift rather than a piece of junk mail. That’s because 62% of consumers prefer getting a Hallmark card to a three-panel mailer, and 72% recognize and prefer Hallmark cards over non-Hallmark cards.

Use your special offer to craft an authentic moment with the consumer by sending it in a way that feels personal like a note or a greeting card (or both). As a result, your marketing becomes part of your customer experience, and it’s delivered in a genuine, authentic way.

4. Create “surprise and delight” moments

Receiving an unexpected Hallmark card in the mail surprises and delights people, which is the first step in enhancing the way consumers feel about a company. To actually engage your consumers, send a Hallmark card—they are opened, read, engaged with, and acted upon differently from other forms of mail. Since 98% of people check their mail every day, you have frequent opportunities to provide the personalized experience that makes 80% of consumers more likely to interact with your brand.

5. Celebrate with your consumers

When a moment between a business and a consumer is personal, there’s no better expression to affirm that moment than a greeting card. With or without a special offer, the consumer feels seen and appreciated. Birthdays, customer anniversaries, apologies, targeted product launches, and special sales all mean more when the customer feels, “You didn’t just send me a card, you sent me a Hallmark card.”

Get the full whitepaper here. Want more? Contact our customer engagement team.