Eight years ago the signs were already appearing. The New York Times ran an article in 2007 about the decline of the greeting card among businesses, and the consequent emergence of the eCard in its place.
Today, this trend is a full-blown shift in the way that businesses handle the holidays. While eCards were once looked at a bit skeptically, today they are a perfectly normal and acceptable way for businesses and private individuals alike to send their customers, clients, suppliers and associates seasons greetings.
The Case for E-cards
According to Ibis World, greeting card revenue is down 5% between 2010-2015 and is expected to decline another 3.8% annually over the course of the next five years. The reasons and consequences for this trend are varied, but the implication is clear: eCards are the way of the future and if you’re not already using them it’s time to reconsider.
The Greeting Card Association, a U.S. based umbrella organization for greeting card companies, estimates that nearly 1.6 billion Christmas cards are purchased every year.
Environmentally sound
With such a major market share of all card sales, companies’ trend towards eCards is big news for the industry. One of the influencing factors is simply an increasing awareness and interest in society for the wellbeing of the environment.
While recycled paper cards have a smaller negative impact than what is called “virgin paper” cards, the sheer bulk of cards purchased by companies can be terrible news for the environment. The amount of greeting cards sent each year are enough to wrap around the world 5 times, and when they go into landfills their toxic inks and dyes as well as the plastic wrappers that many cards come in can do major damage.
It’s enough to make a conscientious company think twice before purchasing paper cards instead of sending eCards and it’s very likely one of the considerations that’s driving the eCard craze.
While environmental causes are one of the most obvious reasons to drop the paper greeting card, there is a more subtle reason which is just as compelling. eCards have the unique advantage of offering a social network opportunity which paper greeting cards never did.
A chance to go viral
With clever content, strategic sharing suggestions and more, businesses can even make their eCards or video greetings go viral and build a name for themsleves. Even 8 years ago, companies were coming up with clever schemes, such as the one that the New York Times article describes, where recipients were invited to check out a live webcam of a company employee living in a snowglobe – a campaign that was sent to just 400 people but eventually ended up on TV and was viewed by 45,000 computers – a result we could certainly call “going viral” and something which paper greeting cards can’t accomplish.
Environmental and social media factors are really just representative of a larger cultural shift. People in modern society don’t place as high of a value on paper cards, and in fact look negatively upon those who create lots of paper waste.
Something unique to share
The modern consumer likes something unique that they can share. eCards offer more opportunity for creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.
In fact, recipients appreciate the creativity that eCards allow for more than a paper card that they’re likely to simply toss in the trash. eCards are the way of the future not because companies are getting lazier, but rather because they allow for businesses to push the envelope each year in how they celebrate the season.
There’s no doubt about it, eCards are rapidly pushing paper cards into obscurity.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you prefer paper cards or e-greeting cards? Share with us in the comments below.
The post The Future of Greeting Cards: E-Cards vs. Print Cards appeared first on Official Fiverr Blog.