Electronic greeting cards, or e-cards, are not just for people like me who procrastinate during the holidays, (I have a thing with stamps), they offer a memorable holiday message to loved ones, acquaintances and colleagues. Holiday e-cards can even help you with your business, much like standard greeting cards, they offer an economical and efficient way to let customers know you care.
They are a variety of electronic greetings cards available, both paid and free, animated, musical, pre-written, and some that offer varying degrees of customization. Like standard holiday cards, there are a variety of types, religious, humorous, artistic, sentimental, professional and so on.
If you think an electronic greeting card is too impersonal, at some e-card sites you can create and print your cards, or add your own audio, so you get the best of both worlds and the personal touch you desire.
Top Sites for Holiday E-cards
AmericanGreetings.com – offers a decent selection of e-cards, audio cards (talk what you type or add your own audio), reminders, address book, scrapbook and create and print cards. A yearly membership is $13.95 or $2.95 a month, but often a one-month free trial is available. Pros: quality, customization features Cons: similar styles, cost
Hallmark.com – Hallmark offers some beautiful free holiday e-cards to send with the ability to personalize with a short message. Pros: easy sign-up, free, aesthetics Cons: selection, limited customization
Care2.com – An excellent site with a wide variety (25,000) of free e-cards. The site is more than an e-card site, it promotes donations to environmental causes, so you have to endure some pleas and ads. You can opt out of any mailings however. Pros: selection, quality, free Cons: ad-ware
DaySpring.com – A nice selection of quality spiritual /Christian e-cards for Christmas and year around. Pros: quality, music, free Cons: limited selection
Logica3cards.com – provides free e-cards and offers a quick and easy way to send notes and greetings to colleagues, customers and business associates. Pros: sending is fast and easy, good business selection, free Cons: not animated
e-Marketing Associates – When you have a large number of people to send cards to and want superior quality, this corporate e-card and business site will do all the work for you. It comes at a steep price ($249) but useful for the executive or those who want the very best. Pros: quality, selection, customization, ease Cons: cost
Inspire21.com – Free artistic e-cards for all occasions with many different categories to choose from. This site also offers a selection of spiritual e-cards as well as cards suitable for business use. Pros: quality, selection, cost Cons: no animation
SmileBox.com – Create your own memorable free holiday e-cards using their templates and your photos. Pros: quality, customization, aesthetics Cons: limited templates
peterwhiterose.com – send world-unique free art e-cards to your friends and relatives. These are beautiful multimedia e-cards with music, poetry and paintings from Peter Whiterose. Pros: quality, aesthetics,
JacquieLawson.com – offers unique holiday e-cards and greetings for other special occasions. It is a membership-based site ($8.00 a year) but worth it for the original beauty and charm these e-cards offer. Pros: quality, uniqueness Cons: selection
The following e-card sites offer unique, free e-cards catering to a variety of interests, religions and aesthetics. They may or may not be spam proof, simply because they are less well-known, but have been reviewed and deemed to be valuable e-card resources.
Greetz.com – animated, Jewish, native american, gay/lesbian, artistic and more. Offers print services.
Hipster e-Cards – clever e-cards for any occasion including breakups and pet adoption. 100’s of free, stylish, flirty, retro, funny, naughty, clever and cute e-cards.
Mantra Cards – Free e-cards to include a plethora of holidays: Rakshbandhan, Janmashtami, Ganesha chaturthi, Eid, Christmas, New year, Hanukkah, Diwali, Dusshera and much more.
Things to Know About Sending E-cards
Sending electronic greeting cards is easy, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Don’t be discouraged from the caveats, if you are new to e-cards you may feel overwhelmed. These FYIs are intended to provide you with information to get better results from your electronic greeting choices. Unless stated otherwise, with the sites listed here you can be confident your e-card will be sent and received promptly without any glitches. And most sites offer confirmation that your card has been received.
1. Reputation and Privacy: Send e-cards from reputable places that have a no-spam policy. Otherwise that free entertaining e-card may generate spam and a headache for both the recipient and you.
2. Like Santa Check Your (e-mail) List Twice: It is obvious that you have to have the correct e-mail address to send electronic greetings, but overlooked typos are common, so beware of them.
3. Paid vs. Free Electronic Greetings: There are good free holiday e-cards to be found, such as the ones listed here, but having a membership to an e-card site may benefit you. This is true when you want a better selection or when you want to send e-cards year-round (birthday, anniversary etc.). Check out the features at the electronic greeting card sites, they may offer extras like reminders, ability to add audio and print.
4. Animated Cards – These are usually based on a technology called Flash. Most computers are Flash-enabled but if the recipient of your electronic greeting tells you they can not view the card, try a static picture e-card instead.
