Every business needs to send a digital holiday card.

I love holiday card season. I love getting cards from the people I love. And I love sending cards to my friends and family! Every year, I scan my inbox to see which of the businesses I support will take the time to send a digital holiday card.

This is probably a hold-over from my mom’s yearly tradition of sending a rather lengthy written Christmas newsletter, along with a family photo. This tome would chronicle each family member’s adventures and accomplishments over the past year. Sue Sharp was always careful to ensure every family member received equal real estate (thanks, Mom!). My brother, sister and I were always eager to see what Mom thought were the standout events worthy of mention.

Whether your business sends a simple holiday greeting, or a more Sue-Sharp-like highlight reel of the year’s greatest hits, I believe that a digital holiday card is a must for any business. Put some thought and effort into yours now. What is the best way for your company to connect with customers during the holiday season? Sending a digital holiday card shows that you care, not only about your customers spending money with you, but about sharing your business culture and values with them.

Check out this digital holiday card highlight reel for inspiration.

Keep it simple

This digital holiday card from beauty brand bareMinerals is beautiful in its simplicity. Gold and white makes it festive, but not overtly CHRISTMASSY. There’s a subtle animation in the background, adding surprise and delight. And the sentiment is straightforward and on-brand.

As a consumer, I get warm fuzzies opening this digital holiday card. It is charming and heartfelt, it doesn’t take me more than 3 seconds to read, and I can move on with my day.

Win.

Plus, you don’t even need a fancy-schmancy graphic designer to execute something like this for your own business. The free graphic design website Canva offers beautiful templates that you can build off of to create your own special text-based digital holiday card.

Be playful

But if you DO have a Photoshop expert in house, you could go crazy with your digital holiday card. Check out this playful greeting from Petco.

I mean, they even admit they used Photoshop.

Apart from their logo and navigation at the top of the email (not pictured), this is the whole email from Petco. Animal lovers the world over would chuckle opening this digital holiday card, and there’s not an ask in sight.

Brilliant.

It’s okay to still send people to your website.

That’s not to say that you can’t/shouldn’t sell with your digital holiday card. Trust me, I got plenty of emails from retailers on Christmas day with opportunities to shop. My favorite digital holiday cards are the ones with no ulterior motives. My second favorite are the ones with a sales message that is way, way, waywaywayway backseat passive.

Like this one from Carter’s.

Okay sure, they mention that you get free shipping on orders over $50. But they do that in their emails all the time. It’s built into their template header, probably to the point that I mostly skim over it.

I’m so distracted by the cute picture of little kids in festive holiday garb, I’m not even mad.

Showcasing happy, cute children in your digital holiday card, Carters? Smart move. As a mom, I’m charmed. These are actual customers, not baby models!

User generated content, yes please!

And if I just so happen to see a cute outfit that my kids need, I can order, because there are super, waywaywayway backseat passive links to your store in my email. That’s just convenient. Boom.

Go the Sue-Sharp route and include a letter with your digital holiday card.

There is literally NOTHING to stop you from sending a Sue-Sharp tome for your digital holiday card.

Christy Wright’s Business Boutique sent this lengthy little ditty out last Christmas, and I gotta tell ya…

I didn’t hate it.

Yes, it is long.

But she uses bold text and short paragraphs to break things up.

She injects a few standout quotes in an alternative color to help catch the eye and sum things up for the skimmers out there.

And she closes with a cute family picture which is right in alignment with her personal brand.

The email is loaded with inspiration from her, success stories from the tribe, and goodwill galore.

It is NOT a personal brag fest (that would be off-putting), and it isn’t a 2000-word advertisement.

If you go letter-style, this is a great way to go for your digital holiday card.

But it isn’t for everybody.

Like, I’m literally writing each sentence here into its own paragraph to justify the amount of vertical real estate it’s taking up in this blog post.

Yikes.

There’s also the hybrid approach:

On-brand and charming, image? Check. Heartfelt and business-mission-centered greeting? Check. Personal signature from a business figure head? BONUS.

There’s this one, too.

Do you love animation? This example from Stitch Fix is a digital holiday card slam dunk-eroni.

Mad Libs style, it fills in the words and cute illustrations before your eyes. Stitch Fix, I wish you sent me more CLOTHES I love, because this digital holiday card is the shizzle.

Summin’ it up:

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus, the last few weeks of December are a celebration of friends, family, community, and connection. I hope this round-up post has inspired you to put together your own digital holiday card to the people who have contributed to your business success this year. Send your warm wishes, extend your gratitude for your customers’ support, and share a holiday highlight or two to make the season just that more bright for your customers.

Which way are you leaning? Postcard-style? A letter-version highlight reel? Or the hybrid approach?

My spotlight series dedicated to helping you finish the year strong is almost to a close. If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series before next week. I’ll wrap up by talking about the No Man’s Land that becomes New Year’s.