To quote Mark Twain, “the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated“. And so it is with the doom-sayers claiming the death of printed media – particularly mail. They are greatly exaggerated.

There are many print businesses booming – and ironically it’s all thanks to digital technology and the internet. One of the business categories flourishing is the customised card business. These online brands allow you to create printed customised cards for any occasion via a website.

One of the brands is Send Out Cards. It’s a simple concept. Here’s all you do:

• Open an account
• Upload images
• Select a card format
• Create your card – message, font and images
• Address the card
• Hit the send button

Your card is then printed, inserted in an envelope (unless it’s a postcard) and mailed with a stamp on the cover. It has your images, your choice of font (size and colour) and your personal message. The card is completely customised.

When your card arrives, your recipient opens it and says “wow, how did they do that?”

And this is where the insight comes in that makes Send Out Cards different. The majority of digital card sites don’t understand LTV – the Lifetime Value of the customer. They price their cards in a similar range to store-bought cards, so repeat purchase is not high.

But the people at Send Out Cards realised three things:

1. Most people buy lots of cards each year for lots of different occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas, etc.
2. There are two people involved with every card – the sender and the recipient.
3. Pricing their cards more competitively than store-bought and other digital cards means people will likely send more cards.

So every card printed by Send Out Cards has a unique URL that allows the recipient to check out how the card was created, and if they want, become a Send Out Cards customer themselves.

I’ve seen research that suggests people will spend up to 45 minutes selecting the right card for their partner. I think in the case of men, they spend ages selecting a card not because they are trying to find the right card, but because they want to avoid selecting the wrong card.

There’s nothing worse than the death-stare of daggers from a spouse or girlfriend who thinks you didn’t put enough thought into their birthday card. “But I thought you would laugh at a joke about getting older honey, not that you look older or anything. Would you like a cuppa…”

The other unique insight by the Send Out Cards team was to set up the business as a network marketing company. In this way their customers become their marketers, so they spend almost nothing on traditional marketing expenses. The unique URL printed on each card belongs to the sender. If the recipient goes to the sender’s URL and opens an account, the sender gets a clip of the ticket each time the recipient sends a card. Ingenious.

And the cards are about 20% of the cost of a store-bought card, including postage. There are numerous formats and sizes – and every card created is unique. You can even send gifts with your card – as Send Out Cards has an online gift store that includes gifts like chocolate fudge, cakes and other goodies.

The business has grown by more than 25% per annum year on year since launch. And it has one simple mission – to become big enough to acquire Hallmark. I like a BBHO (that’s a Bloody Big Hairy Objective).

I use Send Out Cards – but it’s not a business for me, like it is for some. I am about to send my Christmas cards, so thought I’d share the story with you. If you want to become a distributor and start a business, I have no idea if it pays or not. That will be your call.

If you would like to trial the service and send a card free, go to:

www.sendoutcards.com/malcolmauld

This is not a pitch to build my network, as I don’t have one. It’s just a damn fine service and if you’re like most people, you’ll love sending and receiving a customised card.

Merry Ho Ho…