Make Your List and Check it Twice – Tips for Holiday Greeting Cards

With the winter holidays just around the corner, many of you may already be thinking of sending greeting cards to insurance clients and potential customers. How you address those cards is just as important as the message inside.

Nothing is more irritating than a misspelled name, and it is a waste of postage if the card never arrives due to an incorrect address. Take great care when addressing cards and envelopes, and you will be sure to bring holiday cheer into people’s lives.

Below  are a few guidelines for addressing holiday greeting cards.

Names

When addressing a card to a family, it can be hard to know when to add “s” or “es” to the last name. One solid rule, however, is never add an apostrophe to make names plural.

For most names, just add an “s” at the end.

The Halls

The Andersons

The Johnsons

For names ending in “ch,” “s,” “sh,” “ss,” “x” and “z,” add “es.”

The Lynches

The Joneses

The Nashes

The Nesses

The Rexes

The Rodriguezes

For names ending in “y,” just add an “s.” Do not change to “ies.”

                The Bundys

                The Duffys

                The McCoys

Addresses

Now that your cards are written, make sure they are addressed properly. Did you know 25 percent of all mail has something wrong in the address? Here are some tips and guidelines from the United States Postal Service.

Use this format:

According to the USPS, “Automated mail processing machines read addresses on mail pieces from the bottom up and will first look for a city, state, and ZIP code. Then the machines look for a delivery address. If the machines can’t find either line, then your mail piece could be delayed or misrouted. Any information below the delivery address line (a logo, a slogan, or an attention line) could confuse the machines and misdirect your mail.”

Directional words, like “east” and “west” are extremely important. Use them. And those fancy fonts? Leave them for the inside of the card.

Here are more guidelines:

• Always put the address and the postage on the same side of your card.
• On a letter, the address should be parallel to the longest side.
• Capital letters.
• Use no punctuation.
• Use at least 10-point type.
• One space between city and state.
• Two spaces between state and ZIP code.
• Simple type fonts.
• Left justified.
• Black ink on white or light paper.
• No reverse type (white printing on a black background).
• If you are using address labels, make sure you don’t cut off any important information. Also make sure your labels are on straight.

Now that you know how address your card, the next step is to prepare your holiday card. Let us know if you need assistance with a custom holiday e-card or printed card. And don’t forget that Thanksgiving is a great time to send clients a note of appreciation.

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