Christmas greetings – business and heartfelt at the same time

Every year, shortly before Christmas, the question arises: How do you succeed in making Christmas greetings businesslike and at the same time personal, heartfelt and contemplative – with a personal touch?Because it all depends on the right tone. To make it a little easier for you, we have put together free text templates for all cases.

There is definitely no way around Christmas greetings in business life. For many just a chore, these good wishes and end-of-year thank-you notes fulfil an important function: they express appreciation and can be used to thank customers and partners for their loyalty or successful cooperation. But how do you write Christmas greetings that are both businesslike and heartfelt?

The right tone is important: professional with a personal touch. Because beware, with some lovelessly cobbled together text or the sparse card that bears the invisible stamp “mass mailing”, you are more likely to achieve the opposite. The recipient gets the feeling that the sender does not consider him important enough to make an effort. And hand on heart: sometimes that is the case. But you should never let that show on a Christmas card.

Content

• What to keep in mind when sending business Christmas wishes
• Who gets Christmas mail?
• Christmas greetings – business text templates for all occasions
• How to design your Christmas cards
• Tip: Design Christmas cards online and order right away

What to consider when making business Christmas wishes

1. High quality

It doesn’t have to be classy textured card. But it should be a few levels above thin writing paper to make the addressee feel valued. A professionally printed folded card with a matching envelope is always a good choice in this respect. To show off, Christmas greetings on exclusive paper or a card with effect colours are suitable.

You don’t have to make a distinction between cards for customers, partners or employees, but can use the same design for your Christmas greetings. The higher the number of cards produced, the lower the production costs. Words added by hand provide the personal touch. Especially if you have a limited Christmas budget, you can save money this way.

2. Personal address

Personal address means not only that the addressee is called by name, but also that he or she is addressed directly with a few words. It is therefore advisable not to print too much text on Christmas cards produced on a large scale, so that there is still space for handwritten additions. Alternatively, you can order inserts and write personal words on them.

With such personal notes, it is best to mention events that create a sense of community for both sender and recipient. Or refer to certain preferences of the customer or business partner. Especially during the reflective Christmas season at the end of the year, it is a good idea to look back on projects or milestones that have been mastered together.

3. Forget no one

Sure, it’s not nice if the Christmas card comes along with the charm of a scatter article, but you shouldn’t scatter too finely for the feast of love either. If you only think of individual members of a team, you inevitably step on the toes of everyone else. Therefore, either put only those on the list with whom you have personal dealings or one deputy per team.

4. Christmas greetings – business and stand out from the crowd

With many business contacts, Christmas cards pile up quite quickly. The tenth Christmas tree and the eighth sprig of holly no longer stand out. If you want to be remembered by your customers and partners, you have to go for something unusual or unique.

Everything that deviates from the norm catches the eye. This can be a rare paper, Christmas colours that differ from the norm (traditionally green and red), an unusual shape (how about round greeting cards?) or a motif that has never been seen before.

If you like it equally unusual and funny, incorporate your own photos: the staff in reindeer costume, the core product of the house in a Christmas hat or a little comic that fits the occasion. Cards with such a little entertainment value will definitely be remembered.

5. As an accompaniment or solo

If the Christmas greeting is merely an addition to a gift, it is also sufficient if it is on a one-page card with a few personal words. If the customer or business partner only receives good wishes, an elaborate double card is more advisable.

A little tightrope walk in this respect is the Christmas card that states that the budget will be invested in a charitable donation instead of gifts. In this case, the card should also appear classy, but not too ostentatious, but rather simple.

Who gets Christmas mail?

Customers and business partners often receive Christmas cards as a matter of course, but sometimes it can also be very appropriate to send employees a small gift at the end of the year for the services they have rendered.

In many companies, lists of addressees are divided into categories. Premium contacts receive more valuable gifts than the B and C contacts, or indeed any at all. Less important partners “only” get a card. It is therefore all the more important that the card is attractively designed and includes an individual or at least personalised text.

Christmas greetings – business text templates for all occasions

You can modify our suggestions for your own purposes or adopt them completely as they are if they just fit. We have tried to cover all areas, sometimes a little more formal and contemplative, sometimes a little more relaxed – suitable for different target groups and partnerships.

How to design your Christmas cards

1. Determine the format

Certainly, an unusual card shape such as a fir tree or a Christmas tree ball looks particularly appealing and tempts you to keep greetings that stand out from the crowd like this for longer than usual. However, this is only really an option for a very small print run. If you want to delight hundreds of customers at Christmas, the easiest way is to use standard formats:

• The folding card in DIN A6 is THE format among Christmas cards and looks high-quality when the paper quality has grammages of 250 to 400 g/m². Shiny surfaces and a little glitter go particularly well with Christmas. But a matt version also looks very classy. In our online shop there are also explicit Christmas folding cards and Christmas folding cards with effect colours.
• The postcard in DIN A6 is of course also a classic, which is also the cheapest in terms of production and shipping. But here, too, you can add highlights, for example, with partial finishing of a lettering. Or you can choose Christmas postcards or Christmas cards with effect colours. Disadvantage: If the card arrives at the recipient without an envelope and possibly a little battered, this can make an undesirable impression. However, it is ideal as an accompaniment to a gift.

2. Graphic design

The visual appearance of cards obviously plays a major role, which is why ready-made cards from the shops are almost self-explanatory. But how do you design an attractive Christmas greeting?

Motif

The first thing to consider is the motif. Should it be something classic or something original? No matter what you choose, it should fit your company as well as your customers and business partners. While a manufacturer of stair lifts is more likely to work with conventional Christmas motifs, the funky agency could have a tipsy reindeer that gets lost adorning the card. In case of doubt, it’s better to go for the tried and tested than to try to be innovative.

Can’t find anything that meets your expectations? If you use our online design editor, you have access to professional images from Shutterstock. There is sure to be a suitable motif there for your Christmas greetings.

Company logo

The company logo is also important and should be discreet for greeting cards, especially for Christmas greetings. Under no circumstances should it be included in the actual text. It should be on the envelope and, in the case of a folded card, it can appear on the part that is not written on. But here, too, it should be small and not too bold.

Back side of postcards

With classic postcards, the back must also be taken into account. If you design the whole thing yourself, you need to pay attention to the necessary elements: Lines for the recipient’s name, address, country and a placeholder for the stamp as well as the franking and coding zone. It’s easy to do with our free templates for the back.

3. The text

Above all, as explained above, the personal touch is important. Of course, it is most beautiful if the entire text is tailored to the respective recipient. However, since this is only possible in a few cases, a generally suitable text must be found that can be added to personally. You can find some suggestions for this in our text templates.

Perhaps you are also still looking for a suitable saying for the front of the folding card or a gift tag? You can find such short Christmas sayings in this article: Sayings for Christmas cards: suggestions and free text templates.

This article was first published in 2018 and updated in October 2023.