Holiday Card Solution Overview

Many firms and organizations send a holiday card to their important contacts each year. Managing this endeavor manually can be time consuming. By configuring InterAction to manage who will receive holiday cards and who will sign them, the process is greatly simplified. This chapter provides best practice recommendations for the Marketing department on managing holiday cards in InterAction.

The benefits to using InterAction to manage holiday cards include the following:

  • Marketing lists in InterAction can track who added each contact into the folder (sponsors), simplifying the task of identifying who needs to sign each card.
  • Using InterAction to manage the process can improve the image of the firm or organization, because contacts do not receive multiple cards from the firm.
  • Clients receive cards signed by the people they know, which makes them feel their relationship is personal and valued.
  • Activities that are logged regarding people who received cards build valuable historical information and relationship intelligence that the professionals can leverage.
  • Professionals are notified in Alerts when cards are sent and to whom.
  • Following these procedures saves time for the department preparing the mailing, the individuals who need to determine who will receive cards, and those who want to sign cards for their clients.

Holiday card mailings present unique challenges if the professionals in the organization wish to sign the cards mailed to their clients. This chapter includes the following scenarios:

  • Holiday cards that are not signed by any professionals within the organization
  • Holiday cards that professionals sign for their contacts and cards have only one signature
  • Holiday cards that may be signed by multiple professionals

InterAction can be configured to support/enhance whichever of these business processes you use.

Holiday Card Business Process Summary

To prepare the holiday card mailing, follow these steps:

  1. Marketing creates two marketing lists: Holiday Cards - No Signature for cards not needing a signature and Holiday Cards - Signed by Sponsors for cards to be signed. The one to be signed by sponsors must be a marketing list (with sponsorship). See Preparing the Holiday Card Folders.

  2. Professionals within the organization use the Web Client to add (link) contacts to the holiday card mailing lists. Only firm contacts may be added to these lists. See Procedures for Professionals.

  3. Marketing validates the contacts linked into the holiday card folders. See Validating the Contacts Linked into the Holiday Card Folders.

  4. Marketing runs a search to find any contacts linked into both folders and deletes any duplicate contacts found in the Holiday Cards - No Signature folder. See Searching for Duplicate Contacts.

  5. Marketing configures Data Change Management to review any new contacts added to the holiday card lists. See Configuring Data Change Management for Holiday Cards.

  6. Marketing prints the labels for cards requiring no signature, then assembles and mails the cards. See Printing Labels for Cards Requiring No Signature.

  7. Marketing runs the Holiday Cards Needing One Signature search to identify contacts whose card requires one signature. See Identify Contacts Whose Card Requires One Signature.

  8. Marketing prints Mailing Labels Sorted by Primary Sponsor for these contacts, assembles the cards and labeled envelopes, then routes the Contacts by Sponsor report and matching cards to appropriate sponsors. See Printing Labels for Cards with One Signature.

  9. Marketing runs the Holiday Cards Needing Two or More Signatures search to identify contacts whose card requires at least two signatures. See Identifying Contacts Whose Card Requires at Least Two Signatures.

  10. Marketing prints Mailing Labels Sorted by Primary Sponsor for these contacts, assembles the cards and labeled envelopes, and then routes the Contacts by Sponsor report and matching cards to appropriate sponsors. See Printing Labels for Cards Requiring at Least Two Signatures.

  11. Professionals sign and route cards for signatures, returning completed cards to the Marketing department.

  12. Marketing determines how to handle cards from sponsors (employees) who have left the organization. See Managing Holiday Cards from Sponsors Who Have Left Your Organization.

  13. Marketing verifies returned cards have appropriate signatures, then mails cards. See Verifying Cards Have Appropriate Signatures and Mailing Cards.

  14. Marketing records an activity of type Marketing Mailing for all contacts in both holiday card folders. See Recording Activities for All Contacts Who Received a Card.