Who says snail mail is dead? More than half (54%) of people polled in a recent survey say they still mail their greeting cards versus sending via digital and social platforms, new research suggests.
The findings, split evenly by generation, uncovered that taking an extra step in the personalisation of holiday expressions goes a long way.
Two in three prefer to receive physical cards as opposed to digital ones, including younger respondents who are millennials (62%) or are part of Gen Z (59%). Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Shutterfly, the survey also found that generally, people prefer to feature their family photos (30%) in holiday cards, in addition to vacation (17%) and pet pics (13%).
And featuring a theme on holiday cards is an absolute must-have for Gen Z (49%), millennials (51%) and Gen X respondents (39%). When it comes to card designs, overall, 55% prefer greetings with a personalized message, rather than generic templates (24%) or anything AI-generated (16%).
Millennials are the most likely generation to be upset about receiving the same generic card as someone else (38%), while baby boomers are the ones who would feel least offended (60%). The survey also uncovered that the average millennial also spends 27 minutes choosing a holiday card and 42 minutes picking out the perfect holiday gift.
The time spent shopping can add up when feeling stressed to find the perfect gift, and 36% feel a significant amount of pressure shopping for a person in their lives who seemingly has everything. Still, the effort is worth it for more than half of Gen Z and millennials who are equally excited to give than receive a gift.
Many put extra effort into holiday gifting, as 36% of respondents are more likely to personalize a gift during the season than any other occasion. However, some gift-givers may need to go back to the drawing board since the average person pretends to like over a third (35%) of gifts.
Seventy percent believe that personalization shows a closer connection to the gift-giver, especially since personal presents are reserved: on average, survey-takers said you’ll need to know a person for an average of 1.4 years before personalizing their gifts. Respondents also shared that their partner is most likely to appreciate a personalized present, more so than a child (31%), sibling (26%) or co-worker (12%).
When shopping for presents that feel more custom, people tend to personalize items such as greeting cards (43%), jewelry (34%), clothing (32%) and artwork (27%).
*2000 adult Americans were polled for this survey.
