Digital Christmas cards for clients
A digital Christmas card works for clients you only reach by email, and it needs no postage. Keep it a greeting with no offer in it, because a business e-card whose main purpose is to promote something falls under the federal CAN-SPAM Act.
Paper card or e-card
| Paper card | E-card | |
|---|---|---|
| What you need from the client | A mailing address | An email address |
| Postage | $0.82 a card in a standard envelope, as of November 2026 | None |
| Rules to follow | None beyond postage and a correct address | CAN-SPAM, if its main purpose is to promote |
| When it arrives | Days after you mail it | When you send it |
Use both if you need to. Mail paper cards to clients whose addresses you have, and send e-cards to the rest of your contacts. The full postage prices are in our guide on how much it costs to send business holiday cards.
The email law a business e-card must follow
The CAN-SPAM Act covers commercial email, which the Federal Trade Commission describes as email whose primary purpose is to advertise or promote a product or service. It covers all commercial messages, not only bulk email, and it makes no exception for business-to-business email.
If your e-card counts as commercial, the FTC's guide says it must do the following.
- Use sender details and subject lines that aren't false or misleading.
- Identify the message as an ad.
- Include a valid physical postal address for your business.
- Tell people how to opt out of future marketing email, and honor each opt-out within 10 business days.
The FTC says each email that breaks the law can bring a penalty of up to $53,088. This is a summary of the FTC's guide, not legal advice.
Keep the e-card a greeting
When an email mixes a greeting with an ad, the FTC treats it as commercial if a reader would likely see the subject line or the body as promoting a product or service. Where the ad sits in the email is one of the factors. Put the greeting in the subject line and at the top, and leave out discounts, sale dates and product links. Send any offer as its own email that follows the rules above.
Mailing paper cards to your clients? We print each card with "Dear" and your client's first name, your note and your name, and mail it First-Class for $2.99 a card, postage included (as of November 2026). You see a proof of every card before you pay.
Make your cardsQuestions
Do holiday e-cards from a business have to follow CAN-SPAM?
If the e-card's main purpose is to advertise or promote, yes. The FTC says the law covers all commercial email, including business-to-business email. The FTC judges a message by its primary purpose, so we keep e-cards to a greeting with no offer.
What must a commercial e-card include?
Under the FTC's guide, it must identify itself as an ad, include a valid physical postal address, and tell people how to opt out of future marketing email. Opt-out requests must be honored within 10 business days.
Should I send an e-card or a paper card to clients?
Mail a paper card to clients whose mailing address you have. Send an e-card to contacts you only have an email address for, and keep it a greeting with no offer in it.
Sources
The pages we read for this guide.