How To Make Money Selling Greeting Cards

How Do I Make And Sell Greeting Cards?

If you are a graphic designer, illustrator or enjoy arts and crafts, have you considered making greeting cards? It's a creative start-up business with a low upfront cost. Especially if you print with us.

For maximum success, your business plans should start with research. This guide explains what to consider if you are planning to print and sell greeting cards. Most importantly, the best paper types to enhance your card designs and add brand value. Read on to discover how to start your own greeting card business online.

Once you have developed designs that you are proud of, you need to consider how to print and sell them. Before we look at how to sell greeting cards online, let's look at the best pricing strategies for card making entrepreneurs.

Can You Make Money Selling Greeting Cards?

There is a low upfront cost if you want to start a home-based greeting card business. We can have your designs printed onto high quality paper from just a few pence each. You can then sell the cards on websites such as Etsy for a few pounds.

pile of lots of greeting cards

How Much Does The Greeting Card Industry Make?

The UK spends over £1.7 billion on greeting cards every year. Birthday cards are the most popular, followed by wedding and anniversary designs. The bestselling seasonal design is of course the Christmas card. Over a billion Christmas cards are sent in the UK and 2 billion in the USA each year.

greeting cards in mailing envelopes

Royal Mail research confirmed that over 70% of British people would rather receive a traditional Christmas card than a social media message or Ecard. Most of them said that they would appreciate the effort and would feel that the sender really cared about them.

How Much Can I Charge For My Greeting Card Designs?

Researching similar card designers will give you an idea for how much you can charge for your greeting cards. Then you can brainstorm ways that you can make your cards better. For example, higher quality materials can help to differentiate your company from other greeting card specialists.

Check out our range of conqueror textured papers including 'contour' which has a slightly dimpled texture. We have developed a paper sample pack so you can compare our paper types for inspiration. Order a paper sample pack to see our selection of card stock including over 10 colorcore colours.

Choose Your Materials Wisely To Add Value To Your Brand

Top of the line printers and hand-picked paper options can significantly affect how you position your brand to make your online business successful.

Although it may be tempting to scrimp on card stock, the thin paper results in poor quality cards. You will have to sell your cards cheaper overall and there are many cheap card companies on the high street. It is hard to establish an online greeting card business based on a price point. Leave that to the mass manufacturers who sell in large quantities to retailers.

Instead of undercutting competitors, it is better to stand out as being more luxurious. After all, if someone is buying a card, they want to make a lovely warm gesture to the recipient. Visit our greeting card printing page to see our laminates, coloured card and metallic foil highlights and other customization options.

calculating prices with a calculator

Pricing Strategy For Selling Greeting Cards

Using high quality materials instantly makes your cards worth more money. It also helps to achieve a premium brand position, allowing you to charge a premium price.

Buyers will pay more money for personalised designs with an artisan look and premium finish. It's important to mention the quality and finish in your product descriptions. This helps to influence the buyers' purchasing decision when they are comparing different card designs online.

What Cardstock Do You Use For Greeting Cards?

In our blog article What GSM Is Used For Greeting Cards we recommend using card stock that is at least 300gsm. For more of an impact, 350gsm or 400gsm is a better choice.

The materials you use can help you to stand out above the competition in a good way. For example, opting for a soft touch velvet finish adds a luxury feel to your cards without affecting their recyclability. Making your greeting cards feel more exclusive allows you to charge a little extra, which can result in a higher profit margin. Read our article laminated business cards: the types and finishes to compare our matt, soft touch and gloss laminates.

Custom greeting card printing offers over 40 unique paper types to make your designs stand out. We have a selection of coloured and textured papers including a shimmering pearlescent paper. Find out more in our blog article What GSM is used for greeting cards?

2021 in green bush shapes

Printing Greeting Cards Onto Recycled Paper

Going green with greeting cards is another way that you can differentiate your business. After we saw the benefits to wildlife when we started working from home in 2020, more people are becoming eco conscious. Recycled paper resonates with so many people who are actively striving to be more environmentally friendly. So 2021 is definitely a good year to consider printing on recycled paper.

Printing onto 350gsm recycled paper has a surface that is almost as smooth as uncoated paper. Order a paper sample pack to see if you can tell the difference between these two types of paper stock.

If you use recycled paper, don't forget to put 'printed on recycled paper' on the back of your card along with your shop details. The person receiving the card can then look at your greeting card range and how they can purchase your products.

How Can My Choice Of Materials Add Value To My Greeting Card Range?

When shopping for greeting cards online, your card making techniques and designs will be compared to similar products. Your material choice can differentiate your business and persuade the buyer to invest in your products.

Eco conscious individuals looking for sustainable greeting cards will pay more money for greeting cards made from recycled paper stock. They know that the raw material is more expensive than standard silk paper or uncoated paper.

Marketing Your Business As More Sustainable

If you use recycled paper, it adds value to your products and helps to differentiate yourself from other card making businesses. Advertising that your brand uses recycled paper will help you to stand out from the crowd. Promoting your greeting cards as being environmentally friendly, sets you apart from other businesses.

writing on handmade greeting card

Ways To Sell Your Greeting Cards Online

Although greeting cards are a big business, you don't need to set up your own website. There are many platforms where you can start your shop.

8 Online Selling Platforms For Greeting Cards

1 Etsy

Etsy is one of the most well-known sites for selling greeting cards and art prints. Accounts are free to create and sellers pay a small fee to list their products and a small percentage of each sale.

2 Artfire

An alternative platform to Etsy that is a less well-known marketplace for selling printed greeting cards. Its free to use but you can upgrade your account to add more products to your page.

3 Folksy

A UK craft shop for selling all types of creative products. With a Folksy plus account you can list and relist items everyday and you only pay commission when your items sell (6% plus VAT). This allows you to stock up your shelves for free. Making it easy for your products to get spotted and sold.

4 Big Cartel

A website that helps artisans to build an online store. Its particularly geared towards graphic designers and artists. You can try 5 products for free and there are monthly plans if you want to list more products.

5 iCraft

To sell on icraft, you need to pay a monthly membership fee but you can cancel at any time. Beyond the subscriptions fees, there is no charge for adding or changing listings and they don't take commission on sales.

6 Amazon and Ebay

Listing your products on Amazon and Ebay can increase product sales and awareness of your talent. Amazon handmade

7 Shopify

Shopify helps you sell online with you own ecommerce website. There are lots of paid and free themes to get your website started. You can also buy extra plugins in the shopify app store and they have 24/7 support.

8 Facebook And Instagram Shops

Selling Through Facebook

Making a Facebook page creates awareness about your products and services. You should invite your friends to like the page and encouraging them to share your posts and invite their friends. In order to sell through Facebook, you need to create a Facebook shop. Its free to do, but they take 5% of your sales.

Selling Via Instagram

Instagram is another tool for product and brand awareness. Creating a business account on Instagram lets you upload a product catalogue. Instagram also take 5% of sales.

greeting card tradeshow

Selling Greeting Cards Business To Business

Once you have created a page to showcase your work, you can send a link to existing retailers to try to sell your messages and designs to them. Networking at craft events and trade shows can help you to meet new contacts within the greeting card industry.

3 Ways To Maximise Greeting Card Sales

1 Design Greeting Cards For All Occasions

Having a variety of designs for different age ranges and occasions will encourage customers to keep returning to you shop. They are not just for Christmas! There are many reasons for sending wishes to your friends and family. Birthday cards are a top seller and account for over half of greeting card sales. You should also include Mother's day, Father's day, congratulations, valentines cards and wedding cards in your range.

With us you can also order different designs in the same print batch, so you can order as little as 50 cards and split the 50 between over 5 designs so you can print as little as 10 of each.

facebook and instagram icons

2 Use Social Media To Advertise Your Greeting Cards

Posts about your birthday card designs should be posted frequently to social media to increase awareness of your shop.

When you know your potential customers will be starting to look for seasonal cards, advertise them on Facebook and Instagram. For example, Easter and Mother's Day cards should be promoted in February and the beginning of March.

Ask your friends to share your Facebook posts and invite their friends to follow your Facebook page. This is an efficient way to advertise your designs for minimum costs. Facebook allows you to spread the word about your brand quickly and collect positive feedback.

3 Follow The Card Buying Trends

Card buying will always be ingrained into British culture. Especially traditional Christmas cards because most of us wouldn't even consider giving a present without a card.

You can ask customers what they would like to see more of in your shop. Customers' needs can sometimes change. For example, lockdown has affected our greeting card buying behaviour.

thank you greeting card

Growing Demand For Thank You Cards

There is an increase in the amount of thank you cards as people want to show their appreciation during lockdown. This applies to businesses as well as individuals who want to show more gratitude towards people who help them.

Thinking Of You Cards Are Becoming More Popular

Thinking of you cards have never been so popular thanks to the lockdown restrictions. 2020 saw a boost in people sending a heartfelt sentiment to loved ones that they couldn't visit. The trend is set to continue throughout 2021 because they can brighten up someone's day without visiting them. It's a new way of reaching out to people to show more companionship through uncertain times.