Last week, the community manager of YEC sent me this letter (pictured below) via snail mail. The sad reality is that my first reaction was that it must be a computer generated note because the YEC has at least 1000 members and there’s no way one person would handwrite a note this long for every member. So I inspected further by looking for repeating letters and printer ink. It must be computer generated, but the more I looked at it, I realized it’s actually handwritten which impressed me and led to me writing this blog post.
On one hand, it’s sad that our society’s definition of “community” is so low that I assumed it had to be computer generated, but on the other hand, it makes for an amazing opportunity to impress the members of your community.
Here are four tips to impressing your members with handwritten notes:
- Right Away – did someone just join your community? Did someone just get a raise, have a baby, or lose a parent? In any situation, get your letter out right away, because with the lag time in snail mail, your letter will arrive right after the enclave of support from email, Facebook, and Twitter wear off.
- Hangable – I send all my handwritten notes out on our Free Hugs postcard. Not only will the person appreciate the handwritten note, but they also now have a great card to hang in their office. Every time they look at the hanging card, they’ll remember how they felt when you sent it to them.
- Change is Good – We have a new Free Hugs postcard printed every year. By printing a new card each year, we can then send another handwritten note to the same person and not only will they enjoy the note again, now they also have another fun card to hang on their wall.
- Habitual – I suspect that Morgan from YEC didn’t write 1000 letters all in the same day or week. Instead, I suspect she has it on her calendar that once a day she writes 2 or 3 cards. By making it a habit to write a couple cards each day, over time, she is able to reach all 1000 members without her needing an emergency trip to the chiropractor.
Now it’s your turn. Use these four tips to increase engagement within your community through handwritten notes.
