Client Birthday Card Services Compared

For businesses sending birthday cards to a client list, we recommend Cards for Causes. We print your branded card, address every envelope with a real Pilot G2 gel pen in blue ink and mail each card the week of the client's birthday. Below, six companies that send birthday cards for businesses are compared on the same points, in the same order: who they serve, minimum order, personalization, mailing and scheduling, charity program, turnaround and product range.

Four questions to ask before you sign up

1. Is it written with a real pen, or printed in a font? Some services write with a real pen held by a machine. Others print a font designed to look handwritten.
2. When does each card mail? The week of the birthday, a set number of days before it, or in one batch each month.
3. How does your list get in, and how do you change it? A spreadsheet you upload once, an address book you keep up to date, or a connection to your CRM.
4. How is postage charged? Included in the per-card price, billed at cost, or added on top.

Cards for Causes

• Who it serves: Businesses sending birthday cards to clients, and to employees, members or any other list with birthdays. We've designed, printed and mailed greeting cards since 2006.
• Minimum order: 100 recipients for the birthday program. For a smaller list, business birthday cards from 25 to mail yourself.
• Personalization: Your message, logo and signatures are printed inside, included in the card price. Every envelope, recipient and return address, is written with a real Pilot G2 gel pen in blue ink.
• Mailing and scheduling: Send us your list with names, mailing addresses and birthdays. We print your cards once, then stuff, stamp and mail each one the week of the recipient's birthday, all year. We mail every week, not in monthly batches. Add or remove recipients any time with a week's notice before the birthday. Pricing runs from $1.75 per recipient for larger mailings on a digital design to $3.75 for a foil design at 100 recipients, before postage. One payment covers your cards and the mailing. Postage is USPS First-Class at cost.
• Charity program: Each year, we donate at least 10% of net proceeds from greeting card sales to charity. When you customize your card, you pick any IRS-recognized 501(c)(3).
• Turnaround: Your cards print in one run. As soon as they're printed and we have your list, we start with that week's birthdays, or on a start date you choose.
• Product range: More than 100 business birthday designs, plus more than 1,000 business holiday designs and thank-you, anniversary and sympathy cards.

Simply Noted

• Who it serves: Businesses. It "sends real, pen-written notes, cards, and letters for businesses at scale" and says "Over 95% of our clients are businesses". Its birthday cards are for "your clients and employees". It was founded in 2018.
• Minimum order: None on standard cards. Custom sizes outside its standard 5x7 options need a minimum of 500 pieces.
• Personalization: Choose one of its designs, send your own or make one with its design tool, and personalize every message with merge fields. Messages and envelopes are "written by a robot holding a real ballpoint pen with real ink, not printed in a handwriting font", in any ink color. It can also convert your signature or handwriting for the robot to write. Its own branding doesn't appear on the cards.
• Mailing and scheduling: It addresses the envelope, adds a real Forever stamp and mails every card, with postage charged on top. Add recipients with birthdays to its address book or upload a CSV, or trigger sends from HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and other CRMs through Zapier or its REST API. Birthday cards are "mailed just on time for each recipient's birthday". Its pages don't say how many days ahead.
• Charity program: None listed.
• Turnaround: Writing and processing take 1 to 3 business days, then USPS First-Class Mail delivers in 3 to 5 business days.
• Product range: Handwritten note cards, postcards, letters and envelopes, with birthday, thank-you, holiday, anniversary and congratulations designs. It can enclose gift cards from major retailers and inserts such as business cards.

Handwrytten

• Who it serves: Mostly businesses. It calls itself "the world's leading provider of handwritten notes for business" and says "over 80% of our orders are for businesses". It also sells to individuals. It was founded in 2014, and its industry pages cover automotive, insurance, nonprofit, political, real estate, retail and solar.
• Minimum order: One card.
• Personalization: "These are not fonts. Handwriting robots hold real pens and write each note in a handwriting style you choose." Birthday messages can include the recipient's first name, last name or company name. It prints custom stationery with your logo, or from your own design files, and can recreate your signature from a sample for the robots to write. It addresses the envelope too, with your return address and a real stamp.
• Mailing and scheduling: It stamps every card and mails it First Class, with postage billed at cost. Its birthday automation works from the contacts in your address book that have birthdays saved, and its setup guide says each card is sent 14 days before the birthday. A campaign can run with no end date. Cards can also be triggered from CRM birthday fields through Salesforce, HubSpot, Zapier, Make and Shopify, or through its API.
• Charity program: None listed.
• Turnaround: It aims to complete orders within 1 to 2 business days, and domestic delivery typically takes 2 to 7 business days.
• Product range: "Over 100 designs to choose from or design your own", for birthdays, the holidays, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, New Year, thank-yous, customer, donor and employee appreciation, home anniversaries and condolences. It can add gift cards and inserts, and mail gift boxes of cookies.

Postable

• Who it serves: Businesses sending cards to "your customers, clients, and employees", and individuals sending personal cards.
• Minimum order: One card. An account is free and you pay for each card as you send it, with no subscription.
• Personalization: Upload your own design, or put your logo on one of its logo card templates. The message inside is printed in its patented "Real Handwriting" fonts: one message for everyone, or tweaked for individual customers. Envelope addresses are printed in the same font as the card, with return addressing included.
• Mailing and scheduling: It prints the cards, stuffs and addresses the envelopes, adds USPS First-Class stamps and mails them. For automated birthday cards, you upload a spreadsheet with a birthday column, and each card is mailed about a week before the birthday. Stamps are charged separately from the card.
• Charity program: None listed.
• Turnaround: Orders go in the mail in about 1 to 2 business days, and USPS delivers in 2 to 6 days. It doesn't offer rush orders.
• Product range: Folded cards, flat cards and postcards for birthdays, thank-yous, anniversaries, home anniversaries, Thanksgiving and the holidays, plus automated anniversary cards, invitations, stationery and business gifts. Cards and envelopes are 100% post-consumer recycled paper.

Cardly

• Who it serves: Businesses sending cards to "customers, employees and prospects", with use cases in real estate, human resources, financial services, service industries and ecommerce. It also sells cards to individuals. It describes itself as "a company based in Queensland, Australia that also operates in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom".
• Minimum order: None. "No minimum order sizes, no setup fees, no subscription required."
• Personalization: Upload your own designs for the front, back and inside, or a logo for the card back. Your typed message is printed in handwriting built from "real handwriting samples": "We take what you type and make it look like real handwriting." You can pay to convert your own handwriting or signature. Envelopes carry "addresses that appear handwritten" on kraft envelopes with real stamps.
• Mailing and scheduling: Upload a list with names, addresses and birthdates and set automation rules, and each card is sent "to ensure it arrives on or just before the recipient's birthday". It works out the send date from the arrival date. CRMs connect through Zapier or its API. Cards to US addresses are sent from Colorado by USPS.
• Charity program: None listed. It plants five trees for every 100 cards sent.
• Turnaround: Orders placed before 10am local time on a weekday ship the same day, and later orders ship the next business day. US delivery takes 2 to 5 business days.
• Product range: Folded cards, note cards and letters for birthdays, work anniversaries, Christmas and thank-yous, with gift cards from major retailers as add-ons, plus cards for individuals for most occasions.

Hallmark Business Connections

• Who it serves: Businesses. It's "the business-to-business unit of the iconic Hallmark brand", its cards are "created specifically for businesses to send to their employees and customers", and it says it serves "more than half of the Fortune 100".
• Minimum order: None for Automatic Mailings: "There are no minimum quantity requirements." Most other orders need 25 cards of the same design. Mail to One sends a single card.
• Personalization: An inside message, a personal message, a signature and your logo, or a one-of-a-kind card Hallmark designs for your company. Signatures are printed in handwriting fonts, and an optional Personal Font, made to mimic your own handwriting, can be used on cards and envelopes. Envelopes are printed, with the return address on the front.
• Mailing and scheduling: For Automatic Mailings, you upload recipients with birthdates or anniversary dates to its online address book. Orders are created on the 15th of each month for upcoming occasions and mailed first class one week before the month begins, so the month's cards go out in one batch. You're notified each month and can make updates before the cards mail. Per-card pricing includes first-class postage. Mail to One cards are stamped and mailed the next business day, or on a date scheduled more than two weeks ahead.
• Charity program: None listed.
• Turnaround: Automatic Mailings mail once a month, as above. Most other orders take 1 to 3 business days to print and ship. Mail to One cards go in the mail the next business day.
• Product range: 60 business birthday designs, plus work anniversary, Christmas, sympathy and everyday business cards and corporate gifts. Automatic Mailings covers birthdays and anniversaries.