St Elizabeth Hospice in Ipswich is set to benefit this Christmas thanks to a new e-Christmas card package developed by Suffolk-based digital marketing agency, Itineris.
The new service will allow businesses that support the Hospice over the festive period to send a branded e-Christmas card instead of a paper version to their customers and suppliers; saving them time, money and waste.
According to Envirowise, over 20,000 Christmas cards will end up in the bin this year, with businesses alone spending over £94m on cards. Itineris, which offers services in creative design, digital strategy, email marketing, website design and development, has created a Christmas e-card programme to help reduce this waste whilst supporting a charitable cause.
Carl Brooks, business income generation manager at St Elizabeth Hospice, said: “To date, we have never run a Christmas e- card scheme because of the costs involved. Itineris already works with us on our web projects, but came to us with their e-card package for our corporate supporters to buy this Christmas. As we are a charity, this is the perfect solution for us; we don’t have to spend a penny and our supporters can send a card to help raise funds for the Hospice. The e-Christmas card scheme will provide us with a new income stream that we have not had before and will allow businesses to support us in an environmentally-friendly way.”
The new e-Christmas card package is built on Itineris’ email marketing system, i.send, which allows companies to undertake their own professional email marketing campaigns, cutting the cost and time of traditional direct mail techniques whilst delivering measureable results.
Matt Horsup, business development manager at Itineris, said: “The new e-Christmas card service will allow businesses to support the Hospice and provide an income for the charity. We have developed three options for businesses looking to send a charity e-Christmas card; ‘Basic’ which allows them to choose a card and message from a set template list, ‘Custom’ where we create a design from scratch and ‘Bespoke’ where we can design a special animated landing page online. For further information please go to www.isendHQ.com/christmas. In every case we can add their logos and send out the card on behalf of businesses. Over 60 per cent of the money will go directly to St Elizabeth Hospice the charity; this is currently three times more than any existing e-card service. “
Established in 2000, Itineris offers its own software platforms including i.send for email marketing, i.content for website content management and i.meet for online event systems. Its clients include Dance East, Ipswich Town Football Club and the Greater London Authority.