2026 Holiday Card Marketing Campaigns

Greeting cards have the highest open rate of all direct mail pieces. With personalization, live stamps, and offers across service and sales, our holiday cards help grow loyalty, sales, and service redemptions throughout the year. Every campaign runs mail, email, Meta and text.

Historically strong response rates
Multiple creatives to choose from

Thanksgiving campaign for ABC Buick GMC: a shopper holds the Happy Thanksgiving mailer and envelope, flanked by the matching service-specials email and Facebook ad

$114:1Average ROIExpected return on every package

$13Average cost per ROHybrid database + conquest campaigns

$500K+Average revenue generatedOver $500,000

Over 30 designs to choose from

Holiday greeting cards personalized with your dealership’s branding, live stamps and offers.

Group 1 Toyota North Austin Happy Holidays greeting card: card front, inside letter from the general manager, $1,000 savings certificate and service coupons — Holidays · gold frame — Group 1 Toyota North Austin

Black Friday Sale greeting card with gold ribbon, savings certificate and service coupons — Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving harvest greeting card with savings certificate and service coupons — Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Greetings family card with savings certificate and service coupons — Thanksgiving · family

Happy Holidays gingerbread greeting card with savings certificate and service coupons — Gingerbread

Red Happy Holidays gift greeting card with savings certificate and service coupons — Holidays · red

Blue Happy Holidays ornament greeting card with savings certificate and service coupons — Holidays · winter

Sample designs shown. Final cards built for each dealership, each with a $1,000 savings certificate and service coupons.

Luxury OEM approved holiday cards

Premium holiday cards built to each luxury brand’s OEM guidelines, with savings certificates and service offers.

Luxury holiday greeting cards for BMW of Barrington, Porsche Beachwood and W. I. Simonson Mercedes-Benz, each with a personalized letter, $1,000 savings certificate and service coupons — BMW of Barrington · Porsche Beachwood · W. I. Simonson Mercedes-Benz

Sample designs shown for BMW, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz dealers. Each card built to the brand’s OEM guidelines.

Specialty cards

Seasonal and cause-driven cards that keep your dealership in front of customers between the holidays.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month greeting card with pink ribbon, $1,000 savings certificate and service coupons — Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Halloween Savings greeting card with savings certificate and service coupons — Happy Halloween

Approved and compliant designs for every OEM

Approved, compliant creative for every OEM, from Acura to Maserati.

Logos of 30 automotive brands, Acura through Maserati, including Honda, Toyota, Ford, Chevrolet, Jeep, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus

Who we mail

Sixteen service audiences across your own database and same-make conquest. Every audience is delivered by mail and email and tracked in AudienceIQ.

Audience	Resp.	Data source	Definition
First Service Overdue	9%	DMS/CRM, Service Scheduler	Follow-up reminders, bundled service offers
Declined Service/MPI	9%	Service Scheduler, MPI System	Discounted repair offers, follow-up on declined recommendations
Lapsed Service	8%	DMS/CRM, Service Scheduler	Service winback, loyalty discount
Service Interval Due	6%	DMS/CRM, Service Scheduler	Time/mileage-based reminders, coupon offers
High-Mileage Customers	6%	DMS/CRM, Service History	Trade-in offers, high-mileage maintenance packages
Recall Owners (existing customers only)	5%	DMS/CRM, OEM/NHTSA Feed	Safety recall notifications

AudienceIQ Audience Avails Report dashboard with audience counts and a coverage map

AudienceIQ CDP reporting is included with every package.

Expected response rates per the direct marketing audience segment guide. Channels: mail and email for every audience.

Q4 2026 cadence

Each month runs the same sequence twice: email, mail drop, email, two call days, then a text.

EmailMailCallText

October 2026

1Email

6Mail

9Email

12Call

14Call

16Text

19Email

21Mail

23Email

26Call

28Call

30Text

November 2026

2Email

4Mail

6Email

9Call

11Call

13Text

16Email

18Mail

20Email

23Call

24Call

27Text

December 2026

1Email

3Mail

7Email

9Call

11Call

14Text

16Email

18Mail

21Email

22Call

28Call

30Text

Illustrative cadence. Final dates set at kickoff for each event.

Add a live follow-up for 200 prospects

The GSM BDC team calls each prospect four times and texts twice leading up to the event, turning mail and email interest into conversations with your sales team.

200prospects

4calls each

2texts each

Sample cadence, per prospect

Mon, Oct 12Call 1
Wed, Oct 14Call 2
Fri, Oct 16Text 1
Mon, Oct 26Call 3
Wed, Oct 28Call 4
Fri, Oct 30Text 2

Illustrative. Final call and text schedule set at kickoff. Texting subject to consent and opt-out compliance. Add the BDC boost to any order from $600.

Program pricing at a glance

Every card includes

4-color personalized greeting card
First-class live stamp
Addressed in an appealing handwritten font
Customizable seasonal greeting
Customizable handwritten personal message
Your dealership or brand logo
Gift insert built on GSM’s recommended best practices

Sales and service offers

$19.95 oil & filter change
$10 toward a purchase over $50
$25 toward a purchase over $100
$1,000 toward the purchase of a new vehicle

Target market

Dealership database customers
Same-make conquest

À la carte, add to any order

Matching Facebook adFrom $300

Matching text message campaignFrom $300

BDC boost campaignFrom $600

Price per piece

500–2,500 pieces	$1.45
2,501–10,000 pieces	$1.30
10,001+ pieces	$1.15

What 114:1 looks like by quantity

$114:$1

Quantity	Invest	Expected return
2,500 @ $1.45	$3,625	$413,250
5,000 @ $1.30	$6,500	$741,000
7,500 @ $1.30	$9,750	$1,111,500
10,000 @ $1.30	$13,000	$1,482,000

Each dollar invested is expected to return $114, at every quantity.