Create your own custom greeting cards for any occasion or just to say “Hi” and let someone know that you are thinking about them. Simply add text inside of a card with plenty of beautiful designs to choose from, to adding photos and other images. Then, have the option to include a variety of gifts, gourmet treats, even gift cards to automatically ship with your card!
These two companies will print and mail out your cards for you, starting at just under 2 bucks (that includes postage too!) Check out my personal article below for more information on what Zendirect and SOC offer, plus pros and cons, to see which better fits your needs.
I have been using SOC (Send out cards) for several years. I recently discovered Zendirect, and I found that both companies have advantages that I cannot resist using, on a regular basis. I am very familiar with both websites platforms, so contact me if you have any questions prior to using either of them. Please note: While both companies print completed orders the next business day, it can still take up to a week for the recipient to receive it. Due to first class mail service through the post office.
SOC PROS:
No up front fees for basic membership, pay as you go.
SOC has a variety of greeting card types to customize. You can use Flat panel cards, 2 panel and 3 panel cards, BIG cards and post cards. There are also standard, satin or pearl style cards. BIG cards are $1.50 more (but worth it, they are HUGE). Satin and pearl, are 50 cents more.
SOC offers a high quality, sturdy greeting card with any options listed above.
Gifts galore: Quite a variety of gifts to choose from! Special occasions, Seasonal, men’s/ women’s, children’s, for the home, greeting card sized gifts, gift sets and bundles, gourmet treats, books and CD’s, business friendly items, and “on sale” items. They also have a few gift card options and SOC store (which is more for their company branding items.
SOC customer service, (for which I have only had to use a few times), has been a good experience. If a card doesn’t make it to the recipient, they will send another one, but that has only happened once.
I love the “relationship” section, where you can integrate all of the recipients names and addresses, adding their birthdays as well, for which you will get a reminder prior to those dates. You can also schedule cards to be sent out on later dates.
SOC has a wide range of greeting card templates to use for any occasion.
SOC is unique with the offering of 3 panel and big greeting card options. Typically, the prices start at $2.75 for a 2 panel card (still less than store bought cards that are not customized) and jump up to over $4 for BIG cards. You can’t beat the price, when it comes to having it mailed out for you too.
Great for any size business to use and several options to make extra money. I have only used the affiliate option, and did in fact get a few commission checks with little effort, from referring others to this program.
SOC Cons:
SOC’s platform was a little tedious for me to learn when I began with them years ago, so it takes some time getting used to. But well worth it, if you decide to use them. Especially if you own a small business, or want to make extra money selling as an affiliate for them.
Not many options for gift cards. The last time I checked, they just offered “Starbucks”, coffee cards and American Express. That can change.
Some gifts are rather pricey for what they are. Although there are many options to choose from, and some are well worth it.
There are upfront fees to becoming an affiliate member and using many of the available SOC business opportunities. Also, the more you spend upfront, the less the cost on cards and on gifts, however, it has not been something that I took advantage of.
ZENDIRECT PROS:
Zendirect keeps the options to a minimum by offering postcards, standard size greeting cards and trifold mailers/flyer like options. For which gets right down to the point to send a card easily with little effort.
Easy platform to use to create and send greeting cards. They also have lots of colorful background images and borders to choose from. Of course, this may still be a learning process to those whom have never used a platform such as this before.
No upfront fees to get started. I do recommend adding credits beforehand so that you don’t run out of funds and have to deal with it during purchasing and sending out a card.
The design process is straightforward and is simple for me to use. But could be different for new users to this type of platform.
Cheap, especially for the quality. It costs less than $2 for the greeting card and postage. Although these cards are not as sturdy as SOC, for the price, it can be worth saving the extra buck.
GIFTS: They keep it simple with gifts, and offer a WIDE variety of gift cards, even crisp dollar bills (with an insertion/handling fee of course),
Just like SOC, you can integrate names and addresses into their system, and also add birthdays.
Free to become an affiliate. So remember, if you use Zendirect, follow my link 🙂
ZENDIRECT CONS:
Customer service lags. I have only reached out to them once, and it took a few days for them to respond. Then again, they are a newer company, so I am sure they will continually work on these weaknesses of their business. They did however offer me a few free credits for the issue that I was having, (a couple of bucks), which is equivalent to a free greeting card!
They do not offer many greeting card template designs. But customers can find plenty of free templates/designs online these days, however, some may not be high quality enough for a crisp, clear image when the greeting card is printed.