Next wave in e-greetings: Video

Poor Hallmark.

First, the Net turns traditional paper greeting cards into relics of the last millennium. Then, just as traditional greeting card companies start offering digital version of their cards, the Net goes and renders those free hip e-greetings passé.

Today's free online greetings, which can feature limited animation and music, are fast evolving into multimedia extravaganzas that can include video, personal photos and custom music choices. Already, sites such as OurGreetings.com allow you to add a favorite photograph to create a one-of-a-kind design.

Forrester Research predicts that by next year, video e-greetings you pay for, from sites such as CardsAlive.com, will replace free e-cards offered now. For free from VideoGreetings.com, you can get video-enhanced greetings featuring amusing clips from "America's Funniest Home Videos" and Comedy Central's "The Man Show."

A popular Net activity
E-greetings have emerged as a leading way to drive Web site traffic, build brand awareness and to lure potential customers who might be interested in buying a gift to send along with an e-mailed message.

Jupiter Communications pegs digital greeting cards as one of the most popular online activities (see story), and traditional greeting card companies concede that the Net is changing their business. American Greetings, for instance, concedes that the real high-tech payoff in greeting cards eventually will come from home PCs and the Internet.

Earlier this month, traffic to the three leading e-greetings sites -- Blue Mountain Arts, American Greetings Corp.'s AmericanGreetings.com and E-Greetings -- jumped more than 100 percent from a week earlier as Net users clamored to send Valentine's Day greetings, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. And a recent study of American e-mail users by Yankelovich Partners suggests the novelty of e-greeting is not wearing off:

Half say they are likely to send electronic greeting cards this year.
More than half received greeting cards in their e-mail boxes over the past month.
A quarter send more than 10 electronic greetings per year.

Electronic greeting cards are not appropriate for all occasions. For instance, there is no elegant way to enclose a birthday check in an e-card. Plus, who wants to receive a digital sympathy card? But for an everyday greeting, e-cards offer a cheaper, quicker -- and now personal -- alternative to the drug-store variety.

You do the math: a mass-market paper card for about $2.50, or a personalized greeting ... for free.

Poor Hallmark, indeed.