A thank you card has long been a courteous gesture to show genuine appreciation for something. Sending a thank you card often sets you apart from the masses. A thank you card is seen as a thoughtful and professional way to offer thanks for a service rendered. In business, a thank you card can help develop relationships and serve as a subtle reminder that makes you stick out from other vendors, customers, or employees.

In this day and age, email has become the common form of communication. Email is easy, fast, and cheap. Each of these virtues has made it so popular as a form of business communication. The ease of email and other electronic forms of communication have left the art of the written letter or thank you note on the wayside. Because of the prevalence of email, sending a thank you card will make the gesture stand out even more. It has once again become uncommon to send thank you cards on a regular basis, so by sending one each time you have something to say thanks for, your message will make a strong impression with the receiver of the card.

It is a good idea to keep a sufficient supply of thank you cards on hand to send out. Set aside time every few days, or at least once a week to write and send thoughtful thank you cards to people who have given you something that week. It can be an actual gift, or even if they were kind enough to give you advice, or some of their precious time. Your thank you notes don't need to be huge compositions. They should be brief and to the point--but they should be heart-felt and sincere. Remind them of the reason for your gratitude in the note and if possible, tell them how their gift or advice was helpful to you.

Thank you notes should be used for personal acquaintances who give you gifts or something else of value. They can also be given in business situations. The important thing to remember about thank you cards is that they are not normally expected, which means they mean a lot more than other forms of communication that are expected. On the flip-side, you should not expect your thank you note to work wonders. It is one way to show your thoughtfulness and gratitude, but thank you cards alone will not make or break you. Thank you notes should simply be thought of as a kind way to show your appreciation. They will also offer opportunities to say kind words and further develop your business and personal relationships.

You will find people much more likely to offer help and advice if you show gratitude for the things they give you. A thank you note is a great way to show them that you appreciate what they do for you.

Although it is seldom a problem, you should be careful not to send thank you notes to the same people too often. If you're sending a thank you card to a client every week, they will begin to wonder about the sincerity of your notes. They will also begin to lose their value due to overuse. The idea is to send them often enough that the card comes across as a thoughtful gesture, but not so often that it seems like a routine occurrence.

As you begin to stock up on thank you cards to use for sending notes, start thinking about situations when you could send a thank you card. You should have a general idea in mind of which types of situations warrant a thank you card. There may be other situations where a simple email will do, but when you really want to show your thanks, take the time to write out a hand-written thank you note and send it in the mail.