Reminder of Sales

• If the person you’re leaving the card for has purchased items from your business before, the card you drop off presents a suitable time to remind him of what he bought and hopefully reinvigorate his interest in your company. This idea takes a little more time, as you’ll need to consult your records about previous transactions, so may work best for smaller businesses. On the card itself, you simply need to mention previous purchases to jog the customer’s memory. This idea is only applicable for businesses employing direct marketing techniques, of course.
  
  

Ensure You’re Contactable

• A card left for whatever reason, whether it’s because you arrived to carry out work or because you’re looking to sell something, is much more useful if it includes your contact details. If the customer needs to rearrange a time for you to come by, she’ll want your phone number – including your cell phone number – and a list of days when you work. If you’re cold calling potential customers, a website address linking to your products may still attract attention even if you never get a chance to call again.
  
  

Personalization

• Personalization makes a person feel valued and helps to build a positive relationship between you and her. Personalization of "Sorry I Missed You" cards may not always be possible, but you can always leave a box at the top of the card free when you get the cards printed. Then you can enter the person’s name when you know it.
  
  

Call to Action

• Unless you’re just leaving a card at a friend’s home, you probably want some kind of response from the person you’ve left a card with. This could be because you want business or because you need to catch the household members when they’re in to perform a service, for example. Your card should contain calls to action, which encourage the recipient to contact you or find out more. Even just asking the recipient to contact you ASAP can be enough to create a more efficient relationship and avoid missing each other again.
  
  

Sense of Fun

• A card is only a small space, but you can still get across some of your personality on it. Try writing a pun or even what your business does in the form of a rhyme. You might accompany your message with a pre-printed picture on each card. The objective is to make reading the card a little more entertaining for the recipient, which is useful for keeping you in a customer’s mind if you’re a business.