Cool App from a Surprising Source

A December press release from web-to-print software developer Aleyant caught my attention. Titled, “Aleyant Systems Brings Efficient Workflow to Santa,” it talks about how the company’s Pressero web-to-print solution has been implemented by SantaSentMeALetter.com to streamline workflow and increase throughput. Great, I thought. An imaginative print service provider who has created a cool seasonal application to drive end-of-year volume. I wanted to know more.

Imagine my surprise when I contacted Kelly Easterling, who is not, nor never has been, a printer! Easterling said, “When I am not playing Santa Claus, I am a stagehand. I work on concerts and shows as a production manager in the entertainment industry in New York City.” Easterling’s partner in the Santa business is a concierge at American Airlines’ Admiral’s Club at Newark Airport.

The pair has been writing letters from Santa to children (and adults) since 2007. As their volume grew, they knew they needed to come up with a solution that required less manual intervention on their part. Easterling says, “I woke up one day in 2006 and said to my business partner, ‘We should write letters from Santa Claus!’ It was too late to do it that year, so we spent the next several months investigating the market and determining how to get it done.”

They started with a rudimentary web site and forms. People would provide basic details they wanted to include in a letter, and Easterling and his partner wrote the stories that went in the letters. There was no proof, no preview, and customers were going on faith that the letter was going to show up and was going to be good. In 2007, about 300 letters were written. In 2011, that number rose to 3,000, and doubled in 2011.

“Adding web-to-print enabled us to manage the huge growth this year,” Easterling said. “So much is now automated that it has changed our entire workflow. We used to say, ‘What bin does this paper go in?’ but now we don’t have paper or bins because it is automated. It was a great learning opportunity to step out of the old system and reinvent how we process the orders.”

With the new system, the customer is provided with a series of editable templates. First a template is selected, and then a form is presented asking for the various variable fields that can be used in that template. A “draft” letter, which is fully editable, is then produced. Once the customer is happy with the content, an instant proof is generated. Upon approval, the letter goes into the shopping cart and the customer can either create another letter or check out. Customers can also track orders through the system. I created letters for my two grandchildren, and it was fast and easy—and the templates are great. My grandkids loved the letters, too, which is the whole point, anyway.

Easterling uses a commercial printer to produce the special letterhead and envelopes for the Santa letters, estimating what the volume is likely to be. Previously, December 10^th (or whenever the stationery supplies were exhausted) was the cut-off date, but in 2011, the pair was able to extend the cut-off date to December 13^th because the system is so streamlined that orders are able to be processed same day. All letters are hand signed, and envelopes are sealed with Santa’s wax seal.

Next year, Easterling says, a new site will be started targeted at adults for Naughty List letters. “We are getting more requests for letters from adults to adults,” he says, “and some are really cheeky. This is a comfortable, unique and novel way for people to express their emotions. It tends to get more attention and have more power behind it. It is all in good fun and is pretty entertaining.”

Easterling screens letters to children, but typically does not screen letters from adults to adults. “If we see something that doesn’t look right or would in any way ruin the magic for kids,” he says, “we will call or send an email.” In one case, a mom wanted to have them write a letter from Santa to her daughter letting her know that this was the last year Santa would be visiting. “We debated long and hard about writing that letter,” he says. “We are in the business of the magic of Santa, but we also acknowledge the fact that in the real world, you have to get to that point at some time. We decided to write the letter almost as a social study, and it turned out to be one of my proudest letters. It talked about keeping the magic of Christmas in your heart, and that it is Santa’s job to bring gifts to children around the world until the children are old enough to hold the magic of Christmas in their heart. The mom wrote an email reporting that it was a remarkable moment in their home. The daughter was proud that she had graduated to that poin

SantaSentMeALetter.com advertises online using targeted demographics through Google, MSN and Yahoo! as well as working with a few other online advertising firms, word of mouth and Facebook. They use an inkjet printer and a handwriting font. “We use inkjet because we want it to look like ink,” Easterling says. “We also need smudge-free ink. Each year we upgrade our printer, and after this year, we really need to look at options to handle our anticipated volume in 2012.

Great story about a new print application enabled by the digital world. An email from Santa just wouldn’t be the same! Mark your calendars for Fall 2012 now, before you forget, and get those Santa letters ordered early. It’s already on my calendar!

t in life, and now she was an ambassador for Christmas herself.”