I’ve never used an online card personalising and ordering system before.
The Moonpig adverts frankly managed to put me off. I seem to not be alone in this either as never have I known an advert to cause such a negative reaction amongst my friends.
Then along came FunkyPigeon.com – a direct competitor – but without the want to throw the TV out the window advert to go with it and I found myself inspired to try their service. Anything for an alternative to MoonPig – argh!

The interface of FunkyPigeon.com is wonderfully simplistic and belies their comprehensive range of products.  Offering not just cards but clearly listing Calendars, Posters and a range of other gifts from Flowers to Malt Whiskey and more, it immediately strikes me as a better one-stop shop right from the offset. They also offer a nice discount if you chose to pop your account into credit. All for money saving, me!
Setting up an account couldn’t have been easier and within minutes (moments, really) I was off surfing around for daft things to send to friends, family and loved ones. Choosing several different cards and a letter from Santa (nice touch) I personalised each one, ran easy preview checks, loaded up the address, anniversary / birthday dates for reminders to be sent to me next year, chose whether I wanted a message on the envelope saying “Do not open until ___ “, chose my postage rate and pressed order.

Then I sat back and waited for some of the cards and letters to arrive with my chosen recipients. For once, the Royal Mail didn’t muck anyone around and 48hrs later one of my friends received a cheeky letter from Santa. Everything was just as I had specified – not a single point of personalisation had been overlooked and better yet, the quality was far higher than I had expected.

I can’t say that I usually find shopping pleasurable – be whether I do it in person or via the internet but on this occasion, it was all rather good fun. The range of options was comprehensive but at no point confusing – some considerable thought has obviously been given to the users experience and I appreciated that enormously.
Having not used such a system previously, it is hard to comment on the price... My Santa Letter, fully personalised on good quality paper with lots of colour and postage (1st Class) included was £4.99. I wouldn’t send everyone one at that price but for a couple of special people, it struck me as money well spent...

One thing I did appreciate and is almost impossible to put a price on, was sending really good quality cards out, fully personalised with every aspect taken care of, via the internet and all done within minutes. I hate writing out endless cards, stuffing them in envelopes, sticking on stamps and trogging through the icy wind and rain to the post office – and then, if I’ve not got stamps, standing in that miserable queue! That entire process was cheerfully avoided and yet everyone still receives something a little bit special.