I often ask attendees in my workshop sessions how many have kept a handwritten note or thank-you card. Most of the participants have kept at least one notecard.

Then I asked them how many reread that notecard. Again, a large majority of people acknowledged they’ve done this. I think it surprised them they weren’t the only ones who did this.

This caused me to research this phenomenon further and see if I could identify the elements that made a handwritten notecard a keeper.

Here’s what I found out.