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Imagine this…

It’s 4 p.m. on Valentine’s Day.

And as a self-proclaimed procrastinator, you’re feeling pretty proud of yourself right now.

Instead of completely forgetting about the holiday like last year (0/5 stars—do not recommend), you already made reservations at your and your spouse’s favorite restaurant.

You already bought the roses.

You already picked out the perfect bottle of wine for later.

And just when you think you’ve crossed everything off the Valentine’s Day to-do list, you break out in a cold sweat because you just realized one key detail…

You forgot to get a card.

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“F*ck,” you think as you clock out of work early and speed to the nearest store to buy a Valentine’s Day card.

You spend 10 minutes scanning the rows of cards before you find one that perfectly conveys how you feel.

More than that, you can almost imagine how loved and appreciated your spouse will feel reading it later.

Phew.

Without even caring about the $7.99 cost, you happily buy the card and drive home relieved, now fully ready to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Why did you feel compelled to buy a greeting card for Valentine’s Day?

In today’s special edition of Why We Buy 🧠 we’ll explore a well-known company to see how they use buyer psychology principles in their business.

This week we’re diving into Hallmark—the company that turned simple, heartfelt messages into emotions worth billions of dollars.

Let’s get into it.

🤑 A Look Inside Hallmark

Joyce C. Hall wasn’t just a young entrepreneur who arrived in Kansas City with two shoeboxes of postcards to sell.

He was a marketer, too.

After a fire destroyed the postcard business, Hall and his brother realized that postcards were losing their popularity.

But they also recognized a problem people were struggling with: They wanted more private ways to communicate.

So they started selling holiday cards (e.g., Valentine’s Day and Christmas) that were mailed in envelopes.

By 1928, they were producing greeting cards under a new name: Hallmark—a nod to their family name but also goldsmiths’ symbol of quality.

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That was just the beginning of Hallmark’s innovative strategies.

They were the first to advertise greeting cards nationally and introduced the “Eye-Vision” display, showcasing cards on racks instead of keeping them hidden in drawers.

But in 1944, they cemented their positioning with nine iconic words: “When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best.”

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Today, Hallmark generates ~$3.5 billion annually, all rooted in one smart marketing strategy: solving the painful problem your customers are dealing with.

​🧠 How Hallmark Uses Buyer Psychology

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​Affect Heuristic

A Hallmark card isn’t just pretty to look at. They’re designed to evoke strong emotions like love, gratitude, and even nostalgia.

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So when people stand in the aisles browsing the rows of greeting cards, they’re not looking for a bland card that touts “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

They’re searching for the perfect card that captures how they feel, leading them to grab a Hallmark card because the message “feels right”—regardless of the price.

Hallmark helped establish card-giving as a social norm. How?

Their ad campaigns, seasonal displays, and even holiday movies show people exchanging cards. This reinforces the idea that “everyone does this, so you should, too.”

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But that’s not all.

In doing so, they also transformed holidays and life milestones into trigger events to buy their greeting cards.

So whenever one comes up, you think, “Oh, I have to get a card.”

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​Loss Aversion​

Hallmark’s nine-word slogan “When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best” associates giving one of their greeting cards with caring a lot.

So not giving one kinda symbolizes… not caring. Yikes.

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People are hardwired to avoid losses (and yes, that includes relational losses).

So we grab a Hallmark card to avoid seeming thoughtless or careless and consequently experiencing the fallout of *that*—especially on Valentine’s Day. 🫣

​🤔 Thinking About Your ​Business

J.C. Hall ultimately turned two boxes of postcards into a ~$3.5 BILLION/year business. Now take some of Hallmark’s marketing brilliance and apply it to your business.

Ask yourself…
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Q: How can you make the decision to buy from you “feel right”?​
Think about presenting the deeper, emotionally charged benefits your product or service really offers. For example, you don’t sell curling irons. You sell a way to give people lasting curls that make them feel sexy and confident.

Q: Are you leveraging your customers’ trigger events?
​Hot take: Knowing the specific moment when your customer is ready to buy is almost more important than what you sell. Because you’ll hear more crickets than Stripe pings if you’re selling to someone who isn’t even aware they have a problem that needs solving.

Q: How can you help customers feel like purchasing from you is avoiding a loss?
​Consider highlighting what customers have to lose by not investing in your product or service. That doesn’t have to mean using FOMO tactics. For example, if you sell a productivity tool, highlight how much time and energy customers may waste without it.

💥 The Short of It

Hallmark sells more than greeting cards. They sell emotions.
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And when ~95% of buying decisions are emotionally based (and later justified with logic), it explains why we’re happy to open our wallets for a Hallmark card for each holiday or life milestone.

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Until next time, happy selling!​