Consumers and businesses got a jump start on ordering customized holiday cards at Envelopes.com, taking greater advantage of its special Cyber Monday offer than they did a year ago, the web-only stationery retailer says.

Envelopes.com, No. 519 in the Second 500 Guide, initially promoted the 15% discount to consumers on site and via e-mail as “today only” on Dec. 1, the Monday following Thanksgiving and the sales holiday known as Cyber Monday. (Business buyers who logged into their TradePro accounts could layer an additional 10% discount onto their already reduced pricing.) But Envelopes.com decided to continue the offer throughout the week, rebranding it as a “Cyber Week” deal.

Envelopes.com says the discount helped kick off the holiday sales season in grand style. Sales grew 28.8% versus the same week a year earlier, and traffic climbed 14%, says Erin Richroath, the e-retailer’s marketing coordinator. She says the response was better than anticipated because a year ago it offered a steeper 20% discount.

E-mail marketing accounts for just a fraction, 3%, of Envelopes.com’s online marketing investments, according to Internet Retailer’s 2015 Search Marketing report, but e-mail worked well for Envelopes.com during the week after Thanksgiving. Consumers who received Envelopes.com’s e-mails promoting the offer responded better than a year earlier. Revenue from consumers who clicked from an e-mail and completed a purchase increased 38% during the week compared to the same week a year ago.

Envelopes.com also looked to social media to drive traffic and sales. Social media marketing accounts for 3% of the e-retailer’s digital marketing spending, and in holiday 2014 that included a “12 Days of Envelopes” promotion. Consumers who completed a task, like retweeting an Envelopes.com tweet on Twitter, were entered to win daily prizes. “The contestants had a ball with the contest and continue to be part of Envelopes.com’s daily conversations,” Richroath says. She says the e-retailer gained hundreds of new followers during the 12 days the promotion ran.

For more on holiday promotions and a recap of the holiday 2014 sales season, read “A Smoother Season” in the February issue of Internet Retailer Magazine.