Electronic seasonal greetings are catching on in trying economic times, but companies are finding this year's Christmas wishes are often scrambled, mangled or completely destroyed before they reach the recipient.
Thousands of e-cards never arrive in their intended form because computer networks are designed to filter out suspicious attachments, which can apply to e-greetings that typically contain animated pictures and sound files, said Mr Noah Yasskin, European research director at Internet group Jupiter.
But even if emails land intact, a computer user may not have the correct software on his desktop to open a multimedia e-greeting.
"People need plug-ins on their web browsers. Without them they cannot open the message. It's a frustrating experience," Mr Yasskin said.
Sometimes the damage appears to be caused by poor design.
JP Morgan's food and cosmetics equity research group sent a picture of a Christmas tree the size of a thumbnail. German Biotech group Lion's seasons greeting ran wild into an avalanche of fuzzy characters.
In other cases a moment of inattention can ruin the opportunity.
Barclays Private Equity Group and BNP Paribas both forgot to attach the actual animated greeting to the email.
To make matters worse for enterprises that go electronic, anti-virus software companies advise computer users to be extremely cautious before opening e-greetings.
An e-mail virus called Maldal.C, masquerading as a Christmas greeting, affected a few thousand computer users this week.