In my main line of work - running a photographic lab - I am often dealing with other photographers, but more and more these days, with the changing times, I am dealing with their clients too. These days it seems a lot of photographers are choosing to hand over a digital version only of the images they have shot for their client (there are many debates on this line of thinking too). When this happens, more often than not no form of print is included - not even a set of proof sheets. I'm not here to debate whether that is a smart way to do things but what I can say from my experiences over the years as a printer and a photographer, is that without something showing your client what sort of quality they should expect from the images you have made for them, they can potentially end up with anything - despite all your hard work.
What I mean by this is that many of them are being lured to the mass merchants to have their "professional" prints made - you know, the images you made with your professional gear, post processed on your high-end computer & software and expertly finessed all the way with your experience and passion... These mass merchants are destroying the retail photographic printing industry whilst they play out their pricing war on 6x4 prints (and most of the other common photographic services). They are only interested in running a lab as a loss-leader to the merchandise they sell (TVs, BBQ's, underwear etc), and have absolutely no expertise, and generally place little to no care in their photographic services. Granted, that potentially on the right day, with the wind blowing from the right direction and all the planets being in alignment, it is possible to get a reasonable looking print from a good file from one of these guys. But the rest of the time what your client will receive from them is not what you would want your client seeing.
I know this because I have lost track of the number of people I have dealt with now, who after having taken the CD of images they purchased from their photographer down to one of the TV selling / photo printing stores, and then after having been sorely disappointed, have come into my store and asked for my opinion on what they should do... generally they are angry at the photographer for producing such awful looking images and want to know if I can fix them. In the vast majority of cases the images are fine, they have just been printed badly (what can you expect for nine cents I guess). After I make new prints and explain to them what's going on (and repair the photographers damaged reputation) they are generally OK. I do know of cases where the client never learned the truth and assumed the photographer was to blame, and then did their best to not recommend that photographer... food for thought.
Personally, I don't like providing a client with only a digital version of my work. Where possible, even if that was all that was required for the job specs, I try to include something printed to go with the digital versions such as proof sheets. That way they see what I want them to see - they have an example of what the images should look like. Should they choose to print them somewhere unreliable or to view them on something that isn't going to render them favourably such as an old dodgy computer screen, new dodgy computer screen, television etc. you have something to uphold your vision. They may even choose to make their own prints at home (read colour profiling minefields) .There is so much potential for your images to not look the way you intended them to, the more you can give your client to protect your reputation - and keep them satisfied and happy - the better.
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