Personalization More Relevant Than Ever

Adapting to change is the hallmark of successful printing companies. In today’s economic climate, those that survive and thrive have come to master transition; to take the best of new technologies, methodologies and trends, and weave them into the fabric of their business offerings.

One technology printers have been exploring for the past several years —and been hammered with by suppliers and consultants alike— is offering their customers the ability to create and deliver documents that are customized for specific audiences or individuals. There are a lot of different facets to personalization, including variable data, Web-to-print and transpromo, and these applications are not new in and of themselves. What is new, however, is the increasing relevance of these methods for making business communications more targeted and actionable. The argument is increasingly compelling that printers need to consider including these services in their product offerings.

Just as the global economic malaise has forced businesses to focus more closely on making every cent spent count, they recognize they cannot simply eliminate print. Rather, they now have a greater incentive to ensure that internal and external communications strategies are as relevant and targeted as possible.

Which Direction To Choose?

Customization, variable data, personalization or whatever you want to call it has long been a confusing area. Exploring and then mastering the technologies and methodologies involved require a degree of sophistication that can be intimidating to some printers. Get over it.

There are basically two directions in which printers can move: staying with print, or incorporating additional media as a complement to print. Both allow customers to market products and services, but only one allows them to create personal relationships with their customers, increase response rates or increase revenue and customer satisfaction—so printers that want to survive can no longer avoid them.

The most basic tool printers can offer, while remaining in their comfort zone is document personalization. This is the ability to customize simple business communication, usually following a strict template, with a basic name and address, and targeted images and/or text. More advanced customization is called direct marketing and 1:1 personalization. This goes beyond simple mail merge and business correspondence, and includes unique content based on specific, detailed profile information on each recipient. Pursuing this direction requires more sophisticated software for document manipulation, and the ability to work with more complicated databases.

Another related category of customization is transactional or transpromo documents. This is a technique that uses the white space in billing statements and other transaction documents to deliver targeted marketing messages, often with full color images. Database expertise is a bare bones requirement to get into this activity, as is a high throughput digital printer. According to a Gartner study released in January 2009, by 2012, 75 percent of all printed bills and statements in the United States will have advertisements for products or services.

Customization falls roughly into a segment most printers are familiar with: direct mail. Be advised, however, that according to a recent study by The Winterberry Group, “the continuing economic recession (and uncertainty over its direction) plus other factors like rising postal rates and more, are heavily influencing the outlook for direct mail through the remainder of 2009 and beyond.” The report goes on to indicate that “the magnitude and timing of the current recession is expected to affect the direct mail channel in a long-term, systemic way—effectively ending the prevalence of untargeted, high-volume campaigns.”