Without data, variable data printing is non-variable (static) printing. As much as you might not like dealing with customer data, it’s here to stay and will only continue to grow in importance in business and marketing. Get used to it. With respect to VDP, it’s data, and how it’s used, that make all the difference. With those words of advice, let’s take a look at some common problems with data and some ways to make it work better for you and your customer.Have you ever had customers claim they don’t have any data. Really? Don’t they know who their potential and current customers are? It’s pretty hard to imagine that they don’t have an email list or billing records. The story about not having any data sometimes a smokescreen for not wanting whatever you’re selling. Customers usually have lots of data…they just forgot, never knew about it or don’t want to be bothered collecting it. Places that customers can find data include CRMs (Customer Relationship Management software), accounting, shipping and billing systems, email communications, old computers, paper invoices, printouts and lists, third-party lists, public records and all of the resources available on the internet. Even if the customer has no interest in VDP, managing his/her marketing database can be a good way to keep him engaged with you.
Once you have data, the next question is, “Is it any good?” While this is really the customers’ responsibility (i.e. garbage in, garbage out), you want to be aware of potential data quality issues. Is it timely, or is it old? Is it complete, or are there “holes” in the information? Does it look like different data sets were combined randomly or does it look consistent? Is it valid - does it seem to make sense or do some phone numbers have too few digits? Lastly, is the data valid (i.e. correct or accurate)? If the data is a mail list, the NCOA process validates names, addresses and formatting, to an extent, but cannot validate other parts of the data (e.g. demographics).
Many printers get anxious when they receive customer data in formats such as “.dbf” (dBase), “.mdb” (Microsoft Access), “.tab” (tab separated values) and so forth. There’s no need to panic. If you can’t or don’t want to deal with data in unfamiliar formats, there are plenty of people who will do it for you…including us. If you outsource the data management, don’t try to convert it, especially not to or through spreadsheet software, like MS Excel. Spreadsheets try to read and format everything as a number. This can cause problems such as having leading “zeros” in zip codes disappear. All data will ultimately be converted to text form for use in VDP and mail presort software.
Having pointed out the above issues regarding data, dare we now talk about the fantastic things you can do with data and VDP? With a little creativity, even the most basic mailing list provides ample opportunity to design VDP pieces that connect with, provide value for and motivate recipients.
From a basic mailing list, first names can be used to discern the gender of the recipients with a high degree of accuracy. This enables you to target messages or offers much more effectively. Perhaps it’s sporty wheels for the men or kitchen remodeling for the women (Sexist? Nope. That’s market segmentation). With an address, you can point recipients to their closest retail store or tell them who their sales or service representative is. This is the real advantage of VDP…by using data to deliver very engaging messages (and images) to a targeted audience.
If you want to be seen as a marketing solutions provider rather than a copy shop, you have to get used to dealing with customer data in whatever way works best for you. More and more of your customers will come to recognize the value and power of their data. You will look like a superstar if you are ready to help them and have solutions available when this happens.
