Dirty Little Secrets about Variable Data Printing

Secret #1 – 120 Billion

More than 120,000,000,000 pieces are printed in the U.S. each year using VDP. That’s about 400 pieces for every man, woman and child every year! What percentage of those do you produce?

Secret #2 - Software

Variable data printing requires a dozen pieces of software, or more. How many of these do you have and how many can you use?

Most VDP programs are add-on modules to graphics software such as Adobe Creative Suite. Several additional modules for special effects and imposing may also be required.

Fixing up data to for use in VDP may require six, eight or more pieces of software to:

• Open and convert
• Cleanse and de-dupe
• Format and test
• Correct upper/lower case, abbreviations, suffixes, prefixes, etc.
• Sort and analyze
• Enhance

Finally, address list presorting, NCOA, CASS, etc. requires at least one or two pieces of software.

Secret #3 - Presorting

The annual renewal for address list presorting and processing software can cost $3,000 or more. That requires a lot of mailing work to justify the cost when you include the cost of the time spent learning and using the software.

EDDM has reduced the amount of presorted direct mail work in many areas.

Secret #4 – Crossing Over

VDP isn’t just for printing or making fancy images…it’s a crossover technology between print and electronic media. The same data-driven processes used to create VDP print files can also create electronic documents such as personalized PDFs for emailing (also personalized). Moreover, VDP can be used to add security elements to printed or electronic documents, tickets and events.

Secret #5 - Easy

Any digital print shop can easily be in the VDP business without buying or learning any software. Outsourcing mailing list processing eliminates the annual renewal expense. Similarly, the creation of printer-ready VDP print files can be outsourced…leaving the print shop owner with nothing to do but print and deliver VDP jobs.

See how you can easily include new high-value products and services into your business…

www.ez-vdp.com or www.printshopmarketing.com

Move Beyond Order Taking

When you go the computer store…yes, to buy a new computer…do you want to be waited on by the clerk who says:

Clerk #1 “Tell me which box of stuff you want me to drag out of the store room”, or

Clerk #2 “Tell me what your needs are and I’ll tell you what might be the best choices”?

Even if you are certain what computer model you want, you might happily engage clerk #2 to affirm your choice and check whether you might have overlooked something.

Your customers would probably rather deal with someone like clerk #2 when it comes to printing as well. They likely have a good idea of what they want. However, they might like affirmation that they are making the best choice for the purpose and the price. It’s not a matter of telling them what to do or how to do it, it’s a matter of building confidence and credibility for you. But how?

When the opportunity permits, why not simply offer some simple education or information about different printing concepts? Your points, of course, will all relate to services you provide. Even if the customer has no immediate need, you have accomplished two things: 1) increased your credibility (and the customer’s confidence) and 2) planted the seeds for future opportunities.

Consider the following educational points: 

• Increasing document security through printing
• Delivering more focused messages
• Expanding address lists
• Using gender or demographic marketing
• Getting more response
• Personalizing a business for customers

The easiest and fastest way to convey the points may be to give the customer a sample of a printed piece that demonstrates your point. Visual aids are always good, and leaving the piece creates a reminder.

Most likely, your competition isn’t talking or can’t talk to your customers about these types of things. This gives you the opportunity to be the de facto expert for your customers…and more like clerk #2. There’s a fair chance your customer may never find the need for any of these techniques. However, when a question about printing comes up, the customer is more likely to count on you for an answer.

Isn’t that the way you want it?

If you need more information on how to be more than an order taker, give us a call. We’re glad to help.

The Disappearing Lettershop

We speak with many print shop owners, and a recurring complaint, these days, is that the number of lettershops is rapidly dwindling. Moreover, there is an explicit or implied distrust of the remaining lettershops.

Let’s face it: lettershops are having business challenges just like print shops. It’s only natural that lettershops will do what they must to survive…even if that means competing with their customers, the print shops. Many print shops now offer digital printing, for example.

Another byproduct of the new reality for lettershops, and print shop owners, could also be higher prices for lettershop services. At some point, as competition decreases; prices tend to increase.

One customer put it like this, “I know ABC [lettershop] is going out of business, and I don’t trust any of the others any farther than I can throw them.” Using VDP for addressing and in-house mailing solved a large part of the disappearing lettershop problem. It also ended up costing less than the lettershop charged while eliminating the need to disclose customer identities to potential competitors.

If any of this sounds familiar…look into EZ-VDP(SM).

VDP Security Opportunities

There is no question that security has become increasingly important in modern society. The capability of VDP to create thousands of unique printed pieces provides some interesting security-related opportunities for printers.

Consider large gatherings such as business meetings or entertainment events. We recently created VDP print files for 6,000+ tickets for a nationally televised major awards program. Sorry, we can’t say which one…for security reasons. We were not privy to the security procedures, but the organizers did have a database with the identity of the celebrity invitees and each ticket had a unique bar code.

In this situation, the organizer might have used various techniques to verify the identities of ticketholders. Having scanned the bar-coded ticket, the ticket collectors could ask for something as simple as ticketholders’ phone numbers or even required some type of photo ID to compare to the database of invitees.

Depending on the type of event, there can be the potential to include the addressing directly on the ticket or invitation itself which could simplify mailing, increase security and deter counterfeiting.

Similar VDP techniques could be used to put personally identifying URLs, codes, serial numbers, QR codes, etc. on mailed pieces to verify receipt or access by the proper person, not unlike the process used by credit card companies. Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of VDP relative to security is the use of variable graphics to include photographs.

Our customers often use variable graphics to include pictures of their representatives on promotional pieces for personalization purposes. However, it also affords recipients a measure of security by knowing that the person knocking at the door resembles the picture they received in the mail. More and more companies providing “at home” services are moving in this direction.

Keep a look out for opportunities to provide or recommend the security-related opportunities with VDP. Customers may not readily recognize the need or the security potential of VDP. It’s a question that could bear interesting fruit. Besides, security-related applications, by their nature, may be less sensitive to price than other printing projects.