Some Quick Information About Variable Data Printing
There are many types of variable data printing (VDP). Printing a different address on each printed piece can legitimately be called “variable” printing. But that’s a far cry from the personalized printed piece that generates improved response.
Making it personal is key. If I am a “middle-age” business consumer, a car dealer might send me a post card showing a Silver BMW 5-Series at the beach with an attractive middle-aged couple pulling a beach umbrella out of the trunk. Now that would get my attention!
But wait: there’s more. The card would have the name of a salesperson, a special offer and a customized URL where I could watch a video of my dream car in action as well as make an appointment.
That’s not an easy package to put together, but it is being done quite successfully today. Here’s one example. A marketing services provider helped a South-eastern regional bank sign up business credit card customers with a VDP piece. It included images selected for their specific business interests and the name of a specific lending officer to contact. Many used scanned signatures so they looked hand signed. The result was an increased return rate from 0.4 percent to 3 percent: more than a sevenfold increase.
Another example of a maximized VDP program is when Pantone, XMPie and Xerox got together on a Pantone program complete with personalized e-mail, print and web pages, they achieved a record response rate of 7.9 percent and a sales increase of 81 percent.
Want to do your own return on investment (ROI) analysis of VDP? Clemson University offers a downloadable Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (created as part of a doctoral dissertation) at http://graphics.clemson.edu/vdp/VDP_ROI.XLS.
Case studies abound showing that the ROI on VDP is significant: some would say astounding. But it isn’t that simple. The infrastructure required for VDP is considerable, requiring “on-the-fly” merging and manipulation of data fields, images and text. Putting all those components together requires attention to design details beyond the usual print job. As your printer, we can help you gather the information you will need to make it all come together.
