Where do I start with VDP?

The most common question after "What is Variable Data Printing?" that I hear is "Where do I start?" This is a tricky question because you start at the end - "What is your goal?" Then once defined you figure out what data you have to support that goal.

Data is the information you have about your targeted "customer" list. And you've got to start with that data to craft your campaign. Examples include:

• Non-profits that can pull data from their AMS (association management system) such as member id, member name, member mailing address, phone number, member since, member type, other locations, meetings attended, etc.


• Charities that draw from their development (donor) database such as donor id, first name, last name, mailing address, last donation, average donation, cause of interest, donor since date, etc.


• Policital parties, like the Democratic National Committee, have master voter database. The Dems have one of voters and voter preferences (VoteBuilder) that lets the authorized user drill down and pick information for mailing/marketing campaigns including narrowing down a list to voter district and voter preferences.


• Corporations draw from CRM (customer relationship management) systems to extract a list of relevant customers (by region, buying preference, or other) and then contact information, mailing address, last purchase, etc.

Every business or organization has data about customers stored in some sort of database -- even if it is just an Excel file of customers, that is a starting point. Look at what you have and send me your questions.

Who uses variable data printing?

Variable data printing has become fairly popular (has something to do with the excellent response rates) and thus is used across a wide range of industries.

These include:

• Politics: election campaigns, union campaigns to push voters to a particular candidate
• Hospitality: to highlight bonus/reward points and destination deals
• Non-profits: to market upcoming meetings, raise funds, market membership, member dues invoicing
• Charities: to solicit funds (example: the Smile Train's recent mailing of labels)
• Universities and Colleges: to solicit new students and alumni donations (example: Villa Julie College)
• Retailers: to market new stores, drive sales, reward customers (example: DSW Rewards, Target Rewards)
• Manufacturing: to market new products to distributors

There is a use for variable direct marketing across all industries. Let me know what you've seen - samples will be posted in the future.

When should you use variable printing?

Deciding to use variable data printing or variable information printing is a personal decision (no pun intended). The decision should be based on your project goals, how much time you have to produce your first variable project and how much you have in your budget.

For instance, is it your goal to get more people to your stores? Is it to sell more per customer visit? Is it to increase year over year, same store revenue? Whatever your goal, it must be supported by the data you have about your customers to have an effective variable information campaign.

An sample goal is a national women's clothing retailer wants to drive traffic to company-owned stores to boost quarterly revenues and profits. Below is a sample of how variable data printing could be used.

Known facts

• Industry: Women's Clothing Retailer


• Target Demographic: Women shoppers, age 35-65 that are members of the "rewards club"


• Goal: entice reward club members to come to the store


• Offer: special sale with 15% off for all reward club members that attend the sale during specific hours


• Known data points about each customer: date of birth, first name, last name, mailing address, last date of purchase in store or online, preferred method of shopping (in store or online), total spend annually, and all store contact information

Possible solution

A 4 page "invitation" (4" x 6") on a decent weight text stock (100# matte stock) with variable printing.

• The cover panel features an image of a woman dressed in one of the retailer's outfits - there are 5 images to pull depending on the age of the recipient so that the model on the mailer is the same age range as recipient.


• The inside left-hand panel contains the store information including hours of operation.


• The inside right-hand panel contains an invitation to the private sale including a variable percentage off depending on total spend at time of purchase (based on last purchase amount) and date/time of the private sale.


• The back features the terms of the sale (in typical small point font).


• The invitation is mailed in an envelope with customer's address printed and the return address showing the local store where the customer does all of their shopping.

From a production standpoint this piece is produced using:

• Excel file that contains customer last name, first name, date of birth, mailing address, store ID, value of last purchase.


• A second Excel file that contains all store data which includes store ID (linked to customer data), address (street, street 2, city, state, zip code), store hours of operation, phone number, and alternate phone number.


• 5 high quality photo images (in TIFF format) along with instructions as to which image goes with which age group.


• Rules for calculating percentage off offer per customer (e.g., if customer spent $200 at last purchase, percentage is 15% off if total purchase is $250).


• Final art (Adobe InDesign preferred) including locations for variable data - typically flagged with "< >" surrounding the field name and art for the envelope.


• Seed list (this is a list of names, addresses, that should receive all 5 variable pieces in the mail).

Your print partner will review the data and art and then write up the instructions for your review and approval (or they should). The printer will give you a sample set of proofs that show customer with each of the 5 images (totalling 5 proofs). The printer will also process the supplied customer list for NCOA (national change of address), DPV (delivery point validation), and CASS certify the list to get the best postage rates.

Then the printer will produce the project - called a match mailing variable data print project because the envelope must match to the printed invitation (no mistakes). And drop it into the postal stream. Remember postal discounts can also equal postal delivery delays, so you must plan for that accordingly (another topic for this blog on a another day).

Other future topics include: how to find a printer that can do variable data printing and how to evaluate your print supplier (if they can do it well).

Why use VIP?

Variable information printing is expensive to produce. And in a future post I'll cover why it is more expensive. But before you consider the expenses you should consider "why use it at all?"

VIP has been proven to increase response rates. And the goal of a marketing campaign is to get a response that meets the goals. A response that converts to a paying customer is fabulous. And a response that turns into a loyal repeat customer the holy grail.

Response rates:

• 1.26% respond on average to mass market printed direct mail


• 13.7% respond on average to personalized color direct mail, based on database information

Source:
http://www.mhe-consulting.com/downloads/Color_Evolution_etc_Fall03.pdf

Seems to me if the campaign goals are important that a 13.7% response rate trouces traditional direct mail every time.

What is Variable Information Printing?

Simply put Variable Information Printing (VIP) is using data to print mass-customized marketing and/or informational pieces for individuals. It is also known as variable data printing and personalized printing. VIP has a number of uses that include: marketing, bonus/reward point statements, school performance reports, and personalized catalogs.

As you can imagine the largest adoption rate for VIP has been in the direct marketing (or direct mail) industry. Chances are that you receive at least one variably printed piece of mail per day ~ and chances are that you consider some of it junk mail.

One very simple example of personalization is the of source codes and customer code inkjetted on the back of a catalog. Another example is your credit card statement - they print the statement paper and then print individually your statement (in black ink). A fancy example is the update you might receive from your auto dealer with the information about your vehicle (VIN, make/model) and service coupons.

Today when you go home, check out your mail ~ let me know if you don't find a single piece with some form of personalization (in addition to the typical address block). And let me know which pieces you actually opened.