It’s been another year of the industry’s continued adoption of variable data printing. We are way past the niche and experimental stage. This is an industry that has gone mainstream, even if it’s not ubiquitous; and those who are utilizing this approach, both on the marketing and print provider sides, have become increasingly savvy about what makes these applications tick.

According to 2006 survey data from The Industry Measure—formerly TrendWatch Graphic Arts—Printing 24: Executive Summary, nearly half of all graphic arts firms now offer variable data printing (VDP) at some level, whether it’s simple mail merges or more complex variable-text, variable image jobs. While the majority of VDP-producing firms—both in-house and outsourced—classify their VDP jobs as mail merges, 44 percent are doing full-color variable-text, variable-image jobs with one to 12 variable fields and ten percent are doing these jobs with 13 variables or more.

How has this changed over time? The last time The Industry Measure asked detailed questions about VDP jobs—Spring 2005—the percentage of respondents doing some kind of VDP was virtually the same, but there has been a big change in the production of full-color, variable-text, variable-image jobs since then. The percentage of VDP producers doing full-color VDP jobs with one to 12 variable fields has doubled and the percentage doing more sophisticated jobs—over 13 variable fields—has risen 25 percent.

Of course, not all VDP jobs are full-color. In fact, the bulk of VDP marketing volumes are B&W transpromotional—a combination of transactional and promotional jobs, such as sales and prospecting letters for insurance or financial companies—produced in extremely high volumes by data processing firms. Due to their complexity, these jobs are generally driven by AFP workflows and are produced outside the commercial printing industry, but they are important to mention because they are, in fact, the bulk of the personalized documents being produced today.

Lessons Learned From the Field
As the percentage of graphic arts firms producing VDP jobs has increased, what are they learning about the effectiveness of those campaigns? How can their clients maximize their investments and increase their chances of getting a good return?

1. Creativity Wins Over Volume

First and foremost, marketers are learning that they don’t need extensive databases in order to get results. They simply need to have clean, well-prepared databases and be smart and creative about the ways that they use them.

A good example is the use of mapping programs, which allow marketers to calculate the distance from each recipient’s home to the desired location, whether retail store, seminar, or elsewhere. In the right instances, these inexpensive programs can take the most minimal of information—such as basic mailing lists—and turn them into powerful marketing tools.

Take the example of Pancho Villa’s, a chain of Mexican restaurants. When it opened a new location in Portage, MI, all it had was a mailing list of local residents. But instead of sending out a bulk mailer saying something like, "Hey, Bob! Like Mexican? Check out our new store!", it did something more creative. It sent out a full-color mailer that took advantage of mapping software to really catch recipients’ attention. The mailer read, "Bob, you are only .8 miles from the best burrito in Portage!" The mailer then invited recipients to come to the new location for a free burrito.

The store was swamped during the duration of the promotion, and store employees indicated that local residents often drove to the restaurant just to see if the mailer was right about the distance. Of course, recipients always ended up ordering more food than just the free burrito—a smart, savvy way to turn a basic mailing list into a high-return marketing program.

Another VDP producer, Kelly Graphics, Carlsbad, California, pulled out a winner for a mortgage client. Using publicly available information, combined with a software program designed by Kelly Graphics owner Mike Kazakevitch, the shop was able to estimate the amount potential customers were paying for mortgages with competing lenders. In the printed piece, the program calculated how much each potential customer would save by switching to a lower-rate loan with the new bank. The return on investment was 1,200 percent!

2. Append, Append, Append

Mapping and mortgage calculation programs aren’t going to be effective for every marketing program, however, and the lack of detailed data can scare many marketers into inaction. But increasingly, marketers understand the multitude of options available for appending their lists and increasing the depth of data from which they can draw.

Among the options: appending with a purchased list that provides additional demographic data, such as income level or marital status, which can then be used alone or merged with an existing list.

When Zeiterion Theater, a theatre company located in New Bedford, MA, wanted to boost its attendance, it worked with its print provider, Reynolds-DeWalt, to append its list and create a profile of the most likely theater attendee. Based on income levels and other factors, Reynolds-DeWalt created a profile of the theater’s most likely patrons, then sent a personalized mailer to individuals in the appended list that matched that description. The mailer encouraged recipients to log into a personalized Web page in exchange for an opportunity to win free theater tickets. Once there, it asked if they wanted to share their email addresses and information about the kinds of performances they enjoy. 21 percent of recipients went to the Web page, and of those, 14 percent provided further information.

When Wolverine, a national shoe manufacturer, wanted to market a new line of hiking boots, it knew that it needed more than its limited database. So it partnered with a non-competing company in the same space, GorE-tex, to identify the most likely prospects for its new line within the target distance of all of the retail locations that had agreed to carry the boot. It used personalization, a discount during the promotion period, and a walking map of the exact number of steps to the closest participating retail store. For the period of the promotion, the hiking boot was the best-selling shoe in its category in all participating stores.

Using prospecting surveys, such as sending recipients to a personalized URL, where the marketer can gather additional demographic information about them, such as product preferences. Consider the following two examples provided by the Print on Demand Initiative (PODi).

Relationship Marketing Inc., an agency specializing in providing 1:1 communications, launched a personalized magazine aimed at showcasing its capabilities for clients and prospects. In order to personalize the publication, it first asked respondents to fill out a short online survey that was then used to personalize the magazine to their specific interests and needs.

Bazzirk, a marketing intelligence company, developed a marketing program called PWRPlay, aimed at hard-to-reach executives. For participating clients, Bazzirk sends a personalized package with a gift, full-color branded labels, and full-color, personalized brochure containing a personalized URL and a photo of a high-value, personalized gift—from remote controlled cars to golf clubs—they will receive upon meeting with a sales person. When the prospect visits the personalized URL, he or she is asked to answer a few questions that qualify and classify the lead.

3. Test Various Offers and Incorporate Lessons into Future Campaigns

Another hard-earned lesson we are hearing more about is the testing of marketing offers and other elements of the campaign and incorporating the lessons back into current or future campaigns.

In one VDP campaign, for example, Graphic Printing & Communications (GPC), Meridian, MS, went the extra mile when it added a secret demographic into its client’s customer loyalty program. The goal of the customer, SuperStop!, a regional convenience store chain, was to market a new Pepsi product, SoBe, to its loyalty program customers. Gender wasn’t part of the campaign, but GPC included a tiny gender indicator on the cards anyway. After the results rolled in, The company got a surprise—80 percent of the respondents were young men. This was stunning because this was exactly the demographic the client was targeting, but both SuperStop! and the distributor knew that young men were traditionally resistant to direct-mail. That they had responded heavily to 1:1 personalization was a critical piece of information.

Another VDP producer, LeadGenesys, regularly suggests that its customers split their mailings into different parts, each with a different offer. Because its programs typically drive customers to personalized URLs, the effectiveness of the offer can be evaluated in real time. One customer made an interesting discovery through this process. The mailing was split into two parts, each with a different offer. Offer A had a higher response rate, but Offer B had more qualified leads. For clients stuck on response rates, the lesson might seem to be to focus on Offer A, and more of it. However, LeadGenesys suggests another approach: that the client beef up its list with prospects exhibiting the same demographics as those responding to Offer B, then adjust the split to favor the lower performing but more qualified lead offer. The result? Both the response rate and the percentage of qualified leads went up.

Needless to say, more and more VDP producers are making the sharing of program results a condition of their working relationships. This is also a benefit to repositioning the company as a marketing services provider rather than a printer with marketing services. When this is more than a semantic difference—and the positioning is reflected in business philosophy, pricing, and staffing—clients are more willing to share results. Consequently, this results in more successful and longer-term, more profitable campaigns.

This is also a major benefit to driving traffic to personalized URLs. If the Web sites are being monitored by the VDP provider, the shop automatically has access to those results.

4. Combine Your Media

One of the final lessons that VDP producers and their clients seem to be taking from this past year’s successes is one that has already been woven throughout the examples given here. If you want to maximize your return on investment (ROI), combine your media. Just as in any marketing campaign, the multi-channel approach maximizes the best of each medium and provides reinforcement that can bolster ROI, especially when you are working with minimum data.

Pantone, Inc. recently demonstrated this principle in its own business. It had introduced a new product for monitor calibration designed for a broad audience, one that might not be as familiar with the issues and benefits of monitor calibration, so Pantone, Inc. wanted a program that would both promote the product and educate potential customers about the need for monitor calibration in the first place. It had only limited data on its customers, so the results had to come from creative use of that data.

So Pantone, Inc. created a three-prong solution, a highly unusual 1:1 personalized direct-mail piece designed to drive recipients to a personalized URL for more information. A personalized Web page, where recipients could find out more information about monitor calibration and get further information on the calibration product. They could also fill out a survey and sign up for a sweepstakes in which they could win a high-value prize. And, coordination with banner ads, placed on distributors’ sites, and 1:1 personalized email follow-up reminders for nonresponders.

Pantone Inc.’s response rates, compared to past campaigns, increased fivefold. Its sales of monitor calibration products jumped 81 percent and exceeded its sales projections by 13 percent. Not bad for merely having names and addresses—thanks to a well-planned and coordinated multi-channel campaign. Lesson learned.

Lessons for the Industry
There are many more lessons learned by successful VDP producers and VDP marketers, but the overarching lesson is this: it’s not how much data you have. It’s how you use it.

That includes taking VDP beyond direct selling. Just take a quick trip through the PODi case study archive. In just one vertical market alone, VDP is being used to create completely personalized maps on-demand for a travel association, novelty gift boxes to attract high-value and hard-to-reach sales leads, direct-mailers, cross-media programs, personalized certificates to reward participants in training programs, and even personalized invoices. It is being used for direct sales, lead generation, brand management and reinforcement, relationship development between existing clients and their sales people, and even to simply streamline the process of creating brochures.

Note that, in many of these examples, VDP is being used for applications other than direct sales. In fact, the uses for personalization are as varied as the number of companies submitting case studies.

As the uses of VDP merge, so do the capabilities of the software. What used to be discrete programs for creating 1:1 print personalization, 1:1 email personalization, and even Web-to-print solutions are now merging into holistic solutions that allow printers and their customers to blend programs and move seamlessly from one another.

VDP has truly moved by direct sales and become a comprehensive marketing and lead generation solution, and both printers and their customers must start thinking of it this way. Thus, perhaps one of the greatest lessons that VDP producers—and potential producers—can learn is that, in order to take advantage of the opportunities this technology provides, they must think differently, not just about VDP technology itself, but their own businesses, as well.