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Customer relationship initiatives take on exciting new dimensions when you combine customer data and product content with on-demand printing.
The evolution of on-demand personalisation
For the enterprise, truly useful print-on-demand personalisation has been a long time coming. First generation publishing systems were limited in what they could do. While personalisation with variable images and text was technically feasible, the earliest systems required high-level programming on a mainframe computer. The time and cost involved made all but the simplest personalisation impractical. Personalising a brochure or mailing usually meant swapping out a few images and small blocks of variable text. Since the layout was fixed, it had to be kept very basic. With these limitations, the design look tended to be flat and uninspired. Even though some refinements have been made over the years, many personalisation approaches still in use today have constraints that are similar to those of earlier systems.
A new generation of personalise-on-demand solution tools operates on an entirely different principle. Dynamic layout rules specified in advance by a graphic designer define the parameters for variable composition. As each personalised communication is created, the design template's layout automatically adapts to variations such as differing amounts of copy for different products. At the same time, the system maintains brand guidelines while optimising the use of white space. The result? Striking, graphically rich content for personalised collateral.
Another drawback of earlier publishing solutions was their incompatibility with separate databases that contain product information and images. These assets had to be reformatted, then imported - an error-prone time-consuming task.
When it came to output, earlier solutions required skilled technicians to produce the final printed piece on printing presses geared to high volume production. In contrast, next generation tools allow individual business users to control output themselves. They decide how many copies of the piece they need and how they want to distribute it. The system allows them to easily create print-ready PDFs-which they can print locally, e-mail directly to a customer, or route to an approved output provider. This approach offers greater flexibility and eliminates a bottleneck that required skilled workers to be involved.
Implementing personalise-on-demand technology can deliver significant benefits to an enterprise, including:
- Leverage CRM investment. Increase the number of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives that actually get implemented, by expanding the ability to create personalised collateral beyond the marketing department.
- Generate additional top-line revenue. Sales collateral personalised with products, pricing and other highly relevant content has been shown to increase the number of sales closed.
- Reduce costs. Transitioning some or all materials to “print only as needed” reduces bulk printing and storage costs. Many organisations also find they can stop throwing away large quantities of generic printed materials.
- Increase productivity. Eliminates the need for marketing, sales or customer service employees to produce the pieces “from scratch” each time. Yet powerful layout automation and customisation features ensure a well-designed, high impact communication.
- Speed time to market. Employees closest to the customer can produce personalised collateral materials in a matter of minutes.
Solving the classic dilemma of sales collateral
Both marketing and sales people understand the value of getting catalogues and product brochures in the hands of customers and prospects. Where opinions differ is what is the best way to accomplish this goal.
Sometimes sales and service representatives shy away from generic materials produced by marketing. They prefer to assemble materials with content that is personalised to the customer, pulling from various sources. The drawback is that such pieces tend to have a “patched-together” look and are time-consuming to produce. Brand guidelines fall by the wayside. The result? An ineffective piece.
Marketing, on the other hand, is adept at producing information that consistently carries the enterprise brand look and messaging. However, lacking a way to personalise content, the generic “one-size-fits-all” materials often go unused by sales and customer service. Again, ineffective.
The solution? Put marketing power in the hands of sales or customer service reps to help them grow the overall business. The technology and processes for personalisation and “just in time” publishing of sales collateral - both online and in hard copy - are ready.
New technology solves the classic sales collateral dilemma by helping marketing and sales people play to their strengths. Marketing designs templates that have the right brand elements and messaging. Locked-in features preserve that look and feel, but allow other employees to customise some of the content.
Non-technical sales and service employees use templates set up by marketing to create personalised pieces. An easy-to-use web-based wizard allows the employee to easily select qualified prospects from the customer database, extract appropriate information from the product database, and then flow it into a pre-existing template.
Decisions about which products and supporting details to include are the result of intimate knowledge these employees gain through direct contact with customers. The names of the organisation and even the individual customer can be added to create a one-of-a kind communication with as few copies as one. It is important to note that the brand is still controlled by marketing - and that product managers can pre-assign which products are available to drop into the template. The result is professional-looking collateral pieces that touch the customer with highly relevant content.
Personalised customer relationship initiatives now a reality
The use of personalised sales and marketing collateral has potential to build one-to-one relationships in many different sales situations. Here are some industry-specific examples of what can happen when digital personalise-on-demand joins forces with CRM and Content Management:
Industrial Parts: B2B Catalogue Sales
Local sales representatives of a large industrial parts distributor send personalised mini-catalogues several times a year to customers and prospects. These representatives find that, since featured products are handpicked for each customer, the mini-catalogues stimulate customer inquiries and orders. This helps them accelerate the growth of their customer bases and sales numbers.
Technology Products: Customer Service Desk
For years, customer service representatives lacked the ability to reinforce customer interactions with pertinent written information. Now, they can create customised product information and send it to customers in minutes via e-mail. Detailed information helps to improve customer satisfaction and significantly reduce the number of unresolved issues.
Consumer Electronics: Retail Sales Advisor
Consumers face a daunting array of features and price points when choosing a Home Theatre System. To help a customer reach a decision, retail sales advisors can create a personalised catalogue that presents “Good, Better, Best” system options accompanied with detailed specifications and prices for each solution. The advisor is able to give the customer a hard copy before he leaves the store.
Auto Dealership: Personalised Marketing Collateral
Generating repeat business is a growing challenge for auto dealers, as competition from competing brands, discount promotions and other dealerships threatens to lure their best customers away. One compelling solution is to send personalised catalogues to customers who purchased within the past 24 to 36 months. Product selections based on prior purchases make each catalogue relevant to the individual recipient. Including the contact information of a sales person reinforces the customer relationship at the local level.
Overcome the four biggest hurdles to implementation
Organisations may face hurdles in implementing personalise-on-demand technology. By knowing what the major hurdles are in advance, you will be in the best possible position to ensure a smooth implementation. The four biggest challenges you are most likely to encounter are:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM):
If your customer database is out of date or incorrectly segmented, the effectiveness of your personalise-on-demand initiatives will be reduced. The obvious solution is to make sure that customer information is current and organised to align with planned customer-facing initiatives.
Product Information Management:
If your organisation lacks a product information management strategy, you’ll need to build competency in this area before an investment in personalise-on-demand makes sense. It starts with a realisation that product information - the product descriptions, pricing information, text-based ad copy, digital images and web content used for marketing and sales purposes - is a valuable corporate asset. Organisations that develop this awareness typically implement systems to make product information easily accessible across multiple print and electronic channels that reach customers.
Functional Areas:
Members of both the marketing and sales teams may raise objections to implementing the new technology. Marketing may worry about losing control of the look and messaging. Sales may object to being responsible for creating the pieces.
Conclusion
Personalise-on-demand technology maintains brand image and increases sales collateral effectiveness across the enterprise. Every entity within your organisation becomes part of the sales process: marketing, sales, customer service and stores. Better still, the new technology empowers sales and customer service employees to take charge of improving their own results.
