GATFWorld Magazine
Volume 18
No. 5
October 2006

Practical Stuff to Improve Your Operations

Going Digital — Part 2: It's All About the "D" in VDP

by John Snyder, President, HBP, Inc.

Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series on "going digital." In part one, published in August 2006, we focused on workflow issues. Part two will emphasize the key aspects of VDP (Variable Data Printing).

The quality gap between digital and offset printing has narrowed to the point that finished products from both are nearly indistinguishable. In fact, for most print buyers the current generation of digital presses has made output quality a moot point.

That's where the similarities between digital and offset printing end, especially for VDP (variable data printing) applications. Where static printing is driven primarily by press formats and layout files, VDP projects are driven by data. The quality of your data will determine what you can and cannot do with a VDP application, influencing all creative decisions that follow. That requires a substantial shift for both print providers and their customers on two fronts: workflow and planning. We covered workflow essentials in the first article in this series, and we'll detail VDP planning for this one.

First Things First
Variable-data printing refers to a customized or personalized digital print run that includes variable graphic and text elements driven by a database. There are several different levels of variable data printing, ranging from the simple change of a name and salutation to pieces comprised completely of data-driven content, including full-color charts and graphics.

The level of VDP you choose for your application ultimately comes down to two things: data and budget. The depth and quality of your data will dictate how sophisticated a VDP program you can create, but the budget and scope of your application are also key considerations. For example, if you plan to do a single mailing to promote an upcoming conference, it will likely not make sense to invest in the programming required of a high-level VDP campaign. When spread over the lifespan of an ongoing program, however, that investment is more palatable.

Making the Best Use of Your Data
Regardless of the level of personalization in your VDP program, your data will need to be converted into a series of business rules that will drive the personalization of your document. These rules, which are essentially translated into a series of conditional logic ("if-then") statements, are developed based on a marketing understanding about relationships between the available data and your target audience.

It's important when forming your business rules to consider the lifespan of your campaign rather than just the current project. For direct marketing applications, VDP can be used to drive subsequent communications that take advantage of new data collected from responses.

Consider a hypothetical campaign for a chain of home-improvement stores. The initial mailing in a VDP campaign will make use of basic customer data to drive a few key personalized elements, such as directions to the nearest retail store. The piece could also include a coupon with a customized barcode to further boost interest.

A subsequent mailing can then be sent to customers who redeemed their coupons, taking advantage of both the action and the data captured during the purchase. Customers who purchased paint, for example, may receive a follow-up mailing that includes a coupon for related products such as rollers and brushes.

As a campaign reaches maturity, your business rules will need to be continually updated and tightened to reflect new relationships in your data. After several mailings, our retail store chain will have accumulated purchase history data such as dollar volume, products purchased, and frequency of purchases. The business rules of this campaign should be expanded regularly to take advantage of this new data to maximize response rates, cross-sell goods and services, and enhance the lifetime value of each customer.

For many marketers, capturing that data is as much a challenge as putting it to use. One popular and easy data capture solution is an Internet page that's optimized for the task. A website form that asks users to make selections from a series of pull-down menus can automatically feed accurate data into a list. For many companies, this is often the best way to bolster an existing customer or prospect list with additional information that can be used to create relevant communications using VDP technologies.

Design Follows Data
Unlike static print projects, the design of your VDP campaign should be conceived after you determine the depth of personalization your data will allow. There are other considerations that will factor into your design as well, including the capabilities of the output device, the postal rate you're trying to achieve, and your overall production budget.

The design of your piece should complement each variable element; naturally, the more variable elements your piece will include, the more difficult it will be to create a design that integrates them properly. Pay close attention to the space you allot to each variable element. The size of photos and pieces of text can vary greatly and may extend beyond the borders of your piece if not addressed prior to production.

There are a few other considerations to keep in mind when designing a piece for digital print production. For example, large areas of solid color should be avoided as they will often show banding or uneven color saturation. A light pattern or other "noise" added via a Photoshop filter should take care of this.

Successful mailing of a VDP campaign requires 100% accuracy; there is no overrun that can be addressed and mailed when pieces are spoiled. However, VDP is still a mechanical process, and spoilage is unavoidable. To ensure every contact in your database receives their unique communication, create a sequential code in your database that will be applied to an innocuous area of your piece. Your digital print solutions provider can then quickly identify and reprint any spoiled pieces.

VDP Success Stories
The power of VDP technology offers nearly endless possibilities for creating personalized communications. The following success stories should help you identify realistic VDP solutions for your customers' applications:

AHCA Buyer's Guide Order Form
Purpose: This piece was sent to 4,288 prospects in the hope of them placing an order for a listing in AHCA's Buyer's Guide. Using variable data and color was a departure from the static pieces that were produced in the past.

Technology: HBP designed this direct mail piece in conjunction with a companion website. The piece is a pre-populated order form generated from a database that not only supports this piece, but also drives the on-line website version of the Buyer's Guide and generates lists on demand for an on-line ordering system. The technology involved was fairly simple. We are simply inserting information from the database into the appropriate fields on the form. The only conditional logic needed was for the small checkbox at the bottom of the page. We created a simple rule that said if this field contains "Yes", place a red checkmark in the checkbox, if it says "No", don't.

There was an underlying push in the content of this piece to drive the prospects to the ordering website to place their orders. We wove a special "on-line code" into the text of the piece and also made it stand out on the order form. Having a customer order on-line significantly reduces the man hours traditionally needed to gather the final information for the Buyer's Guide.

Why This Is Noteworthy: Whether it is a full page form, or a simple business reply card, pre-filling of the information for your recipient will not only obtain a higher response, it will also reduce database entry errors.

HBP Thank You Mailer
Purpose: The primary purpose of this mailer was to say thank you to our existing customers and the introduction of HBP to our prospective customers. Its secondary purpose was to showcase the power of variable data technology and digital printing.

Technology: There were twenty-four distinct versions of this piece. The selection of who received which version was randomized by our programmers. The versions broke down into two main categories: customers and prospects. The primary difference between the two categories was the headline of the piece and the text content. Each category had two unique sub-versions represented by a photograph and caption that varied. So far we have two versions, each with two sub-versions for a total of four.

Within the design of the piece, there are three panels for illustrations. We created three different photo montages to fill those panels. Again, randomizing the locations of the photo montages in the panels gives us six additional variations. Put these six variations together with the four versions and we now have the twenty-four distinct mailers. In reality, there were over 1,600 different versions when you take into account the fact that all the addressing and barcoding was done on the NexPress along with the print run.

Why This Is Noteworthy: Studies have shown the use of images in mailings that speak directly to a targeted person dramatically increases the effectiveness of a mailing. This piece illustrates how powerful and versatile Variable Data Printing can be.

Final Comment
Today's digital printing capabilities allow VDP applications to look their best, while powerful data management tools allow each communication to convey individual messages to each recipient. However, a successful VDP campaign is ultimately judged by response rates and campaign ROI. A provider that can manage both aspects - data and print production - can help you maximize returns and take advantage of efficiencies at every step of the VDP process.

John Snyder is President/CEO of HBP, Inc., a full service communications solutions provider located in Hagerstown, Maryland. In addition to offering a full complement of digital printing services, HBP offers offset printing, Web development, information distribution services and more. John can be reached at 800-638-3508, or johns@hbp.com.

HBP Inc. • 952 Frederick St., Hagerstown, MD 21740 • 800-638-3508 • 301-733-2000 • FAX 301-733-6586