In the second and final part of this series on using personalization to create relevant marketing messages, I provide five tips to help your company better leverage personalization to grow its bottom line. For part 1, click here.
Armed with a database that gives you the ability to do strategic data mining, here are five tips for better leveraging personalization:
1. Leverage the best of print technologies. Multichannel retailers, for example, tend to rely solely on the capabilities of longer-run personalization technologies for their catalogs. However, short-run, variable data digital printing enables even greater degrees of personalization. Why not combine the two?
New technologies use an optical character recognition system to selectively insert highly personalized, digitally printed covers, inserts and outserts. The system can be installed on any type of finishing equipment — stitcher, binder or polybagger — and enables you to match up any preprinted, one-to-one personalized piece to the recipient’s name.
The key is in the barcode printed on the personalized preprinted piece. The optical recognition system on the finishing equipment reads the barcode and matches the personalized piece to the publication, which is then ink-jet addressed to the specific recipient at the end of the line.
Digital printing technologies open the door for virtually any level of personalization on a cover or insert. For example, a fashion retailer could use transactional data to present images of new styles that relate to buyers’ past purchases. Or a medical instrument marketer could create a cover or insert that relates to each practitioner’s specialty. Text and images can be 100 percent variable on each piece, so the only real limitation is the data available.
2. Leverage improved ink-jet technologies. Not to be contradictory, but ink-jet imaging technologies also offer far more personalization capabilities for both catalogs and direct mail than most marketers use.
Near-laser quality, wide format ink-jet imaging can be placed in multiple locations in a variety of colors and fonts. You can digitally print archived images as well as variable text to increase lift with targeted offers of special discounts and free shipping; build store traffic with maps and barcoded coupons; or drive web activity with personalized URLs. Combine personalized imaging with involvement devices like dot whacks and Post-it notes or flags for even more personalization.
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