Variable Data Printing

PERSONALIZED DIRECT MAIL WITH PURLS DRAMATICALLY INCREASES CONVERSION RATES AND SAVES MONEY

A recent article highlighted a prominent Midwest university who successfully deployed direct mail with a PURL to appeal to honors students as part of an admissions campaign. An A/B split test was conducted to research the affect of utilizing variable data printing in a marketing campaign.

Variable data printing tailored the direct mail postcard to the individual student’s interest in major, gender and whether or not they had visited the campus. Images and text were aligned to reflect the individual’s data. The PURL directed the students to a personalized landing page. For the other students, the Midwest university sent a more general mailing.

The university reported a 32% increase in student enrollment in 2010 over the prior year. 91% of those who registered were recipients of the PURL campaign. The use of a more focused mailer resulted in a 29% savings in printing costs.

“It’s all about making it relevant versus having high volume.”

At the same time, a non-profit organization used a personalized postcard and PURL to appeal to donors as part of their annual giving campaign. It reported that their normal donation rate is 2% to 3%. This campaign returned a 14% donation rate. “This is a bit more expensive, but it drove more conversions.”

“The trend is toward more efficiency and figuring out a multichannel approach with a much more layered cadence of communications.”

As online marketing becomes more saturated, innovations in printing and production are driving more marketers to use traditional channels to drive multichannel efforts.

How are you using direct mail in your multichannel marketing mix?

Here are some examples of Variable Data Printing.

EXAMPLE #1: Education Industry: Use Variable Data Printing to customize Student Enrollment Packages

Increasing student enrollment at a university, college, private school or some other higher education learning facility can be challenging. One way to reach prospective students is by connecting with them on a personal level. If the information you are sending them is personal and relevant to their interests, needs and wants, then your prospective student may be more likely to respond to it. Connecting on a one-to-one level can be done by having a good database to start with and utilizing variable data and imaging printing effectively.

In the above example, Cheshire Academy is an independent, co-educational, college preparatory boarding and day school located in Cheshire, CT. Our client, Turnaround Marketing, conducted interviews with school constituents to learn which of Cheshire Academy’s distinguishing characteristics meet their marketing needs. As a result of the research, Turnaround came to CRW to produce a unique, personalized enrollment package entitled “Out-of-the-Box College Prep” in order to increase enrollment. The package was personalized and customized for each applicant.

It included 11 cards that highlight particular aspects of the Cheshire experience. The cards had to function individually but come together to tell the total story of the school. A personalized, variable data card was to be positioned at the top of the stack, making the prospective student feel welcomed and known immediately.

You can read the full case study about this here…Variable Data Printing Case Study for Higher Education.

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EXAMPLE #2: Real Estate Industry: Use Variable Data Printing to customize brochures for Open Houses

The real estate industry can utilize variable data printing in so many different ways. One way this can be done is by creating customized brochures for specific properties. In the example above, our client has it’s very own web-to-print site, where they can design using templates that are available on their site customized for their company. They have the ability to change the pictures of the houses (both inside and outside pictures), as well as all of the text describing the house, the location, the real estate agent’s information and any other text that needs to be variable. This is one of the many ways variable data printing can be utilized for the real estate industry.

Read the full case study here… Variable Data Printing Case Study for Real Estate.

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EXAMPLE #3: Retail Industry: Use Variable Data Printing to create custom trunk show invitations

One way the retail industry can benefit from variable data printing is by creating custom trunk show invitations for their clients. In this example, we created a web-to-print site with custom templates that are available on the site that were designed by our client. There are very specific business rules in place as to what changes can be made to the templates from font type, color and size to order quantity limits and budget constraints.

Also, there is a final approval/quality assurance process in place that is handled by the corporate office. The invitations can be customized by changing pictures, dates of the events, locations and more depending on what business rules were set in place. This is a very effective use of variable data and imaging printing.

Read the full case study here… Variable Data Printing Case Study for Retail.

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EXAMPLE #4: Higher Education Industry: Use Variable Data Printing to create personalized direct mail enrollment packages for Universities/Colleges

Enrollment packages are a great tool for colleges, universities and other higher education facilities to engage prospective students. Utilizing variable data printing to create a one-to-one experience with the enrollment package for prospective students can be an effective marketing technique. Marketing money spent on high cost, low return tactics can hurt enrollment and the school’s bottom line.

This specific enrollment package was personalized using variable data printing in a variety of ways. On the inside, the prospective student’s name was used to connect the piece to the student directly. There are quotes from current students in this piece as well. Variable data printing was utilized to include quotes from student’s that live in the same state or nearby states to the prospective student. So, for example if the piece was mailed to a prospective student in California, quotes from current students who are from or live near California were included to make the piece. It adds that extra bit of connection and personalization to the piece making it more relevant to the recipient.

Read the full details about this printed piece here… Variable Data Printing for Higher Education – Personalized Enrollment Package.

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