Adding mailing services?

Producing more personalized documents?

There are some perils!

Commercial printers are looking for more ways to make money. So they are branching out into new areas. Some are specializing in photo books; others may be transforming themselves into "marketing service providers" or offering integrated printed documents and email campaigns. Many are adding mailing services.

Those are all great ideas. However, I've seen some instances where the transition from traditional mass mailer to distributor of personalized documents does not go so smoothly. There is an entirely different skill set and approach to the work that is required, and this distinction is not always appreciated. Sometimes the danger is in not knowing what you don't know. I'm in the business of filling that knowledge gap.

Transactional Documents = New Skill Set

I've worked with transactional documents all my professional life. So measures designed to ensure 100% accuracy and post-production quality control steps meant to catch mistakes before they leave the shop are second nature for me. But for the commercial printer with decades of experience churning out large quantities of identical documents, those processes and procedures may not be integrated into the production workflow.

I've mentioned some specific cases in the popular "What Were They Thinking?" videos I've done for Mailing Systems Technology (watch the MST website for a new WWTT video coming out soon). And I recently documented yet another instance of messed-up tax bills in my blog. If you produce transactional documents you can probably empathize with the printing companies that I've profiled.

But I don't publicize the mistakes for sympathy or amusement. There are lessons to be learned. And the most important lesson is the value of enlisting the aid of experienced resources when embarking on something new such as statement printing or even highly personalized direct marketing.

There are all kinds of reasons for the mistakes that result in re-mailing costs, loss of customers, or public embarrassment. Oftentimes, procedures that are meant to assure quality are simply bypassed in an effort to make the deadlines. But if you don't have the procedures in place to begin with, or if you don't even know you need the procedures, well then it is only a matter of time before disaster strikes. This is where getting some expert help up front pays off.

Personalized Direct Mail Requires the Same Controls

As marketers move away from producing mass quantities of identical mail pieces and begin using sophisticated database, composition, and printing technologies to create variable marketing messages, the lessons learned from transactional document production become relevant in the marketing world. No longer will it simply be a matter of spraying a name and address on a postcard or envelope. With high personalization it is critical that each customer on the mailing list receives the individual document that was created especially for them. A production process that relies on a single-stream, unbroken sequential operation is insufficient to assure the level of accuracy that is required. It's going to take something more.

And, with marketers cutting back on the size of their lists or decreasing the frequency of campaigns, every single mail piece you produce represents a larger percentage of the overall expected response. Each piece is much more valuable than ever before. A mistake that affects only 1% of the file can have a dramatic effect upon the success or failure of that mailing.

Successful campaigns are repeated. Failures result in a new approach which may or may not include your shop.

If you are branching out into transactional documents or personalized direct mail, that's great. I think it is a smart move. Just be sure you've got the support and experience behind you so you don't end up as an example of a mailing disaster.