Here we are, early in 2008, and, according to Noel Ward, this year is the time to initiate a Web-to-Print program if you don’t already have one. This month we’re going to dig into the details: we’ll define a Web-to-Print program, tell you why you should want to have one, and figure out where to get it.

Now, before we get to details, let’s talk about what Web-to-Print is not.

Web-to-Print has nothing to do with web printing!

Web-to-Print is not email or FTP transfer of files.

Web-to-Print is not a PDF of a spec sheet on your web site.

Web-to-Print is not a business model.

So, then, what is Web-to-Print?

Web-to-Print is an enabler, a tool, a process.

Web-to-Print enables new value-added services.

Web-to-Print is part of the super-efficient print supply chain.

Web-to-Print is a service delivery model.

Web-to-Print Trends

So who uses Web-to-Print solutions? Actually, representatives from just about every type of business can benefit from a Web-to-Print program. From the SOHO market—small businesses with 1 to 9 employees and sole proprietors—to print buyers and document owners/users in enterprises of all sizes. Service providers offering print service, creative and marketing services, and/or mailing and fulfillment can all incorporate Web-to-Print services in their offerings. At the same time, intermediaries such as print brokers and distributors or print management service providers also find Web-to-Print solutions useful.

The real reasons that Web-to-Print has taken off reflect the adoption of the Internet and the maturing of the technology. Print buyers and document owners have embraced web-enabled tools. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey (March 2007), more than 70% of American adults go online to access the Internet or to send and receive email.

The technology has matured too. Now it is possible for service providers to deliver web-enabled capabilities via many different business models. Web-to-Print solutions can integrate list acquisition and direct mail, and the most sophisticated offer multi-channel marketing: e-mail, personalized URLs and micro-sites, and customized direct mail. Web-to-Print isn’t just one thing, it runs a whole gamut from a “walk up to the web” model to a full-featured print procurement and fulfillment portal.

Walk-up-to-the-Web

The types of solutions that could be called “Design and Print” are in essence virtual storefronts where a consumer, usually a small business owner or sole proprietor, can create business cards, postcards, books, or other printed products in very small quantities.

Most design and print Web-to-Print applications offer product templates for users, since most users are not professional designers. Some also allow for uploading design files and images.

The best-known “walk-up-to-the-web”-type businesses are VistaPrint, Modern Postcards, and Lulu—a site for preparing and ordering books. There are a myriad of online photo sites that offer very basic Web-to-Print service; after all, a 4” x 6” photo is a lot simpler than a set of business cards!

Procurement Portals

Procurement portals offer a wider range of options and services than their “walk-up” cousins. A procurement portal is generally a branded or customized web site where document users modify, proof, order, and track printed materials and promotional items. Users may order static printed items or inventoried products, versioned or localized marketing materials, or variable direct mail.

Targeted to a corporate audience, these portals are branded for the enterprise and provide catalogs populated with collateral, forms, and promotional items for only that company. Because access is secure and controlled, it is possible to not only manage what the user can procure but also to provide detailed reports. Reports can include products ordered, buyer, purchase history, order(s) shipped, order(s) delivered, and any number of details around the procurement process.

Beyond the Catalog

Let’s take a deeper dive into these procurement portals and see what kinds of options and services are available. The good news is that you don’t have to jump into the “deep end of the pool,” you can choose the services you want to offer. Following are brief descriptions of the offerings available in Web-to-Print solutions; please note the system you choose can have one, two, or all of the options described.

SKU-based Catalog. The simplest Web-to-Print application is product-oriented and is basically a SKU-based catalog. SKUs—shop keeping units—are the item numbers used to specify a catalog product. The very simplest offering presents inventoried items—25 brochures shrink-wrapped in a package or logo’d coffee mugs one at a time—for selection and purchase. Items are priced according to the unit offered and calculation of cost for the buyer is straightforward.

Print on Demand. The next level of complexity combines a SKU-based catalog with print on demand. Rather than inventorying finished goods, this system drives production after the item is ordered.

Producing the 25 brochures that were previously kept in inventory by using digital printing on demand can vastly reduce inventory costs, waste, and obsolescence.

Versioned Print. Incorporating templated documents with a variety of fields to be completed by the document user and printed on demand, versioned print allows products to be localized or personalized for a specific application.

By far the most common versioned print program is the production of business cards. A corporate portal with business card templates streamlines the procurement of a product that can generate more internal processing costs to order than cost of the finished item! When internal processing costs approach $150 per order, it’s time to make a change. Just calculate how much it costs to go through all the approvals required in your company. Add a review by the legal department for each box of cards (which really happened in one company I am aware of), and the costs really increase.

Other versioned applications include personalizing a group of brochures with the name of the salesperson, swapping an image to represent a geographic location, or substituting a block of text for a particular industry.

VDP/Direct Mail. Now things start to get interesting—and more complicated. A number of Web-to-Print solutions are incorporating very sophisticated variable data printing (VDP) and direct mail technology such as list segmentation and acquisition.

In the past, personalized communications simply meant “name, address, and account number.” Now it is possible to send truly customized messages, speaking as if one person in your company drafted a note to one specific customer. Advanced personalization goes beyond offering the “right product” to the “right person;” it means using the most compelling images and words based on what you know about the customer or prospect.

Those applications that offer VDP include the means to upload mailing lists, but a few offer mailing lists for purchase. Combine that with the ability to segment by a number of variables or even to map geographic boundaries, and it is possible to manage a sophisticated direct mail campaign from your desktop.

Personalized Images. The “frosting on the cake”—personalized images—combines a photograph with custom character sets to create a personal image. This type of technology is still fairly new however more and more direct mailers are benefiting from the “wow” factor.

Personalized URL. As it becomes more and more challenging to differentiate a direct marketing message, the next step is to combine variable data printing—with or without personalized images—and personal landing pages driven by personal URLs (pURLs).

A personal URL—usually consisting of your customer’s or prospect’s first and last names and a campaign domain name—is appended to your mailing list. This variable is merged into a direct mail piece and mailed as usual. When the recipient types the URL into her web browser, she is sent to a page that speaks directly to her.

Integrated, interactive personal campaigns incorporating pURLs are proven to increase and improve the number and quality of leads, build customer relationships, and increase sales.

Your Value Proposition

Web-to-Print applications are not just a flash in the pan or the latest glitzy thing to take up; they are solutions you can use to help your customers save money and make money. You will save them money by storing, managing, and delivering assets, content, and documents and making them easy to find and use. You will save them money by reducing turn times, tracking where the money is going, identifying which marketing pieces are successful, and making data and information available.

You will make your customers money by creating targeted messages, delivering customer-centric marketing pieces, and making it easy to use marketing collateral and collateral management programs.

Success Looks Like This

Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus, RIT, says that service providers who prosper do these six things:

Use the Web

Solve customer problems

Market, don’t sell

Develop programs, not projects

Integrate fulfillment

Automate, automate, automate

By offering Web-to-Print programs, you will reach new prospects and develop closer relationships with your existing customers. Web-to-Print solutions allow you to go beyond email and FTP to differentiate your company and—because this is a high growth area—potentially reap double-digit growth.

A Selection of Vendors

Walk-up-to-the-Web:

Amazing Print (www.amazingprint.com)

iPrint Systems (www.iprint.com)

Lulu (www.lulu.com)

Modern Postcards
(www.modernpostcards.com)

Printing Automation
(www.printingautomation.com)

VistaPrint (www.vistaprint.com)

Procurement Portal:

Atlas Printshop Web (www.atlassoftware.com)

BlueTree Direct (www.bluetreedirect.com)

EFI (www.efi.com)

Four51 (www.four51.com)

Net2Printer (www.net2printer.com)

NowDocs (www.nowdocs.com)

Online Print Solutions
(www.onlineprintsolutions.com)

PageDNA (www.pagedna.com)

PageFlex (www.pageflex.com)

Press-Sense (www.press-sense.com)

Printable Technologies (www.printable.com)

PrintVision (www.printvision.com)

PrismaTek (www.prismatek.com)

Responsive Solutions
(www.responsivesolutions.net)

Rochester Software Associates - RSA
(www.rocsoft.com)

Saepio (www.saepio.com)

Xerox Web Services (www.xerox.com)

XMPie (www.xmpie.com)

Specialized Applications:

MindFire — pURLs (www.mindfireinc.com)

DirecType — personalized images
(www.directype.org)

DirectSmile — personalized images
(www.directsmile.de)