What Customers Make the Most Sense for Web to Print Portals?
When printers invest in a new software solution, it’s only natural that they will want to get as much value out of it as they can. With web to print software, this is a slippery slope. Initially, many printers want to spin up web to print portals for as many clients as possible, eagerly expecting order volumes to shoot up as a result. The issue is that a portal is not a fit for every customer. Some are going to take to it quicker than others. And some are not worth the effort of jamming a square peg into a round hole.
Web to print solutions can absolutely transform a printer’s business, but there is going to be a transitional period before the organization has fully integrated this solution The first step for success could be the most obvious one – identify which clients make the most sense for the solution.
So that gets us to the question we’ll be addressing in this article: which customers should get portals first? But first, let’s briefly get some context for the place web to print occupies in the printing landscape.
Web to Print Is the New Normal
Online marketing portals have become a major game changer in the world of B2B print services. The ability to create private, personalized portals for customers to give their end users easy access to branded materials has gone from new and innovative to table stakes in the competition for large enterprise clients.
Self-service and automation are rapidly becoming dominant trends in almost every industry. And it’s a trend that printers cannot afford to ignore. Customers expect a smooth and seamless process from product selection to personalization to fulfillment. Web to print portals make this possible.
Current Customers or Prospective Customers?
There are two common motivating factors that drive print service providers to pursue a web to print solution: they need to support and grow their existing customers OR they want to increase their chances of winning new business. In the first scenario, time of the essence to provide the solution or you could be in danger of losing the customer.
No 2 Customers Are Same
If you want to make the most out of your web to print solution, you need to identify the customers, both current and future, who will benefit the most from the value your solution brings to the table.
You’ll likely find that you have some customers who take to web to print much more quickly and enthusiastically than others, and that’s okay. Focusing on setting up your portals for those customers who are going to take to it, ramp up their order volumes, and become highly loyal should be your goal.
To that end, consider the following four traits commonly found in customers who will make perfect candidates for a printer’s first web to print portals.
4 Traits of Customers Made for Web to Print Portals
- Enterprise-sized and a widespread user base
One of the most convenient aspects of web to print portals is that they act as a single online location that your customers can send all of their end users to for their marketing asset ordering. Any large organization with multiple branches or locations will find the organizational effects of having a dedicated marketing portal indispensable.
It becomes infinitely easier to track budgets, who’s ordering what, and what needs to go where when it’s all routed through one centralized platform.
(How does Propago solve for the problems of marketers with many locations to handle? Read more.)
- Large volume of orders, smaller runs
Web to print platforms can support a wide range of types of products. That doesn’t mean that all types of print jobs are good candidates for web to print portals. The kind of customer that will thrive with a web to print portal and become a reliable, steady customer is one who needs frequent orders, smaller runs, and similar types of orders. Think things like business cards, employee onboarding kits, brochures, flyers, and tradeshow gear.
Web to print portals are not ideal for things like books and magazines, any kind of business that involves very large runs of non-personalized items. Customers with large sales teams and lots of physical marketing materials are your golden candidates for portals.
- Many personalized orders
Variable data printing is highly suited to the web to print environment, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the platform allows customers to define pre-made templates and provides end users with an interface for customizing those templates. Any web to print system worth its salt is going to have a personalization engine capable of this crucial workflow. Secondly, your web to print system can serve as a repository of all sorts of vital information and assets (images, logos, artwork, etc.). By holding on to this data and making it easily accessible, the system can streamline your customer’s path from proofing to delivery.
- Strict brand compliance and order approval needs
Highly regulated industries must abide by strict business rules, brand compliance guides, and rigid hierarchies for approval. Some examples include: healthcare, finance, and insurance. When you have a large organization with differing needs based on departments, , processes and regulations can get convoluted quickly. Business cards and stationery need to be personalizable but only within specific guidelines. Approving personalized proofs and orders might require a string of managers and administrators. Marketing portals have the brains to automate these workflows and lock down brand compliance to make life easier for your customers.
(Interested in learning more about how web to print software can make brand compliance simple for your customers? Click here to learn more about how Propago does it.)
The Customer’s Perspective
The most important thing to remember when evaluating your web to print system is that web to print portals are all about solving customer problems. You need to think like a print buyer to get the most out of your web to print solution.
What problems are your customers encountering when it comes to getting their employees the assets they need? Do they have disjointed methods of storing and distributing files? Do they sink too much time into back and forth communication to get orders approved? The easiest way to find out the answers to these questions is, unsurprisingly, to ask! Spend time learning more about the business processes of your biggest and best customers. The challenges of your customers will inform you which are the best fits for the implementation of your web to print solution. Once you’ve had some practice getting portals up and running and you’re seeing order volumes increase, you can dig deeper into your client list and find new ways to put the solution to good use.
