Better Order Flow Automation with Web-to-Print Storefronts
Whether you have recently invested in a web-to-print solution, or you are researching options, it’s important to know what’s possible when it comes to automation and web-to-print.
Let’s get into this topic of web to print automation with a hypothetical example. We start your client, a large enterprise brand with a vast array of marketing asset needs.
Using a modern web to print solution, you create a private, white-labeled marketing storefront for this client. The storefront is tailored to this client and the client has all the control they need to enforce complex business rules and segment their organization members.
A hypothetical organization member, who we can call A, wants to purchase a set of personalized letterheads for his office. The first thing A does is log in to his company’s online marketing storefront (perhaps via an SSO link so they don’t have to manually enter their credentials). This begins stage 1 of the web to print automation process. All 4 stages of this process are:
4 Workflows that Web to Print Storefronts Can Help You Automate
1. Ordering – Give clients control, expedite personalization, and make approvals and checkout quick and easy.
2. Production – Optimize operations and minimize costs and waste.
3. Procurement – Seamlessly sell products produced out-of-house to cover your client’s entire catalog.
4. Fulfillment – Includes warehouse management and inventory management. Completes the supply chain loop.
Today, we’ll discuss the details of the first workflow stage: ordering. Read on to learn what you need to know about web-to-print storefronts and automation of order flow.
The Power of the Modern Web-to-Print Storefront
In modern solutions, the web-to-print storefront has become an all-in-one hub for connecting you to your customers. This is especially when looking at solutions specifically designed to appeal to those larger B2B clients with complex needs.
The specific capabilities of these features can vary from solution to solution, but generally, you can boil them down to different ways of increasing ease of use, convenience, and speed. The end result is a reduction in the time the client has to take out of their day to manage and order their marketing assets, all the way from logging in to that “Order Placed” message.
Talking in terms of automation, these storefronts help you and your customer automate 3 processes:
1. User Experience
2. Personalization
3. Approvals
User controls
Modern B2B web-to-print storefronts have user segmentation and user experience controls so that you can protect your client’s brand, budget, and inventory. That means, when A logs in, his storefront is not identical to other storefronts the client’s users see.
Granular controls are used to determine what each user can order, how much, and how often. This makes the browsing experience simpler for the user and eliminates the need for the client to carefully delegate and track who is ordering what. A is easily able to find the letterhead he is looking for on his customized storefront. He clicks the Personalize button.
Personalization engine
B2B web to print storefront utilize intelligent and intuitive templates for personalized products to protect the brand and expedite the proofing process. The system knows who A is and automatically pre-fills his information exactly where it needs to go on the letterhead product.
Maybe he wants to add location information for a branch, so he clicks a dropdown and can choose from a customized data set of branch locations. He can update the proof and instantly see what the finished product will look like before clicking Add to Cart.
Approvals
In the pre-modern printing era, getting proofs approved and ready for production was the bane of existence for print buyers and print sellers alike. It involved tedious games of email and phone tag, hold ups due to a slow responder in the approval chain, and unorganized file folders.
Now, your web to print solution can act like the world’s most efficient project manager by eliminating as many touch-points between order placed and order approved as possible. You can build approval hierarchies to match the needs of each client. Each user in the system can be assigned a mix of approving level requirements. Whether it is a single approving manager or a few, the system makes sure everyone who needs to give the stamp of approval gets prompted to do so as soon as possible, every time.
The Importance of Automation and Web-to-Print Storefronts
The print industry is trending towards automation. It’s not a matter of whether you should embrace modern print software and print automation but, rather, how soon you can get started.
The big picture isn’t optimization and increased efficiency merely for the sake of it. The big picture when it comes to automation and reducing touch points is that the modern print industry is an “adapt or fall” world. Technology is making it simultaneously easier to grow as a printer than ever before, but also more competitive.
The margin for error is shrinking and that is the primary driver for this increased focus on automation in printing and reducing touch points. Print service providers are catching on to this fact. On the operations end, investment in tools for automation results in a more efficient workflow, reduced labor costs, and reduced turn times.
On the customer end, these benefits translate to greater retention, more satisfied customers, deeper customer relationships, and more order volume. These are the principles that underline the importance of reducing touch points, both on the shop floor and in the customer’s email inbox.
The Web-to-Print Masterclass: Available Now
This article is an introduction to the complete guide to workflow automation with web-to-print, found in our 5-part masterclass series. You can get access to the entire masterclass for free here: The Web-to-Print Masterclass
