One-on-one marketing: variable-data printing offers new ways to personalize direct mail.

• Author: Kaelble, Steve
• Position: Marketing

IT USED TO BE THAT THE terms "direct mail" and "mass marling" were practically synonymous. For most people, another accurate synonym was "junk mail," which meant that it required sending a lot of pieces of direct marl in order to find that handful of people not inclined to pitch the mailing at first sight.

Then printers began to explore ways to make mailings a hit more personal, but there were limits. Most recipients remained skeptical of mailings headlined "Bob Smith: Your Million-Dollar Prize is Waiting! (if you return the sweepstakes forth and the number happens go be the winner)."

Now comes the direct mail of the future, courtesy of forward-thinking printing companies. It's called "variable-data" printing, and it allows for amazing levels of personalization, including major changes in layout and art, not just variations in black inkjetting.

Dan Foster, sales consultant for Lincoln Printing m Fort Wayne, says the technological improvements allow printers to lay down a completely different image on every sheet coming off the press. "Every time the cylinders turn, we're able to change the images and words."

What does this mean for companies that contact customers through direct mail? Remarkable new ways to use the information in their databases in order to communicate more effectively:

"We've had the ability to inkjet addresses and short messages," Foster says. But with today's technologies, a catalog can be designed with different covers, spotlighting different types of products or different special offers. The digital press can alter each printed piece to match an individual customer's preferences or buying habits.

"This takes (direct mail) a step further to one-on-one marketing, where you really figure out what someone's hot button is and dwell on it," says Randy Roberts, president of Lincoln Printing. "It increases your percentages, your return on investment."

Foster says direct mailers using older methods might expect a response from one or two recipients for...