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Ask any printer why they invested in personalisation software, and time and again you will get the same answer: traditional print volumes are in decline so it was time to offer new services.

However, multichannel work shouldn’t be taken on at the expense of traditional print jobs. In fact, such work very often serves to complement print, says DirectSmile UK managing director Neil Bather.

"Printers are realising the online environment isn’t something to be afraid of. They are working with marketers and marketing agencies to provide integrated cross-media campaigns, and on the back of that are generating more print work," he says.

With print increasingly linking up with email, SMS and personalised URLs (PURLs), the real beauty of cross-media campaigns are that they are interactive, meaning potential end-customers are continually enriching databases with information worth its weight in gold to marketers.

Much of the personalisation software on the market today is considered so straightforward to use, there is often no need for additional IT staff to be brought in to manage it. However, it’s important not to fall into a trap of buying software just because it comes as "part of the package", cautions Sefas Innovation UK & Ireland managing director Giles Hill.

"When selecting software, printers should make a strategic decision that fits in their existing infrastructures," says Hill. "The software needs to be robust and flexible enough to support long-term growth objectives."

The tools for the job
While effective personalised campaigns rely on good data, they can only be successful if you have the right tools to extract and exploit that data, suggests Hill. "The ability to combine transactional and demographic data is essential in terms of personalising communications, but if the technology doesn’t allow you to do so easily, quickly and effectively, you will struggle to achieve campaign objectives and return on investment," he adds.

As personalisation becomes more important and valued, so the integrity of the data becomes more critical. This makes printers susceptible to security and compliance breaches. For that reason it is vital the software offers secure workflow controls across the production cycle.

Such checks help with the problem of spam as well – the last thing a printer wants to do is get their client blacklisted by the end-customer. DirectSmile software, for instance, has a spam-checking feature that analyses email campaigns and flags up any potential spam problems.

"It works like a traffic light. If it flags up green, it’s not going to be classed as spam, amber means it could be and red tells you there’s a problem," says Bather.

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WHAT'S NEW IN… PERSONALISATION SOFTWARE
• Bytes Document Solutions has moved sales and support for its Infigo products to a newly formed subsidiary, Infigo Software. The new company is headed up by former Infigo product manager Douglas Gibson, who says the move will enable Infigo to target a much larger market
• Cats Group entered into the consumer print-on-demand market in November when it bought personalised greetings cards business Yoodoo. Cats managing director Greg Smith says the acquisition will enable the company to offer a wider range of personalised products to consumers
• In September, DirectSmile introduced a single-screen interface that allows users to create bespoke websites and email campaigns – without needing any specialised HTML coding knowledge. Cross Media Designer is a low-cost entry into digital marketing, claims the company