Mailing Systems Technology - November/December 2008 - (Page 16) TR E N D S that’s a he face of customer communications is changing rapidly, driven by increasing competitive pressures in the marketplace as well as pressures to reduce the costs of document production. Documents, including monthly statements, invoices or letters, are being transformed into dual-purpose customer communications as organizations add promotional and marketing messaging to the traditional transactional mix. The advent of transpromo documents enabled organizations to use the real estate of the document to catch the attention of customers and urge them to read promotional messages and respond to offers. But recent technological advances are enabling to organizations to add messaging to the document’s envelope, providing opportunities to communicate with customers from the moment the mailpieces land in their hands. To drive the three critical characteristics of successful transpromo documents (promotional messaging that is relevant, timely and personal), organizations need to ensure that the data analytics functions they implement to drive transpromo message inclusion are providing an accurate single view of the customer. Successful data analytics solutions need to be able to consolidate the appropriate information about customers into a single view that provides an accurate profile of the customer that is relevant to the promotional offer. That relevancy may be based on locational data, demographic data or behavioral data. The degree of personalization and the timeliness of the promotional message are the key ingredients to successful transpromo communication. Impersonal, generic offers or offers based on old information fail to capture a customer’s attention. With transpromo message drivers in place, presentment becomes the next critical compo- WRAP chrome or color graphics on the envelope to drive increased customer interest and campaign response rates. In North America, the MegaSpirea Mailliner 100 is marketed direct by MegaSpirea. The Kern 515 EasyMailer is aimed at shortto medium-volume transpromo and direct mail production runs, producing up to 1,250 envelopes per hour depending on the application. The EasyMailer accepts cutsheet input in two formats (8.5” x 11” and 11” x 17”) with the envelope printed inline along with 1-3 content sheets. The EasyMailer uses barcodes for document integrity control and provides short- and mediumvolume mailers an opportunity to include personalized messaging and color graphics dynamically on transpromo document envelopes in monochrome or color depending on their printers. In North America, the Kern 515 EasyMailer is marketed by Xerox. HIGH-SPEED PRINTING DURING FINISHING BÖWE BELL + HOWELL, Pitney Bowes and Kern provide standard offerings with the capability to configure monochrome inkjet printers inline on their high-speed automated inserter systems. These are traditionally used for closed-window envelope addressing, postal barcode or keyline applications, and occasionally promotional or personalized messaging. The applications have traditionally utilized small-width print heads to produce minimal text or graphics. Most of these applications have utilized file-based processing control files to pass the content to be printed on each envelope to the print controller. BÖWE BELL + HOWELL’s Printegrity inkjet solution provides envelope printing at up to 36,000 envelopes per hour and can be utilized inline with many different inserting platforms or as a standalone system. Inline Envelopes — they’re not just containers anymore T By Steve Watters nent in a successful campaign. Color printing technology has also become a successful ingredient of transpromo document production. PUSHING THE ENVELOPE Beyond considerations of data analytics and color presentment, lies packaging. The envelope is more than just a container, and more than just a place to print an address. Several new technologies enable envelopes to be a critical component of the transpromo package, displaying additional personalized messaging and color graphics that entice customers to look inside. Two innovative industry hardware suppliers, MegaSpirea and Kern AG, have developed inline enveloping finishing technology that accepts document streams containing envelopes printed inline with the documents and provides inline dynamic envelope creation, folding the envelope around the document contents. This flexibility allows innovative design and finishing approaches to the creation of both transpromo and direct mail documents. In terms of document design and composition, the envelope is another sheet in the total document with plenty of white-space opportunities for messaging. Of course, organizations must adhere to postal standards, but envelopes provide a valuable amount of untapped white-space real estate. The MegaSpirea Mailliner 100 is a highspeed (up to 21,000 envelopes per hour) finishing device that accepts continuous printed input and performs dynamic die cuts, collation, folding and gluing for dynamic envelope creation. The Mailliner accepts up to six sheets and folds the dynamically created envelope around the contents using barcode control for document integrity and reprinting. The Mailliner is best suited for medium to high-volume production runs. It offers opportunities for printing personalized messaging and mono- 16 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2008 | WWW.MAILINGSYSTEMSTECHNOLOGY.COM http://www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com
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