How Does Web-to-Print Technology Benefit Businesses Looking for Printing Services?

Just about every printing business is talking about web-to-print technology or is in the process of implementing it in their existing business process. Using this technology allows printing businesses to leverage the inherent potential of the World Wide Web to not just reach out to a wider customer base, but also improve and streamline their service offerings. It also allows them to deliver more value to their customers and in turn customers are able to get more value out of their printing solution. In a world where every business is looking to make optimum use of the services on offer, web-to-print technology allows businesses (customers) to get maximum benefits out of their printing solution.

Business customers and web-to-print technology

If you are a printing services provider, you will know that your business faces tremendous competition from many who are on a better financial footing than you are. So, if you want to get the attention of your business customers and make them want to to use the services of your printing business again and again, you need to give them some extra. Something that other printing providers might not be offering them. This is where web-to-print technology enters the picture to make a difference to your print business’s prospects. Your competitors might have more money to pump into their marketing activities, but with a web-to-print solution you can even the odds in your favor.
Web-to-Print gives your business customers charge of their printing needs. They can get the printing services they want, in their time and the way they want. All the printing services provider needs to do is pick the right web-to-print solution and integrate it within his existing business model. The rest, as they say will be history, and that too the kind of history that will only have good things to say about your print business.

So, lets get to our core question. How will the use of web-to-print technology actually help your business’s customers? What are the different ways they can actually benefit from this technology? Let’s take a look:

    • Custom Printing Orders Of Different Quantities

Businesses don’t have the time to keep explaining their requirements to print companies. Take for example there is a company that wants to send a particular Christmas card to thousands of employees, and wants a thousand copies of the card. This printing job doesn’t require a lot of explanation, but what if the business wants to send certain cards addressed to specific people, and say a hundred cards need a particular image, while another hundred need a different design. This requirement will need a lot of explaining to be done, and most businesses neither have the time nor the energy to get into such long winded interactions with the printing company.

But if the printer offers these businesses a web-to-print solution, they can place different kinds of orders all the time with effortless ease; in this particular case businesses can place multiple orders and make designing decisions as they see fit. There is no need for a long winded interaction with the printer; no going back and forth. All a business needs to do, is pick a template for the greeting card, customize the design and place an order. That’s it.

      • A Secure Printing Environment

All businesses wish to protect their brand identity at all times. They do not want anybody getting unauthorized access to their promotional material or marketing copy. In the cut throat world of business, businesses don’t want their competitors to get even a whiff of their promotional endeavors and how they are going about attracting potential customers. The traditional means of giving print orders leaves the field open for corporate identity data to fall into the wrong hands.
The focus of web-to-print technology is to provide businesses with a secure printing environment that allows them to protect their corporate identity and keep making minor or major changes to it, in order to improve their business prospects. A print solution founded on this technology ensures no third party can access the business’s data without authorization.

        • The Customer is in Charge

Businesses use the services of a printing solutions provider because they do not have an in-house printing department. There can be many reasons for this including the need for cutting down on overheads or basically seeing no sense in having a printing department. But, this does not mean they do not want to be in charge of the print solutions they are using. In a traditional printer-business relationship, the printer is in charge of the printing process in general; but web-to- print technology ensures that the printer takes a back seat and is only in charge of processing the print order and delivering the prints to the business’s address. The business customer is in charge of every other activity. It’s almost like having their own in-house printing department, without its associated hassles. This is what all businesses want; they want to be in charge; and this is what web-to-print technology brings to the table.

Build a Fruitful Partnership Between Printers and their Customers

If you the printer are able to deliver the kind of printing services the business expects you to, you are setting the stage for a long term partnership. And the great part here is that you really don’t have to make an effort to impress your customers. You are essentially putting the reigns of the printing solution in their hands and allowing your customers to do all the work. What’s more, the customers appreciate the fact that they are in charge of their print work. They know their message or purpose won’t get lost in translation because they are the ones in charge of it. It’s a win-win situation for everybody.

A Few Words of Caution

If you want to optimize the use of web-to-print technology for your business, it’s important not to think of it as the be all and end all solution for your business with respect to profits. Technology is the means to an end but not the end itself. You need to supplement your web-to-print efforts with the selection of the right kind of printers that will offer amazing print quality. You also need to optimize the order processing and delivery to make sure your customers are able to get their print order in time at their address.

But above everything else, you will need to convince your clients that the web-to-print technology that you have up on your site is something they can trust to deliver. You need to highlight the benefits of this technology to them and persuade them to use this solution. Some business customers won’t need any convincing; actually they will expect your online store to offer web-to-print services; but there are others who have been using the traditional printing methodologies for ages, and find nothing wrong with them. It is these people, also your potential customers, who you will need to convince.

And finally, businesses are very circumspect about the kind of services they use. What they are looking for is quality and professionalism. If you can’t deliver on even one of these qualities, your print business will fail to get their support. In such cases, web-to-print technology cannot be your knight in shining armor.

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