Napco have released a new report on Adding Value to Digital Print, read on to see their key findings.
1) Providers’ adoption of digital printing is a driving force behind the innovations available for digital print embellishment.
2) Many younger buyers (in agencies) are not familiar with print at all, and many older buyers don’t fully understand the benefits of digital printing. According to one marketer interviewed, “Younger designers are not familiar with print and need regular education.”
3) More than half (55%) of brand owner/marketer respondents that influence print purchasing prefer to work with printers/ converters that offer printing enhancement/special effects options.
More than half of brand owners/marketers select their print providers based on their ability to provide unique ideas to enhance print, offer the newest environmentally sustainable production technologies, and proactively educate on special effects
4) The majority of Brand Owners/ Marketers see the benefits of print enhancement, especially for the impression it gives about a brand.
5) While brand owner/marketer respondents are familiar with and prefer to work with print providers that offer special ink effects and embellishments, they are not using them. Key reasons marketers are not using these enhancements are that they think it is too expensive and it takes too much time to produce.
6) Customers want to be shown samples of their jobs with embellishment before purchasing.
Print providers interviewed for the research study say they often create a print sample of a customer’s job with special effects to show them the possibilities. Meanwhile, others let them try enhanced work first, without charging for it, to demonstrate how it works. According to a print provider interviewed for the study, “We’ve found showing customers samples of their jobs with embellishment is an effective sales tool.”
What do print providers need to?
• Create and share samples to show what can be done
• Set correct expectations with customers and prospects on turnaround time and affordability of special effects
• Create success cases that highlight the ROI benefits and market impacts of special effects
Print providers participating in the research recommend the following:
• Train production and sales staff on special effects options and requirements for execution
• Train sales staff on the best ways to sell print enhancements
• Define and roll out new pricing strategies to estimators and sales staff
• Educate customers on design or file preparation requirements
• Provide customers education on special effects options.
The full report is downloadable here
