Variable data printing (VDP) is a powerful technology through which individual printed pieces are customized according to the needs and interests of each recipient. Information can be as simple as name badges or certificates where variable data is printed in-line as text, or as complex as a direct mail campaign using personal data to tailor the text, imagery, color and overall design to each recipient’s interests.
You can also integrate cross-media tools such as a personal URL (PURL), an automatically-generated link to a personalized web page created for each recipient, to give him or her an easy and immediate way to respond to your message online.
Studies show that this “one-to-one” approach can dramatically strengthen the impact of your materials because it enables a more personal and engaging relationship than a “one-to-many” approach. At that critical moment in a direct mail campaign—that .002 seconds when the recipient decides whether to read or discard—an image of interest or a URL featuring the recipient’s own name has proven to increase the likelihood of a response by an exponential margin.
VDP is most often used in personalized letters for direct marketing materials, but it can also involve changing design elements such as images, colors or layouts on each piece depending on the recipient data you provide electronically in spreadsheet or database format along with your design files.
When you print a VDP piece, our software program synchronizes the variable information (data) from your spreadsheet or database file with specific fields in the design document. Each data field in the design document matches a field in the database, which tells the program to insert a record from the database into the appropriate field until each record has been applied. Our HP Indigo 5000 then prints each unique piece with all of the personalized elements in place.
Variable Data Printing jobs typically follow a specific workflow, or process: