Variable Data Printing: A Natural Fit for Financial Services
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When you’re in an industry that offers highly personalized services to your clients, such as financial services and mortgage services, the customer communications you send out must be secure and tailored to the individual. Let’s say you need to send out quarterly account update letters to 100 clients who have different account numbers and balances. Do you picture this as a time-consuming process where the document needs to be edited 100 times before being sent to the printer? Maybe that’s how it was done in the old days, but this process takes just minutes with VDP, meaning variable data printing. When you work with a highly qualified print provider, it’s also incredibly secure, making it a natural fit for the financial services industry.
What is Variable Data Printing?
Variable data printing, also known as VDP or data print, is a cost-effective way to optimize your print and direct mail marketing through personalizing each piece to the recipient. The process is simple – variable data printing uses data, such as a list of names, uploaded to a database to modify the content on printed materials from one piece to the next. It edits the pieces on the fly so that a batch of distinct mailers can be created within one printing job. Each mailer will have information that is personalized to each recipient without stopping or slowing down the printing process.
Printing variable data such as names and addresses directly onto direct mail pieces is one way VDP is commonly used. However, other content can be made variable through VDP to further personalize the pieces. The content types that can be modified are basically limitless. VDP empowers marketers to print only the number of modified pieces they need at mass production rates.
Uniquely tailor pieces with:
- Recipient’s Name
- Account Numbers
- Account Balances
- Invoice/Billing Numbers
- Varied Images
- Product Snapshots
- Personalized QR Codes
- Personalized URLs (PURLs)
- Contact Information
- Calls to Action
- Overall Messaging
What are the benefits of variable data printing for the financial services industry?
1. Personalized Statements and Reports
Financial institutions often send out statements and reports to their clients regarding their accounts, transactions, investments, mortgage approvals, and other financial activities. VDP allows these documents to be customized on a per-client basis, incorporating individualized information such as account balances, transaction details, investment performance, and personalized messages. This level of personalization enhances customer engagement, improves readability, and reinforces brand loyalty.
2. Tailored Marketing and Promotional Materials
Financial services firms can leverage VDP to create highly targeted marketing and promotional materials. By analyzing customer data such as transaction history, demographics, and financial preferences, institutions can craft customized offers and promotions tailored to each individual’s needs and interests. Whether it’s promoting new financial products, investment opportunities, or credit card offers, VDP enables precise targeting to maximize response rates and conversion.
3. Compliance and Regulatory Documentation:
Compliance with regulatory requirements is top priority in the financial services industry. VDP can assist in generating compliant documentation efficiently and accurately. Financial institutions must provide customers with legally mandated disclosures, such as terms and conditions, privacy policies, regulatory updates, and transaction confirmations. VDP enables the seamless integration of this information into various documents, ensuring that each recipient receives the appropriate disclosures based on their specific circumstances and regulatory jurisdiction.
By utilizing variable data printing in these ways, financial institutions can enhance customer communication, streamline operations, and maintain compliance with regulatory standards.
What does it mean for marketing?
Using VDP on print and direct mail campaigns provides an enormous opportunity to further connect with existing contacts and convert prospects. Because each VDP-printed piece looks and feels like it was intentionally created for an individual person, it grabs attention for modern consumers who encounter tons of marketing each day. What makes VDP such a powerful tool for marketers is its proven success in increasing response rates while reducing print production costs. It is also effective on many different mailer styles such as postcards, flyers, tri-folded letters, and brochures, meaning you don’t have to limit the ways you communicate with your clients.
Why Xpressdocs?
Xpressdocs has the full-service print production infrastructure to meet your needs, with seven active digital presses that can handle variable data printing. We have one of the most robust print operations in the country, centrally located in Dallas-Fort Worth for hassle-free mailing to either coast and everywhere in between. Our attention to quality and security is unmatched, and we are a PCI and HIPPA certified USPS Manifest Mailer. As well as lightning-fast print speeds that get your orders out the next day if ordered before 4 pm CST, we offer a wide-ranging line of marketing products and services so you can communicate easily and effectively with your client base. We also boast an award-winning brand management platform so you can protect, manage, print, and disseminate your branded marketing materials all from one place.