Programmatic Printing: A Better Way To Engage Your Target Consumers

For much of the last decade, it has become increasingly important for retail chains and brand owners to keep digital marketing as part of their agenda. But for many marketing departments and their agencies, digital marketing can now be seen in a different, and sometimes even negative, light.

In our current society, an entirely digital world doesn’t work as well as it was thought out to be. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve experienced digital fatigue, which has been at an all-time high for many consumers. Some also find digital outlets untrustworthy and overwhelming at times due to the volume of content.

As a consumer’s average attention span can be as short as eight seconds, it’s important for marketers to be direct to reach target audiences. Luckily, marketers can utilize programmatic printing in their strategies to help engage with target consumers more effectively.

Programmatic print is the next level of print marketing automation beyond mail. It can use the full range of promotional print: brochures, catalogs, magalogues, customer magazines, brand books, customer newsletters, and so on, delivered almost in real-time. This gives them the best of both worlds — data-driven targeted propositions with the emotional appeal of high-quality print. By utilizing programmatic printing, marketers can create a more cost-effective, personalized experience utilizing the vibrant colors and imaging print can produce.

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Additional positive aspects offered through programmatic printing that provide marketers with a greater, more effective advantage can be seen below.

Print Gives You a Cutting Edge

Print continues to be more effective than digital communication when it comes to “cutting through” the clutter to get messages across and attract consumer attention. Compared to digital, print has a physical presence; in the language of neuroscience, it’s a “haptic” medium, which means people can perceive and manipulate it through touch.

When considering the open rates and the volume of email versus volume of physical mail, there is significantly less competition in one’s mailbox than their email inbox. The average person receives approximately 120 emails per day, with an average click-through rate of 3%. According to a 2020 report from Compu-Mail, the average lifespan of an email is 17 seconds, compared to direct mail’s average lifespan of 17 days. 73% of American consumers say they prefer being contacted by brands via direct mail because they can read it whenever they want.¹

Print is not only a lot easier on the eyes and ears than digital, but it also has a non-verbal power that’s way more effective than digital. We know this because a growing body of research proves it. By using tools such as MRI scans, researchers have shown that our brains process printed media differently from digital. Print reaches deeper into our consciousness, even triggering activity in the part of the brain where we assess the value of products.

As a result of the advantage print can provide, it continues to rise in popularity, despite our living in a digital world. From large-scale billboards created by household brands to published printed magazines, print continues to play an essential role in the everyday lives of consumers and marketers.

Total Recall

The US Postal Service found evidence that we spend more time engaging with print, which increases how much we recall the content. After all, even the act of throwing away a printed mailshot calls for more complex decision-making than simply pressing “Delete” on the keyboard!

Print outperforms digital in other ways as well. For Steve Jobs, a brand was “all about trust”, and print is more trusted. Opting for print involves a level of commitment that says something about your brand. It shows you’re willing to spend a greater degree of time and money in communicating your messages.

This is likely one reason why a survey by the Spider Trainers² revealed that “consumers who earn an annual income of less than $60,000, as well as all shoppers aged 18 to 34, are more likely to say receiving direct mail from a company makes them feel like a valued customer. In fact, 46% of the survey’s total respondents said they feel that way.” This led the authors to conclude that “the goal with direct mail, whether a postcard or envelope is to engage the recipient, but though the difference between personalization and relevance is subtle, it’s important.”

In that same report^[1], it also states that whether a company chooses to personalize or not, “according to Pitney Bowes, 76% of small business say that the ideal mix includes both direct mail and electronic messaging. Developing a campaign with both online and offline components will ensure better results and evoke the emotional response that comes from simply holding a well-designed physical piece.”

Introducing “Print + Pixels”

At first sight, however, there’s a flaw in the argument for adding print to a campaign — it lacks the ‘real-time’, automated, instantaneous response that consumers and brands have got used to. No matter how powerful and engaging printed content is, you have to design, approve, print, and distribute it.

This is true, but much less important than you might think, thanks to programmatic print, which gives print a place in the automated marketing world. As the “programmatic” label suggests, the concept is related to programmatic marketing (automated real-time bidding for online advertising) and to programmatic mail (where a customer’s online interaction generates a targeted piece of direct mail).

Programmatic print links marketing automation platforms with the highly-automated digital print production workflow. The same up-to-date customer information that sends an email or triggers a banner ad is used to generate a personalized print file that delivers emotionally appealing, high-quality print to prospects — usually within 24 hours.

And the possibilities go far beyond simple direct items. Consumers can utilize the full range of promotional print, from brochures, catalogs, customer magazines, brand books, newsletters, and so on.

Pick Your Moment

Programmatic print is most powerful at “the time of high intent” — that moment in the customer journey when engagement is at its strongest. Imagine you’re a car manufacturer whose website allows customers to interactively try out paint and upholstery colors. The next morning, a personalized brochure arrives at your doorstep, with colors identical to those chosen yesterday. Included is also a hotline number to the local dealer for a test drive.

According to a March 2020 Statista report³, the online shopping cart abandonment rate in selected industries reached an average of 88%, with automotive having had the highest cart abandonment rate of all measured categories with a 97% abandonment rate. Another report from Business Insider stated that abandoned online shopping baskets cost U.S. retailers an estimated $4.6 trillion worth of unpurchased merchandise³ in 2016.

Earlier this year, a study by Annex Cloud found that the global abandonment cart rate is 76%, with Asia and the Pacific Islands having the top abandonment rates, followed by the Middle East, Latin America, and North America.

One smart fashion retailer set up an experiment to compare digital and print solutions to the problem. The online solution involved two emails, backed up by banner ads. The print solution added a direct mail item showing the items in the abandoned basket. Print cut the abandoned basket rate by 14%, increased response by 6%, and boosted the average order value by 8%.

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Recipe for Success

Considering the data provided above, maintaining positive brand awareness and establishing a professional, reliable brand reputation requires regular distribution of both digital and physical marketing collateral. This recipe will help significantly in the long run. Not only will the combination help prospective clients learn about an organization’s business, products and services, but it will also help in establishing a brand’s authority and trust when it comes to consumers making purchasing decisions.

While email marketing alone may be the most used and cost-effective tool to engage with one’s customer base, the importance of direct mail should not be undervalued. A campaign that combines both electronic and print elements provides a much stronger, more impactful, multi-touch message.

Have you incorporated programmatic printing as part of your marketing strategy? Share with us what benefits you have witnessed on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .