By Nancy DeDiemar

In these days of declining sales revenue in traditional press services and therefore a heightened interest in adding new services to the quick print shop, many owners are turning to variable data printing (VDP) as a growth area. After all, the reasoning goes, we already own the output equipment—high-speed black-and-white or color digital copier/printers—and we currently provide mail merge services for a number of customers. VDP is being touted in the industry press as a “killer app” and more and more mailing companies are getting into VDP. Better jump on the opportunity before it’s too late.

Not so fast.
First, let’s agree that the definition of VDP covers a lot of territory. At its simplest, it is mail merge, perhaps with personalized text; at its most complex, it is a uniquely personalized document with text, graphics, and images pertaining to one individual only—the touted “one-to-one” marketing. VDP can be in black or full color. It can be printed on shells or created on-the-fly. VDP equipment can be as inexpensive as a desktop laser printer or as costly as a digital press.

Despite this broad range of products and equipment, VDP has specific requirements that are not obviously apparent. And it is these requirements that potentially pose great risk to the quick printer who “doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”

The Customers
The customers who were early adopters of VDP technology were engaged in transactional printing—printing invoices, statements, and financial reports. Utility companies, insurance providers, financial services companies, and third-party reimbursement companies began using VDP to enhance the amount and display of information sent to their customers. They were able to advance to VDP because they had IT departments and huge databases of information about their customers.