Early Adopters Of High Speed Variable Data Printing For Highly Targeted Print Products.
Raff Printing invested early in high speed variable data printing technology and uniquely configurable software allowing businesses to custom print high quality, highly personalized printing products in quantity.
Variable Data Printing From Raff Produces Incredibly Personalized, Targeted Communications.
Raff recognized the value of exponentially expanding amounts of audience consumer data and information, and how variable data printing production and hardware could distinguish truly personalized communications from the rest. The result was one of the first variable data addressing, printing and production lines available in Western PA.
From personalized first names and demographic information, to the insertion of unique purchasing history and distinguishing individual consumer characteristics—variable data printing technology makes for one-to-one communications that are highly specific and targeted. With results that drive response rates higher.
Learn more about our commitment to print technology.
Raff Online Ordering Simplifies Client Reorders Through Digital StoreFront.
Raff Printing’s Digital Storefront allows clients to create unique, branded ordering pages for easy storage, access and management of document template reorders like business cards, collateral, flyers and more.
- Create custom on-line templates featuring your corporate brand guidelines
- Streamlined job submission integrates with an EFI MIS system for seamless business integration
- Order and reorder at your convenience 24/7, from any location worldwide
- Increase productivity and volume without increasing staff or costs
- Improve client retention and satisfaction with direct access to Raff Printing services for materials you use often
Taking Personalized Communications To The Next Level At Raff
We’re helping you put CRM and aggregated data to work as effectively as possible with Raff’s Variable Data Printing.
- 1-to-1 Individualized Printing & Mailing
- Direct Mail, Campaigns & Outreach
- Include Personal Preferences, Purchase History & More
- Full service integration between printing & mailing
- Online Ordering Capabilities
Variable Data Printing Customer Support FAQs
What does variable date printing (VDP) mean?
Variable data printing is a printing technology that allows for incredibly distinct personalization of individual print pieces across an entire print run. VDP utilizes high-quality digital printing presses combined with template-driven products that use “variable data “ (information such as text, colors, images, or logos) that can be changed dynamically from printed piece to printed piece by inserting unique “data” for each piece.
VDP relies on correctly planned, stored, and formatted data in a database (an Excel file, for example).
What types or products can Raff produce with variable data?
Specific promotional material, postcards, letters, mailers and more—basically any print product designed to be viewed and interacted with by a unique recipient can utilize variable data to better target and personalize that product.
How should I prepare my data files for printing?
Proper file preparation, coupled with print designs optimized to best present that data, are critical to efficient VDP. If you are familiar with “form fields” in a responder or “fields” within a database, you already know the basics of file preparation for a variable data-driven project. What you need to understand specifically is how your data and “fields” will transfer or “map” to the final printed product.
Whether it’s a name, address, unique headline or offer, a color, an image, a logo—each item that potentially changes from piece to piece must be included in the data you provide. In fact, it should be the only data you provide. By taking ownership and understanding of the data fields necessary to complete your project, you can save both time and money.
Raff will work closely with you (and your data) to determine whether or not it has been formatted properly for seamless integration into VDP. While it is generally more cost-effective for you to prepare your data—we certainly can help!
What types of databases does Raff support?
Ideally, Raff prefers properly formatted Excel files --.xls .xlsx .csv.
Can Raff help me prepare my data files for print?
Yes. In fact—in a sense, we have to help you prepare your data to a certain degree because we must review your information to ensure it is properly formatted for the VDP process.
That means checking for like-sized images; unique, properly formatted form fields for names and addresses; specific associated information that might change piece to piece; even color choices and unique offers.
We can provide guidance in advance to help you make the changes necessary to your data for seamless integration into your project.
What are common VDP data preparation errors?
The most common errors relate to uniformity and consistency of data from record to record, and the correct separation (or aggregation) of data that make it difficult to “map” to corresponding fields on the final printed piece.
Not separating first and last names into separate fields, combining multiple lines of address information into a single field, submitting different sizes or resolution for images (such as personal images on ID cards), and including extraneous information in data files not required by the project…. are by far the types of errors we encounter most.
We recommend you clean and prepare the data you own (you are the experts in that data, after all). However, we’re more than willing to help, so long as it is understood that data cleansing on our part may add time or additional cost to your project, depending upon the complexity of the “fix” we provide for you.
