Today, customized messaging is commonplace. Everywhere we look — direct mail, datasheets, user's guides, and the like — are specific to our name, our purchase, or our needs. With the individuality that these products require, how can they be mass produced? e-nvention has broken the code with their RPS QuarkXPress Server solution.

Web-to-print meets automation

In practice, the tool, RPS, can be used by end users to create direct mailings or other individualized marketing material just by uploading an Excel file. In addition, the user can first edit text and image elements of a mailing to specific requirements. Thanks to this feature, distribution channels of companies can be integrated to create their mass mailings over a web portal without any further skills and software installations.

CRM databases have raised the need for automated production of individualized marketing material. Customer-specific information as well as individual text and images, specifically defined for certain target groups, becomes more and more the trigger for success in a highly competitive environment; but what if a brand has independent resellers spread all over the country or all over the world? What can be done if the knowledge to produce such mass mailings of independent units isn't there? The solution is to offer them a simple-to-use, browser-based solution where they can choose templates and upload Excel files containing the variable information (e.g., customer names, addresses, and other information).

Millions of print-ready PDFs produced

e-nvention RPS has already proved its ability to handle large projects of complex individualizations successfully. In resent projects, the software handled campaigns involving hundreds of distribution partners of large organizations. For those direct mailing campaigns, the distributors logged in to e-nvention RPS, chose their template, and uploaded their Excel files containing customer informations. The individualization occurred completely automated in the background and the system produced millions of print-ready PDFs for digital output. In such campaigns, images have been inserted and text elements have been changed to the specific target group of every individual customer as well as the addresses, contact information, and logos of one of the multiple distribution partners.

The serial function of e-nvention RPS can be used to integrate brands and user-specific data such as names and addresses. If, for example, a company owns different brands, such as a hotel chain, each with specific branding, they can be integrated within a single corporate design. Brand logos can be placed automatically, based on the user's profile. With the information attached to the user log in, the system recognizes to what brand the user belongs and places the logo of his brand and the address of the branch he belongs to.

If, for example, a hotel manager logs in to e-nvention RPS, he will see a choice of templates selected from the headquarters for his hotel or chain. He then uploads his customer data as an Excel file. According to the codes from his CRM system, e-nvention RPS recognizes the specific target group of every customer within the Excel file and inserts the pre-selected images and text elements as well as individual promotion codes for the specific target group.

Figure 1 In this example, a hotel employee uploads the Excel file including the customer data directly in to e-nvention RPS over the web browser. e-nvention RPS creates the individualized pages with individual text elements and images for each customers specific target group automatically. The correct logo and color code of the specific hotel chain and the individual address of the hotel is also adapted automatically as well as certain coupon codes for the specific customer. The production of the individualized mailings happens in the background on central e-nvention RPS server.

 

After the hotel manager places his order for the mass individualization project, the headquarters approves or rejects his order, before it is sent to print. The output of our sample hotel's individualized campaigns are handled by a central print provider that also mails out the campaign to the customer.

The serial function of e-nvention RPS doesn't have to be used for millions of individualizations every time, the function is also used to create materials such as business cards, name cards for events, and small numbers of invitations. Employees of a company can use it to create professional looking corporate designs in the form of design-compliant invitations for their business partners as well as seasonally occurring events such as New Year's cards — and it's all as easy as uploading an Excel file.

Figure 2 After the user selected his template, he upload his Excel file, containing the customer information for the automatic individualization of the direct mailings.

 

Integrated ordering system

If a user orders products such as business cards, it's important, that he or she can order different amounts of every single individualization. With the integrated ordering system, such functionality can also be set up in the projects. With the definable, so called post-production workflow in e-nvention RPS, any kind of approval scenario is possible, to ensure orders are placed, reviewed, and approved in deference to an organization's needs.

With all these features it becomes possible to use the serial-production functions with a centralized control for distribution partners or branches of an organization and still give the individual users the ability to use pre-selected images and logos as well as individually edited content for their marketing communication needs.

Integration in existing CRM databases

With the standard interface technology of e-nvention RPS, existing databases, such as CRM, can be integrated into the process of individualizing. If an organization does have a central CRM system, it's a good idea to integrate it in to e-nvention RPS. If such an integration can be made, individualization information can be pulled directly out of the CRM system, rather than an uploaded Excel file.

e-nvention RPS was first introduced in 2002 as a web-to-print solution, based on QuarkXPress Server (formerly known as QuarkDDS). As templates, it uses QuarkXPress files for text editing over the web browser. The software's main target is to give end users the ability to create print-ready marketing material and documents over the web without design or prepress knowledge, while ensuring that every document stays within the corporate design guidelines.