SOFTWARE & WORKFLOW

STREAMLINING LOYALTY

How to keep your customers with software

By Pat McGrew

The link between your software installation and your customers may seem murky, but your ability to onboard work, process, invoice and deliver efficiently can be a key selling proposition. The platform for efficiency is your workflow infrastructure and the software that populates it. Look at your current processes and the software that supports them. Think about the number of hours it takes to completely onboard a job, move it through to production, and then mail or deliver. How does that process look to your customers?

Surveys tell us that printing

New Technology, Products, Software, & Services

companies around the world struggle with onboarding work from both current and prospective customers. From inconsistent methods for capturing specifications, to catering to the needs of different types of buyers, standardizing the onboarding process is something that

requires careful planning and consistent execution. It is more than adding in a web2print system.

If your organization relies on email, fax machines or the presence of a salesperson to sell a job, capture specifications and transmit that information to the office, this is a good time to rethink that process. Print buyers in all segments are as pressed for time as they have ever been. Making it easier to buy from you is the best path to customer loyalty.

Speaking of loyalty, we know that the quality of the interactions between the printing company and the customer forms the basis for long-term relationships. In surveys, the majority of print buyers list the relationship they have with their providers as more important than price. While the relationship is based on person-to-person interaction, the methods available to communicate are also cited as important. Dashboards, real-time communication via chat platforms and app-

based communication can be effective ways to ensure customer loyalty.

Another offering that can endear your customers is a library of templates and

On the surface, automation might not seem like the way to your customer’s heart but think in terms of what it does for your infrastructure.

online design tools to help them with jobs that use common specifications. Trifold brochures, postcards, menus or even catalogs can be created more quickly when starting from a baseline template that sets unprintable areas and foldlines. There are many options for tools that can be added to online ordering sites with an API, making them integratable and worth considering.

Another way to leverage your software is automation. On the surface, automation might not seem like the way to your customer’s heart but think in terms of what it does for your infrastructure. When you automate, you eliminate physical touchpoints. Every touchpoint is part of an equation that adds up to time, money and resource consumption. The more of those touchpoints you eliminate, the more time, money and resources you have to care for customers, work with them on special projects, and to develop new offerings to help them expand their communication options. These are only a few of the ways to leverage your software to build closer relationships with your customers, and to grow your wallet share with them. Always begin by assessing your baseline so that as you investigate your options you can help potential vendors understand your needs. And, for any solution you decide to pursue, be sure to ask about how the vendor works. Does their solution require professional services? If so, are they employees of the vendor or do they use contractors? How much work is required by your team? These answers will help you find a good match for your needs. ● Read More…

Find article at PrintingNews. com/21151233

Pat McGrew has more than three decades as an evangelist for technology in communication. She is an author and regular writer in the industry trade press.