In my blog on April 26^th I reflected on the WTT article In-Plants: “The Times They Are A-Changin’” by Barb Pellow.  In that blog I reflected primarily on the first part of the article on how the market is changing for In-Plants and how BPI can help adjust.  Now I want to discuss the second part of the article “What’s an In-Plant to Do?”   Barb lists six core values that have remained constant for In-Plants, and I look to how Business Process Improvement supports or enhances these values.

The first point is “Responsiveness to Customer Needs.” BPI supports this by focusing on reducing cycle times for business operations, thereby improving the turnaround for customer requests.

The second Value is “Automating Document Process.” Using process mapping tools, In-Plants can show their knowledge in a clear and easily understood graphic approach.  Process mapping will help in identifying key functional responsibilities as well as areas needing automation the most.

The next two Values In-Plants possess are the “Ability to Evolve Effectively Over Time” and “Developing New Areas of Expertise.” BPI is a tool which helps to clearly identify the current state of In-Plant operations and to build a picture of the future state in terms of new process and new capabilities.  BPI can then drive preparation of a roadmap of effort required to evolve to the future state.  By using BPI metrics, In-Plants can track and measure their progress in the evolution, and ROI on new capabilities.

The fifth Value In-Plants also do a superb job at is “Assessing New Technologies”, both in the impact a new technology will have on the business process and the costs and challenges to implement by using BPI.  Combining the knowledge of the technologies and the cross functional stakeholders’ roles, BPI helps the organization to smoothly introduce new technologies in the shortest time and with minimal cost.

In-Plants Value in “Educating Constituents on What You Can Do and What Can Be Done” is improved through the focus on process and cross functional co-operation.  This focus improves the relationships and openness of the constituents by showing the interdependencies of the various constituents.  BPI helps to establish a business culture more open to discussing capabilities and limitations in the operations.

In-Plants position within the organization gives them a full understanding of the corporate cultures and BPI provides a methodology to use that knowledge and unique position to optimize the value In-Plants have for document delivery.

This just in – RR Donnelley’s Annual report is a funky fold, not your standard bound booklet!

This weeks fold features an Asymmetrical Broadside Booklet Fold submitted by RR Donnelley. This broadside booklet fold gives you the feel of a bound book but opens up to reveal a variety of panels. Watch the video below for more details!

How does a company’s internal business communication organization, often referred to as “In-Plants”, go about adjusting to “today’s new reality?”  Reading In-Plants: “The Times They Are A-Changin’” by Barb Pellow in the April 12^th “What They Think?” caused me to reflect.  The article did a great job defining the market dynamics that internal business communication organizations must adjust to.  The breadth and detail of the changes seem overwhelming. Furthermore, the details and statistics shown seem to indicate that the in-plants are either resisting, or unable to embrace the changes required.

Business Process Improvement, (BPI), utilized by many outsource and commercial business communication resources to improve their performance and competitiveness, can also help In-Plants by using a structured approach to embracing the changes needed to meet market demands. Taking inventory of the current business process, work flows, and organization’s skills, BPI defines the internal company current state.  Part of this methodology involves engaging the participation of a cross-functional team of internal business customers, from marketing, to IT, and through other critical functions, providing a vehicle to collect valuable inputs to define the requirements and priorities which the in-plant uses to build a future state definition.  Once the future state is drafted, the same cross- functional team provides feedback and suggests changes.  By focusing on the end-to-end process, and not an isolated area or individuals, the methodology is non-threatening and encourages open and candid collaboration.

With the future state clearly defined, the organization can identify gaps and overlaps between current and future state in the process, workflow, and staff skills.  This data can be formatted into a step-by-step plan of action, with priorities and interconnectivities defined for the transition.  BPI can also assist in defining the key metrics to measure ongoing performance progress in making the In-Plants more competitive in capabilities, cycle time, and quality.

Thanks to Barb for the thought provoking article and sobering statistics to help us see the big picture. I hope you all see BPI as I do, as a tool to help respond to the “changin’ times”.

Books… From Analog to Digital

InfoTrends recently completed its 2010–2015U.S. Digital Production Printing Application Forecast. Print is driven by applications, and digital production printing is no exception. Demand for specific applications changes over time for a number of different reasons, including growth in usage, electronic replacement, and shorter runs. This study explored 28 specific application segments and measured digitally printed application volume changes in A4 (U.S. letter-sized) equivalent impressions.

The top three production digital print applications in theU.S.will be direct mail, books, and bills and statements. Combined volumes for these applications are expected to exceed 270 billion impressions. Book printing is expected to account for a 16.6% share by the end of the forecast period (94.5 billion impressions).

In terms of pure pages, the book market is expected to show the biggest gain. Its share is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 14.2% between 2010 and 2015, representing over 45 billion pages by the end of the forecast period.

Inkjet and digital printing will aggressively begin to displace analog offset printing of books. Improvements in continuous-feed inkjet printers will fuel the shift to digital printing within the book market. Every aspect of inkjet – speed, quality, and format – will see significant leaps in performance during 2012.

Publishers Will Respond!
Digital printing is destined to grow in volume at the expense of conventional printing for the book market. In an uncertain market, publishers are beginning to embrace digital because it enables shorter runs. Shorter runs reduce the amount of unsold books, reduce storage costs, allow reprinting in smaller batches, and offer the opportunity to print specialty books for niche markets, including self-published books.

There is much confusion about how consumers want their content delivered, but digital printing will provide the answer. Publishers understand the value proposition, and everything links to dollars and cents.

The Bottom Line
Technology keeps changing and publishers, authors, and printers are feeling the effects. Although print isn’t going away, ebooks are here to stay. Publishers need partners with technology and service offerings that will help content move seamlessly between traditional book printing, on-demand digital printing, and electronic distribution.

It truly is a whole new world for book publishing. No matter where you are – at the beach, on an airplane, or in the subway – you will see people with their Kindles or iPads. There are headlines in every magazine and newspaper about Google’s Publishing platform, tools from Apple that threaten the text book market, Amazon’s success with ebooks, and predictions of the demise of the publishing industry as we know it.

While the transition to digital is not moving at the same rate for all publishing segments (Trade, K–12, Higher Education, Professional, and Scholarly), it is generally believed that ebook sales will account for a substantial portion of trade revenues within the next five years. Just a few years ago, traditional companies were more frightened of this transformation than excited about the opportunity. Today, this has reversed. Printers, publishers, booksellers, distributors, and agents have embraced the new technologies and are retooling their businesses to accommodate a world of digital and printed books.

The Good News… Book Sales Are Up!
In August 2011, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) released the U.S. BookStats. This is considered one of the most comprehensive statistical surveys conducted in the modern publishing industry. It is focused on capturing size, scope, revenue, and expansion across multi-platform content and sales distribution channels. Net sales for publishers increased to $27.94 billion in 2010, representing a 5.6% increase over 2008. Publishers sold 2.57 billion net units in 2010, marking a 5.6% increase over 2008. Growth hit all segments. Higher education was up 18.7%, with sales reaching $4.55 billion in 2010.Sale of trade books grew 5.8% to $13.9 billion, partly fueled by ebooks. One of the strongest growth areas was adult fiction, which saw a revenue increase of 8.8%. While ebooks represented only .6% of the total market in 2008, this share had risen to 6.4% by 2010. A September 2011 Harris Poll indicates that one in six Americans (15%) currently uses an eReader, while another 15% plan to purchase one in the next six months. At the same time, however, this also implies that 70% of the market does not own an eReader and has no near-term plans to acquire one.

The key message is that eReaders are definitely here to stay, so the printing and publishing worlds must change with the times. There will always be a place for hardcover and paperback books, but recent developments will demand a huge transition for book printers and publishers alike. How businesses adapt will determine who is left standing five years from now.

Check back next week for Part 2 of this post!

When to use which one, and the need for flexibility!

Every day we hear about tools and programs for improving operating performance. There are many of them, with more versions coming out all the time. They include TOC, Lean, Six Sigma, ISO, CMM and BPI/BPM. Some, such as Six Sigma and ISO, have rigorous training and certification programs which are major projects to undertake in themselves. What is a company to do to understand which to choose, and possibly even when?

The answer to this question requires an organization to clearly define goals, timing, and the rationale for beginning at all. Is there a specific issue, or is there a client/industry mandate, or is the business looking to establish a base for optimizing performance overall? A comprehensive overview is impossible in a short piece such as this, so I anticipate this distillation may provoke some lively feedback and discussion.

TOC – Theory of Constraints

• Focus: identify constraints or limitations for a task or process
• Action: eliminate the constraint
• Results: maximize the throughput
• Limitation: usually targeted to a single task/function

“Build it and they will come.”

LEAN

• Focus: eliminate waste, operate just in time
• Action: make to order, optimize single piece flow
• Results: rework eliminated , reduced inventory, reduced floor space, reduced cycle time
• Limitation: difficult in a project oriented business more effective with ongoing production

“Don’t build it until it is needed.”

SIX SIGMA

• Focus: variation in a process, tracking error/incident statistics and cause
• Action: DMAIC – Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control
• Results: find and eliminate sources of variation, can help with complex problems due to structure
• Limitations: rigorous, statistical intensive approach, can lead to analysis paralysis; cost for six sigma training and certification can be high.

“Build it exactly to customer specification.”

ISO

• Focus: documenting the process
• Action: document the existing process in detail in a structured way, and audit compliance to the documented process
• Results: consistent and repeatable process drives highly repeatable outcomes, improved supplier quality
• Limitations: focus is on documentary evidence, so a poor process can be documented and followed and certification still achieved. Corrective action focuses on the documentation. ISO is a costly system if certification is pursued.

“Document what you do and do what you document.”

BPI/BPM

• Focus: define, analyze, and improve cross-functional business process
• Action: map the existing process, define tasks and inputs and outputs for each, identify and remove gaps and overlaps, manage with metrics and link actions to results
• Results: refined and reengineered process with reduced cycle time and cost, and increased first pass yield.
• Limitations: requires top down support to be truly effective, scope of process needs to be clearly defined, must apply the appropriate problem solving tools and project management skills

“Manage as an enterprise around meeting overall corporate goals; use the right tools as applicable.”

Companies need to have a clear understanding of their goals and needs, and a measure of their tolerance for change. The urgency for improvement is another critical factor. Finally, consider what skills you need to add, and/or assistance you may require to most efficiently and effectively address your needs and the tool you choose. This can reduce the time to achieve results and improve the probability of success.

Is the concept of combining a transaction-based document with a promotional document realistic?  In theory AND in reality! When I first entered this industry in 1985 as a programmer and attended Xerox’s training programs, Xerox was lauding transpromo THEN, as the wave of the future. Here we are 27 years later and transpromo is still being promoted.  What does it take to make transpromo work? The answer is simple – DATA and INTEGRATION!

Let’s tackle the first aspect, DATA.  For the longest time, the print industry has struggled to track, capture and manage consumers or investors tendencies.  In the 80’s, databases were in their infancies and to build one, manage the intricacies, intra or inter-record relationships and extract the data practically took a mainframe computer or at least a mini-computer. Not to mention understanding the complexities of and INTEGRATING all that data into the print stream.

There’s the second aspect – INTEGRATION.  Frankly, integrating, not to mention building and extracting the data, was beyond the scope of printing an invoice or statement.  Third party outsourcers or even the largest processors were having trouble developing and launching the transpromotional document.  Instead, variable messaging was launched as a step in a forward direction.  Simply stated, variable messaging involved keying on data elements within the print stream and changing the message content to the targeted audience – the end recipient.  It didn’t go far enough and transpromo lingered.

Fast track to the present.  The PC or personal computer has been in existence for over 20 years, software integrators have become more sophisticated making databases prevalent in every aspect of our life and third party processors are beginning to understand the power of data.  Data is at everyone’s fingertips and solution providers are working with their clients in building analytic models of their consumers, their buying trends and overall demographics. But transpromo still lingers, why?  In the biller space, the solution could be as simple as getting the marketing department to work with the accounts receivable department.  The complex answer is most likely, determining what message to integrate into the transactional document.  While data is prevalent in everyday life, billers are still struggling with what message fits best within their image and specifically which message targets the end user.

Transpromo is a real achievable target and integrators are working behind the scenes to implement sound solutions.  But in looking at the third party landscape, I think it’s important (at least from an old programmer’s point of view) to identify those firms that understand both sides of the equation – the marketer and the biller.  Integrating a sound solution will most likely drive revenue, increase your consumer’s product awareness and promote social awareness, but a failed solution will end up being just a fancy way of launching variable messaging.  Is it worth it? I think so.  In today’s competitive landscape, I think it’s important for firms to build consumers or customers for life and with transpromo and variable message you have a chance to effectively achieve that goal.

This post was generously provided by SourceLink and written by Tim Furr. If you are looking for another marketing services provider blog… check out SourceLink! 

Years ago, I remember writing about the design limitations for those wanting to output on digital presses. Over the years, many of those limitations have been addressed and I don’t find myself talking about them anymore. Or maybe it’s that, plus the fact that marketers don’t care about any remaining limitations as much as they used to.

What do you think? I’d love Digital Nirvana readers’ input on this issue.

To get you started, here is the section that acknowledges that issue from my CSR/marketing/sales staff education primer “Digital Printing: Transforming Marketing and Print Management.”

The technology used to drive digital presses has, in the past, made for some limitations in graphic design. Some presses (especially older presses) have tighter registration than others, for example, which could be a challenge if you need to match hairlines across the fold. Digital presses have also been notorious for having difficulty with large areas of solid color and with vignettes and other subtle gradations.

With the newer generations of presses, however, this is far less of an issue that it used to be. In fact, there are many who would argue that these issues no longer exist. Newer presses have largely overcome traditional design limitations, and especially in publishing, the issues of registration and halftones have been remedied. Still, every press is different, and even if your digital printer is working with an older machine, its prepress and design staff can often help you overcome these challenges with workarounds.

Thus, as with print quality, these and other design limitations are really a non-issue in most cases. If you have settled on digital output for your next print job, talk to your service provider about any accommodation your designer might need to make, if any.

Do you agree with what’s written? Are there still design limitations that bug you or your clients? If so, which ones?Last time I asked a question like this, it generated a terrific discussion. Let’s get it going again!

Also, for those who observe, I wish you deep blessings on this Good Friday — a day we call “good,” not of its own accord, but because of the joy that followed three days later.

Today I’ll show you this week’s fold: the Lady Liberty Self-envelope Mail piece. This sophisticated self-mailer was created by Structural Graphics in Essex, CT. On the outside, it’s a simple direct mail envelope but opens to reveal an L-format pop up that is illuminated by metallic gradient hidden behind a broad-side fold. Simple, yet classy!

Watch for yourself!

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/VE51wjRCFNc

I haven’t stirred the pot in awhile, so I thought I’d take a few swipes around the edges today. I’m currently updating my customer education primer, “Digital Printing: Transforming Document Management and Marketing” and would like input from Digital Nirvana readers on what you believe to be the most important visual differences between digital and offset printing.

Here’s what I wrote. What do you think?

Visual differences from offset

This might sound like a big “duh!” so why mention it? The issue of offset versus digital quality has dogged this marketplace for more than a decade, so it’s necessary to at least give it a nod. Yes, digital quality is not the same as offset. It’s close, but not identical.

For extremely high-end jobs, such as annual reports, the choice is almost always offset, regardless of run length or price, but few applications fall into this category. Even many commercial photo books are now being produced digitally. The output won’t be identical to high-end sheetfed, but there are digital technologies that get awfully close. Some practitioners claim that, in some cases, digital production quality is actually superior.

In terms of appearance, one of the most basic differences between digital and offset arises because most digital presses apply dry toner on top of the paper, while offset uses liquid ink that soaks into it. Thus, sheets printed with dry toner can have a slightly brighter, glossier appearance (unless the sheet is coated, in which case the coating masks any differences in gloss between the two). If you run your finger across the top of the sheet, you may feel a slightly unevenness that comes from the differing layers of toner. In the sheetfed market, HP Indigo presses are distinguished by their use of a liquid toner that soaks into the paper much like ink. This gives the prints a more offset-like appearance.

In the high-speed, high-resolution inkjet market, one of the issues is color saturation. More water in the inks means greater challenges with drying, especially with high percentages of ink coverage. In the lower resolution (lower ink coverage) transpromo market, this is not an issue. But in the textbook market, this is why we’re seeing these presses used more heavily for higher education than for the more graphics-heavy K–12 textbooks. The imaging technology of the high-speed, high resolution inkjet machines (as opposed to the lower resolution transpromo machines) is still being refined, but certainly, the issues of heavy ink coverage and dry time will be addressed over time.

There are other subtle differences between digital and offset, such as scattering of toner around the edges of text, but marketers—and consumers—are unlikely to notice them unless they know what they are looking for and are looking through a loupe.

Keep in mind, too, that “difference” doesn’t mean “bad.” There are those, even experts in the printing industry, who actually prefer the appearance of digital print for some applications.

Spectra Integration (Columbia, SC) is a full-service incentives, marketing, print, and fulfillment company that is focused on integrating strategies and technologies to help its clients grow their businesses. The company’s mantra is Outsource to the OneSource. Spectra Integration provides clients with a comprehensive offering of integrated services, including the ability to tailor campaigns, increase response rates, and provide a true 1:1 experience.

President Walter Kohn notes, “I’ve been in the printing industry for more than thirty years. Initially, I was part of a family-held traditional printing company with 40″ offset presses. I realized that the market was changing and that I wanted to be part of an organization that was focused and nimble. Spectra Integration became that company.”

Spectra, which offers an array of digital printing equipment, produces full variable data content in monochrome as well as color. The Océ VarioPrint® 6000 has proven to be a real “workhorse” for digital monochrome applications. According to Kohn, “We have naturally evolved our business. We started out doing short run digital print applications. Our next major initiative was web portals for online print ordering.”

Spectra Integration has created a unique, secure, online e-business for clients and their authorized users to process pricing requests, order print, transfer files, review status updates, and more via web-to-print portals created with PTI’s FusionPro. “These capabilities are available 24/7 through standard Internet browsers. It makes the entire print buying process easier, reduces response time, and accelerates production,” Kohn explains.

Spectra Integration combines its web-based tool set with its fulfillment programs to provide clients with a highly efficient and cost-effective method to design, manufacture, store, manage, and distribute all of their marketing kit materials on demand.

The company’s web-oriented fulfillment capabilities ultimately led it into the loyalty incentive business. Kohn notes that the move into this market began with an existing client. He recalls, “We responded to an Ariba bid process for the printing and fulfillment work of a large automotive distributor. We won the deal and began printing and fulfilling the auto distributor’s marketing materials, point-of-purchase communications, and signage. When this client told us that they were unhappy with their existing rewards and incentives program for their dealer network, we saw a new opportunity and took action.”

Spectra has since formed Spectra Incentives, LLC. It has become a one-stop shop for creation, online management, and marketing of incentive and reward programs for dealer and distributor networks. While a key element of all these programs is print and fulfillment, Spectra Incentives also created a network of partners to provide IT infrastructure, as well as a rewards program that features over 15 million products in its online catalog. These include dealer incentives for everything from trips to Tahiti to television sets.

Kohn is passionate about his business. He concludes, “It has been a journey and an evolution. Five years ago, 95% of our business was print-related and 5% was fulfillment. We have totally transformed the company since that time, and our revenue distribution is now 50% print, 25% mailing and fulfillment, and 25% incentives and loyalty programs. We have clearly become a marketing services provider.”

You can read more customer highlight stories by downloading the monthly WOW at Work newsletters here!

The other day, as I was renting the latest blockbuster hit from the bright red video kiosk beside my pharmacy, my wife called from her vehicle to me about how she wished there was a candy machine beside the video rental device. I related to her that this is the basis of transpromotional marketing! She was unimpressed. This instance got me thinking, “why don’t more businesses take advantage of the captive audience at their hands?”

For example, with data and research, a snack and soda machine attached to this video rental station could use my selection to provide pertinent recommendations based on my film choice. If I rented “The Fast and the Furious,” the machine may suggest an energy drink and some pork rinds; for “The Artist” it might recommend truffles and Perrier; “Toy Story 3″ would come packaged with a case of juice boxes and some Skittles. You get the idea.

The point I am getting to is with the consumer data that companies already have at their fingertips, very sophisticated cross-promotional opportunities exist. Utility companies can analyze usage and print energy saving tips or a coupon for fluorescent light bulbs directly on the side-panel of a monthly statement. A bank might be able to advertise upcoming offerings for overdraft protection based on customers that have bounced a check, or a referral program routed through social media (and gather more data in the meantime). Every industry that sends printed statements or business mailings has the opportunity to maximize every inch of their mailing with modern print technology and a provider than can handle the data.

Perhaps we are not too far away from days where my copy of “Animal House” comes complete with a six-pack and a bag of marshmallows (if you’ve seen the movie, you get the reference), but until then, businesses take note! The technology is available, the data is there, the audience is already identified, so take advantage of it!

This post was provided by Matt Haskell who writes for the SourceLink blog. Check it out!

The last drupa international print fair and the upcoming one have both been characterized as the “inkjet drupa.” This seems appropriate especially given how inkjet technology has steadily advanced and become buzz-worthy in recent years. This year, high-speed inkjet manufacturers will be out in full force to display their newest and greatest inkjet solutions at drupa 2012.

Pat Henry of WhatTheyThink recently spoke with Roland Stasiczek, Director of Marketing, Continuous Feed Printers, Océ Printing Systems to discuss the Océ briefing presented in Munich. Roland also previews what to expect from Océ at drupa 2012 including the newest addition of the ColorStream 3700 inkjet press.

Sticking with the inkjet trend, Océ predicts that digital printing will account for %14 of global printing revenues by 2014. Roland sites three main factors driving this growth including:

1. Increasing media fragmentation.
2. Information supply and demand which drives on-demand printing.
3. Increase of personalized and targeted communications.

For more detail, check out the interview video.

With the growing trend of printer’s desire to have “one-stop-shop” printing systems, one wonders if we will also see an increase in finishing solutions and options at this year’s drupa. It seems logical given the shift to providing complete and customizable end-to-end solutions. Printers are looking for finishing systems that will fit seamlessly into their digital technology production lines that will further automate the printing process.

So what will we see at drupa 2012??? Stay tuned for a post-conference recap webinar coming in June 2012!

Do you know which stock is the top performer of the past 25 years? Guess again. (You said Apple, didn’t you?) After you’ve exhausted your list of high-tech guesses, I will point you in the opposite direction. Think nuts and bolts. Fastenal, a hardware supplier founded in 1967, is up a staggering 38,565 percent since the market crash of 1987. Lagging far behind at 9,906% and 5,542% respectively, are Microsoft and Apple.

So why, in The Digital Nirvana, am I talking about a hardware company? Like the printing companies and mailers of all sizes striving to become “marketing services providers”, Fastenal’s products are not in the least bit exciting, but are necessary, just as printing and mailing are still important components of marketing communications strategies. Unlike many of those printers and mailers, Fastenal, with its low-tech products, is consistently growing revenue and is consistently, respectably, profitable – the stock market does not respond with such enthusiasm to “just okay” companies.

For printers and mailers challenged to transition to being marketing services providers, presumably requiring less big hardware, (and square footage), and more robust software technology and new skills, here is a very successful company to examine and compare to.

If you are unfamiliar with Fastenal, as I was, much of what we believe we know about successful businesses today would compel us to make some assumptions. Surely it is internet-based with strategically placed warehouses and sophisticated inventory and distribution management software and systems, right? The reality is the opposite, at least the “internet-based” part; we’re talking serious brick and mortar – stores in all 50 states and internationally, and several manufacturing sites around the country. The company focuses on the customer, and being close to them. Its innovations, quality, and process improvement efforts are customer-centric. It has enjoyed consistent revenue and profit growth and is as efficient as it’s ever been. The robust continuous improvement culture even includes providing process mapping and process improvement support to customers, as well as being a key part of internal operations.

So, do printers and mailers have to completely abandon their roots in favor of new marketing communication channels in order to be relevant in this age of declining paper-based communications? It would seem not – nuts and bolts are not sexy. But this example would suggest that there must be a continuous commitment to understanding what the customer needs, a vision of solutions to meet those needs, investment in appropriate technology, and a structured ongoing process improvement effort to achieve the necessary efficiencies to be cost competitive and profitable over the long haul.

There are certainly no big surprises here, but it’s good to be reminded that there is no silver bullet, and a successful company is the sum of many parts. Being a process person myself, I was very happy to see how important and integral process improvement appears to be for this company. Process improvement drives efficiency, eliminates waste, streamlines operations, and supports effective integration of new systems and technology, resulting in lower costs. It can be an integral component of greater success for the companies that embrace and commit to it.

I recently ran across a company that produces personalized newsletters for healthcare providers. The solution, called PENS, marries patient data from hospitals and other care providers with targeted content. Based on the services and treatment in the patient’s health history, the healthcare provider can send out targeted newsletters that are relevant to each individual recipient’s health history.  Pretty neat!

The results are impressive.

For example, in a reader survey conducted for ProHealth Care, a two-hospital system in Waukesha, WI, 73% of recipients said they read the newsletters cover to cover and 95% became aware of services that they didn’t realize the healthcare provider had.

It’s no wonder that, at Aspirus (Wausau, WI), among current patients, newsletter recipients were 500% more likely to continue to use the healthcare systems’ services than those who did not receive the newsletter. Among prospects, PENS newsletter recipients were 300% more likely to ultimately use the healthcare provider’s services than those who were not.

Those are some powerful numbers!

Because the PENS solution automatically tracks the relationship between which articles the recipient receives and utilization of services, PENS customer can calculate detailed ROI.

At Prohealth Care, articles on incontinence received only 50:1 ROI. But those on cardiac screening received 226:1 and 444:1 ROI, respectively, depending on the year.

Not every marketer can create newsletters to this level of detail, of course, but the point is that relevance really works. There is another point, too. You’ll only know that if you track it!