What is a Web to Print Site?

Web to Print (sometimes shortened to W2P) is a general term used to describe ordering, customizing, and fulfilling print jobs through an online portal. Web to print applications can include both Print on Demand (POD) or pre-printed materials that are pulled from inventory. POD documents can have static content or include elements of Variable Data Printing (VDP), in the case of personalization of marketing materials with product or customer data that is pulled from a database.

In the case of more advanced Web to print systems, jobs can extend to direct marketing, both print and email focused, with integrated personal URLs that can be tracked for ROI-based marketing. Fulfillment of jobs can also be automated through direct links with digital print workflows, print MIS, ERP, and eProcurement systems.

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What is VDP?

Variable Data Publishing or “VDP” is a process of producing personalized, one-to-one communications for a target audience in either print or electronic media. By combining a base design template, a database of recipient information, demographic and psychographic profiling information, business logic, and imagery, VDP is used widely in targeted marketing campaigns, on demand business collateral creation, and numerous other dynamic document creation workflows. When incorporated with a personalized campaign response mechanism, such as Personalized URLs, VDP offers much higher campaign response rates over traditional mass marketing techniques while also providing quantitative ROI data on marketing spend for a given campaign.

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