By Ayelet Szabo-Melamed, Vice President of Marketing, XMPie

Amidst the changes in our industry, driven by technological advancements, evolving consumer preferences, and dynamic market conditions, one constant remains: the critical importance of personalization. By embracing personalization across various applications and industries, print businesses can differentiate themselves, enhance customer engagement, and thrive in a competitive landscape.

Here are some key personalization trends shaping the market today and how print businesses can adapt to stay agile and thrive.

Hyper-Personalization at Scale

Tailoring every aspect of communication to individual recipients, regardless of audience size, is a dominant trend. By integrating design, logic, and data, print businesses can deliver personalized experiences across multiple media channels, putting the customer at the center of each interaction. Today, volume is no longer a barrier. Regardless of whether your audience list is small, large, or enormous, production remains efficient, RIP speed is rapid, and output can still be creatively sophisticated.

AI-Driven Personalization

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are revolutionizing personalization. The true differentiator lies not only in personalization but in relevance and precise timing, even in complex scenarios. Previously beyond human capability, marketing campaigns integrated with AI can ensure messages resonate effectively with the audience by using actionable insights, predicting behavior, and creating personalized visual and multimedia content at scale.

Instead of manually creating the various campaign assets, print providers can combine AI data into creative templates (print, email, web, image, video) that are 100% relevant and engaging and precisely what the customer needs when they want it. For example, a real estate agency can automate the creation of personalized property brochures for prospective buyers. Or an automated AI process can monitor orders from a web-to-print store and predict subsequent possible purchases before engaging the buyers in an upsell campaign.

Inkjet Technology

Advances in inkjet technology are driving more efficient, versatile, and sustainable printing solutions. This is an opportunity for winning jobs that rely on generating high volume AND creatively sophisticated Variable Data Print (VDP) or Programmatic Print output, which is a challenge for many legacy and transactional composition solutions. XMPie uses the end-to-end Adobe workflow and mobilizes Adobe’s InDesign Server for advanced design capabilities without limits—no conversion process is required.

Hybrid Label Printing

This process merges the reliability and efficiency of offset and digital printing in a single pass. It offers several advantages for the label industry, including faster production times, cost savings, and expanded creative possibilities like VDP in a seamless workflow. Software, like XMPie, that supports file formats tailored for production-grade variable data output, such as PDF and PDF/VT, are suitable for these workflows since any printer that supports these formats—including the new hybrid machines—can achieve high-quality results without compromising efficiency.

Advanced Printing Substrates and Finishing Solutions

Flexibility in hardware choices is crucial. Innovations in paper, fabrics, plastics, and direct-to-object printing have expanded customization possibilities and opened new avenues for creativity and design. Customization is now possible on any substrate and event finishing solutions, and CMYK+ technology can further enhance the VDP workflow. Customers can even customize and order products directly using an online e-commerce ordering process, no matter the hardware, substrate or finishing solution.

System Integration

Ensuring smooth data flow and minimizing system maintenance are crucial for business operations. Most companies now prefer integrating new solutions into their existing ecosystem rather than starting from scratch. By doing so, they can select the best options and ensure compatibility, ultimately enhancing efficiency, reducing disruptions, and improving data security by leveraging established protocols and infrastructure.

Privacy-Conscious Personalization

As privacy concerns continue to rise, embracing strategies like zero-party data collection has become crucial. Zero-party data, which customers intentionally and proactively share with brands, allows for more transparent and trustworthy interactions.

For omnichannel campaigns to succeed, it’s vital that customers feel confident sharing their data across multiple touchpoints so establishing trust from the outset by  compliance with data sovereignty requirements is critical. When brands achieve this, they can deliver more tailored and relevant experiences, which in turn strengthens customer relationships.

Sustainability

Delivering personalized experiences across multiple channels cuts page volumes and reduces carbon footprints compared to traditional carpet bomb marketing approaches. We love print, but in this day and age, we need to be smarter about our print-on-paper decisions and complement our print campaigns with digital applications like email and video. By scaling resources as required and transitioning to comprehensive marketing services, print businesses can make eco-friendly choices, and contribute to a sustainable future.

Thriving in a Dynamic Market

XMPie has been shaping the future of personalization for over twenty years, helping print businesses differentiate themselves from the competition, boost revenue streams, lower their operational costs and achieve better results from their customers’ communications campaigns.

Visit XMPie.com to find out more about harnessing personalization in your business.