Web-to-print is our term for moving customer engagement online. This represents a big change for most traditional business-to-business printers. This article describes the top five mistakes I see when working with printers through this transition from an offline business to an online / self-service customer interaction model. 

The classic response to change, I’m not moving until my customers ask me specifically for something, then I know I can invest without risk. Standing still in these dynamic times is the most vulnerable thing you can do. Technology is changing the way everything is transacted between businesses (B2B) and with consumers (B2C). If you think this doesn’t apply to your customers, think again. The biggest risk of not having an online option (self-service ordering that is convenient for your customers) is that a competitor can use it as their differentiator against you. Too many printers rush out to “get a web-to-print solution” because their lack of vision forced them into a reactive stance rather than a proactive stance. The online channel will be the primary way you interact with your customers moving forward, start investing in it now even if your customers aren’t asking for it.

Web-to-print is self-service ordering. Expand your thinking beyond the business card and into the things your customers order from you on a daily basis (primarily using e-mail). Web-to-print is for every one of your customers who doesn’t want to exchange multiple e-mails, calls, and FTP exchanges to get a simple print order placed. Think about the ways your customers order today and how easy or hard you are to do business with. How many touches does it take from the customer to get an order into your business? If the customer has multiple touches, that means you have multiple touches – neither of you can afford that time and effort. How easy is it for your customers to re-order from you? How easy is it for your customers to see order history? How easy is it to get a quote from you?