Monday, June 27, 2022

UV Coating: There Is Nothing Else Like It

 


Some print pieces stand out from all of the others. Maybe the color is more brilliant. Maybe the gloss has a shine that catches your eye. Or perhaps it’s the reverse—the piece has a luxurious matte finish but with brilliant accents that you can’t seem to look away from.

“Wow,” you think. “There is something special about this piece. I wonder what it is?”

The answer is likely UV coating.

Whether you’re looking for a high-impact shine or a more subtle effect, UV coating is a specialty finish cured instantly using ultraviolet light. It creates a brilliant finish that is precise enough to highlight even the fine details of images or text. UV coating is also highly resistant to scuffing and moisture and helps to protect the piece over time.

Whether UV is used to flood the piece or simply to provide highlights, you can’t miss the effect. As soon as light hits the areas where the coating is applied, they dazzle.

·       If you’re an automotive manufacturer, you might add UV spot coating over the entire body of a car to enhance its gloss and shine.

·       On a business card, you might use spot UV coating over the top of your logo to make it leap off the page.

·       If you’re a nonprofit raising money for a clean water project, you might use spot UV over water droplets falling from the spigot on a newly drilled well. Your eye is immediately drawn to those droplets, which sparkle like shimmering rain.

Spot UV can be used on a wide range of stocks, but for maximum impact, try using it on matte-finished paper. Thicker weights are generally preferred. This will create the most remarkable contrast with the glossy coating.

Here’s another benefit of spot UV: The process emits no VOCs, so it does not release toxic compounds into the air. This means it does not contribute to environmental pollution.

Need more reasons to love spot UV? Ask us for samples!

 

Friday, June 17, 2022

Why Aren't Businesses Taking Advantage of Personalization?


We all know that personalization drives results, but what do consumers really want? And does personalization impact all consumers equally?

According to InfoTrends, consumers respond strongly to personalized mail. The research firm found that 84% of consumers say that personalization makes them "much more likely" or "somewhat more likely" to open mail. Yet businesses are not using this to their advantage. How do we know? Because these same consumers say they "rarely" or "infrequently" receive personalized mail.

This is truly a missed opportunity, especially among certain demographic groups. According to InfoTrends, personalization is more motivating to some consumers than others, particularly younger ones. For example, when asked whether personalization makes them more likely to open mail, here is how different groups responded:

  • Just over half of all consumers, regardless of age, say personalization makes them "slightly" more likely to open mail.
  • Among consumers aged 18–24, 35–49, and 50–65, the percentage saying personalization makes them "much more likely" to open mail is about 30%. 
  • Among those aged 25–34, however, the percentage saying personalization makes them "much more likely" to open mail rises to 36%.

You might expect consumers to be inundated with personalized mail with these numbers, but research shows the opposite. Only 24% of consumers say they are "frequently" or "very frequently" receiving highly personalized direct mail. Forty-one percent say they only receive personalized pieces "once in a while." More than one-quarter (27%) say they receive personalized mail "rarely."

Fortunately, missed opportunities by competitors mean open doors for you. If you are already personalizing your mailings, keep it up! Invest in customer profiling. Build the depth of your database. Increase your level of precision. If you are not yet personalizing your mail, jump in. Get started before your competitors do.


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