The distributorship improved its client's productivity by introducing integrated labels to the 700,000-piece-per-month mailing package. "Putting the integrated labels within the letter eliminated the extra steps and proved to be a much cheaper option for them," Kraay says. The company's costs were reduced by approximately 20 percent, he says. The integrated label form--an 81Ž2 x 11-inch sheet printed on 28# ledger white stock through a 4-color process--also bolstered the client's customer response rate. Direct packages with interactive elements such as integrated labels are less likely to be thrown away, Kraay says. "Once the client started using the integrated piece with the return labels, their response rate definitely increased," he says.
That's not to say the application came without challenges. The first 1 million integrated label forms were printed before Graphic Resource Group realized the hot melt adhesive wasn't gluing all the way to the edge of the labels, causing them to peel off and stick to the printers. "By switching to a free fill and adding ties to the labels themselves to hold them down, we were able to keep any more from popping off as the forms went through the tight configurations of the printer," Kraay says.
Integrated labels are hot products for a
good reason--they have low-hassle reputations. Customers appreciate integrated
products because they generally run better through printing equipment than
label/form combinations or plastic cards that are affixed to a carrier sheet.
Unlike label/form combinations, where labels are affixed to forms, integrated
labels feature a label and form manufactured from the same paper stock. They are
created by applying adhesive to the back of the form where the label will be
placed and then covering the adhesive with a liner patch. The front of the paper
is die cut to create the label, but the liner remains intact. Integrated labels
are a particularly popular solution for shipping or tracking applications, just
like label/form combinations. Because integrated labels run smoothly through
laser printers, they are especially receptive to bar coding.
Graphic Resource Group sells other
products such as plastic cards and promotional products, and offers warehousing
and fulfillment, but is particularly excited about integrated labels. "It's
definitely still a growing trend within the industry," Kraay says. "And we're
taking advantage of it by continuing to offer interactive products that increase
our client's response rate and create excitement."
--Sarah Wassner
Distributorship Graphic Resource Group, Minnetonka, Minn., recently developed an integrated label application for a Midwestern membership-based direct marketing and publishing company. The client wanted to better utilize the return address label in a direct mail piece. But with the older label/form combination, the multistep process was bogging the company down. "They were using straight label stock, first producing a welcome letter form and then the labels, and finally putting them all together in a match mailing," says Doug Kraay, a partner at Graphic Resource Group.
Design for your printer. With the bevy of printers used today, Doug Kraay stresses the importance of designing your product around a machine's specifics. "There are printers that you have to use special inks that don't offset and run the print, some where the configurations are so tight that you have to use ties, and some where nothing matters at all," says Kraay, a partner at Graphic Resource Group, Minnetonka, Minn. Because every printer has different capabilities, understand how yours operates before you design a form.
Sell to marketers. "The forms industry is famous for calling on purchasing agents," Kraay says. But he suggests starting at the marketing end of a prospect's business. "We go directly to marketing teams and help them design the forms or marketing pieces that will help them increase the response rates" on their mailing pieces, he says. This creates more buzz about the piece within the company and generates customer loyalty, he says.
