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This weeks edition of The Seybold Report Dispatch (a free e-newsletter of printing and publishing events and stories) includes complimentary articles in an interactive PDF report (download here). This free report includes a feature article by Heidi Tolliver-Nigro titled "Is it Time to Invest in PURLs?"
If you're researching PURL solutions or want to learn more about what exactly PURLs are, then I'd recommend you read this article. It's a good introductory primer that cuts through the hype (pushed by many vendors) and highlights the pitfalls in using PURLs.
Heidi explains that as with any marketing approach, the effectiveness of PURLs is ultimately dependent on its implementation. While several case studies tout incredible results (quote: "RT Associates, a printing service provider, achieved a phenomenal 93% response rate using personalised URLs"), we only hear about successful case studies. The article cautions "Folks only hear the good results. They don't hear about the testing, the failures, the re-testing and the broken launches". I couldn't have put it better myself.
I was pleased to read that Heidi correctly identifies that a PURL only acts a response mechanism—forming part of what should be a larger, integrated solution. You need to feed the print, email, SMS and PURLs from a single database. While Heidi forecasts that "most (if not all) web-to-print, 1:1 printing and multichannel marketing solutions will likely include a personalised URL capability by default [in the future]", it's important to remember that unified marketing communications can only be achieved through an integrated solution.
In summary, this nine page report is a good primer for those wanting to learn more about PURLs and certainly worth a read!
Posted on Wednesday, 22 July 2009 at 12:59 PM | TrackBack: http://www.veedeepee.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/210
Why the hell do these organizations release PDFs that are Secured and not embed all the damned fonts? All I want is to print the thing out so I can read in the crapper or wherever I choose. But noooooooo, some designer can't be bothered to create a PDF properly. Sheesh.
Posted by FubarGuy on Wednesday, 5 August 2009 at 7:10 AM
Simple; take your laptop in to the crapper.
Posted by Ian WItham on Wednesday, 5 August 2009 at 2:47 PM