Self-Service Web-to-Print Portals Help Retain Customers
A well-designed online storefront gives customers a way to handle routine print orders themselves while still giving them access to you when they need help.
Your customers don't want to call you every time they need to place an order.
They may want to reorder a business card, upload a new file, check a price, order marketing materials or submit a job outside normal business hours. If every one of those tasks requires an email, phone call or back-and-forth with a sales representative, you're adding friction to something that could be much simpler.
A well-designed online storefront gives customers a way to handle routine print orders themselves while still giving them access to you when they need help. The result is a more convenient ordering experience that changes both how your employees spend their time and how easily customers do business with you.
Customers Want to Handle Routine Orders Themselves
Think about how customers interact with other businesses. They can order products, schedule appointments, make payments and track deliveries online without talking to anyone.
They are increasingly expecting the same convenience when they order print.
A customer may already know exactly what they need. They don't want to explain the job to a salesperson, wait for a response and go through several emails just to place a repeat order.
With the right web-to-print storefront setup, customers can browse available products, select specifications, upload files, review pricing and place orders through a single online experience.
That's particularly valuable for repeat customers and standardized products where the process doesn't require much human intervention.
Convenience Makes You Easier to Do Business With
The customer experience can be defined by what happens when there's a problem, but it’s also about how easy it is to complete routine tasks.
Consider a customer who needs to:
- Reorder previously printed materials
- Upload a new file
- Select paper and finishing options
- Personalize a printed product
- Review pricing
- Submit an order
- Check order information
If those tasks can be completed online, customers don't have to work around someone else's schedule. They can place an order when it's convenient for them, whether that's during business hours or after the office has closed.
That convenience may seem like a small thing, but when customers regularly order from you, eliminating small points of friction makes a meaningful difference in the overall relationship.
Self-Service Doesn't Mean Customers Are On Their Own
There's an important distinction between self-service and no service.
Your customers still need your expertise. They may have questions about substrates, finishing, color, file preparation, quantities or a complicated custom project. Those situations are exactly where your sales and customer service teams provide value.
A self-service portal doesn't exist to force every customer into a self-service experience, but to give them a choice.
Simple, repeatable orders can move through the storefront without requiring staff involvement. More complex projects can still be handled by the people who know your business and your customers.
That creates a better division of work. Customers get a faster way to handle routine orders, while your team has more time for projects that actually require their expertise.
A Storefront Should Do More Than Display Products
Putting a catalog online isn't the same as creating a useful web-to-print experience. Customers need to be able to do something with what they see.
Depending on your business and the products you offer, that could include configuring products, personalizing templates, uploading files, reviewing proofs, calculating pricing, placing orders and managing other parts of the ordering process.
Aleyant's Pressero web-to-print platform supports these types of customer-facing experiences. Print providers can create customized storefronts that give customers access to the products and ordering options that are relevant to them.
That flexibility is particularly useful for B2B customers, franchise organizations, multi-location businesses and other customers who need controlled access to specific products or branded materials.
The Easier the Order, the More Important the Workflow
A storefront makes ordering look simple, but the order still has to make its way through your production workflow.
If an online order creates additional manual work for your staff, the convenience of the storefront starts to disappear. That's why web-to-print isn't just about the front end.
Aleyant's solutions are designed to connect the customer ordering experience with the processes that happen after an order is submitted. Pressero helps automate the movement of orders and information into the print workflow, while other Aleyant solutions support areas such as online proofing and automated document creation.
Self-Service Frees Your Team for More Valuable Work
Every routine order that requires a salesperson or customer service representative to manually process is time that can't be spent somewhere else.
Instead of responding to another request for a repeat order, your team can spend more time developing customer relationships, helping with complex projects, identifying new opportunities or solving problems.
When web-to-print technology handles more of the repetitive process, your employees remain available for the parts of the business where human expertise matters most.
The Best Self-Service Experiences Still Have a Human Side
There's a temptation to think of self-service as a way to eliminate customer interaction, but that's not the goal. The best web-to-print experience gives customers control when they want it and support when they need it.
A customer who knows exactly what they want should be able to place the order without making a phone call. A customer working on a complicated project should be able to reach someone who can help.
Those aren't competing experiences; they're two parts of the same customer relationship.
The goal is to make the routine stuff easier while preserving the expertise that makes your print business valuable in the first place.
Give Customers a Better Way to Order
Aleyant's Pressero web-to-print platform helps print providers create customized online storefronts that make ordering easier while connecting customer-facing experiences with the workflows behind them.
If you're ready to give customers more control over the ordering process without adding more manual work for your team, request a demo and see what Aleyant can do for your print operation.
