How often do customers give preference to a company because of its over-the-top service? There are a few examples; here is one: in the hospitality industry, a customer may frequent a specific hotel because of its particularly attentive staff.

According to a McKinsey report, 70% of the customer’s journey is influenced by how they are treated. Sure - if the service of a restaurant exceeds the quality of food and drinks, chances are customers would still go back there repeatedly. After all, experience matters. 

However, how often do the customers disengage themselves from companies because of terrible service? Probably, all the time! A NewVoiceMedia study states 44% of them don’t hesitate in taking their business elsewhere due to a poor experience. 

Making things easier: self-service 

Today’s consumers are independent beings. They don’t mind being left in charge of making purchases. Did you know the self-service usage increased to 76% in 2014 from 67% in 2012? Moreover, 40% of customers prefer self-service to human contact. 

Therefore, why not let them? 

Speaking of the printing industry, the situation is no different. The advent of web-to-print software solutions has not only empowered the customers immensely but also enabled printing companies like yourself to focus on driving other aspects of the business. 

Here’s how self-service helps in selling printing services with the help of W2P technology: 

1) Customers receive quotation swiftly. 

One of the biggest pet peeves of shopping for personalized products online is not getting a quotation soon enough. It bothers customers so much that they often bounce off the online store before finalizing their purchase. That will affect the sales of your printing company. 

Thankfully, the web-to-print storefront provides an instant quotation system that enables customers to type in the details of their order including the size of the artwork, material or fabric to use, quantity to print, expected the date of delivery and more to find out how much the printing job will cost them. 

In such a scenario, sales reps don’t have to waste their time in calculating and sharing the quotation themselves. Moreover, that unnecessarily complicates and stretches the process. A web-to-print storefront makes the customers self-sufficient by eliminating the ‘price talk.’ 

All the customers have to do land on your online store, browse through the products, and place a request for quotation which they will get instantly. This will help them to arrive at a decision quickly, and expedite placing an order via the web-to-print storefront. 

2) Artwork creation and approval happens instantly. 

The web-to-print technology disperses the layers of the traditional approval process by automating the artwork creation and approval process. Initially, it would take longer as the sales reps would have to step in and coordinate with multiple teams to share the artwork. 

However, today the customers need to get the design proofs reviewed and send them back to the design team in your printing company so that the same can be sent to print. You can get a thumbs up quickly from the customers. 

Alternatively, these days, most online printing companies share pre-designed templates that can be personalized for print. Therefore, if a customer doesn’t have design support, they can use that feature and place an order. 

3) Placing online print orders is faster and efficient. 

Of course, it is! Web-to-print software solutions make shopping experience extremely easy to use. Customers now don’t have to wait for a quotation. They can upload either an artwork designed from scratch by them or a personalized pre-designed template. 

Moreover, they have access to the online store on their smartphone, tablet, and desktop, which allows them to place an order at any time of the day. The requirement of sales reps gets eliminated. 

The web-to-print storefronts also make it possible for customers to place an order on a higher print volume. That is because the production gets queued up through an automated system which ensures they are finished and shipped promptly. 

In a nutshell, there is no unnecessary back-and-forth for your printing company and the customer in regards to order. They also have the details they need to place an order. And if they need help from you, that’s when the sales reps can step and give them a quick call. 

Over to you 

Self-service is a boon as it helps you drive more revenues for your printing company and that too quickly. If you also want to make your customer base independent, deploy a web-to-print software solution, and see the results for yourself! 

And before you bounce off, what do you think of the self-service attitude of customers? How will it help you?