There is a thin line difference between an investment and speculation! Investment is an acquisition of an asset or an item that is acquired so that it can contribute towards the growth of an organization in a certain definite future. On the other hand, speculation is a financial transaction that is made with the expectation of significant gain at the risk of losing all value if the speculation fails.
While these are financial terms, they are also relatable for any enterprise that wishes to integrate a Technology solution in their business. The difference between an investment and speculation in Technology is that when you know what you want and after making thorough analysis when you make an informed decision, it is called an investment in a technology solution that will enable growth in the future.
On the other hand, when you spend money on a technology solution without identifying customer preferences or when you spend money on technology without fully understanding the capabilities of the technology solution, it is called speculation. When you make a speculative decision, there is a probability that the Technology solution might not align with your business goals and may also fail in the long run!
Analyze before you invest in Web2Print Solution
This theory is also applicable for Printshop owners who wish to evolve their business by integrating a Web2Print solution into their website. In the print business, every business has a different set of customers and has its own set of unique product offerings. Thus, it is essential that when Printers invest in a Web2Print solution, they must make an informed decision. And to help printers make an informed decision, they must get answers of the following 6 questions before approaching a Web2Print Solution provider:
6 Questions Printers must ask before investing in a Web2Print:
1. What kind of Web2Print Solution shall I invest in?
Printing business as an industry is huge and it includes many categories such as t-shirt printing business, uniform builders, custom packaging, 3D printing, and many others! Thus, while there are many standard Web2Print solutions available in the market, you must ensure that the solution that you choose aligns with your business and its offerings!
But to ensure that you get exactly what you want, you should go for a custom Web2Print solution that is personalized according to your requirements. Whether you need a 3D product configuration tool or a custom product designer tool or an all in one Web2Print solution, all you need to do is find a Web2Print solution provider who can cater to all your requirements.
2. What are my customers’ expectations from the Web2Print Solution?
The reason why Web2Print solutions are in high demand is that an ideal Web2Print solution not only provides the power of personalization, it also allows you to cater to Web2Print as a design service to your customers and you can have an alternative monetary model!
But, to make your product design tool a success, it is also essential that it caters to all the requirements of your customers! Whether you have corporate clients who wish for brand-specific design requirements or you wish to provide personalized products for the open market, understand your audience well, and based on that, ensure that your Web2Print has all the capabilities that are required for satisfactory customer experience.
3. What are the business goals I want to accomplish with the Web2Print solution?
Web2Print can have many purposes such as many printers use it to design custom products, many offer it to their customers as a service, many wish to provide personalized products to the customers and many use it as a product design tool for internal purposes only! When you have a clear idea about what you wish your Web2Print solution to provide, it would be easy for you to finalize the features, User Interface, Capabilities, Integrations, and many other factors that you would have to consider while a Web2Print solution provider customizes your solution.
When you have this clarity, you can also minimize customizations and you can include everything in the initial scope document which will not only help you in planning your budget, but it will also ultimately remove the possibility of any unexpected costs.
4. Whom should I include in making this buying decision?
Although integrating Web2Print solutions is a raging trend amongst online print businesses, every business needs to consider various people before making the final decision. Two of the most important participants that must contribute to the Web2Print investment decision are your customers and your sales representatives!
While the sales representatives will help you determine the customer expectations and problems that they face currently, you can also gain customer insights directly from the customers. To get this information, you can encourage your audience to share their expectations and feedback on social media and you can also ask your sales representatives to probe responses from your customers.
5. Shall I buy a Lifetime License or a Subscription plan?
Generally, when you approach a Web2Print solution provider they provide two options that are a Lifetime Licence or a Subscription plan. In our experience, all the Start-up Print Business who does not wish to make preliminary expenses in Servers and Licences can go forward with the Subscription plan, and eventually, when they have a steady online business, they can shift to the Lifetime License!
When you do that, an ideal Web2Print solution provider will not only help you in a seamless transition, they will also offer free migration and cost reduction! But if you are an enterprise with an established online presence, you can go forward with a Lifetime Licence plan! Again, here the solution providers can provide an end-to-end solution where they provide the Web2Print solution as well as the e-commerce platform!
6. What should be my ROI from the Web2Print solution?
One of the most important questions that you need an answer is what will be the ROI on your investment! In what time will you get to a breakeven point and how do you calculate that? Well, you can easily calculate it with a simple equation! All you need to do is calculate the average orders you will receive from new and existing customers on a daily basis, what is the average price of the product and what is your profit margin! You can either make this calculation or you can find an ROI calculator for printers!
When you have answers for all these questions, you will know exactly why you need a Web2Print solution, what should be the capabilities of the custom Product designer tool and what will your business and customers get out of it! It will be an informed decision and it will definitely boost your customer satisfaction and profitability in the long run!
Author Bio: Abhishek Agarwal, CMO of Design‘N’Buy, custom web to print solution provider which is also a ready-to-use fully featured B2B & B2C web-to-print software for both start-ups and already established businesses. He and his team are dedicated to leveraging the latest technology effectively and personalize it as per user’s requirement that has helped to be the technology partners of whom who want to incorporate new web-to-print technology into their workflow.