Vpress Guides the Printroom Group to Customer Loyalty
The Printroom Group was founded in 1977. Originally, they started out printing building plans for local small companies. Over the next few years they grew and started with printing business stationery, such as forms, business cards and letterheads. This growth led to expansion and in 1983 they opened their Camberley branch.
By the early 1990s they had invested in the first colour copier and had grown to employ over 20 members of staff. During the 90s they invested heavily in the latest machinery and employee training. This continued investment helped them to grow into one of the most respected and longest established print companies in the UK. Throughout their history the company has not changed ownership many times like so many other print companies have. They now have the facilities to process and print large format signage, customisable printed merchandise, and much more. The Printroom Group has moved to three online stores, the main site (www.printroom.co.uk), specialist training manual printing site (www.manual-printers.co.uk) and a B2C site (www.morethanjustprint.co.uk).
Searching for the right solution
Due to the rise of companies such as Amazon customers have come to expect a certain level of service. Print Room identified the importance of a Web to Print solution as they required a system that made orders available 24/7 and promoted customer loyalty. The search began for a suitable partner to enter the online world. As we all know the best way in life to learn is by making mistakes. With little knowledge of the Web to Print offering the wrong partner was selected and the start of a long and arduous journey began. After 2 years of terrible experiences The Printroom Group wanted to find a partner that would be able to fulfil their needs and this time set off on this task with the added benefit of experience on their side.
As many others, they searched online and asked their peers for advice on what the best possible solution would be. Simon Lewington, CEO of Printroom said this about the search “we looked at lots of alternatives, but they were too focused on what they could sell not what we could sell to our customers”. The quest to find a suitable partner was in disarray but Simon knew they would need to make a decision soon.
After all that research what convinced him was word of mouth, in all the conversations there seemed to be one name that always came up, Coreprint. Out of all the options this seemed to be the one who people spoke highly of. His peers attributed rich feature development, ease of use and the excellent customer service to this system and Simon was finally convinced they would make the best partner for the future.
Reaping the benefits
The question is, after all the time and effort spent finding the right solution and the cost to the company, was it worth it? Yes, it made admin easier allowing more time to focus on growing the business, but did it increase sales? When we asked Simon, his answer was clear “there was no big change straight away, first we had to sell it to our customers”. A big misconception is that a Web to print system will double your orders straight away, but this is not true. First you must get your customers on board. Then you start to reap the rewards. As Simon said, “after a few months we started to see the orders increase” and that is not all “the biggest advantage to us was an increase in customer loyalty, as our clients liked how easy it was to use the system”. When you provide a good service clients see the advantages of staying with you long term and it is much more profitable to ensure your existing clients don’t abandon ship than searching for new ones.
In conclusion, a Web to Print solution is a must have to ensure good/expected service is provided for your customers. But no old Web to Print service will work, you need to find the right partner that will put your clients’ needs first and provide support when needed. Combine these ingredients and you now have a recipe for success.
