Year-end is quickly approaching. Your customers are focused on hitting their financial targets, increasing customer engagement, and wrapping key projects while navigating a busy holiday calendar. As their go-to printer and 4over partner, you can give them the gift of time by providing a roadmap to speed up their print projects with the same excellent quality and fast delivery.
1. Specify the Product Correctly
Capturing your customers' print requirements is a critical first step in ensuring smooth and quick product delivery. Start by understanding their needs and goals requiring print. You could suggest a formal assessment of their needs, but your experience with them as a client may be enough to match the product fit and options. Sending holiday greetings to loyal customers or offering seasonal promotions is an established business practice and a great marketing opportunity. Depending on print and mailing costs, postcards and greeting cards are great options, but some specifications differ. Greeting cards require envelopes and higher postage but they may want to spend more on better open and response rates based on your customers’ goals.
2. Provide Print-Ready Designs
The design requirements are also unique to each product. Greeting card designs must accommodate one or more folds so that text and images are readable without odd breaks. Postcard designs require room on the back to accommodate space for the delivery address and markings used by the postal service sorting equipment. 4over provides templates for each product offering that designers can download to fast-track the design process. Use these guidelines to speed up design and deliver print-ready files:
- Use the provided product templates
- Set the resolution to 300 dpi
- Use or convert to CMYK color
- Set bleed if needed, typically 0.0625” on each side
Leverage the design tutorials in 4over’s Print 101 courses to ensure you and your customers are using the same terminology and specifications to avoid mistakes.
3. Share Key Dates With Customers
We are excited to help you during the holidays and encourage you to pay close attention to shipping cutoff dates, holiday closures, etc. to ensure on-time delivery and avoid unwanted frustration. Pay particular attention to end-of-year cut-off dates provided by the postal service and shippers so your customers’ projects are delivered on time. Generally, December 16 is the first USPS deadline for ground shipping, and other more costly methods are required after that date. Each shipping carrier dates vary, so be sure to confirm before picking the carrier and level of service. Visit the 4over holiday operations website for further details.
4. Use Next-Day Express Shipping
For the most demanding schedules, 4over offers Next-Day Express service to deliver a specific set of products at the utmost speed. Next-Day Express service relies on 4over's efficient production processes and state-of-the-art print and finishing technologies to meet your customer's needs when it counts the most. Postcards, business cards, sell sheets, and a few other products are available through this program with standard options. Check this page for qualifying products. For products requiring additional coatings, special paper, or unique applications under the Majestic (premium) line, additional production time is needed, and they are not available using the Next-Day Express service. Local pickup may also be an option if you are located near a 4over production facility. If this last-minute option is required, coordinate with the team at 4over.
There are many ways to speed up your print project. The most significant time savings are found before and after production. Help your client find and specify the best products and options for their needs and ensure they can provide a print-ready file for production. Talk to them about delivery options and costs so they can make the best decisions for their businesses. Coordination is vital, so engage the 4over team when timing is critical.
