Back to results Technology to Connect : 101 1-2-1 part 2 By Chris Graham In last month’s exciting instalment of 101 on 1-2-1 we defined three levels of personalised marketing. These were i) personalisation, ii) variable data and iii) dynamic documents. We also looked at how the data to construct the artwork could be either dynamic or static – ie, the latter form being most likely old and out of date. Finally we looked at how the data should be supplied as an Excel Spreadsheet or .csv file. In most cases you are going to be presented with the data by the customer who will be confident, indeed adamant, that the data is bang up to date and accessible. This is where it can get interesting; traditional CRM (customer relationship management) systems were in many cases managed and controlled by the IT department, totally divorced from marketing. In fact I am aware of many organisations running two CRM systems because the traditional 90s’ CRM implementation that cost millions is too unwieldy to deliver what the marketing depart of 2010 requires. So be aware that many projects have been killed off because customers could not extract their data out of the IT security Gestapo, who seem, in many cases, to have a passion for creating roadblock after roadblock to protect what they perceive as ‘their data’ – in some cases they have valid arguments, but many are just founded on dogma. As a rule of thumb you can save yourself a lot of pain by checking the status of the data before you get started or even quote the job. Sit with the customer and identify the variables and then ask them for a sample of 30 or so rows of data in the format you have discussed. Last but not least don’t assume the customer knows what CRM is, or that they have any idea that the data needs to be in a particular format, or that they know the principles of how 1-2-1 works. So once you have the variable data information opened, the variable data file should hopefully display the column headings corresponding to your variables. The exact naming of the columns does not really matter – eg, surname or given name or x would all work; you simply tell your variable data application which one to use. However, what will cause problems is if you need first name and surname for your variable job separated, but your spreadsheet only has the full name. It is possible to run scripts to separate the names but it is not a guaranteed process. For example how does a script separate ‘Peter Van Pels’ or separate double-barrelled surnames? This problem can apply to all sorts of addresses – a list of products that should be separated but are grouped etc – so the best strategy is to list the variables so that each column has a matching variable. So watch for multiple variables in the one column. There are also a host of characters that can cause grief in various operating systems (these are “ / ? < > \ ” : * \| “). In most cases your variable data application will wrap these characters up and protect you from them. Put in a significant number of cases – they can cause a script or variable data system to fail so try to avoid them in the first place. This is where it often gets expensive and a simple issue evolves into a nightmare script. So have look at the physical attributes of the data you need to consider, how clean the data is and take the time to understand the project. A small amount of effort at this stage can save you from a massive amount of pain later on. Chris Graham (chris@purls.me) is ceo of PURL Technologies, which specialises in artwork automation and 1-2-1. © Copyright AdMedia magazine June 2010 All material appearing is copyright and cannot be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher. Please contact the copyright officer: Ph 0-9-845 5114, Email copyright@mediaweb.co.nz.	Username Password Keep me logged in on this computer Forgotten your password? Enter your email address and we will email your password to you:

Technology to Connect : 101 1-2-1 part 2

By Chris Graham

In last month’s exciting instalment of 101 on 1-2-1 we defined three levels of personalised marketing. These were i) personalisation, ii) variable data and iii) dynamic documents.
We also looked at how the data to construct the artwork could be either dynamic or static – ie, the latter form being most likely old and out of date. Finally we looked at how the data should be supplied as an Excel Spreadsheet or .csv file.
In most cases you are going to be presented with the data by the customer who will be confident, indeed adamant, that the data is bang up to date and accessible. This is where it can get interesting; traditional CRM (customer relationship management) systems were in many cases managed and controlled by the IT department, totally divorced from marketing. In fact I am aware of many organisations running two CRM systems because the traditional 90s’ CRM implementation that cost millions is too unwieldy to deliver what the marketing depart of 2010 requires.
So be aware that many projects have been killed off because customers could not extract their data out of the IT security Gestapo, who seem, in many cases, to have a passion for creating roadblock after roadblock to protect what they perceive as ‘their data’ – in some cases they have valid arguments, but many are just founded on dogma.
As a rule of thumb you can save yourself a lot of pain by checking the status of the data before you get started or even quote the job. Sit with the customer and identify the variables and then ask them for a sample of 30 or so rows of data in the format you have discussed. Last but not least don’t assume the customer knows what CRM is, or that they have any idea that the data needs to be in a particular format, or that they know the principles of how 1-2-1 works.
So once you have the variable data information opened, the variable data file should hopefully display the column headings corresponding to your variables. The exact naming of the columns does not really matter – eg, surname or given name or x would all work; you simply tell your variable data application which one to use.
However, what will cause problems is if you need first name and surname for your variable job separated, but your spreadsheet only has the full name. It is possible to run scripts to separate the names but it is not a guaranteed process. For example how does a script separate ‘Peter Van Pels’ or separate double-barrelled surnames?
This problem can apply to all sorts of addresses – a list of products that should be separated but are grouped etc – so the best strategy is to list the variables so that each column has a matching variable. So watch for multiple variables in the one column.
There are also a host of characters that can cause grief in various operating systems (these are “ / ? < > \ ” : * | “). In most cases your variable data application will wrap these characters up and protect you from them. Put in a significant number of cases – they can cause a script or variable data system to fail so try to avoid them in the first place. This is where it often gets expensive and a simple issue evolves into a nightmare script.
So have look at the physical attributes of the data you need to consider, how clean the data is and take the time to understand the project. A small amount of effort at this stage can save you from a massive amount of pain later on.

Chris Graham (chris@purls.me) is ceo of PURL Technologies, which specialises in artwork automation and 1-2-1.

© Copyright AdMedia magazine June 2010

All material appearing is copyright and cannot be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher.

Please contact the copyright officer: Ph 0-9-845 5114, Email copyright@mediaweb.co.nz.

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Technology to Connect : 101 1-2-1 part 2