OutputLinks White Paper Confirms Results of Independent Study Comparing Inkjet vs. Toner  

Printing companies report business growth by expanding their portfolio of product offerings with high-speed inkjet printing technology.

Danvers, MA – July 1, 2010 – RISO, Inc., a leader in digital printing technology, today jointly released a white paper in conjunction with OutputLinks confirming the results of a recent independent INTERQUEST study. The study compared direct mail response rates for postcards printed with electrophotographic (EP) and inkjet printing technologies.  The white paper details how service bureau and commercial print executives used RISO ComColor^® printers to open new markets and affordably offer transpromo and direct mail printing services to their customers.

The independent study was completed at the beginning of 2010. Over 10,000 direct mail postcards were mailed to marketing executives in a variety of industries, with approximately half of the postcards printed on a RISO full-color inkjet printer on matte-finish card stock and the other half printed on a full-color toner-based (EP) production color printer on high-gloss card stock. The postcards offered recipients an Amazon.com gift certificate for responding to a brief online survey related to direct mail marketing.  The study showed that, while response rates for postcards printed by color inkjet and EP printers were nearly identical, the cost per lead generated from the inkjet-produced postcards was 62% lower than the leads generated from the EP-produced postcard.

In the OutputLinks white paper, “Direct Marketing: Generating Five Leads for the Price of Two,” a communications service provider and a high-volume billing statement and transactional printing specialist describe how the independent study echoes their own real-world experiences.

Waleed Ashoo, President and CEO of LithExcel, $6m-a-year communications service provider, has grown his business from clients only in New Mexico and West Texas to clients across the country and overseas. Inkjet printing technology has made it profitable for him to offer a variety of documentation, forms, directories, test materials, direct mail, and more. “These are all applications that inkjet technology has allowed us to get into,” says Ashoo. “It has allowed us to do these things in a very inexpensive way, in full color.”

Inkjet technology has enabled Illinois-based One2One Communications to move into color and give customers the means to tap into the real power of transpromo marketing. Tom Mason, the VP for Business Development at the Illinois-based high-volume billing statement and transactional printing specialist explains, “The statement printing business is fairly commoditized, with very large runs, and production cost is the critical factor,” he says. “To get into color, inkjet was clearly the best option for us. As soon as we could provide color, we were able to start offering customers the chance to create a new advertising vehicle, via the billing statement, which hadn’t been available to them before.” 

RISO’s ComColor^® high-speed inkjet printers produce up to 150 color variable data pages per minute with a duty cycle of 500,000 pages per month. With color operating costs averaging 2-3 cents per page, ideal applications include transactional statements, direct mail, book printing, and low-cost marketing collateral. RISO’s ComColor 9050 is the fastest cut-sheet full-color inkjet printer in the world.

About OutputLinks

OutputLinks provides free access to all the world’s resources, vendors, research and information to accelerate solution acquisition and implementation of high volume transaction output solutions. Our collaborative community consists of Global 1000 C-levels, business managers and senior technical decision makers as well as print service providers, consultants and hardware/software vendors. OutputLinks’ industry specific search engine provides a one-stop portal connection to all industry resources around the world. OutputLinks eNews presents HVTO insight, analysis and press by industry thought leaders to 17,000+ weekly global recipients.

Learn more about OutputLinks and its global services to the high volume transaction output industry at www.OutputLinks.com  

About RISO, Inc.

RISO, Inc., headquartered in Danvers, Massachusetts, is a wholly owned subsidiary of RISO Kagaku Corporation, Japan's leading manufacturer and distributor of production inkjet printers, digital duplicators and supplies. RISO, Inc. sells high-speed color and monochrome printing solutions throughout the Americas. RISO provides fast and affordable full color digital printers for everyday communications, at speeds of up to 150 pages per minute. Its line of digital duplicators includes one- and two-color systems that reliably produce millions of copies, are environmentally friendly, and are easy and inexpensive to use.

To learn more about RISO’s ComColor series, visit www.newinkjet.com , www.brainshark.com/riso/mvto or call 1-800-663-3031. Visit RISO, Inc.’s corporate website at http://us.riso.com/.