Tiered Color Printing with KBA Document Solutions
Every industry uses color as part of their branding and to convey subtle psychological clues about their brand.
- 76% think they can find information faster if presented in color
- 69% understand new ideas when presented in color
- 54% more likely to read document/marketing piece if printed in color
- 43% more likely to pay bill on time if due date highlighted in color
- 31% more likely to pay FULL amount due
“Why is this important?” you may be asking.
3-Tier Color Billing – A True Difference Maker
Overall, there aren’t a lot of true differentiators in the copier business. One brand might claim the best print quality, another brand might claim the best reliability, and yet another will claim their copiers will make the whole office lunch if you tell it to.
The fact is, copiers put toner on paper, all using the same basic process and they all do a pretty good job of it. Scanning functionality, various apps, inbound faxing, touch screen interfaces, and others are all similar across manufacturers.One manufacturer did manage to create a game-changer that can be a true difference maker for your business – 3-tier color billing.
How 3 Tier Color Billing Works
Introduced by Kyocera in 2013, 3 Tier Color monitors the amount of color toner used on a page and bills accordingly.
That’s right, you pay for the amount of color you use. Instead of one rate for all color prints, the Kyocera line of products we provide measure the amount of color toner on a given page and then assign that page a Level 1, 2, or 3 value. The amount of dots that each color toner (magenta, cyan, and yellow) put on paper is tracked through a meter on the device. The meter is then able to calculate which tier each page was in. For illustration purposes, here’s a breakdown:
- Level 1: less than 5% per color coverage on a page
- Level 2: 5.1 – 14.9% per color coverage on a page
- Level 3: more than 15% per color coverage on a page
These three images give you an idea of the different levels:
Never Overpay for Color Copies Again
We researched our customers and identified that 88% of color pages produced and billed fall into Level 1. Level 2 accounts for 10% of color pages and only 2% are Level 3.
For example let’s say you have an important email you need to print off. You click file, print, and retrieve the email at the copier. You bring it back to your desk not noticing your company was just billed for a full page of color, even though the copier only used color toner for the little blue email address at the top. Does that sound like a fair deal? Not in the least. It doesn’t make sense. Your vendor is charging up to 10 cents or higher per page of color that you print regardless of how much color is on that page. Think about how often that happens at your current job.
Kyocera says they can reduce color printing costs up to 50% with this system and they are the only manufacturer currently doing this. So next time you ask a potential vendor how they can help you, keep in mind this real dollars and SENSE difference maker ask for a Kyocera copier and stop throwing money away on your color printing.
Color Printing Mistakes and Accidents
When we are out talking to clients and potential clients, we often ask “do you think you do that much color printing?” Nearly 100% say no. Our experience in the copier industry leads us to this educated guess – about 20% of color prints are accidental. They were meant to be black and white, but color image files on the page overrode print driver commands and changed the document to color. While we probably can’t fix that, we CAN make it cost a lot less when it happens!
Now whether you want a single pop of color for emphasis or a full-color brochure, you pay for what you’ve used, not an arbitrary price for a “color” document. And those color print mistakes won’t cost you as much.