
What Is Spot UV Printing, and How Does It Help Improve Brand Visibility?
Are you looking for ways to make your marketing mailers, business cards, and other printed items more impressive? You have a wide range of printing techniques and coating options to help make your branded materials look appealing and attention-grabbing. One such method is spot UV printing which uses UV rays to cure a glossy varnish, giving your branded materials a unique finish!
But what is spot UV in printing? How does it work?
This article covers this printing method's meaning, benefits, and applications to help you make the right choice!
Let’s begin!
What Is Spot UV Printing?
UV coating is a print method wherein printers apply a clear coat over printed materials, like postcards, flyers, book covers, magazines, etc.
They apply it in liquid form and expose it to UV light to dry it instantly!
Many people use UV coating interchangeably with UV spot printing, but they are two different terms.
Spot UV means applying UV coating to only specific parts of a printed item instead of the entire surface—to make these pieces glow more or to create a contrast! Its application also adds depth to printed materials by varying textures and sheens.
Most businesses that use spot UV printing want to create high-impact items, like presentation folders, brochures, event merchandise, etc. It enables them to distinguish their branded products from their competitors, improving brand recall rates!
Printers might apply spot UV to inked images after printing or directly over the paper substrate to form a design without using ink. If you select the direct application option, pick a darker substrate to get the best contrast.
Use Cases of Spot UV Printing
Many marketing materials allow you to choose printing spot UV for a crisp finish. You can effortlessly highlight specific elements, like logo patterns, images, texts, graphics, borders, etc.
Here are some use cases of spot UV printing to get you started:
Business Cards
They are one of the most prominent applications of UV coating and printing. All companies want their business cards to make their prospects remember them. They want to make an excellent first impression by offering the customers something tangible to hold onto and contact them.
Using UV spot printing to print business cards lets companies emphasize their brand name or contact information. Some also highlight their logos to help customers recall their brand when they see the same logo on other channels, like social media or email!
Postcards
Postcards are personal, memorable, and nostalgic! But what can you do to make customers save them for a long time and share them with others?
Yes! The answer is to use spot UV printing because it makes your postcards attention-worthy and responsive. Recipients might share pictures of your postcards on their social media handles or show them to their family and friends. Either way, spot UV helps you make your marketing items the star of the show, allowing you to increase engagement and sales.
You can use these postcards on several occasions, including
- Inviting prospects and customers to a product launch or other events
- Promoting a discount offer or seasonal sale
- Re-engaging old customers
- Sending thank-you or onboarding messages, etc.
The application of printing spot UV helps companies accomplish these activities and ensure higher responses!
Greeting Cards
Getting birthday, anniversary, wedding, or holiday greeting cards in the mail makes people feel appreciated and valued. Companies send these mailers to their existing and potential customers to maintain strong relationships and improve brand loyalty.
Choosing spot UV printing for their printing tasks allows them to produce unique cards that their audience would appreciate!
Brochures and Flyers
Companies can hand out brochures, flyers, pamphlets, etc., at an event to spread awareness about their products and services. They can also distribute these promotional materials on a busy street or mail them to prospective customers.
Applying spot UV over these items helps make them look glossy and impressive! It encourages people to save your branded materials instead of tossing them into a garbage can the minute they receive them!
Envelopes
The spot UV printing method can help you create engaging envelopes to send bills, invoices, statements, contracts, marketing letters, etc., via direct mail. These envelopes generate a higher open and read rate, helping you make the best of your mailers!
You may use UV spot printing for other materials, like book covers, stationery, catalogs, etc.
Benefits of Using Spot UV Printing
Applying spot UV over your printed surfaces has multiple benefits, and they are
High Clarity
This finishing technique for printed materials helps give them a shiny appearance that increases clarity. These items stand out from the crowd and look more elegant.
Businesses that send items with UV spot printing have more chances of getting customer responses and converting leads.
Smudge-Resistant
Adding a coating of spot UV over your design makes them smudge-resistant. It helps increase the durability of your marketing and other materials. Hence, they help you improve your ROI by driving results for several months and years.
Environment Friendly
Many people think that glossy printed items are not environmentally friendly. But it is the opposite!
The lack of volatility helps make spot UV printing environment-friendly because the UV rays dry all the varnish. There is little to no varnish that turns into gas and mixes with the air.
Image Accentuation
Using spot UV coating to give a finishing touch to your printed items helps you accentuate images, logos, etc. You can use it to make your artwork pictures relatable to your audience.
For instance, if you sell watches, you can highlight pictures of your products to generate or increase demand. High-resolution images often make customers want a product they did not initially need.
Improve Customer Satisfaction and Create a Vast Network
Unlike items having a blunt look, materials with printing spot UV help you improve your customer satisfaction. They feel appreciated getting such professional-looking materials and feel the need to respond.
Thus, you can get more responses and create a network of loyal customers.
PostGrid’s print and mail API allows companies to produce and ship many items, like newsletters, letters, and postcards. And the good news is that they can use spot UV printing with the help of our reputed print partners.
All businesses need to do is integrate our API into their system and streamline their print and mail activities. PostGrid’s network of printing partners helps them avail themselves of many technologically-advanced features, like UV spot printing and other customizations.
Conduct Multi-Channel Campaign
Gone are the days when only a social media ad, online banner, or email could consist of high-quality images and graphics. With spot UV printing, you can make your offline printed items look as good as them!
You can add several finishing touches to your materials to depict your digital artwork.
How to Use Spot UV Printing?
Printers can achieve incredible precision because they can dry varnished spots immediately with the spot UV light. It helps them explore multiple possibilities to incorporate this printing technique.
Businesses also select UV spot printing for silk and velvet laminated surfaces. The ‘spot’ print method helps deepen the colors of specific areas to make them look different from the rest of the design.
You can add this technique to your printed materials during or after the printing process gets complete. Thus, there are no time restrictions or other similar prerequisites to get a UV coating over your items.
Please note that spot UV printing is not a print technique. It is like a coating and finishing option you get from most printers!
How Do PostGrid’s Print and Mail Solutions Help Businesses Send Direct Mailers?
PostGrid’s printing partners enable all sectors to print materials with a spot UV coating, irrespective of their printing volume. Our automated print and mail API helps them plan their marketing campaigns online and conduct them at the click of a button!
They can also send transactional items, including statements, invoices, checks, etc., with printing spot UV touches. Hence, PostGrid allows them to maintain brand consistency and improve their reputation by printing and shipping high-quality materials on their behalf!
Here are some more ways PostGrid’s print partners and online mailing services assist companies to succeed in their marketing and business goals:
- Demand generation: Businesses can tap into new markets, expand outreach, and explore opportunities beyond their current workflows using spot UV-coated items. These materials are suitable to help them introduce themselves, create demand, and boost conversions!
- Employee experience: They can also send appreciation postcards or greeting cards to employees or improve their morale. Using spot UV printing to produce such items helps firms improve employer-employee relationships and create a positive work environment for everyone.
- Sales engagement: Healthcare, insurance, real estate companies, etc., can skyrocket sales by sending interactive marketing items using UV spot printing—at low costs. PostGrid allows businesses to get their desired results by spending 75% less than they would without our automated services!
- Bulk mailing: Businesses can send any number of printed items without worrying about how to handle bulk campaigns.
- Personalized mail: Add variable data to all your printed materials with spot UV coating to send personalized items and improve your brand image.
Are you interested in knowing more about how PostGrid helps businesses use spot UV printing to enhance their marketing items?
If yes, sign up now, and let’s talk!

