Are you tired of downloading applications, endlessly updating Java, begging for help from customer support – all just to print a coupon online? One major printable coupon provider thinks it has the solution to all that.
SmartSource is preparing to roll out new printing technology designed to make printing its coupons a whole lot easier. “The consumer is no longer required to download a product to securely print a coupon,” Henri Lellouche, the Senior Vice President of Digital for SmartSource parent company News America Marketing, told Coupons in the News. “The previous need for that download led to print failures and consumer frustration.”
That’s good news for any printable coupon fan who’s ever thrown up their hands after downloading a coupon printing application, only to run into problems actually printing. “Given the broad range of devices that can be used to access a website, no one software installation package works well with all types of devices,” the documentation for SmartSource’s patented new printing technology reads.
So News America Marketing came up with a different method, that it says is both simple and secure. “The new print experience will be as easy as printing a PDF,” Lellouche said.
SmartSource had long resisted requiring a custom software install in order to embed security features and prevent unlimited prints, the way Coupons.com and other printable coupon providers do. So it used Java to power its printables instead, since that software is already installed on most computers.
But as first reported on Coupons in the News in 2013, the company started looking for alternatives when concerns were raised about security vulnerabilities with Java. Some security experts began recommending that users disable or uninstall Java, which would have prevented them from printing any SmartSource coupons. Those who decided to keep Java, found that it started requiring near-constant security updates, some of which ended up interfering with their ability to print.
“We don’t think the Java problems are going to go away,” Lellouche told Coupons in the News at the time. So “we are looking at a number of other ways of doing this.”
Two years later, SmartSource’s solution is about to be put into place. “The print experience screens will be slightly different to help users understand the new printing process,” Lellouche explained. But “from what we’ve seen, once they go through the experience once, they understand.”
To be fair, printing a PDF does actually require a product download (Adobe Reader, which you probably already have installed, but still). And while News America Marketing insists it will be able to enforce print limits, that’s assuming a print dialog box doesn’t appear, inviting the coupon user who’s either ignorant or has ill intent to print as many copies of the same PIN-coded coupon as they’d like.
For now, the new print solution is in Beta testing among “a select, targeted group of online savers.” The next step is to roll it out to individual manufacturers who offer printable coupons via SmartSource, which will happen next month. By summer, the new technology will be used on SmartSource.com itself. The fact that you don’t have to download anything, means you should easily be able to print SmartSource coupons from public computers, at a library or even at work (if your boss doesn’t mind – or doesn’t know).
And as an added perk, users will be able to print coupons wirelessly via their Apple mobile devices, to compatible printers, as Coupons.com users are able to do now. There’s no timetable yet as to when that ability will be available to Android users.
“With our patented print solution, we no longer have to consider sacrificing consumer satisfaction for security,” Lellouche said. “This is going to be a game-changer within the industry, providing premier service to loyal SmartSource.com savers and paramount security to our all partners and clients.”
So if you’ve ever had trouble printing SmartSource coupons – or worse yet, have never been able to print them – just wait. You should soon be able to save a lot more money, with a whole lot less aggravation.
When will I be able to print smart source coupons from my IPhone?
Easier to print, yes. But easier to counterfeit as well?
Hopefully Mr. Lellouche was just using an analogy because “don’t make a pdf of your coupon” (don’t even display the image on screen!) is the very first security principle we teach when clients ask for print-at-home best practices.
So when is Red Plum going to actually make it easier? Don’t have a single device here that will print Red Plum. Forget customer support, they have deaf ears.