The new software, Cross Media Designer, is a single-screen interface that features a toolkit incorporating the elements required to build websites and send e-mail marketing.

According to the company, this will benefit printers that want to diversify into electronic marketing and provide a more comprehensive service offering to customers.

Axel Marciniak, general manager at Direct Smile, said: "There is no other software in the world that can build response-intensive PURLs and e-mails as easily, just by dragging and dropping elements into a layout.

"This provides a highly effective and low cost entry into digital marketing with fast start up."

DirectSmile claimed the focal point of new designer toolset is a "dynamic" preview area that details realtime progress and previews how the created site will look in a range of web browsers.

"Without HTML know-how and programming skills, anyone can now easily produce layouts for PURLs and e-mailings, including personalised customer-relevant images, headlines and body copy, and distribute the finished result to a database of individual recipients," added Marciniak.