OneCommand’s Customer Retention Technology Drives Recession Success for Toyota Dealers

CINCINNATI--OneCommand (www.onecommand.com) today announced dramatic successes for Toyota Dealers who have been utilizing new program features developed by the Company specifically to meet the needs of dealers in the recession economy. With new car sales plummeting, the length of time consumers hold onto their vehicles at record highs¹, and service departments now responsible for 81% of operating profits², bringing customers back for service and retaining them for repurchasing is proving critical to dealership survival. By providing partner dealers in the Toyota Best Practice program - such as 11-time Toyota President’s Award winner, Gateway Toyota and New Jersey’s Toyota of Vineland - with a more customizable program across the purchase and service life-cycle, OneCommand has been able to generate significant increases in service appointment setting and customer information collection at considerably lower marketing costs.

According to Joe Cammarata, Service Director of Gateway Toyota, a Penske store: “OneCommand’s new recession enhancements have driven a 12% increase in our daily service appointments, a 20% reduction in our monthly advertising spend and the collection of an unprecedented over 60% of customer email addresses in our database – which is the most critical foundation to any marketing/retention campaign.”

OneCommand’s Recession Retention enhancements include new sequential marketing features; campaign customization based on regional, OEM or holiday/special events; channel customization, so customers receive through preferred communication such as email, voice, mobile or direct mail; and customized segmentation which enables dealers to target the optimal customers for the message and the optimal timing for its delivery.

“There is nothing more critical to dealerships today than having cost-efficient marketing and retention programs from point-of-sale to service retention and eventually re-purchase,” said Marvin Grimm Executive Vice President of OneCommand. “After a careful analysis of what would provide dealers the most benefit in the current economic climate - and what would reap the most immediate and cost-effective results - we developed a dramatically more customized program that puts the dealership in control of their marketing campaigns. We are very pleased that our Toyota dealer partners are seeing such excellent results.”

Another Toyota dealer, Toyota of Vineland in New Jersey, is also having success with OneCommand’s new program, especially its customized personalized outreach, such as the Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary communications. General Manager, Bob McCormick says, “Customers love receiving our Happy Birthday calls and frequently call to thank me for remembering their special day. It’s simple things like this that help us maintain long-time owner loyalty.”

According to Cap Gemini, two-thirds of car buyers report that personalized repurchase offers via post and email would make them more likely to buy their next vehicle from that same dealer or manufacturer, and over 80% report that two factors that would ‘influence/greatly influence their repurchasing from the same dealer include ‘awareness of my history with dealer,’ and ‘awareness of my history with the vehicle³, which are areas of particular focus for the OneCommand program.

“OneCommand provides a convenience for our dealership and customers that was previously missing, enabling us to deliver personalized multi-channel campaigns to thousands of customers within minutes. It allows our customers to view their service history and recommended maintenance on their personal websites, as well as to schedule service appointments in real-time online. OneCommand’s new enhancements improve the customer experience and ensure they keep returning to Gateway,” concluded Cammarata.

OneCommand is an industry-leader in FTC legislation and communication compliance. The Company has been in accordance with the upcoming September 2009 FTC amendments for nearly one year. Additionally, OneCommand ensures compliance with all legislation for all communication channels and takes compliance responsibility off the dealer’s shoulders.

¹ The median age for cars on U.S. roadways is now at record-high levels: 9.4 years for cars and 7.6 years for trucks. (R.L. Polk report cited in Forbes 3.09). The average age of vehicles traded in at dealerships in Feb. 2009 was 6.1 years—up from 5.6 years just one year earlier. (J.D. Power and Associates Press Release 3.09) 40 percent want to keep their vehicles for 150,000 miles or more (and nearly a quarter of them more than 200,000 miles), ExxonMobil Study reported in AutoRemarketing 6/24/09.

² “The service department is ever-more critical to the survival of a dealership, and is currently responsible for generating an extraordinary 81% of dealer operating profits (even though it’s only 12% of total sales)—up from 77% in 2006.” (NADA’s Chief Economist 1.09)

³ Cap Gemini Cars Online 2008

About OneCommand (http://www.onecommand.com)

OneCommand is a leading provider of integrated and automated, personalized communications designed to stream line workflow, reduce marketing expense and generate superior customer response. Focusing on the delivery of the right message, at the right time, and through the right channel, OneCommand has rapidly expanded its market penetration by helping its clients to realize significant improvements in loyalty and retention, frequency of visit and overall profitability. In 2008 the Company delivered over 150 million personalized communications on behalf of over 4,000 clients throughout North America.

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