Autobytel Launches RPM 2.0 Auto Dealer Sales Tool

Advanced Customer Segmentation Capabilities Help Auto Dealers Reach Right Customers, With Right Message, at Right Time

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 20 -- Autobytel Inc. today announced the launch of its advanced multi-channel customer relationship management system, Retention Performance Marketing (RPM) 2.0. The improved system assimilates the best features of recently acquired iDriveonline Inc.'s technology with Autobytel's existing RPMsm service reminder program. The resulting 'super-product' is the first in its industry to integrate advanced customer segmentation with personalized communications across multiple channels, including e-mail, telephone, Web sites and print media.

"The launch of RPM 2.0 is an important achievement for Autobytel because we know efficient service retention is a critical success factor for today's dealers," said Autobytel Inc. President and CEO Jeffrey Schwartz. "A 5 percent increase in service customer retention can increase a dealer's operating profit by 25 percent.* RPM 2.0 is designed to help dealers increase service revenue while decreasing service expense."

According to Schwartz, RPM 2.0's new features will greatly enhance a dealer's ability to send the right communication to the right consumer, at the right time, via the most effective media. Though the industry average response rate on typical campaigns is approximately 5 percent, existing RPM users are experiencing unprecedented response rates of up to 25 percent. RPM 2.0's new product features are designed to further increase that rate.

RPM 2.0's enhanced communications are driven by meticulously managed, segmented customer data, allowing dealerships to build strong and profitable customer relationships over an extended period of time. Whereas traditional service reminder programs target customers solely according to their vehicle mileage, RPM 2.0 appends meaningful demographic information (income, home ownership status, proximity to the dealership, age, number of children, number of vehicles, etc.), as well as dealership spending and visitation histories. RPM 2.0 groups together customers with similar habits and buying trends, then targets them through the most cost-efficient channels which include high- quality digitally-printed direct mail, personalized automotive Web pages, a live call center, and/or opt-in e-mail communications.

In addition, RPM 2.0's new advanced color digital print technology, database cleansing program and comprehensive reporting features will help dealerships save money by enhancing their ability to communicate rapidly and efficiently. The new CRM technology also allows dealerships to easily measure results.

"The level of customer segmentation support we receive from RPM adds definitive value to our program," said Jim Quinn, director of service for Sloane Auto Group, which has experienced a 32:1 ROI (Return on Investment) through RPM. "We now have the ability to understand our customers on a much deeper level and are able to develop visibility and insight into their purchase patterns and buyer behavior. We have become much more attuned to their needs, and it's making a clear difference in our profit margin."

With margins tightening, brand loyalty on the decline, and increasing competition, the service department continues to be one of the most significant profit centers in the dealership. While service represents only 12 percent of average dealership revenue, its average operating profit is 46 percent.** Zeroing in on this important profit center, RPM is proving to be one of the fastest growing areas of the Autobytel business with more than 700 dealers nationwide currently onboard.

"In a culture overwhelmed with spam e-mails, random pop-ups and irrelevant direct mail and phone offers, customers are simply tuning out, making them more expensive to acquire and more costly to keep," said Fred van der Neut, vice president and general manager of RPM. "Studies show customer response rates increase dramatically through the addition of color and greater personalization. The RPM 2.0 program helps dealers better utilize customer data to personalize communications, resulting in higher ROI and more cost- efficient marketing."

  Key RPM 2.0 features include:

  --  Data segmentation based on customer spending, purchase and visitation
      habits
  --  Multi channel marketing using mail, e-mail, Web sites and phone
  --  Demographic appends to customer data
  --  Integrated Dealer Web Sites with online reports available 24/7
  --  Targeted e-mail acquisition technology that collects the most accurate
      e-mail addresses available
  --  Enhanced precision in ROI measurement capabilities (measured off of
      customer pay)
  --  Personal Web pages for all customers
  --  Dealership database cleansing
  --  Customized service reminders based on mileage and time parameters
  --  Follow-up communications to customers who do not respond or who
      decline services
  --  Welcome letters (new and used purchases, sales and service)

   *Ward's Dealer Business, June 1, 2002
   **NADA Data 2004

  About Autobytel

Autobytel Inc. , a leading Internet automotive marketing services company, helps retailers sell cars and manufacturers build brands through marketing, advertising, data and CRM (customer relationship management) products and programs. The Company owns and operates the automotive websites Autobytel.com, Autoweb.com, Carsmart.com, Car.com and AutoSite.com, as well as AIC (Automotive Information Center), a trusted industry source of automotive marketing data and technology for over 20 years. Autobytel is also a leader in dealership lead management and CRM solutions and owns and operates AVV, Inc., a top provider of dealership CRM and sales management products, and Retention Performance Marketing, Inc., (RPM(R)), which powers dealerships with cutting-edge customer loyalty and retention marketing programs. As the Internet's largest new car buying service, Autobytel generates over a billion dollars a month in car sales for dealers through its services and was the most visited new car buying and research destination in 2003, reaching millions of car shoppers as they made their vehicle buying decisions. Autobytel's car-selling sites and lead management products are used by more of the nation's top-100 e-dealers than any other program.