MediaTrac's Customer Loyalty Program Delivers Increased Revenue and Profit Across All Automotive Brands
SAN RAMON, Calif.--May 8, 2006--| Dealers See Measurable Improvements in Sales, F&I, and Service |
MediaTrac, the market leader in automotive service reward programs, today announced that dealerships across all major automotive brands including Acura, BMW, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, GMC, Honda, Toyota, Infinity and others are improving revenue and profit through the company's customer loyalty program. Dealers are benefiting from higher customer retention, dramatic increases in warranty and service contract penetration, and repeat vehicle purchases from existing customers.
Today more than ever, dealers need to challenge their traditional marketing strategies to reach new consumers and to retain existing customers. Many dealers spend hundreds of dollars getting new customers, yet four in five never return to the store for service. With MediaTrac's loyalty program, dealers spend less than two dollars per customer to keep them. And that two dollar investment is not per month or per year; it is for the life of the program.
"When you sell a car you sell the whole dealership," said Ken Dent, Service Manager for Stirling GMC. "If you succeed in getting a customer in for service consistently, they are 85 percent more likely to repurchase a car from you," said Dent. "Since we've installed LoyaltyTrac, we've retained 87 percent of our sales to our service business. General Motors' standard for retaining sales to its service business is 34 percent. MediaTrac literally costs me nothing and the return is incredible."
MediaTrac's LoyaltyTrac solution provides a highly efficient path to communicating with customers through email. Until now, capturing customer email addresses has been a challenge for many dealerships. Without a consistent effort and a means to leverage that information, dealerships leave potential revenue untapped. The LoyaltyTrac program helps dealers capture email addresses during the loyalty card activation process and begins to immediately build a relationship with their customer beyond the vehicle sale. Customers who may not have purchased a vehicle from the dealership but come in for service are also invited to join the service rewards program.
"MediaTrac has allowed us to focus on capturing email addresses, and we are averaging better than 91% email capture rate," said Bess Wills, General Manager at Gresham Ford. "By leveraging email to communicate with our customers we'll spend a lot less money on advertising and marketing each month," said Wills. And using the LoyaltyTrac system for ongoing customer marketing is paying off for Gresham Ford. "Service retention improved more than ten percent in the first six months on the program. We believe that this next year we'll reap substantial benefits in our cost savings with MediaTrac."
Dealers across the U.S. are offering customer loyalty programs because their customers perceive real value by participating in the program. By bundling warranty and value-added services such as oil changes and tire rotations into a Platinum loyalty card, customers sense an even greater value in joining at the highest level. As a result, F&I is driving more revenue and profit.
"A Platinum loyalty card program is really an extraordinary way to improve our dealership's profitability and build customer loyalty," said Tom Lane, CEO of Dwayne Lane Automotive Group -- Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Chevrolet, and Suzuki. "In just the first ten days on the program, we've seen a dramatic increase in our ability to up-sell warranty and other F&I products through the LoyaltyTrac Platinum card," said Lane. "It's a tough market today and there are a lot of factors impacting automotive sales. LoyaltyTrac allows us to hone in on what each customer wants and to be creative in our marketing."
A rewards program helps to shape the dealer and consumer relationship. By starting a relationship at the buying process and carrying that relationship through to the service level, customers have the opportunity to experience value in a variety of ways and build a relationship with longevity. This business principal applies to any dealership, across any brand, in any location. A customer who is treated well, offered incentives for doing business, and who feels they have a connection with the dealership is much more likely to retain the dealer's services and return for vehicle purchases. And that is the real value of a customer loyalty program.
About MediaTrac
Headquartered in San Ramon, California, MediaTrac is a proven provider of customized customer loyalty and media tracking programs. Founded in 2002, MediaTrac has hundreds of retail clients throughout the US and Canada. The company is one of the fastest growing, privately held firms in Northern California. For more information please contact Steve Comes at 925-415-1300 ext. 207 or visit www.media-trac.com.