Car dealers offered card-free loyalty scheme
US-based automotive marketing firm DMEautomotive has announced a new card-free customer loyalty programme and platform designed to allow auto dealerships to sidestep the administrative problems and workload of running their own rewards programme while driving increased customer retention, service revenue, and vehicle sales.
The company's own experience has shown that communicating effectively with automotive customers immediately after a purchase is essential to building a long-term relationship and loyalty to the dealership and brand.
The new DMEa Customer Loyalty Program was created to make it easier for dealerships to begin that conversation right at the point of purchase, thereby increasing the likelihood of service conversion, and continuing a trusted conversation with personalised targeting throughout the vehicle ownership life cycle.
In keeping with the often-quoted Pareto Principle, DMEautomotive's Analytics & Strategy division has found that the top 20% of a dealership's customer base accounts for approximately 80% of all sales and service revenue. Consequently, while the company's new loyalty platform was designed to reach all relevant customers, it specifically enables dealers to target this most valuable customer segment to help generate increased service visits to the dealership.
The programme is configured to reward customers with loyalty points based either on a points-to-spending ratio (i.e. sales and service programmes) or on a points-to-number-of-visits ratio (i.e. a sales programme). The programme also provides extensive reporting options to help dealerships measure and monitor their results and return on investment (ROI).
The programme has another benefit for dealerships: it spares them the financial implications and administration incurred by carrying earned, but not redeemed, reward points (known as 'breakage') on their balance sheets.
"We listened to what both consumers and dealers want in a loyalty programme: no administrative hassles, no cards, greater flexibility and cost-efficiency and, importantly, precision targeting based on market realities," explained Mike Walther, president and CEO for DMEautomotive. "We know that dealers are currently facing major challenges: new car profits are almost nil, customers are retaining their vehicles for longer than ever, and the economy is tightening car owner wallets, making them more reluctant to spend on maintenance."
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