LEE, Mass., April 18, 2007 — Just days after implementing @utoRevenue(TM) integrated email and direct mail campaigns, two Lexus dealerships in Houston saw hundreds of their customers returning to the dealerships for service work and reported a sizeable jump in service revenues.
Both Westside Lexus and Northside Lexus reported a dramatic increase in service work orders and service revenues from the first email service reminder and direct mail campaign generated by @utoRevenue, according to John M. Miller, @utoRevenue General Manager.
"What is most interesting is that over 150 of the dealerships' returning customers had been considered 'lost' because they had not been to the dealerships for service work in over one year," said Miller. "Just from those lost customers, the dealerships earned $109,000 in additional service revenue, money the two stores would not have received without @utoRevenue's multi-channel marketing service."
In fact, within the first 90 days, the @utoRevenue integrated campaigns generated an estimated $2 million in service revenues for the two dealerships, according to Robert Parnell, Parts and Service Director of Westside Lexus and Todd Sylvester, Service Director of Northside Lexus. "Many of those returning customers, especially those with 1990 model vehicles, had not been in our dealerships for many years," said Sylvester.
Before partnering with @utoRevenue, both Westside and Northside Lexus used traditional direct marketing to promote their service departments, sending service reminder letters to customers and then following up with telephone calls. The dealerships also had over 19,000 email addresses, reported Les Hall, @utoRevenue National Accounts Manager: "Unfortunately, about 25% of those email addresses were bad so every time the dealerships sent their e-newsletters, they were bombarded with bounced emails."
"Historically, the dealerships spent two man days creating their e-newsletters, had half a dozen employees making follow-up phone calls, and spent thousands of dollars sending direct mail letters to customers with email addresses," said Hall.
In November 2006, the two dealerships hired @utoRevenue. "First, @utoRevenue used their @utoMatch service, which matched customers' names and addresses, and found thousands more email addresses for our dealerships' databases," said Parnell. "Then @utoRevenue sent service reminders via email to all those email addresses, and instead of sending out traditional letters, @utoRevenue mailed out colorful 4" x 6" postcards to those contacts on our mailing list."
"As a result, customers who had not responded to our traditional direct mail or phone calls in the past opened these emails, read the post cards, and returned to the dealerships for service work," said Parnell.
The two dealerships saw the results of @utoRevenue's marketing almost immediately, according to Hall: "Our multi-channel approach generated a response rate six times higher than traditional direct mail reminders. These rates are definitely impressive."
"Today, we are saving the dealerships about $4,000 just in postage on every service mailing," said Hall. "More importantly, because we integrate the dealerships' mailing and email lists, customers with email addresses no longer receive direct mail, which is another tremendous money saver."
Based on the success of @utoRevenue's email and direct mail campaigns, the two Lexus dealerships are also using @utoRevenue's e-newsletter service, @utoEnews(TM), and Westside and Northside Lexus will soon start using @utoRevenue's automated, online scheduling service, @utoScheduler(TM), according to Hall.
@utoRevenue(TM), founded in 2001 and based in Lee, Ma., is a Dominion Enterprises Company. Founder and General Manager John M. Miller has over 24 years experience in the auto industry as an executive for COIN Financial Systems, Ultimate Prospecting Systems, Reynolds and Reynolds and KeyTrak. @utoRevenue, which has 12 offices throughout the U.S., offers a complete line of marketing services including email, email collection, direct mail, voice messaging, e-newsletters and online real-time appointment scheduling. @utoRevenue products include @utoEmail(TM), @utoMatch(TM), @utoDirect(TM), @utoVoice(TM), @utoEnews(TM), and @utoScheduler(TM).
For more information, contact Aleisha Gibbons, Email, 866-628-6245.