News and Events
|
|
Get More Bang for Less Buck
Posted on Sep 01, 2009 - 09:30 PM
This will probably ruffle some feathers, (I am known for that), but in my opinion, for service, direct mail coupons still work better than any form of advertising – even in 2009. I mean, think about it…there are hundreds of radio stations, newspaper pages, TV channels and billboards that people see and hear every day – and all of them are, in their own way, good ways to advertise. But for service advertising, I would put most of my money on a direct mail piece…and here is why. While consumers have access to all of the above-mentioned media, the customers I want to reach all have one mailbox and it is located right in front of their house and they check it every day. That, in itself folks, is hard to beat. Then when you look at the tracking and return on investment you can actually measure with direct mail coupons…well you get the picture – it works and you can prove it everyday.
Now don’t get me wrong…I am not some old stick in the mud that doesn’t think outside the box. I can be cool and up to date and as techy as the rest of you…but you have to really look at the big picture here. Email addresses can be hard to get and hard to keep up to date and they can easily be blocked or filtered. Not being negative, just being factual. And some customers just don’t want to give them to you to begin with…what does that tell you – they don’t want you to fill their inbox with a bunch of advertising crap – so tell me again why we want to advertise that way – oh yeh…I remember, it is cheap.
And then there is texting which can really upset customers when they get their phone bill and find out they were charged to get an advertisement message from you (not everyone has unlimited texting you know.) Charging a customer to get a text message to advertise your service department would be like sending them a service reminder with postage due – how happy would that make them? They would hate your guts, and unless I missed something here, that wasn’t the goal.
Ah, then there is the hot new cost effective automated phone call message. Not sure about you…but I hate those things and I can’t find any consumer that doesn’t hate them. Let me ask you…do you like getting these on your phone…as a consumer I mean…didn’t think so. These little “automated pimples” can sometimes irritate customers to the point of a murder spree (I know, I have personally told the dealer I use for service that if they ever make that machine call me again I will never come back.)
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying all of these new-fangled alternatives are bad…I am just saying that they, at best, make good supplements for direct mail (except for the automated phone things…they should be burned at the stake). My point is this…consumers still like to be sent a service reminder – so they don’t forget to get their car serviced and they still like to get it in the mail. They like that it is subtle and that it doesn’t invade their privacy or interrupt their day. And they like that the mailer has coupons with special discounts and offers that save them money – it’s that simple – who wouldn’t want that, right?
So with that little bandwagon speech out of the way, let’s get down to the nitty, gritty of making sure your service reminders and direct mailers are as effective as they should be, you know… the more bang for the buck concept, ok? Here are 5 rules to live by…when it comes to service advertising.
Rule 1. Always advertise an oil and filter change as your dominant coupon. Customers know they need an oil change, they know when they need it and they have some idea of what it should cost, so make sure it is really a good deal. And don’t rely on your own perception of what a “good deal is”, shop your competition – that is what your customers do everyday. This isn’t rocket science folks, you should always make sure you have good, aggressive, competitive, offers and if you don’t, then save your money – because you are just wasting it anyway, right?
Rule 2. Don’t try to package things together on a mailer. It doesn’t work and even if your package deal is a good deal, consumers only see the price and not all of the stuff that you’ve included…so you lost the chance of getting the customer to visit your store. The last thing you want to do is spend money to send a bad message, right?
Rule 3. Target your service history database first. You have thousands of customers in your database that have been in for service and never returned. Why not go after them before you go outside your database. These customers know where you are and they have spent money with you in the past…they should be the easiest to get back. Give them a reason to come back…send them mailers with special offers that apply to their cars or increase the discount amount depending on how long it has been since they visited your store for service. Think about this…if a customer was in your store for service in the past 2 years, but hasn’t come back in over a year…would you give him a free oil change to return – of course you would – don’t be silly. Put that on a mailer or under a scratch and save offer and they come in excited that they won something…and you get a second chance at earning their business. Here is a thought that will drive you nuts – how much do you make if they don’t come in?
Rule 4. Be consistent. You can’t mail just once and expect it to work miracles. Advertising effectively requires repetition and consistency. Decide on a look, or style for your mailers that builds brand equity and don’t change the look – you can change the offers, but not the look. The best example I can think of that drives this point home is – Dominoes Pizza. Look at their ads…they are all the same…same little red and blue dominoe dots in the corner…hasn’t changed in years and probably never will. But the offers change all the time, right? The trick here is that anytime you get one of those flyers in the paper or in the mailbox…you instantly know who it is from – that my friends is brand equity and you need to follow that example. There is no need to design a new mailer every month…stay with a consistent look and change the offers.
Rule 5. Measure response rates and return on investment. This is sometimes an area that gets sticky. Be careful when you look at reports on how effective your direct mail is…remember the vendor put that report together to keep you spending money with them. There is some margin for error though…I mean how do you know some of the customers that got the mailer and came in wouldn’t have come in anyway, right? The best way I can tell you to look at these reports is to break down the customers in categories. For example, if a customer was in recently, you sent them a mailer and they came in again… the effectiveness of that mailer may be suspect. I mean the customer may have returned and he may not have, but it is hard to definitively say. But if it has been a long time since the customer was in your store, you send him a mailer with an aggressive offer or discount and he came back…that is probably a pretty good gauge for a return on investment. Read the reports, just keep what I said in mind. In my opinion, the real true test of any direct mail campaign is the bottom line results you get…you know…the hard question like did you increase repair order count? Did you increase sales? Did you increase profits?
There are a lot of factors that play into building your business. If you send out a mailer with expensive or bad offers it won’t work. If you send it to the wrong people, it won’t work. If you are not consistent, it won’t work. If your advisors don’t answer the phone or don’t try to set appointments, it won’t work. If you have a bad reputation for over-charging, or taking too long, or not fixing cars right the first time…it wont work. So keep these factors in mind when you consider your advertising plan and budget – and remember the goal here is to get more bang for your advertising buck.
Service Reminders
- Time-Driven Discounts
- Addictive Scratch & Save
- Unique Download Process
Stay connected: