As front-end margins continue their decline, dealers are more reliant than ever on fixed ops revenue. Fortunately, the opportunity to maximize service revenue has never been greater for dealerships.

In the last decade auto sales have boomed. Factory maintenance programs are driving more initial service visits. Increased CPO sales are creating…

Chicago, IL- January 14, 2018- Affinitiv CEO Scot Eisenfelder is shining a spotlight on five industry trends that have the potential to negatively impact auto dealership operations in 2019, unless dealers take immediate action. Although disruptors such as autonomous vehicles, ride sharing and alternative powertrain vehicles dominate today's headlines, these trends are several years away from having a direct impact on dealership operations.

Five trends that…

Connectiv Prospect update doubles social media impressions & decreases Cost Per Vehicle Sold,

at no additional cost to dealers

Chicago, IL- January 7, 2018- Affinitiv has added Instagram social ads to Connectiv Prospect, its conquest campaign marketing solution for auto dealerships. In a 30-day pilot at…

Read the headlines and you see it everywhere: online used vehicle sales are booming.

Carvana is expanding into dozens of new markets and although it has yet to turn a profit, its vehicle unit sales more than doubled and gross profit nearly tripled in Q3 2018. The retailer just announced $2 billion in financing from Ally…

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves – Viktor Frankl

The news is full of major disruptors; if you follow the headlines you might think that a world filled with autonomous vehicles is imminent (it isn't), or that new owner and retail models will soon put dealers out of business (they…

Chicago, IL- November 14, 2018- Affinitiv announced today it has completed all requirements to participate in the Digital Advertising Program under the GM Dealer Digital Solution. 

This allows dealers the opportunity to leverage in-Market Retail (iMR) funds to reimburse themselves for the cost of their Digital Advertising services.  Please refer to the iMR Dealer Program guidelines located at www.gmlam.com for…

After an unprecedented period of sales volume growth, the prediction for a flat Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) in the coming years has significant implications for dealerships. As competition for new vehicles heats up, front-end margins will continue to decline, forcing more dealers to focus on back end profitability.…

Have you ever noticed how the market values dealerships versus how it values Software as a Service (SaaS) businesses that derive income from the same automotive revenue stream? SaaS businesses such as CDK trade at mid-20x P/E ratios while dealers trade at 4-6x operating profit.

One major reason for this disparity is because SaaS business revenues are…

Did you know the customer data sitting in your DMS is the most valuable asset you own—even more valuable than your real estate and inventory combined? Yet I don’t know any dealers that have a budget or defined strategic objective to invest in, increase and maintain the value of this asset.

When you have comprehensive customer data, you know something…

Today one of five vehicles on the road are under recall. This year alone there have been 46 million vehicle owners notified of a recall; seven million of which are not related to the Takata airbag issue.

Recalls represent a significant revenue opportunity for dealership service departments. Whenever a customer comes in for a recall repair, there’s an…

Strategic partnership enhances digital capabilities for combined customer base

Chicago, IL- September 17, 2018- Affinitiv announced today the strategic acquisition of Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises. Affinitiv, an industry leading provider of customized, omni-channel owner retention programs and innovative…

Do you know your customers’ lifetime value (CLV)? CLV defines the monetary value of your customer relationship by how much gross profit they have generated for your dealership.

If you divide your customer database into quintiles, you’ll discover that the top 20 percent is responsible for 79 percent of your gross profits, while the bottom 20 percent are net…

Free monthly webinars designed to help auto dealers maximize revenue potential

Chicago, IL—August 20, 2018— Affinitiv, a leading provider of innovative marketing and software solutions to dealerships, today announced a free educational webinar series for auto dealers. “Revenue Rescue” webinars will take an in-depth look at the solutions, strategies and safeguards proven to help auto dealers…

There’s a lot of buzz around subscriptions as a new ownership model, with various industry pundits forecasting major disruptions for dealers. I see things differently.

I believe there are several major barriers to subscription growth for non-dealers, and opportunities for dealers to thrive, should subscriptions break through as a significant ownership model.…

Most dealers know how many cars they sell on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. But if I asked you how many new customers you acquired this year, would you know the answer?

On the service side, you probably know how many ROs were closed last month and how much revenue was generated, but do you know how many new service customers you acquired? How many of…

From a consumer perspective, access to loaner vehicles is a major factor in service location choice—both in terms of franchised dealer versus independent repair facility, and among franchised dealer locations. Loaner vehicles help to overcome the inconvenience of having to drive further for service, and from having to wait at the dealership or make alternative transportation…

On average, dealers capture just half of the necessary service work that needs to be performed on vehicles that come into their service lanes. This is a big leakage point that has a direct impact on service revenue. It also offers tremendous untapped potential.

In addition to acquiring new service customers, it’s important to focus on maximizing service…

According to the 2017 JD Power CSI survey, only 13 percent of consumers scheduled their vehicle service online. The progress toward online scheduling has been glacially slow, rising only two percentage points over the past three years.

This is despite the fact that nearly all dealerships now have an online scheduler and most service reminders are digital.…

We are in a new era; one in which dealers make most of their money on the service side and not in new vehicle sales. Yet, as an industry we still spend far more money marketing the sales side of the business, and on conquest marketing, than we do on service marketing and customer retention.

Some dealers justify this by saying that sales drives service…

So much of the conversation in automotive marketing today is focused on how to leverage technology and data to precisely target consumers. While this is important, it’s just as important to remember that creative still matters.

After all, you can serve up the exact right message to the right person at the right time, but without a…