New ‘card-free’ program eliminates usual loyalty program hassles with turnkey process that allows dealers to focus on selling, rather than implementation

Daytona Beach, FL -- October 19, 2011 – DMEautomotive, the industry leader in science-based, results-driven automotive marketing, today announced a new affordable “card-free” customer loyalty program for auto dealerships designed to eliminate the usual administrative hassles associated with rewards programs and drive greater retention, service revenue, and car sales.

“We listened to what both consumers and dealers want in a loyalty program: no administrative hassles, no cards, greater flexibility and cost-efficiency and, importantly, precision targeting based on market realities,” said Mike Walther, president and CEO of 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. And, with 46.5% of gross profits coming from the service/parts dept*, the need for a turnkey loyalty program that uses marketing science to generate high value service traffic and customer retention – and increased profitability - is mission critical.”

Walther further noted that in today’s market, communicating with customers in the sweet spot immediately after purchase is key; and the DMEa Customer Loyalty program makes it easy to begin that conversation right at the purchase point, increasing the likelihood of service conversion -- and then continues the conversation with precision targeting throughout the vehicle ownership life cycle.

Targeting High Value Customers, Efficiently and with Results

Research from the DMEa Strategy & Analytics division confirms that the top 20% of a dealership’s customer base accounts for approximately 80% of all sales and service dollars; and, while the DMEa Customer Loyalty program is designed to reach all relevant customers, DMEa’s marketing science enables dealers to specifically target this highly valuable customer segment to generate increased service visits to the dealership.

In addition, the DMEa loyalty program focuses on efficiency, sparing dealerships the accounting incurred by carrying earned, but not redeemed, reward points on their books. With the DMEa program, customers automatically receive rewards points based on a point to dollar ratio (sales and service programs) or a point to number of visits ratio (sales program). The program also provides extensive reporting options so that dealers can easily measure and monitor results and ROI.

“Dealerships need to spend their valuable resources on selling to those customers most likely to spend, rather than wasting hours with the complicated administrative and accounting tasks that most points-based loyalty programs require,” continued Walther.  “We used DMEa’s proprietary marketing science to solve all the traditional challenges of loyalty marketing programs and to provide what we believe is the best and most innovative loyalty program available.”

Benefits of the DMEa Customer Loyalty Program include:

• Complete management by DMEautomotive
• Card-free process
• Automatic calculation of points accrual and rewards distribution
• Integrated rewards messaging in existing (Customer Journey) mail, email and PURL (personal web page) communications
• Automatic customer email alerts once reward threshold has been met
• Multiple customization options, including:
  • Sales, service or combined sales & service program options
  • Rewards program name
  • Points assignment and conversion
  • Point thresholds
  • Reward and point expirations
  • Dealership logo and branding
• Performance Reporting and Loyalty Dashboard, including:
  • Points balance report
  • Follow-up list report
  • Rewards distribution report
  • Service program ROI reports

DMEautomotive’s Customer Loyalty program is available to all customers who use DMEautomotive’s Customer Journey Programs.

About DMEautomotive

DMEautomotive is the industry leader in science-based, results-driven automotive marketing, and provides turnkey marketing to the biggest and most innovative automotive organizations, from automobile dealerships - including AutoNation, Lithia Automotive, MileOne, Larry H. Miller and the Van Tuyl Automotive Group - to many of the largest aftermarket companies in the U.S.  DMEa's uniquely panoramic view of the complete automotive sales and service market, combined with its cutting-edge, science-based marketing programs, increases customer yield, conversion and retention.

DMEa does not take marketing performance on faith, and each product and service is measured by a simple, precise scientific approach: Is it true? Prove it. Will it work? Test it. Does it generate results? Show it!  The DMEa product suite includes data driven, multi-channel customer acquisition and retention marketing programs; best-in-class campaign reporting; data management and analytics via the Red Rocket Portal; auto-focused Customer Interaction Center solutions, and complete on-site mail and email fulfillment services. Headquartered in Daytona Beach, Fla., DMEautomotive also has major operations in Jacksonville, Fla.

*Total gross profit as percent of service and parts sales 46.48% for 2010 according to NADA Data 2011

http://www.nada.org/NR/rdonlyres/0798BE2A-9291-44BF-A126-0D372FC89B...

Contact:

Media Relations

Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, (424) 603-4340, melanie@mwebbcom.com