Nothing creates warm-fuzzy feelings quite like cookies. That’s why Howdy Honda in Austin , TX recently used LoyaltyTrac, their service rewards program, to conduct an email campaign centered around the holidays and cookies.

Colorful, cheerful emails were sent to all of Howdy Honda’s service reward members, encouraging them to submit their favorite holiday cookie recipe to be included in a downloadable cookbook that the dealership would create and distribute in its December email. Members were encouraged (but not required) to post their recipes on Howdy Honda’s Facebook wall. Every member who sent in a recipe received a bonus 10,000 service rewards points redeemable towards any service of choice.

The email campaign achieved an open rate of nearly 20%, far surpassing the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMS) average of 12-14% for opt-in lists. More than 50 members clicked through to the dealer’s Facebook page, resulting in many cookie recipes being posted on their Facebook wall. The campaign’s focus was to engage service rewards members using social media, but a nice added bonus was that the campaign also generated service appointments that averaged $250 per RO in customer pay work.

Other LoyaltyTrac auto dealerships have achieved similar results with various non-solicit campaigns. Emailing seasonal recipes to service rewards members as a “thank you” or vehicle safety tips and do-it-yourself guidelines are other examples of how you can gain appreciation from your customers.

Howdy Honda’s cookie campaign is just one example of how customized campaigns work to build customer loyalty. LoyaltyTrac is a rewards-based loyalty and retention platform that may be points-based, activity-based or incentive-based, and extends the experience of a dealer’s loyalty program into Facebook and Twitter by making customers’ actions in social media both trackable and rewardable.

However, before you design your own campaign, LoyaltyTrac makes the following recommendation: service managers should assign every recipe to one employee so they can bring in the various treats. After all, you wouldn’t want to hand out recipes that you haven’t personally tried, would you? We didn’t think so!

Happy Holidays and enjoy the treats, customer goodwill and extra revenue!

The holiday season is here – a time for free shipping and 20% off everything!

At least that’s what a bulk of the major retailers out there tend to focus on this time of year. For many of us – regardless of the holiday(s) we each celebrate – the focus of this holiday season is on family and friends, on creating memories and sharing traditions, on expressing gratitude and love. It is a season of goodwill and giving.

As a business, are you focusing on the steep rise in sales you can expect over the next two months or on the emotional aspects that impact so many this time of year? What do you think your customers are focusing on? Are the two one in the same?

These are questions that we need to ask ourselves as marketers, particularly in the medium of email marketing. With the barrage of emails that your customers are already receiving, how can you differentiate your email campaigns from all the competition – both in your industry and out? The following suggestions should help you start thinking of ways to make your email marketing efforts be more meaningful – and more successful – this holiday season.

1. Beware of Overkill

Over the last week, I have received at least one email each day from a major toy retailer. I expect that average to increase significantly over the coming weeks. When I initially signed up on the retailer’s mailing list, I read each email. Now, however, I honestly can’t remember the last time I opened an email from this retailer; if they don’t automatically filter to my junk mail, these emails are sent to my trash before I open anything I actually want to open and read.

This is classic email fatigue. When consumers receive emails with irrelevant content or too many emails in quick succession, they develop email fatigue. During the holidays, many retailers think that sending emails more frequently is a good thing; it keeps customers aware of sales, contests and other events. But consider that every other business is also amping up the number of emails they send, and eventually consumers just stop reading them. Fewer, highly targeted emails are more likely to give you the successful results you’re looking for than emailing every update to your entire distribution list.

2. “When” Matters

Are you planning to send out an email campaign on Cyber Monday (the first Monday after American Thanksgiving)? Several reports have estimated that consumers spent well over $1 Billion online on Cyber Monday in 2010. With such augmented consumer spending, it comes as no surprise that email marketing efforts increase significantly that one day each year. So perhaps it is a day you should avoid. Consider sending out any Cyber Monday promotions in advance to avoid getting lost in the glut of emails your customer will receive the day of.

Also, if you’re planning on sending out a holiday greeting to your customers (if not, you should), avoid sending it out on the actual holiday. Most of your customers won’t check their email inboxes on major holidays, increasing the odds of your greeting being read days after the holiday, if it gets read at all.

3. Go for the Open

The subject line is one of the most important aspects of your email marketing campaigns – in fact, it is the one single factor that most often determines whether or not your email gets opened. When email inboxes are full of ads and offers from countless businesses, you need to ensure your email’s stand out. A good subject line is the best way to catch your customer’s eye. Use personalization and humor. Appeal to your customers’ emotions. Brainstorming as a team is one of the best ways to develop solid subject lines, so don’t be afraid to run them past your coworkers. Use small A/B test groups from your database to see what works best. And be sure to use catchy header text to ensure your customers want to keep reading the email once it’s been opened.

4. Get Social

Remember all those “overkill” emails you’re not sending anymore? All that content is still vital to your holiday marketing; it just takes on a different form. Research reports are indicating that in the last year, social networks have surpassed search engines as the most visited batch of websites. Instead of creating new emails for each new promotion or event update, get social. Not only are social media sites like Facebook and Twitter great ways to reach large groups of customers, those posts can be shared and re-tweeted, increasing your visibility in ways that emails can never do.

Social platforms are also great ways to encourage involvement from your customers. An auto dealership in Texas that we work with is sending out an email campaign encouraging its loyalty club members to post their favorite cookie recipe on the dealership’s Facebook page. The members will not only receive loyalty club points, but this dealership will assemble each recipe into a cookbook that members will be able to download after the submission period closes. This is just one great example of using social media to engage your customers – and it’s something this dealership’s customers will not soon forget.

5. Don’t Sell

If every other retailer is offering free shipping and 20% off coupons, then you need to go against the flow. Find ways to differentiate your business from all the others out there competing for your customers’ attention – and purchases. Offer more than simple discounts and savings. The more unique your emails are, the more they’ll distinguish your business and the more likely they are to be shared with others.

We encourage our clients each year to significantly downplay sales and promotions this time of year, and we’re not the only ones. Constant Contact managing editor Martin Lieberman says, “Everyone is selling at holiday time. The more you can NOT sell, the more it will help you stand out from your competition. Shopping tips, gift-giving advice and entertaining content” are perfect examples of email content you can use to help differentiate your business from others. Many of our clients’ members wait anxiously for the email distributed right before Thanksgiving; these campaigns receive some of the highest open rates and best positive customer feedback. What are they sending? A recipe.

6. Be Meaningful

The holiday season is packed with emotion for many of your customers. Are you appealing to that emotion with your email campaigns? Express your thanks to your customers for their business and support during the past year. Share with your customers what you hope to accomplish in coming new year. Actively participate in local charities. Start your own annual food and toy drive. Most importantly, don’t ignore the significance that this season has to so many of your customers. Make your marketing efforts meaningful – and memorable. Give them a reason to share your business with everyone else they know.

This blog reprinted from www.drivingretention.com

, your one-stop customer loyalty resource.

Would you rather have 1 million Facebook fans or 100 loyal customers? Until recently, businesses have generally focused on the number of fans they acquired, trying to get a high number of people to “like” their page. The number of Facebook fans your business has, however, is immaterial if you have no relationship with them as customers.

A recent post on All Facebook: The Unofficial Facebook Resource outlines 7 ways to build customer relationships on Facebook. We’ve expounded on each of these tips and suggest loyalty program and marketing managers evaluate what steps in this process would best help your business harness the potential in customers using social media.

1. Build a Single Database: Just like with customers who visit your business in person, in order to manage a relationship with your fans you need to start with a comprehensive database. Most social networks allow interfacing through their API using an open graph.
Learn More about Interfacing with Facebook

2. Prioritize Engagements: Fans can interact with a business profile in many different ways, from commenting on and sharing your content, to driving more traffic to your corporate website, to posting pictures of them using your products. Determine which interactions with your fans would be the most effective at building the desired relationship and encourage those interactions.

3. Identify Your Most Important Fans: You know who your best customers are: the frequent buyers, the big spenders, advocates who are great word-of-mouth marketers. It’s just as important to identify your best fans and target your content to reach them. These are individuals who regularly perform the interactions you’ve determined to be the most important and are the most influential with your other fans and their friends.

4. Give Value to Your Fans: Once you’ve identified your most active fans, give them something in return. It could be something as simple as recognizing them as a top fan and thanking them for their contributions. Some businesses have established loyalty plan – of sorts - just for their Facebook fans’ engagement and are rewarding points for interactions like inviting a friend, uploading photos and answering trivia questions correctly, depending on what interactions are seen as most important.

5. Tie In Your Other Loyalty Programs: Bring your fans’ “virtual” interactions into your “real-world” business by letting them convert their “virtual” Facebook points into “real” points and rewards. For example, 100 Facebook points could equal a $1 purchase in your rewards program.

6. Communicate the Value You Offer: As with any other customers, communicating well with your Facebook fans is imperative. When they respond to your content, respond back. Let them know what points you are offering for different interactions and be clear about any rules or restrictions. Keep them up to date on how many points they have accumulated and what that value would convert to in your rewards program. Being “in the know” doesn’t just help the customer or fan experience – it’s what social media is all about.

7. Measure Return on Investment: You need to track the successes and failures of any marketing campaign. The same is true with your Facebook page. Calculate ROI to verify that the interactions you’ve prioritized are creating profits. Is a highly active fan a loyal customer? Do you have fans that became customers just through experiencing your engagements on Facebook? Are customers discovering more products and services they can use by following you on Facebook?

“For the first time, in this type of world, we can see the connection between a loyal fan and a devoted customer, identify the connection between action on the social network and action at the cash register, allowing us to reward fans and followers with rewards for their participation in social activities” (allfacebook.com).

This blog condensed from http://www.drivingretention.com, your loyalty resource. 

As a fan of other businesses on Facebook, what types of engagements have you responded to? What interactions seem to elicit the most involvement from fans?

In September Groupon launched the first phase of Groupon Rewards, a new platform that tries to provide businesses with a way to build customer loyalty. Groupon Rewards’ release comes amid concerns from merchants that Groupon customers demonstrate no loyalty to the businesses offering deals.

What Groupon Rewards Does:

Groupon users who spend a merchant-determined fixed amount (at that same merchant) can earn a Groupon Reward, providing a deeper discount than a regular Groupon deal. For example, after spending $50 or $100 at a business over time, a customer might get a Groupon Reward to spend $4 and get $20 worth of food.

How Groupon Rewards Works:

Groupon Rewards are tracked using user credit cards. Once users have opted in to the program, they would need to consistently use the credit card which is already on file with Groupon in order to build their Groupon Reward. A spending goal, set by the merchant, can be met after multiple visits. Users will receive email or phone notifications after each visit alerting them that they just spent money at a merchant offering a Groupon Reward and indicating how much more they need to spend to unlock their Reward.

Pros & Cons for Businesses & Their Customers

While there is no cost for the Groupon Rewards program itself, TechCrunch indicates that “unlike a regular Groupon deal, the merchant will not keep half of the coupon amount. If the reward is a $4 coupon for $20 worth of goods, that entire $4 will go to Groupon.”

Businesses will now be able to track ROI – a feature that was previously unavailable through Groupon.

As the program is tied to the customer’s credit card, merchants and shoppers wouldn’t have to worry about a loyalty or membership card; however, in order for the program to work at all, customers must only use the credit card they have registered with Groupon.

How effective do you think this new program will be in generating repeat business? In generating loyalty? What is the difference?

How well do you think Groupon Rewards would work for businesses when compared to other loyalty rewards programs?

This blog condensed from www.drivingretention.com,  your customer loyalty resource.

A good loyalty program consists of much more than simply rewarding your customers’ repeat business. In many ways, the repeat business generated by customer rewards is only scratching the surface of the loyalty and retention benefits available with such a program. A recent article published by ITC Infotech details how businesses can include customer-centric processes in implementing their customer loyalty programs to improve their tactical marketing efforts and the overall customer experience:

Collect & Organize Data

Adopt a customer loyalty solution that allows not just the collection of data but its organization into smaller and usable modules which will help in the accurate assessment of actual ‘market’ and locate existing and emerging trends. Organized data can be extrapolated not only with information on prevailing economic scenario but also to competitive landscape to fine tune a loyalty program that is future-proof. It goes without saying that the more detailed loyalty data repositories are, resultant reports generated would be more pointed making loyalty offers more attractive to its members.

Profiling Customer Segments

Psycho-social profiling of customer segments is integral to the analysis of the health of a loyalty program. Besides demographic segmentation, your solution should allow you to pull up data that displays attitude, behavior, spending and customer satisfaction. This helps in ongoing fine-tuning of the loyalty strategy.

Integrating Loyalty with Organizational Goals

Once insights are obtained, it is important to align them to organizational goals thereby drawing out a winning, fit-for-purpose marketing loyalty program. By identifying target groups and actionable touch points, it is far easier for organizations to get higher returns on loyalty programs. Research shows that when it comes to loyalty programs, one size does not fit all as customers are promiscuous by nature and thus heterogeneous in their preferences.

Adopt Tailored Tactics

While generic marketing is about broadcasting, loyalty marketing is the practice of narrowcasting thus its tactics have to be tailored to the needs of specific customer segments. These tactics may be based on regions, gender, spend, membership to specific social class etc. Specific customer insights go a long way in sharpening visual merchandizing, planning campaigns & promotions and ensure that spend on any media returns more bang for the buck!

By using properly segmented data collected through your loyalty program, you can ensure your marketing efforts are targeting the right people with the right message at the right time. Your customers are more likely to respond to offers that were intended specifically for them, rather than offers broadcasted to every individual in your database. And when your customers are responding to your marketing efforts at higher rates, organizational goals – and overall success – will be more easily achieved.

What other customer-centric processes have you found to improve your tactical marketing effort?

What methods have you tried for tracking the overall efficacy of your marketing efforts? What didn’t work? What worked best?

This blog excerpted from www.drivingretention.com, your one-stop resource for customer loyalty solutions.

Every business that has offered a loyalty rewards program has seen a variety of responses to every reward offered. Some rewards are rarely – if ever – redeemed by members, while another reward may seem to be the only reward members want. And while we may switch out unused rewards for others we see as more valuable, the success of that reward will likely remain low unless we’ve evaluated and employed the characteristics of highly successful rewards in our own reward selection.

Detailed below are eight properties that we believe are the foundation of the most successful rewards. A good reward should incorporate many – if not all - of these properties:

Flexible – Most loyalty programs are set up to last years, even decades. Your rewards should be flexible enough to adapt through any changes that may develop over the course of the program. Changes in membership numbers, the economy, product pricing and various other conditions are inevitable, and you should ensure each reward is able to cope with these changes over time.

Affordable – Select rewards that your business will be able to afford over an extended period of time and through multiple redemptions. Be sure to calculate the cost of the reward accurately so that you can adequately budget to see its affordability.

Simple – The more complicated the reward, the more frustrating it will be – for you and for your rewards members. It should be easy for your customers to estimate the value of the reward to themselves. (And remember that customer-perceived value may well be different from the value your business associates with the reward.)

Attractive – The reward is what will encourage your customers to join your loyalty program. No matter how elaborate and valuable your program is, if your rewards are not attractive, your customers won’t join.

Unique – The more unique each reward is, the better your loyalty program will stand out from the programs of your competitors. You want your program to distinguish your business, to set you apart – and above – the rest. And while it’s easy to find rewards that are expensive, you need to remember to keep the rewards affordable, as discussed above. The challenge is to find unique rewards that have a high customer-perceived value, but that don’t cost your business a fortune.

Seen to Be Attainable – It is possible for a person to win $1 million, but the average person wouldn’t necessarily see it that way. You don’t want your rewards to simply be attainable; to your customers, the rewards must be seen to be attainable.

Aspirational – Aspirational rewards are often more attractive over a longer period of time. Many customers feel a level of guilt if they see they are getting something for nothing, particularly if they are receiving luxury rewards and high-end soft rewards. Allowing your members the opportunity to earn these rewards will actually help many of them to reduce this feeling of guilt and allow them to appreciate the reward for a longer period of time. It also gives them something to look forward to, something to work towards, that they can feel good about once they’ve achieved the reward.

The Right Image – The image of the reward must match your company’s image, as well as the image of the customer. Harley Davidson can reward its members in different ways than BMW could. Be sure to involve your marketing department as you discuss what rewards to include; make your rewards part of your branding process.

How have you used these reward traits in your own loyalty programs? Are some more widely effective than others?

What other characteristics have you found to be essential in the making of good rewards?

As the economy has continued to fluctuate almost constantly, businesses have been forced to adapt processes and strategies to fit changing economic demands. One of the biggest changes in the automotive industry is that dealers are no longer able to wait for customers to come to them. Dealerships need to ensure that their sales teams are prepared to first find the sales.

Sales people will generally focus on the processes that deliver the dollars, and these processes have changed. Dealers are not waiting for a vehicle supply to push; rather they have to pull a demand for vehicle sales out of their customers. And if dealers want to effectively change to a demand-driven process, they need to reward the processes that create the right opportunities and deliver the right results.

We’ve included some suggested commission ideas that would be simple to implement and effective at driving desired behaviors from personnel in your service and sales departments and ultimately help your dealership build sales and revenue.

1) Service Retention

Many dealerships see a steep drop off in retention between the first and second vehicle service visits. By splitting a small commission between your sales department and your service advisor on returning service visits, you will encourage both departments to improve skills in customer service and upselling.

2) Orphaned Customers

Customers who haven’t been in for a service visit in over 12 months are probably having their vehicle serviced at a competitor. Generate a call list including orphaned customers and a word track for available employees to use to follow up with these lapsed customers. Offer a $5 or $10 commission for each service appointment made during these calls.

3) Internet Contact Requests

Whether it’s information from sales or service, if your customer completes a contact form online, they need to be contacted to schedule an appointment. Encourage your sales and service department employees to follow up quickly on Internet contact requests by offering a small bonus for each successful appointment made through an Internet lead.

4) Test Drives

“Test drives sell cars.” Dealers have been using this adage for years because it works. The closing percentage generally goes up if the prospective buyer has sat behind the wheel of the vehicle they’re considering. Use this tool to an even bigger advantage by incentivizing your sales department for what actually sells cars. (We also recommend you include a minimum close ratio to avoid “tampering” with the test drive commission program.)

5) Repeat Purchases

If your sales and service departments are doing a great job at keeping your customers coming back, reward them. Allot a specific amount to be shared between the two departments for each customer who purchases a new or used vehicle who is a current service customer (meaning they have been in for service sometime in the last 12 months).

6) Service Department Prospects

Maybe one of the best places to look for potential buyers is in your own back yard… or at least back door. Encourage your sales department employees to be proactive in reviewing scheduled appointments. Have them scout out customers with vehicles more than 2 years old and suggest they test drive a new model while waiting for their vehicle to be serviced. Pay a bonus for used vehicle trades sourced through the service department.

There are many ways to reward your employees for their efforts and hard work. What other incentives have you found to be successful?

Rewards drive behavior, whether you’re training your dog to sit, potty-training your toddler or encouraging specific buying habits from your customers. By rewarding the behavior you want and not rewarding the behavior you would like to discourage, you can generally predict the direction a behavior will trend.

Perhaps the most crucial part of customer loyalty programs are the rewards, and a good reward will accomplish many different things. We’ve provided a list below detailing the different functions of a good reward. We suggest you evaluate your rewards individually to determine if the rewards you’ve employed in your loyalty program are fulfilling their overall purpose.

1.  A Good Reward Provides Your Customers a Reason to Participate.  

2.  A Good Reward Says “Thank You” to Your Customers. 

3.  A Good Reward Encourages Customers to Supply Useful Data.  

4.  A Good Reward Changes Customer Behavior. 

5.  A Good Reward Retains Existing Customers.  

6.  A Good Reward Attracts New Customers.  

7.  A Good Reward Differentiates Your Business From Your Competitors.  

8.  A Good Reward Improves Your Relationship with Your Customers.

Does your dealership's rewards program fulfill all of these functions? What rewards have you found to be the most effective overall?

This blog is condensed from www.drivingretention.com, your one stop resource for customer loyalty solutions.

Here are some facts about Prepaid Maintenance Plans (PMPs):

* Customers who use a dealer’s repair facility are 17 times more likely to purchase subsequent vehicles from that dealer.

* Boosting a PMP repair order with another $150 to $350 of additional up-sold retail customer-pay business adds serious money to the bottom line.

* When a PMP plan is built into used vehicle prices, a dealer can bump after-sale service use of the dealership from 15% to upwards of 50%.

* Typically one in five customers return to the dealership for service, but PMP plan holders visit servicing dealers at a rate of 72%.

* PMP plan holders who return to the dealership purchase incremental retail service about 90% of the time.

* PMP plan holders spend an average of $128 per visit for incremental retail service upsell products and services.

* A dealer that writes 1,500 repair orders per month can easily sell 150 to 200 maintenance policies just by asking the customer. In F&I, it takes a 500- to 600-unit store to generate the same 200 maintenance policies.

So, given these upsell profit opportunities, why are some dealers' prior experiences with PMPs disappointing? Many have said that customers simply won't buy these plans. However, when these programs are examined, it is clear why customers aren’t interested — because they are loaded with services of low value to the customer yet priced quite profitably for the dealership.

Today’s redesigned PMP programs offer a wide range of products and services, often with a tiered pricing structure that works for both the consumer and dealer. Additionally, today's PMP plans are software-driven, handling once time-consuming chores like plan registration, service claim and premium submissions. Because dealers control these programs, any reserve or forfeiture is immediate.

Every plan will experience forfeiture. It results when a customer terminates the plan early or for whatever reason does not use the plan. For most traditional PMP plans, the third-party administrator holds this dealer-funded reserve, from which they would take up to 60% of the value of the cancelled services as part of its fee structure. But the self-managed programs of today eliminate that third-party forfeiture, so the dealership keeps the excess revenue.

Dealers, have you ever tried a Prepaid Maintenance Program? What have your results been?

To learn more about MediaTrac’s Prepaid Maintenance Program UltraCare, click here: http://www.media-trac.com/products/ultracare.shtml

In a lagging economy, keeping your loyal customers loyal can become increasingly more challenging, but there is probably no other time when good customer loyalty is more vital to your business. Your loyal customers are your high-value clients, bringing in as much as 80% of your overall sales, according to Pareto’s principle (the 80-20 Rule). These customers will not leave you for your competitors based merely on prices; customers stay loyal to businesses that provide them additional value and consistently outstanding customer service.

We’ve provided 5 tips for maintaining customer loyalty in any economic climate. These steps will help you gain a better understanding of who your best customers are and what you can do to keep them loyal.

1. Ask Them What They Think.  Survey all of your customers, former customers and potential customers with just two simple questions: a. On a scale of 1 to 10, would you recommend us to others? (1 = definitely no, 10 = definitely yes) and b. Why or why not? The answers to these two questions tell you how what general percentage of your customers is loyal as well as their reasons behind why they are or not.

2. Stay In Touch.  Whether it’s included in a loyalty program or you purchase on separately, find an email marketing tool and use it wisely. Be sure to target messages to the right customers at the right time. Provide your customers specific information they would find helpful and special offers that are customized just for them. Let them know about contests, upcoming events, new products, etc. But don’t send out too much too often. Find a balance between encouraging their patronage without taking advantage of their trust.

3. Go the Extra Mile.  In addition to your advertisements, announcements and non-solicit emails, sign up for a greeting card system or set up recurring email campaigns. Send birthday greetings with a gift or special offer just for them. Thank them on their “customer” anniversary for their continued patronage to your business. Send them a greeting if you’ve not seen them x-number of months and extend a special offer for their return visit. This personal touch helps your customers understand that you value them as individuals and invites more loyalty and trust.

4. Encourage Participants, Not Spectators.  Keep your loyal customers involved and ask for their opinions on any pending changes or new directions in your business arise. You never want to make a business decision that will alienate your loyal customers. (Remember the Pareto principle!) As loyal customers, they will love having a say in things and will provide an invaluable incite to your focus groups and planning meetings. Plus, once a decision is reached, their word-of-mouth marketing will achieve more success than almost any other marketing efforts you employ.

5.  Say It To Their Face.  Never shy away from an opportunity to thank your customers for their business. Train your employees to extend sincere thanks for even the smallest business transaction. Greet your customers by name (when you can) and encourage all your employees to do the same. Host customer appreciation events. Support local charities. Be involved in their (your) community and you will be surprised how much you get ahead by simply giving back!

This list is by no means exhaustive. Please share any other approaches you have taken to keep your loyal customers loyal.

This blog was reprinted from Driving Retention, the auto dealer’s one-stop service rewards program resource.