Strategic partnership creates a full-service automotive marketing platform and 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 service lane software solutions, will combine with Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises, experts in digital and new media (audio/video) marketing, to provide the automotive industry with comprehensive solutions for each stage of the customer lifecycle.

“This is an exciting opportunity. We realized the value we could add to our clients after a successful joint project earlier this year. Given the increasing demand for digital marketing and new media creative solutions, it is no surprise they’ve grown significantly over the past few years. This acquisition truly makes us the marketing authority for all marketing spend within a dealership,” commented Affinitiv COO, Adam Meier.

Affinitiv offers automotive OEM, dealer groups and individual dealerships a complete view of customers: from market entry to point-of-sale, their first service appointment to major maintenance needs and beyond.

Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises partner, Paul Caldwell stated, “I've always known that our company had the potential to lead the automotive marketing industry, and I could see we needed the right partner to get us there. Affinitiv makes this a certainty with their breadth of client relationships and complementary solutions.”

Ensuring a true end to end marketing option for dealerships nationwide, the combined company will pair consultative planning with its unique digital, data and omni-channel marketing capabilities. This data-driven and consultative approach ensures that the most effective, accurately targeted omni-channel strategies are implemented, with an acute focus on specific client objectives.

“Our new amplified capabilities will help our clients extend their digital reach, better connect with new and existing customers, plus enjoy stronger campaign results than ever before,” said Scot Eisenfelder, CEO of Affinitiv. “We’re thrilled to have yet another way to enhance our client’s marketing initiatives.”

Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises is also pleased to provide its employees with more growth and development opportunities through Affinitiv. Tom Kerr, Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises partner commented, “Joining a service marketing powerhouse like Affinitiv will open many doors for our team members and we are excited to share these opportunities with our talented, dedicated, hard-working staff.”

About Affinitiv:

Affinitiv is a leading marketing technology company serving automotive manufacturers (OEMs), dealership groups, and individual dealers. Affinitiv’s Connectiv1 Platform is designed to provide a 360° view of customer, vehicle, dealership and marketing campaign effectiveness all in one place. It makes it easy for auto dealerships to leverage data and target customers with the right message at the right time on the right communication channel.

Affinitiv enables dealerships to produce, manage, measure and optimize omni-channel communications to drive brand loyalty and increase revenue. Affinitiv’s digital and analytic capabilities support a consistent customer experience through the entire ownership lifecycle. Affinitiv was formed in 2016 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

About Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises, an Affinitiv Company:

Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises is the automotive retail industry's leading provider of traditional and digital marketing. The company was launched in 2017 to unify the power and resources of CK Advertising, Ember Social and DyGen Digital. Today, Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises is one of the nation’s largest full-service automotive retail marketing companies. Current dealership clients represent the vast majority of vehicle manufacturers, including some of the largest publicly traded dealer groups and numerous Automotive News Top 125 Dealer Groups. In 2018, the agency formed a strategic partnership with Affinitiv to become the automotive industry’s one-stop-shop for comprehensive marketing throughout the customer lifecycle.

Affinitiv CEO & Executive Chairman Scot Eisenfelder explains why dealers need to own their market in this video blog.

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 maximize their revenue potential from common challenges they face every day. Every month a new topic will be presented.

“The goal of this webinar series is to answer the questions we frequently hear from dealers,” said Scot Eisenfelder, CEO of Affinitiv. “Our experts will show dealers how to tap into overlooked resources that can help them recover revenue that’s often left on the table.”

The first webinar is titled “The Right Side of Recalls” and is scheduled for Wednesday, August 22nd at 1 p.m. EST.

 “The Right Side of Recalls” will share recall management best practices that build customer trust and generate repeat business. In this webinar, Affinitiv will reveal the most effective strategies on how to alert customers and create a sense of urgency to drive them into your service lane. Webinar attendees will learn how to:

• Use events to support their recall strategy
• Create a multi-channel marketing plan to reach more recall customers
• Increase service appointments
• Convert recall ROs into loyal customers

“When faced with a recall, many dealers are unsure how to get the word out or make the most of the opportunity,” said Eisenfelder. “We want to take the stress out of recall events and ensure dealers see them as a chance to connect with customers, not as a burden.”

To register for “The Right Side of Recalls” or to learn more about Affinitv’s webinars, click on this link: https://www.affinitiv.com/revenue-rescue-affinitiv-webinar-series/

About Affinitiv:

Affinitiv is a leading marketing technology company serving automotive manufacturers (OEMs), dealership groups, and individual dealers. Affinitiv’s Connectiv1 Platform is designed to provide a 360° view of customer, vehicle, dealership and marketing campaign effectiveness all in one place. Connectiv1's advanced predictive analytics engine makes it easy for auto dealerships to leverage data and target customers with the right message at the right time on the right communications channel.

Affinitiv enables dealerships to produce, manage, measure and optimize omni-channel communications to drive brand loyalty and increase revenue. Affinitiv’s digital and analytic capabilities support a consistent customer experience through the entire ownership lifecycle. Affinitiv was formed in 2016 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

Scot Eisenfelder explains how tailwinds are affecting independent repair facilities and why it's more important than ever to have strategies to protect dealership service business in part 2 of this 2 part video blog.

CEO & Executive Chairman Scot Eisenfelder explains the importance of revenue yield to dealerships in service.

If you have flown recently there are two inescapable and related facts: (1) nearly every seat is full and (2) nearly every seat is priced differently. This is because airlines realize that planes taking off with empty seats represents lost revenue that will never come back. Our service bays and technician time are pretty much the same – idle time is revenue lost forever.

So, what can we learn from the airlines?

First, airlines focus on revenue yield, not average price (aka “effective labor rate” in our lingo). Airlines are keenly aware of how many seats are unfilled at any time and understand the general relationship between unfilled seats, time until departure and price. 

Similarly, service departments need to predict excess capacity far enough in advance to act. To accomplish this, an appointment culture is needed with consistent reminders to reduce unscheduled downtime. For each appointment, be sure to load advisor and technician capacity, so you can understand potential leakage. This allows you to analyze the relationship between scheduled visits and actual work performed a week or more in advance. Over time you will learn which leakage points are chronic, happen nearly every week, or episodic, unique to a particular week.

When airlines forecast unsold seats their first effort is to expand reach by advertising in more channels bringing on distributors with lower net revenue yield or higher cost per impression. Dealers should do the same.

 You can redouble efforts to reach inactive customers or missed appointments or use more expensive, higher response rate channels such as phone calls to chase non-respondents to fill specific open slots. Be willing to spend a little more to fill forecasted unused capacity because the cost is small compared to an unutilized technician hour. Expanding reach should be used for chronic and episodic unused capacity.

As the departure times approach, airlines start discounting more aggressively and very selectively. In general, I am not a proponent of heavily discounting service, because for most new vehicle owners, convenience trumps price. Therefore, I would recommend offering loaners, Uber vouchers or concierge service to entice consumers to service at less convenient times.

Discounting may be more effective to fill chronic unused capacity, for example late midweek afternoons; thereby creating a “blue plate special” for consumers with more flexible hours. Discounting can also be effective to drive new behaviors, such as supporting expanded weekend or evening service, until new habits are formed.

Maximizing revenue from your UIO, also means maximizing revenue from your available capacity. We all have some opportunities to learn from airlines regarding yield management.

Lately I’ve heard the terms omni-channel and multi-channel marketing used interchangeably. Yet there’s a distinct difference between the two terms, and several reasons why I believe omni-channel marketing is a more effective approach for auto dealers.

Years ago, we realized that not all customers can be reached by a single channel such as mail, email, television, radio or social media. Multi-channel marketing pushes messages out across all these channels in order to increase audience reach.

However, this fragmentation of channels presents a challenge. Reach is only one part of the marketing equation. When you factor in frequency, the cost of increasing frequency across all these channels becomes prohibitively expensive.

One way to address this challenge is to ask customers what their preferred method of communications is, and to market to them exclusively on that channel. The problem with this approach is that the channel the customer gives you may not be where they actually spend their time.

For example, a customer might give you an email address but only check that email a couple times per week. Or, they may tell you to put them on your mailing list knowing full well they throw most of their “junk mail” right into the trash.

When it comes to communicating, we are all omnivores. We consume different messages on different channels at different times. Your marketing communications should match the way that people personally communicate.

I know I can get hold of employees through the week via their work email address; but I have less confidence I can reach them that way on the weekend, so a text or phone call is the better approach. A lot of people spend time on Facebook at night or on weekends, but (hopefully) not while they are at work during the day.

An omni-channel strategy focuses on how your customers communicate with your brand at various stages of the car-buying journey. This is a more effective approach for several reasons.

Omni-Channel is Omnipresent

Omnipresent means to be in all places at once. Multi-channel marketing can fall short because you are pushing messages out at your convenience, and not necessarily when it’s convenient for the customer to receive it.

Not all consumers follow the buyer’s journey in the same way at the same pace. We’re all different, so the key is to be able to reach your customers with the right message over the right channel at the right time.

Instead of pushing out your messages across all channels at random times, you are pushing them out strategically on one channel or another, so the message is waiting for your customers when they show up.

This approach increases both reach and frequency without the prohibitive cost.

Omni-channel is Omniscient

Omniscient means “all knowing” and an omni-channel strategy requires knowing how to leverage your data with predictive analytics. The data is used to create a seamless, consistent experience with your brand, regardless of the device the customer is using or where they see your message.

How does this work? Most dealers have used retargeting ads. A car shopper views a vehicle on your website and that same vehicle is displayed to them later as they surf the Internet. Retargeting is a strategy that integrates your website and search marketing channels.

With omni-channel marketing, you can take this strategy a step further by delivering an email to that same car shopper that advertises a sale price or leasing special for the exact vehicle they were viewing. Later on, that same person may receive a text with a link to a video test drive for that same vehicle.

What happens when a service customer ignores your service reminder email? With multi-channel marketing, you send another email. With an omni-channel strategy, you can drop an ad for an overdue service reminder right into their Facebook news feed so the next time they are on Facebook they will see it.

Because it leverages predictive analytics, omni-channel messages are typically automated, requiring less time commitment from dealership staff.

Omni-channel is Omnipotent

Omnipotent means having unlimited power. Omni-channel marketing provides deeper insights into both your marketing spend and your customers’ journey, giving you the power to better service them.

An omni-channel strategy collects data from online and offline touchpoints and evaluates consumer patterns of behavior at a granular data. It measures everything.

Every time a customer interacts with your dealership, regardless of what device they’re using or the channel they are on, that interaction is noted and affects future messages going out on other channels. In other words, it shows the customer that you’re listening to them, improving their experience with your brand.

It also allows you to identify wasteful marketing spend. Did you know that Apple does not have a presence on Twitter (other than for support)? Twitter doesn’t help them reach their customers at critical points on the buying journey.

That doesn’t mean Twitter isn’t right for you, but wouldn’t it be helpful if you could identify one or more channels that you’re wasting marketing spend on?

Multi-channel marketing is far more effective than single-channel marketing. An omni-channel strategy takes your marketing to another level because it provides insights that improve your results and your customer relationships.

eBook offers a detailed guide on how to grow service profits using revenue per units-in-operation

Chicago, IL—March 13, 2018—Affinitiv, a leading provider of marketing and technology services to automotive manufacturers and dealerships, today announced the release of a free eBook for auto dealers, titled Why Service Absorption is a Dangerous Number: An Auto Dealer’s Guide to Growing Service Revenue Using Revenue per Units-in-Operation. The eBook presents a compelling case for why dealers should ditch the outdated service absorption metric and use revenue per UIO to guide their service revenue growth strategy.

“Service absorption is dangerous because it doesn’t measure a store’s achievement relative to its potential. Your service department can be at 100 percent service absorption but still be losing market share,” said Scot Eisenfelder, CEO of Affinitiv. “Using revenue per UIO as a metric forces effort on activities that grow market share and increase customer retention.”

To grow profits in today’s automotive environment, auto dealers are focusing on growing service department revenue. Achieving this goal requires overcoming a number of challenges, including declining vehicles sales, more replace than repair work and aggressive competition.

To grow revenue, auto dealers need to increase service yield from their current customers (UIO) and increase market share. The best metric to measure and track these two goals is revenue per UIO.

“A focus on maximizing revenue per UIO creates a fundamentally different strategic and operating mindset where the dealer does not concede any revenue to the aftermarket,” said Eisenfelder. “When dealers calculate their revenue per UIO it’s an eye-opening experience, and not necessarily in a good way.”

Using revenue per UIO as a metric better represents a service department’s true potential and provides dealers with a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.   

To download the free eBook, click on this link: Why Service Absorption is a Dangerous Number.

For more information about Affinitiv, visit Booth #3174C at the NADA Convention & Expo in Las Vegas, or visit: www.affinitiv.com

About Affinitiv:

Affinitiv is a leading marketing technology company serving automotive manufacturers (OEMs), dealership groups, and individual dealers. Affinitiv’s Connectiv1 Platform is designed to provide a 360° view of customer, vehicle, dealership and marketing campaign effectiveness all in one place. Connectiv1's advanced predictive analytics engine makes it easy for auto dealerships to leverage data and target customers with the right message at the right time on the right communications channel.

Affinitiv enables dealerships to produce, manage, measure and optimize omni-channel communications to drive brand loyalty and increase revenue. Affinitiv’s digital and analytic capabilities support a consistent customer experience through the entire ownership lifecycle. Affinitiv was formed in 2016 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

Chicago, IL—Feb 19, 2018—In 2017, Fort Bend Kia added more than $416,000 to its bottom line with Affinitiv’s Social Roots™ 1:1 Facebook campaigns. Social Roots 1:1 is a unique digital advertising solution that leverages DMS data and trigger-based algorithms to drop targeted sales and service messages right into Facebook newsfeeds.

Last year, Fort Bend Kia generated $109,240 in sales revenue and $146,950 in service revenue from its Facebook ad campaigns. Since starting with Social Roots, Fort Bend Kia has also reduced its annual advertising expenses by more than $160,000.

“From a marketing standpoint it’s the most effective, least expensive thing we do,” said Virgil Skinner, Owner/Principal of Fort Bend Kia. “The other thing I like is that it doesn’t require a lot of time or involvement on my part.”

Rosenberg, TX is a small town about 35 miles southwest of Houston. Six years ago, Virgil Skinner opened Fort Bend Kia here with a mission to bring a luxury car-buying experience to a mass market store. Skinner’s primary marketing challenge is to convince car shoppers in the nearby Richmond and Sugar Land suburbs to drive south to his store. “Most of the people I want to attract drive north into Houston to work, shop and play, so it’s tough,” said Skinner.

Until two years ago, Skinner’s marketing strategy consisted of cable television spots, direct mail, email marketing, ads in civic association newsletters and ads in local HOA magazines. “We had a Facebook page at the time but I didn’t have anyone talented enough to use it for direct and targeted marketing,” said Skinner. “It was mostly me posting photos of customers buying cars and photos from local events we sponsor.”

Skinner was always frustrated with his advertising’s ROI. “One problem with this area is that the cable company only had 40 percent of the market, while the other 60 percent is split between various dish providers. And, trying to reach Houston through broadcast TV is too expensive,” he said. “Untargeted direct mail was bad. Every time I sent something out, half of the pieces came back. As much as I try, it’s almost impossible to get the service advisors to update customers’ physical addresses.”

Two years ago Skinner contacted Affinitiv, a leading marketing technology company. Affinitiv’s Social Roots product uses predictive analytics to drop highly targeted offers into Facebook newsfeeds.

Social Roots 1:1 campaigns leverage DMS customer data and trigger-based algorithms to generate a variety of messages and offers. In service these include service reminders, past due service reminders and second overdue service reminders. In sales, offers are created for customers with leases about to expire, and messages are sent for after-purchase check ins, and six-month sales follow up to ask for referrals.

In addition to the 1:1 campaigns, Affinitiv runs a custom sales campaign for Fort Bend Kia every month. These typically promote leasing offers or offers from whatever national campaign that Kia is currently running. Custom sales ads are created for three separate audiences: Fort Bend Kia’s current customers, in-market Kia shoppers within a 50-mile radius of the store, and a lookalike audience of in-market shoppers. Each list excludes contacts on the others, so there’s no overlap with advertising.

“I quickly realized we were reaching a lot more people on Facebook than any other media we use, so it wasn’t long before I quit doing television and untargeted direct mail altogether,” said Skinner. This allowed him to cut his annual cable budget of $128,000 and direct mail budget of around $60,000. Fort Bend Kia spends $20,000 to $30,000 annually for Social Roots 1:1, resulting in a total advertising expense reduction of more than $160,000.

The most successful campaign in 2017 was a SUV Clearance initiative that Kia ran in July and August. The campaign generated 2,603 clicks, 17 sales and service conversions, and $49,572 in revenue.

In addition to revenue, Social Roots 1:1 delivers other results that Skinner finds valuable. “We quickly became one of the most Liked Facebook pages on the freeway, we have the highest dealer rating of any dealer on the freeway, and the highest Facebook and Google ratings of any Kia dealer in the Houston metro area,” he said. “All of our reviews are absolutely unsolicited and unpaid for. I have a strong policy here, I don’t pay a single customer for a review.”

However, Skinner can’t give all the credit for his ratings to Social Roots 1:1. “The marketing gets them in here, then it’s up to us to close them. Our goal is to treat every client like family.”

For a Social Roots demo or more information about Affinitiv, visit Booth #3174C at the NADA Convention & Expo in Las Vegas, or visit: www.affinitiv.com

About Affinitiv:

Affinitiv is a leading marketing technology company serving automotive manufacturers (OEMs), dealership groups, and individual dealers. Affinitiv’s Connectiv1 Platform is designed to provide a 360° view of customer, vehicle, dealership and marketing campaign effectiveness all in one place. Connectiv1's advanced predictive analytics engine makes it easy for auto dealerships to leverage data and target customers with the right message at the right time on the right communications channel.

Affinitiv enables dealerships to produce, manage, measure and optimize omni-channel communications to drive brand loyalty and increase revenue. Affinitiv’s digital and analytic capabilities support a consistent customer experience through the entire ownership lifecycle. Affinitiv was formed in 2016 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

Whenever a need arises in the marketplace, inevitably an entrepreneurial spirit finds a way to fill that need. However, in the last few years there has been a need in the retail automotive industry that nobody seems to be filling. First, some backstory.

Auto dealer consolidation is increasing at a significant rate. Between 2014 and 2017, an estimated 1,080 dealerships sold to a total of 612 different buyers, according to The Banks Report and Kerrigan Advisors. Since 2011, the number of private dealer groups with greater than 10 dealerships has risen to 141, a 57 percent increase.

One of the major reasons for this frantic buying spree is the economy of scale that larger dealer groups can achieve. The more stores a group owns, the lower their operating expense is per store, on a percentage basis. In a large dealer group franchise, sales, general and accounting (SGA) expenses are 13 percent less than in the average single store.

Once this type of economy of scale is achieved, a large dealer group can be more aggressive with their pricing, which can hurt single stores that remain in the neighborhood.

Yet, not all single stores and smaller groups want to sell to a larger group. How are they to compete? Is their demise inevitable?

Hardly. If you don’t want to sell your dealership, don’t. However, to stay competitive will require lowering your operating expenses. Of course, that is easier said than done, and it may in fact be quite impossible without some help.

Here’s the need: Why isn’t there a business that offers single-store dealers a way to consolidate and outsource some of their internal functions?

Look to the BDC as an example of how this works. Many dealers choose to outsource their BDC because it’s 25 to 30 percent less expensive than operating an internal BDC. That doesn’t even include the reduction in headaches. If the same cost savings can be achieved by outsourcing back office functions, single stores would be in a much better position to compete with large group franchises in their area.

Accounting, financing and human resources activities could all be easily outsourced, for example. Any function that does not require an on-site presence is game.

Once this “consolidated services provider” has a number of dealer clients, the opportunity also exists to leverage their combined purchasing power to negotiate better prices for outside services. For example, Internet and phone carriers give better rates (and service by the way) to larger clients. This would require a group of dealerships to agree to sign with the same carriers, but I doubt this is cause for complaint if the cost savings are significant.

With bargaining power gained through a group alliance, single-store dealers could potentially pay less for:

• Carrier services
• Parts
• IT products and services
• Third-party software and services

To my knowledge, nobody is filling this need at a time when more and more dealers are wrestling with the tough decision to sell, or not to sell. If I’m wrong and there is a business that provides consolidated services to single stores, let me know. If I’m right and nobody is doing this, why not?