[jgibson]

It sounds like to program yielded some great results for you! Just curious, do you have a way to track response rates, repeat visits, annualized value of new customer wins, etc?

[jgibson]

It appears from their marketing piece that they can provide limited data pulled from consumer volunteered information from DMVs in certain states. If you look through their Q&A link it gives some more details on that. With that said, I’m not sure how much more accurate that information would be than getting a list from another quality vendor that also include voluntary vehicle ownership data, or what percentage of people actually volunteer that data through DMV…

[jgibson]

Hi Gary,

You’re right, the Federal Government put strict regulations on the release of personal data by Motor Vehicle Departments. Here is a link that has some more information about it. There are some exceptions; mainly if consumers have given DMV express permission for their personal information to be used for marketing purposes. This restriction probably GREATLY reduces the number of actual DMV records available.

http://epic.org/privacy/drivers/

With that said, there are some good list sources out there with pretty high accuracy rates for vehicle specific lists compiled through a combination of voluntary consumer data and predictive modeling.

We actually have the ability to use those lists and compare them against lists of local consumers in your area who have the same age, lifestyle, and demographic attributes of your best customers to locate potentially high value consumers who drive the types of vehicles you are looking to service.

I hope this helps!

[jgibson]

This can be a real challenge for shop owners…finding the time to search the multitude of major and local search sites as well as third party review sites to find out what people are saying about your business. The reality is, in most cases, people are talking about your business online and it’s really important that you know what they are saying and where the discussion is taking place. I would encourage you all to do some searches and see what you find out there. In today’s search heavy society, it is critical that you are aware of and working to improve your online reputation. Remember, that’s where people are searching for your business.

If you don’t have time to do it on your own, please use a third party company to do it for you. Some of the companies that provide review services can give you a report that shows you all of your online reviews in one place while helping get good reviews published to the Web for you. The bottom line is that people are basing their service decision on peer reviews, and if you’re not represented well, they may choose your competition.

Joe Gibson

[jgibson]

Demand Force does have a good program, but it’s not for everyone. for some shop owners the 12 month commitment, high cost of email acquisition and lack of direct mail support make can be real issues.

The bottom line is that it’s critical that you have some type of program in place for customer retention and online reputation management (as well as new customer acquisition). Just make sure you do you your research before committing to anything with any marketing group. You have options, so make sure you explore them all thoroughly so you don’t end up stuck in a contract with a program you’re not happy with.