Latest Xtime Results Demonstrate Dealerships Strengthen Customer Retention By Recapturing Lost Souls

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Now more than ever, consumers have many choices for vehicle maintenance and repair. To gain a competitive edge, dealerships need to differentiate their service experience. By emulating other retail experiences common in airline and hotel industries, such as time-based discounting and targeted promotions, dealerships can better connect with customers. Demonstrating how dealer networks can increase profitability through increased loyalty, Xtime, the industry leader in automotive customer retention solutions, today released results of franchised dealership service departments using Xtime's Marketing 7 campaigns targeting defected customers.

"Marketing 7 allows my marketing to be as adjustable as I need it," said University Volkswagen Mazda Parts & Service Director Scott Ostler. "It allows us to offer discounts for the slower times in my shop—instead of having everyone show up all at once when my marketing efforts are deployed. It is very customizable for my shop load needs. It has helped move my retention number in a very positive direction."

Over a 6-month period in 2015, Xtime analyzed the performance of dealerships using Marketing 7, a component of the Xtime Retention System that enables dealerships to visualize unsold service capacity and launch time-based promotions to target lost souls—customers who have visited the service department but have not returned in 15 months or more. On average, these dealerships realized:

• $463 additional customer pay per vehicle
• $7.4 to $1 in customer pay ROI
• 20 recaptured customers per month
• 21 months since last visit
• 25 percent email open-rate
• 1.6 percent email-to-click rate

"Opportunities to win back customers are available—it's just a matter of embracing new technology concepts," said Xtime President Neal East. "At Xtime, we create products that give customers a reason to come back to the dealership for service. What unique differentiators are you offering defected vehicle owners compared to the competition? These are the types of questions dealerships should be asking when targeting lost souls."

Unlike other service marketing programs, Marketing 7 integrates deeply with all other products in the Xtime Retention System suite, which includes Scheduling 7 and Check-In 7, to support the various customer touch points. From accurate vehicle records to recall information, recommendations and pricing, consistent information is passed from the email campaign to the consumer scheduling view to customer arrival. Xtime helps dealerships deliver a consistent customer experience in an age where expectations of the streamlined digital shopping experience are at an all-time high.

Creating an engaging ownership experience is key to creating repeat customers. When customers develop a strong relationship with the service department, they are more likely to stay in the loyalty loop and consider the brand and dealership when purchasing vehicles in the future.

"There are four times more independent repair facilities than there are franchise dealerships, so dealers need to highlight their key differentiators in order to improve customer retention and recapture rates," continued East. "With targeted promotions, dealerships can remind vehicle owners that they are the experts on the vehicle, have specialized diagnostic equipment and use genuine parts—all reasons why customers should return to the dealership for maintenance and repair. By aligning marketing, scheduling and check-in together into a comprehensive platform that both customers and dealership personnel can use, Xtime is boosting retention by changing the way vehicle owners view the ownership experience."

To learn more about how Xtime's solutions enable dealers to recapture lost souls, contact them at (888) 463-3888 or [email protected].

About Xtime
Xtime® delivers retention solutions for the retail automotive industry. Addressing the customer's needs around value, convenience and trust, the Xtime Retention System integrates all customer touch points into a unified system for both consumers and service personnel, resulting in increased service retention for OEMs and their dealerships. Xtime is the exclusive or preferred provider for 23 major global automotive manufacturers in the United States, Canada and Australia, as well as leading dealership groups, and serves 7,000 dealerships.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Xtime is wholly owned by Cox Automotive™, which also owns Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book (KBB.com®) and Manheim Auctions, as well as companies that provide a full suite of software tools that help dealers and manufacturers manage their inventory and advertising online: vAuto®, HomeNet Automotive®, VinSolutions®, AIS Rebates™, Genius Labs® and Haystak™. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. For more information, please visit xtime.com.

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SOURCE Xtime, Inc.

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