New service will help dealers ‘measure the mystery’

An exclusive partnership between Experian, the global information solutions company, and Location Based Telecom Ltd (LBT), an advanced telecoms systems company, has been launched to enable dealers to take advantage of a new service that will help them measure and improve their marketing return on investment.

“Dealers are recognising the importance of targeted marketing and are focusing their spend accordingly, but the details of how well those campaigns work and how the marketing budget could be allocated more effectively, remains a mystery for many dealers,” said Kirk Fletcher, Managing Director of Experian’s Automotive division.

ResponseTrack is a web-based marketing support tool designed specifically for the automotive industry to help dealers save money and improve the effectiveness of their campaigns, as well as ensuring they catch all incoming enquiries and improve customer service.

Using intelligent telephony, ResponseTrack allows dealers to apply dedicated numbers to every marketing campaign and capture every resulting call into their businesses, in order to measure how effective it is. ResponseTrack includes two key features.

An email alert is sent to the dealer the minute a call is missed, enabling them to respond to every campaign response call, even those callers that got an engaged tone, improving conversion rates and increasing sales.

Dealers have the opportunity to use dedicated local telephone numbers – a feature that appeals to a wider range of customers and increases the chances of a telephone enquiry.
Kirk Fletcher added: “Dealers will be able to fine tune their marketing activities, increase their sales opportunities and actively reduce costs. By being able to analyse the effectiveness of their campaigns, they can make more informed decisions about how they spend their marketing budget. Just as importantly, it will also help improve their customer service, giving them a competitive edge

“For example, the biggest customer complaint against dealers is unanswered phone calls. Missed telephone enquiries generated from marketing activities could not only be losing dealers potential sales, but also affecting their reputation.

“Over one fifth of all used car buyers identify overall customer experience as the most important factor in choosing a supplier. On a separate study looking at consumer attitudes towards getting the best deal, around 45 per cent of consumers will make a point of complaining about bad service and ensuring that their friends, family and colleagues know about the experience, while around 60 per cent expect 100 per cent service and value or will go to another company.”

Gary Mays, Director of LBT, added: “LBT has been helping companies track their marketing activities through intelligent telephony for two years. It is great to be aligned with such a globally-known company and, as a result, to be able to tailor this marketing support tool specifically for the automotive industry.

“ResponseTrack will play a key role in helping dealers measure and improve their marketing return on investment. There is an old saying, ‘I know half my advertising works, I just don’t know which half!’ Overall marketing spend is increasing amongst companies and those that have measured the effectiveness of their programmes are significantly more satisfied with their marketing efforts.

“We are very happy to have Experian as our automotive channel partner and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.”

One dealer group already using ResponseTrack successfully and seeing clear benefits is Johnsons Cars Ltd.

Lesley Brown, Group Marketing Manager at Johnsons Cars Ltd, said: “We use many different media tools – advertising, promotional events, direct mail, online advertising, SMS and MMS. Experian’s lead measurement tool allows us to monitor these marketing activities and evaluate which are the most effective. This means we can focus spend on activities that work.”