CUSTOMER DATABASE MAILINGS Your customer database is the best possible list you can use in a direct mail campaign and I recommend you hit it once a quarter. There are two distinct reasons that your customer database is the best list for you to use. They already know you, trust you and it makes them feel good that you are keeping in touch with them after the sale. This is the only list available to you that contains the specific type of vehicle that they own/drive. Because you know what kind of vehicle they drive, we can use that information as variable data in the letter. I recommend we use a hybrid of a vehicle buyback letter and a customer loyalty piece (see attached). With any traditional marketing efforts that you make, you ultimately have 2 ways of generating traffic: Getting your message into the hands of someone who is in the market to buy and is intrigued by your offer. Bribing them with free gifts and giveaways. With the owner loyalty buyback letter you have a third way of generating traffic/sales. When John Jones of 123 Main Street receives your letter, he will see that his specific vehicle, what is parked in his driveway right now has value to you, the dealer. Even if he wasn’t in the market or impressed with your bribe, he will come in to have his vehicle appraised. That means when he comes in, he will give you his keys and his car, which you will have out of sight and out of mind for a minimum of 30 minutes while you do the appraisal. During this time, a sales representative will take him out on the lot and get him ethered on a new vehicle. While this is happening, John Jones has one thought going through his mind over and over again – “if they offer me X amount for my trade, I’m going to go ahead and pull the trigger.” Depending on how much ether you get in him, X amount can vary greatly. This is a great way to sell cars and ultimately gives you the best possible promotion. Prior to mailing, we put your database through the following processes to ensure the most accurate and efficient final product: De-duplication – this is exactly what it sounds like, the removal of duplicate records (names/addresses). We use match-code logic for this process which creates a 15 character code consisting of characters from all fields in the record. This helps catch variations of spelling as well as multiple records for one household. For example, my name is Richard Jacob Fabbre. I go by Jake. When I purchased my vehicle from you, I gave you my full name for the loan documents and title information. Three months later, I brought it in for an oil change and just told you my name was Jake Fabbre. Five months later, my wife, Heather, brought the vehicle in for tire rotation. You now have 3 mailers going to one address which is both inefficient and expensive. By using match-code logic to de-dupe your list, we solve this problem and save you money. NCOA – this stands for the National Change of Address. The USPS maintains a massive database that contains the information of everyone who has relocated. We match your data up against the NCOA to make sure we are sending the letter to the most current address possible. If this process is skipped, you are sending letters to the wrong house. Even if the new occupant takes the time to forward the mail, chances are it won’t be delivered in time for the sale. Once again, this process maximizes the efficiency of your list and saves you money. LACS – the Locatable Address Conversion System. This process standardizes rural route addresses thereby increasing deliverability rates and saving you money. CASS – Certified Address Standardization System. A process required by the USPS in order to receive pre-sorted postal rates. This process puts every record in an easily recognizable format and maximizes deliverability.