Mail Advertising Benefits Lubes
by Garrett McKinnon NOLN Staff Writer

Most everyone loves getting mail. For many of us, strolling to the mailbox each day is an exercise in anticipation. What will the mail bring today?
For many fast lube operators, the mail brings their message directly to consumers in the form of direct mail advertising or reminder cards. Almost a third of small fast lube companies use direct mail/reminder cards, and more than two-thirds of large fast lube companies do.

"Direct mail cards like these can be customized with photos, logos, oil advertisements, etc. in order to attract customers."

Many modern point-of sale computer systems will allow fast lube owners to do their own mailouts, but at least 1 company offers to go through the time and trouble of mailing for you.

"Everybody has a database of customers," said Barry Silver, co-owner of Mailmark, a direct mail organization that services the fast lube industry.

"The problem is, how do you get your customers to come back more frequently. The way to do that is to tell your customer when their service is due based on an interval lube owners recommend the 3-month, 3,000-mile interval."

Mailmark downloads names from a lube operator's database, analyzes the customers that are due in for a 3-month service within 2 weeks, and then mails the customer a reminder card with whatever information and/or specials the lube operator wants on the direct mail card.

Most lube operators realize the value of reminder cards. Yet another popular mail advertisement consists of putting a coupon in with a Val-Pak mailer. But what if you want to target specific people in your area?

"Most people today use Val-Paks or those type of things to bring in new customers, but the return rate on those is often only 1-quarter to 1/2 of 1 percent," said Silver. "And of the people that do come in, 60 to 70 percent are often existing customers."Silver said the traditional 3-mile marketing area around a fast lube tends to be a bit exaggerated.

"We find that more people come to the lube if we do our marketing in a mile-and-a-half to 2-mile radius around the store," said Silver. "The closer people are to your location, the easier it is to affect their buying habits."

Silver said he recommends marketing only within a two-mile radius of your store, specifically to all the households within that area.

Many companies, such as Mailmark, can even use databases marketing to advertise to certain demographic groups within a set radius of a lube shop.

"Once we're done, we're left with a group of people in a two-mile radius with the income to spend on services such as fast oil changes," said Silver.

One advantage to marketing to homeowners is their propensity to buy more goods and services than other people

According to a survey done by Welcome Wagon, a company that markets businesses to new homeowners, more than 54 percent of all homeowners will look for a place to have their vehicles maintained or repaired within the first year of moving into their home. The Survey also revealed that 57.2 percent of homeowners own 2 vehicles, while almost 15 percent own 3 or more vehicles. And, with an average household income of $63,700, homeowners generally have the extra money to spend on automotive maintenance.

"It's extremely important that automotive service facilities reach out to new homeowners in their community for two reasons," said Joel Zychick, President of Welcome Wagon. "First, 54 percent of new homeowners will seek out their services in the first year. Secondly, when families move to a new community, they tend to pick automotive service facilities and stick with them for as long as they live there. There's a small window of opportunity to turn new neighbors into long-term customers."

Silver recommends using first-class mail to send out any mass mailings, because bulk mailings tend to take too long, a sentiment shared by at least one fast lube operator.

"There is some concern (if you use bulk mail) that they won't get delivered on time or at all by the post office," said Bob Bridgeman, owner of the LUBExpress chain of fast lubes in New Jersey.

Direct mail advertising campaigns can be 8 to 10 times as expensive as advertising in a Val-Pak mailer, but Silver said fast lubes typically get 8 to 10 times the response, usually around one to two percent of mailouts.

"If you have to spend $15 or $20 or $30 to bring in a new customer who's going to be a good repeat customer, it's worth it." said Silver. "Bringing in a customer with a $9.95 oil change once a year isn't cost effective."

Mailmark's system typically targets 1,000 to 2,000 people within a set radius around a fast lube business.

"If you have 4,000 people around your business who aren't customers and every month you hit 1,000 of them, then you hit every house three times a year," Silver said.

The advantage to using an outside database marketing company is in the ability to selectively target different groups of people with direct mail advertising.

"The main benefit is the ability to target a customer group and to send the advertising out exactly when you want to," said Bridgeman. "We've been able to try new homeowners and new car owners in the area around our stores who are not current customers."

It's exactly that benefit that makes database mail marketing so effective.

"When you have several databases, you can go in and pull our households by income, gender, vehicle make, location, age, whatever," said Silver. "You have to treat customers as individuals, and direct mail advertising can target specific people."

So, who are the people most likely to be swayed by direct mail advertising?

"We like to go after people with newer vehicles," said Silver. "People with newer cars tend to take better care of them. Newer vehicle owners make better lube customers."