A Clinging Reminder

by Jessica Odom
NOLN Staff Writer

Static reminder stickers. They’ve been around for decades, those cute little pieces of vinyl that adhere to windshields and remind your customers when they should return to you for service. At least, that’s what they’re supposed to do. But in today’s high-tech world, do they still work? According to most operators, the answer is a resounding “yes.”

“(They’re) a reminder,” said Matt Gaffey, owner of Gaffey’s Fast Lube in Herkimer, New York. He uses these stickers in his shop and said they do what they’re supposed to do.

Gaffey said he uses a small, transparent sticker with a date and mileage reminder system, and he opts to use the traditional 3,000-mile interval on his stickers.

Jeff Henderson, with Z Best Fast Lube in Wichita Falls, Texas, uses a similar system. Like Gaffey, his shop uses the stickers to remind customers that their next oil change is just around the corner.

Henderson also uses a small, transparent, static-cling sticker with the name of the shop and the traditional three-month and 3,000-mile reminder intervals, as opposed to the mileage that the owners manual for a particular vehicle may suggest.

“If a customer wants a different mileage, we can put that on there,” he added.

Henderson said that all the competitors in his area use the same type of system, but his shop adds a little something extra to its stickers.

“Our stickers have the brand of the last oil used in the car,” he said. “Some of our competitors don’t do that; they just have the name and address.”

Henderson’s system also differs from Gaffey’s in that his shop uses a loyalty system with customers. If a customer returns to Z Best Fast Lube for their oil changes, every fifth change is free, and the sticker reminds customers of that.

Henderson said Z Best Fast Lube has used these stickers in their shop since day one, so he hasn’t seen a customer return rate in comparison without using them, but Gaffey is convinced they do their job in his shop.

“Yeah they work, because (customers) yell if you don’t put them on,” he said with a laugh.

Scotti Lee, owner of Oil Change Express in New Castle, Delaware, has been in the fast lube business for 22 years, and since the technology for static stickers first became available his shop has utilized it and has seen a high rate of customer returns. Instead of a transparent square though, Lee favors one with bright and vibrant colors.

“Transparency disappears,” he said, “and in this industry, you don’t want to disappear.”

In addition to bright colors, the name and address of his shop, and the standard three-month/3,000-mile interval recommendation, Oil Change Express uses something that competitors may not have thought about. Lee said a barcode that can be scanned upon a customer’s arrival makes everyone’s job easier.

“(Without it) you have to start from scratch,” he said, adding that many customers don’t remember their license plate numbers. With a barcode system, customers don’t have to remember anything and employees don’t have to waste time inputting information that can be scanned in a matter of seconds.

Dan Gleisner with Super-Lube in Waunakee, Wisconsin, has a different opinion on static stickers. He uses them mainly as a type of advertising.

“Well, the main reason is to have my name in their window,” Gleisner said. “Customers don’t go by the date and mileage anymore. Ninety percent of customers will just look in the window to see where they last went to get their oil changed.”

He said the stickers’ primary purpose at his shop is to let customers see that they went to him last and will hopefully return for their next oil change. He doesn’t think the stickers serve their purpose as a reminder, but they do a good job of getting customers in the door and into the shop.

While the stickers used at Gleisner’s shop still have the standard three-month/3,000-mile intervals handwritten on them, the name of the company occupies about 60 percent of the space on the sticker.

Gleisner said his competitors also use a sticker reminder system, but he’s still seeing about a 60 percent customer return rate, something he considers high since his shop just moved to a new location about a year ago.

They may be low-tech (at least the ones not printed with bar codes), but according to the operators with whom we spoke static stickers still do a good job at reminding customers to come back to their shops. And when it comes to customer returns, do what works best for your shop. As the old adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.