Every business experiences customers who drop off from their routine. At quick lube shops, customers typically come in when they are due for an oil change or another service. Even with window stickers to remind drivers, sometimes that service slips through the cracks, and customers go a few months longer before they come in for an oil change. Other times, changes in driving habits or other events kept them away from the shop.  

Customers in this status are not necessarily lost. But how do you get them back in your bays? Michigan-based Victory Lane Quick Oil Change finds that regular direct mailings to this segment with enticing offers yield a high return. 

The Challenge 

Victory Lane has 36 locations in Michigan, including 26 corporate locations. While customers with long gaps between visits are inevitable, the chain is proactive about retaining its patrons. 

"It's a customer who was due for service, and it's been at least seven months past when their last due date was," says Lauren Cialella, Victory Lane chief operating officer.   

The Solutions 

There are several types of direct mail businesses can use to reach customers. While SMS, email, and social media outreach are prominent in the digital age, direct mail still offers an opportunity. Direct mail formats include every door direct mail (EDDM) with USPS, Conquest Mailing, Radius Mailers, and CRM-driven mailers.  

EDDM delivers a postcard or piece of mail to every door via the mailman. Conquest mailings reach targeted customers such as new residents who recently changed their address or groups with registered cars that are over three years old (and out of their warranty service period) who might be looking for a shop to service their car. Similar to the EDDM, a Radius Mailer is sent to every home within a specified radius of the shop.  

Businesses can use their own customer relationship management systems to send mailers to existing customers. At Victory Lane, the company frequently uses its CRM software for targeted messaging. In the case of direct mail, the company sends it to target customers who are about seven months past their three-month service. These mailings make attractive offers to customers to get them in for a visit.  

"The direct mail we do with that program is very targeted and very limited to customers that have been inactive for a long time," Cialella tells NOLN. "The postcard we use is targeted with a very aggressive offer."  

The Aftermath 

These targeted mailings have a 3% to 5% success rate, which is over the 1% return rate of a typical direct mail campaign.  

"They are people who already know us," explains Cialella. "There is a good chance of getting them to come back." 

A returning customer is an opportunity to keep connected.  

"If someone comes back using the postcard we sent them, we will continue to give them opportunities to stay engaged," Cialella says.  

Victory Lane finds that many customers who veer from the pattern of three months of 3,000 miles have a reason.  

"When it's gone that long, they often come back, but often with an entirely different vehicle," Cialella details. There are often reasons for a change in the cadence of a customer's visits.  

The Takeaway 

Direct mail can work alongside other marketing channels and remain relevant.

"Direct mail is a complement to other channels," explains John-Paul Scoville, vice president of customer success at Cinch, the marketing firm that Victory Lane works with to send these targeted mailings.  

"As a campaign for lost customers, a lot of those customers have turned off engagement with email and SMS," says Scoville. "It's a great opportunity to capture that business."  

There are opportunities to get this customer segment to opt back into other channels.  

"We do prefer to use electronic communication, if for no other reason than that it's more cost-effective," says Cialella. "Once that customer re-engages using a mailer, we will encourage them to provide an email or SMS number they can use to text with us."  

The direct mail channel is a complement to other communication channels, not a last-ditch effort to reach a customer before they slip away.  

"Victory Lane has a robust customer database," says Scoville. "As soon as a customer transacts, they go into segment communication. We use those across multiple channels. We also put (those customers) into digital channels."