By far, the most utilized and most redeemed auto repair coupon, is the oil change coupon. This brings up the question we get asked most frequently from auto repair shop owners/manager,

“Should I do a price point oil change offer or a $ off oil change offer?” 

Before we hop into the addressing this question, I would like to address three key points that I’d bet you’ve either thought of in the past, are thinking now or at some point in time will think, which is:

1. I don’t want to be the cheap oil change shop!
2. I don’t want to be the coupon shop!
3. I don’t’ want the bottom feeders!

2. I don’t want to be the coupon shop. 

 We know and we get it, as we hear this all the time. No shop wants to be a coupon shop. However, a strong coupon for an oil change is often the catalyst for new customers to give your shop a try. As we all know in addition to customer retention, customer acquisition is key to growing your shop.  

 Furthermore, we know based on our auto repair consumer research found in “Cracking The Code” that the consumer demand for auto repair coupons is huge.  To be very specific, we asked 8,260 vehicle owners who have had their vehicle serviced at least once in the past 12 moths, the following question. 

“If you received a coupon/special in the mail from a reputable auto repair shop offering a discount on products or services you need,
would you use them?”

A resounding 79% said yes…. 

With that being said, we know you may be thinking “yeah that’s great but I don’t want to train my customers to use coupons,” AKA I don’t want the bottom feeders.

The solution to this question is found in the response below.

 Now that we addressed the three points above, let’s discuss the oil change coupon/special question.  

“Should I do a price point oil change offer
or a $ off oil change offer?” 

There is much debate over this question. We have our own opinion, which we will cover shortly, however, to get some specific consumer insight into this question, we conducted a national consumer research survey.  

 To get the cleanest data possible, we screened survey respondents with two very specific questions listed below, as well as the reasoning we asked these questions.  

Q1: What type of oil does your vehicle use?

**If respondents said they did not, they were automatically removed from the survey. 

 The Logic: If consumers didn’t know what type of oil their car took, we would not be able to present them with the appropriate sample offer between a conventional or syntenic oil change based on different price points that would somewhat be closer to what an actual real offer would like look like. 

 Q2: Do you know exactly how much you paid for your last oil change?  

**If respondents did remember, they were removed from the survey.  

 The Logic: If consumers knew exactly how much they last paid for an oil change, then their feedback would be biased based on the price points on our fictious oil change example.  

Respondents that made it passed our first two screening questions above, were presented the following survey question.  

If you received these coupons in the mail for a conventional oil change – you can only choose one.
Which would you pick? 

**As a side note we selected the oil change price points based on what many of our clients have done. We realize that there is a regional competent to this and that this example is not 100% perfect.  

Once the above questions were answered, we asked survey respondents one Last question!  

Q3: Can you explain why you chose this offer? Please be as specific as possible! 

UNFORTUNATELY, After all this work, we were not able to get accurate results and here is why. 

After careful review of over 2,000 responses, too many respondents had a point of reference of what an oil change costs and/or what they paid for their last oil change. There clearly skews the results in terms of the offer they chose. Below are just a few examples responses to give you a better understanding.  

• That seems cheaper than what I usually pay. I usually pay closer to 60 so $10 off would not be as good of a deal 

• Because a typical oil change is almost 50 bucks so that was the better option 

However,  

• Conventional oil changes here are running over $40 so $29.99 would save more money than $10 off would. 

• Because I pay almost $60 for my oil change 

• Because I think that’s less than what my car costs for an oil change regularly. 

• 39.99 is what I paid for a conventional oil change. My SUV now uses synthetic oil which sometimes costs at least $ 50 or more.

Now, you are probably thinking, why they heck did you waste my time reading this, if there is no clear answer. The reason being, is that although we were not able to get a 100% clear result, we were able to gain some tremendous insight based on reading the 2,000 responses.  

In summation, there is no right or wrong answer, do what you feel is best for your auto repair shop.  

If you need help selecting the best coupons/offers for your auto repair shop contact us today. One of our auto repair direct mail marketing experts will help you craft a strategic coupon/offer campaign that will have broad appeal and maximize your response rates.  

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As a direct mail marketing professional, I know having a strong offer on our client’s direct mail marketing in the form of a coupon or special is a major catalyst to entice new customers to try their establishment for the first time as well as getting current customers to come back and become loyal repeat customers. 

However, when speaking to many of our clients, it can be difficult for them to understand that offering a small discount is well worth it when comparing the discount amount to their customers lifetime value. Your customers lifetime value is the amount of money a customer is expected to spend at your business during the entire time they remain a customer. You can easily google “customer lifetime value” and read endless articles on the topic. 

Furthermore, there is still a misconception as to who uses coupons. For example, we often here from our clients in areas with higher incomes, that wealthier people aren’t looking for coupons or that their clients wouldn’t be interested in a coupon. 

 Of course, we know this is not the case based on previous data and many studies that have been done in the past. However, we wanted to refresh the topic with current relevant data and find out how many wealthy consumers use coupons compared to those with lower incomes. Furthermore, we wanted to see if and how these numbers changed based on the product/service being offered. E.g., Are more consumers using coupons for pizza than for auto repair service, HVAC services, etc. etc.  

Therefore, we decided to take four industries (in no specific order) Auto Repair, Pizza/Restaurants, General Dentistry & Home Services (HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical) and conduct our own research to get the answers and provide updated current data to the old question. 

Below we will cover our key findings by industry. If you would like to dive deeper into our survey methodology, how we conducted our survey, parameters to be included in our survey as well as more details regarding these and many other key findings, we have provided a link at the bottom of this article to each specific consumer research and insights report entitled “Cracking The Code.” Cracking The Code is our full industry specific consumer research and insight report that answered these questions to consumers in addition to many others.  

Home Services (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical) 

We asked 5,818 homeowners: 

 If you received a coupon/special in the mail from a reputable home services provider offering a discount on services and/or product you need, would you use it? 

Results based on income:

Dental: 

We asked 5,842 consumers: 

If you received a coupon/special offer in the mail for dental services that you need, how likely are you to redeem that offer?

Results based on income:

As you can see based on each industry we analyzed, the consumer interest in coupons is high regardless of income and in many cases, those with higher incomes have reported they would use coupons more than those with lower incomes.  

The only outlier to this happens to be in the restaurant/pizzeria industry. Although over 50% reported using coupons for their favorite restaurants, this is the only industry analyzed where respondents with higher incomes reported less usage of coupons/specials than those with lower incomes. 

So quite simply it appears that some of the wealthier demographics are more interested in using coupons where the savings are greater. All in all, the answer to our original question is a resounding YES consumers use coupons and YES consumers with higher incomes use coupons. The challenge for you now is to develop a strategic coupon campaign that will appeal to the market you are targeting.  

Below you will find links to each industry specific consumer insight report that not only contains the details of our coupons research above but is chalk full of other key insights that will help you better understand the consumers you are targeting as prospective new customers.  

 Josh Davis, CRO 

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The top three reported reasons are: “No Dental Insurance” (31%), “Covid Concerns” (23%), and “Too Busy” (21%)

With such a high number, almost 1 in 3 (31%) reporting not having insurance as a reason to not see the dentist, there continues to be a compelling reason to consider offering an in-house membership program. Having an in-house dental membership program can help many uninsured consumers get the dental care they need while attracting new patients, increasing business, and generating recurring revenue.

Download Cracking the Code Dental To Learn More About Your Practice’s Customers

& Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

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To Find Out Just How Much Most Patients Could Afford For An Unexpected Dental Procedure We Asked 5,840 Patients The Following:

What is the highest amount you would be
able to afford paying out-of-pocket for an unexpected dental procedure?

With over 1 out of every three (35%) of respondents reporting they could not afford an unexpected out-of-pocket dental expense of $499 or more, and another 29% reporting that $999 is the max out-of-pocket dental expense they could afford, providing financing solutions for these patients is a great way to create a win-win. Your case acceptance rate increases, you retain a satisfied patient, and your patient receives the dental care they need.

Download Cracking the Code Dental To Learn More About Your Practice’s Customers

& Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

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To find out, we asked 5,841 consumers the following question:

Based On A Google Rating System Of 1-5 Stars (1 being lowest, 5 being highest),
which of the following applies to you?

I Would Only Use A Dental Practice With A Google Rating Of _ Or Higher.

With 47% of prospective patients from our survey reporting they would not consider a practice with less than a 4.5-star rating and 74% reporting that they would not consider your practice with less than a 4.0-star rating, it’s critical to be aware that as your online review rating decreases, so too does the number of potential prospective patients who will consider your practice.

Download Cracking the Code Dental To Learn More About Your Practice’s Customers

& Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

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The Results Of Our National Consumer Research Survey Of 10,822 Consumers, Indicate That 36% Of Respondents Have Not Been To
The Dentist In The Past 12 Months.

Taking a closer look at the demographics of respondents who reported not visiting a dentist over the past 12 months, sheds some interesting light on the data.

We found that most respondents who reported not visiting the dentist in the past 12 months, have lower incomes, less education and are not employed full/part time.

This is certainly not to say lower income, unemployed and less educated consumers are not visiting the dentists. It is merely to say that based on our data, most respondents that reported they have not visited the dentist over the past 12 months are weighted heavier to the above-mentioned demographic profile (lower income, less education, not employed full/part time) as you can see from the results below.

Download Cracking the Code Dental To Learn More About Your Practice’s Customers

& Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

The post How many consumers are regularly visiting the dentist? appeared first on Best4mailing.

Not only did we get the answer, we uncovered some interesting demographic data that provides a compelling reason to ensure your website is done right.

Based on our survey results of 2,000 consumers, 61% of respondents reported that they are influenced by a professional-looking website, with almost 1 in every 4 (24%) of consumers reporting that they are influenced “A Lot,” and 37% reporting that they are influenced “Somewhat” by a professional website.

How much does a professional looking dental website design and quality website content influence you to use a dental practice?

Additionally, when analyzing the demographics of respondents who reported that they are influenced “A Lot” by a professional-looking site, we uncovered that they are more heavily weighted to being:

The significance of this? Those who are employed, with higher education and higher incomes are also the prospective patients who reported that they visit the dentist most frequently. Of course, this is not to say that other demographics do not visit the dentist. However, based on the results of our survey below, consumers with this specific demographic profile reported visiting the dentist the most.

How much does a professional-looking dental website design and quality website content influence you to use a dental practice?

How much does a professional-looking dental website design and quality website content influence you to use a dental practice?

How much does a professional-looking dental website design and quality website content influence you to use a dental practice?

Download Cracking the Code Dental To Learn More About Your Practice’s Customers

& Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

The post How Important Is Your Website To Attracting New Patients? appeared first on Best4mailing.

Just how frequently your patients want to hear from you is the question. You want to ensure you’re staying in front of your patients at an interval that’s effective, but not so frequent that you bombard your happy patients with too much communication.

To provide insight as to how frequently patients want to hear from their dental practice, we asked 5,841 consumers:

How often would you want to hear from your dental practice throughout the year with news, updates, and/or special offers?

Based on our findings, 50% of patients want to hear from you at least every three months, with 33% reporting they want to hear from you every 6 months. With that in mind, a frequency that may be a good place to start, is a quarterly strategy of communication, every 3 months. That said, there is no right or wrong answer here. The key is getting a plan in place and executing it. From here you can easily adjust the frequency of communication up or down.

Download Cracking the Code Dental To Learn More About Your Practice’s Customers

& Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

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When we asked 5,842 consumers what influences them the most when selecting a dentist,

“Easy To Schedule Appointments” was in the top three of the most influencing factors.

Download Cracking the Code Dental To Learn More About Your Practice’s Customers

& Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

The post How Do Most Patients Prefer Scheduling Their Appointments? appeared first on Best4mailing.

To gain some additional insight as to how receptive consumers are toward special offers regarding dental services, we asked 5,842 consumers

If you received a special offer in the mail for dental services that you need, how likely are you to redeem that offer?

Based on our results, we found that 82% reported they are likely (41% Very Likely and 41% Somewhat Likely) to redeem an offer in the mail. Only 18% reported they are “Not at All Likely” to redeem an offer.

It’s clear that consumers are receptive to offers they receive in the mail for dental services. However, what isn’t as transparent, but quite insightful, is analyzing the income demographic of those who responded that they are likely to redeem an offer. What the data shows, is that consumers with higher incomes are equally, if not more likely, to redeem a special offer than those with lower incomes. This further dispels the old notion that wealthy consumers don’t use coupons or special offers.

Two Types of Special Offers We Recommend Considering For Your Practice

There are many different types of offers you can use to attract new patients. However, as a best practice, we suggest using a minimum of two: one new patient offer for teeth cleaning and one new patient offer for teeth whitening.

Why? Teeth cleaning and teeth whitening are the top two reasons why patients from our survey reported visiting the dentist.

By using these two types of strategic offers you can cast a wide net that will appeal to a broad audience.

From here, you can add on any additional offers you think would appeal to your practice’s specific prospective patients such as a complimentary second opinion or consultation, a special offer for Invisalign or similar services, savings off other specific procedures, etc.

Download Cracking the Code Dental To Learn More About Your Practice’s Customers

& Access Best4mailing’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.

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