A reminder to a car that went to auction
Your DMS sends a batch of service reminders each month. Some go to people who sold the car three years ago. Some go to customers whose car was serviced last month at another dealer. Some remind people about an MOT that was due in March, because the date was calculated from the first registration without checking. One goes to a customer whose car was written off.
Customers who get the wrong reminder either ignore all future ones or ring to complain. The ones who should have been reminded, with the right date, are lost among the rest.
The data behind the reminders has drifted
DMS customer and vehicle records are built up over years, by different people, with different habits. Nobody has had the time to keep them clean.
- Owners change and the DMS is not told.
- MOT due dates are calculated, not checked.
- Service intervals are generic, not per model or schedule.
- Duplicate customer records split one person's history.
- Contact preferences and consent are not consistently recorded.
Sending reminders from this data is like posting letters to an address book nobody has updated.
What wrong reminders cost
The obvious cost is wasted messages. The bigger cost is the reminders that do not go to the right people at the right time. Customers who would have booked with you if reminded go elsewhere instead.
Wrong reminders also damage trust. A customer told their MOT is overdue when it is not starts to doubt the dealership's other messages.
And sending marketing to people without the right consent is a risk your data protection adviser will want you to avoid.
How we clean the data and time the reminders
- We extract customer and vehicle records from your DMS and find duplicates, gaps and obviously stale entries.
- MOT due dates are checked against the public MOT history service using the registration, where your usage fits its terms.
- Service due dates are worked out from the manufacturer schedule for each model where you have it, the last service in your records and the mileage trend.
- Customers who have not been seen for a long time, or whose car is likely to have been sold, are grouped for a different approach rather than a service reminder.
- Reminders are sent by text and email at the right time, with a booking link, only to customers whose recorded consent allows it.
- Replies such as 'sold the car' or 'serviced elsewhere' update the record automatically or go to a person to update.
| Data problem | What we do |
|---|---|
| Duplicate customers | Match and flag for merging |
| MOT date guessed | Check against public MOT history |
| Generic service interval | Use model schedule and mileage |
| Car probably sold | Separate list, not a reminder |
Who you contact and on what basis is a decision for you and your data protection adviser. We make the data honest and apply the rules you set.
Reminders that reach the right people
Reminders go to customers who still have the car, at a sensible time before the service or MOT is due. Replies clean the data a little more each month. The service department sees bookings arrive from reminders, and the DMS gradually becomes a record you can trust.
Signs your reminders need this
- Customers complain about reminders for cars they sold.
- MOT reminders arrive at the wrong time.
- Your DMS has many duplicate customers.
- Service intervals are the same for every model.
- Nobody is sure what consent has been recorded.