SAN RAMON, Calif. -

Marketing technology company MediaTrac revealed this week its new BeBack Program, a tool which aims to help dealers target potential customers who may not have made a purchase on their last visit to the store.

Participating dealerships are asked to choose an incentive value that is then issued in the form of time-restricted, redeemable card and given out to customers as a way to “entice them to return within a specified period of time to make a purchase.”

The company has just completed six months of in-field beta testing on the new program, a period of time that has proven the card — which resembles a gift card — “extremely effective at targeting these prospects (customers who have been in the dealership and not made a purchase) and turning them into vehicle buyers,” company officials stressed.

"Our new BeBack Program has been highly effective in the beta dealerships. In fact, one Toyota dealership sold 10 new Toyotas in the first 10 days on the program as a direct result of the BeBack card," said Jeff Shenk, director of operations at MediaTrac.

The cards, which will display each dealership’s brand and logo, may have a variety of denominations, and the dealership can choose the discount value offered to each prospective buyer.

According to the company, it is not unusual for dealers to see 18 to 20 percent of their prospects who received a BeBack card return and purchase a vehicle within 10 to 15 days of receiving the incentive card.

Noting statistics that point out the average auto dealership sees 75 to 80 percent of floor traffic leave the store without even making a purchase, with 40 percent of those shoppers leaving to buy a vehicle from a competitor, MediaTrac stresses the new program is designed to help drive these lost sales opportunities back into dealerships.

Moreover, following the receipt of the card, potential customers will be reached by a series of emails, each designed to utilize “a different aspect of sales psychology messaging” to pull the customer back into the store.

The first email sent includes a quick survey, which is used to determine the reason or reasons a customer didn’t buy a vehicle during their first visit.

Then, the dealer has the ability to form a sales response specific to that particular customer’s needs or wants. The company stressed dealers may expect a 30 to 40 percent response rate to the aforementioned survey.

"Prospects decide where to buy in part based on the speed and quality of sales follow-up. Statistics prove that if you can get your prospects back to your store quickly, you will have a much better chance of closing the sale,” noted Shenk.

"We deliver the right communications at the right time to entice your customers to return. And whether it is sitting in your prospect’s wallet or purse, or even on their dresser at home, the BeBack card is a concrete reminder of the value of doing business with your dealership," he continued.

Additionally, the card is not just designed to bring customers back into the store for their first purchase, but also to entice existing customers to return for a repeat purchase, the company stressed.