INFINITI Service Retention FAQs and Best Practices (Updated July 2017)

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1 What is Service Retention? INFINITI Service Retention FAQs and Best Practices (Updated July 2017) Service retention measures the number of qualified visits in the past 12 months (calculated to the day) at the same Retailer. A retained VIN has 2 or more qualified visits within this time frame. Why is service retention important? Almost 50% of INFINITI clients (owners) currently do not use INFINITI Retailers for regular service. The opportunity to capture this incremental business is paramount to Retailer profitability. Not only is service revenue increased, but retained INFINITI clients are 5x more likely to purchase another INFINITI than a non-retained client. The Service Retention website provides industry leading detailed client data for the purpose of capitalizing on market opportunity. Note: The Service Retention model is dependent on accurate data from the Retailer. It is the responsibility of each Retailer to ensure that accurate data is transmitted to INFINITI USA. (See additional information in Appendix A) FAQ Content Answers to Common Questions How is Service Retention Calculated? What is a Qualified Visit? What is the ACB? What is on the Service Retention Home Page? Best Practices Four Keys to Retention Sustainment Client Lifetime Value Appendix: A. Retailer Data Responsibility B. Standard Service Retention Formulas C. Returned Mail and VIN Removal Requests D. Service Retention Data Feeds

2 How is Service Retention Calculated? A retained VIN has 2 or more qualified Visits in the last 12 months. The numerator in all Service Retention calculations is always the count of retained VINs within the last rolling 12 months. The denominator is always the applicable ACB. Calculations include the following ACB vehicle age ranges: 1st year Service Retention: 6 months to 18 months In-warranty Service Retention: 6 months to 48 months Out-of-warranty: 48 months to 90 months 7 year Service Retention: 6 months to 90 months For example, In-Warranty Service Retention is calculated as follows: (See all standard formulas in Appendix B) Retained VINs 6-48 months in service VINs 6 to 48 months from the in-service date Qualified Visits What is a Qualified Visit? A qualified visit is defined as: 1. A maintenance visit corresponding to the factory recommended maintenance intervals- Example: Oil and Filter Change 2. Any RO with a positive dollar amount of customer pay for which the client made an actual payment to the Retailer 3. Prepaid Maintenance - Retailer is responsible for providing an accurate op code description. Note: Valid Customer Pay Repair Orders should only show customer pay for maintenance and service work performed and paid for by the client. Parts counter purchases, such as touch-up paint, should not be reported as a work order. Split Repair Orders Any time a qualifying repair order generated 7 days or less after another qualifying repair order, only the first one will count. How is a qualified maintenance operation identified? 1. Qualified maintenance operations are determined by op code DESCRIPTION as listed on the repair order in the absence of Customer Pay. 2. ALL ROs with a positive amount of Customer Pay count as a qualified visit. For the Retailer to get credit in the event there is no Customer Pay on the RO, op code descriptions must accurately describe the work performed, such as LOF, oil change or

3 tire rotation. Examples of descriptions too vague to be picked up and credited are platinum, special, job or VIP. How can I review how the Op Code descriptions I m using are being mapped by INFINITI? You can review your op code description mapping by contacting Retailer Support at (866) or contact@infinitiinnercircle.com. You will receive the descriptions being received on your repair orders and the maintenance category identified for each one. Best Practice: Review your store s op code mapping every 6 months or when there is a new Service Manager. Do internal repair orders count if they have complimentary maintenance? Yes. The Service Retention model searches for op code DESCRIPTION as described above to provide credit to the Retailer for performing work in accordance with the factory recommended maintenance schedule. The Assigned Customer Base (ACB) What is the ACB? The Assigned Customer Base (ACB) is comprised of INFINITI clients in your area of responsibility for which INFINITI has records of ownership. The ACB includes both clients that have done business with you in the past and in market clients that have never been to your Retailer and have no relationship with another INFINITI Retailer. The following descriptions make up ACB assignment. More than one can apply to a single VIN. Vehicle Sales New vehicles sold by your Retail store that are within 35 miles from your store and within 12 months from the in-service date. VINs outside 35 miles are counted only if they are in the Inner Circle. Servicing Owners VINs demonstrating preference to service at your Retail store and are within 35 miles. Any VIN with 2 or more visits at your Retail store in the last 12 months will be in the ACB regardless of distance. If beyond 35 miles they will automatically be removed the day they cease to be retained. Inner Circle Owners All VINs in your Inner Circle of the Inner Circle service marketing program will be in the ACB regardless of mileage from your Retail store. Best Practice: Use Overdrive to automatically apply the best settings to your loyalty program, so you don t have to worry about managing the rules. In-Market Owners: PMA

4 VINs within your market that have no service history in the last 18 months with any INFINITI Retailer. Closest VINs that are not part of any PMA will be assigned to the closest Retailer within 35 miles. Can a VIN be in the ACB of more than one Retailer? No. VINs are assigned to a single Retailer based on the program rules. A VIN can show in a retained list if it is Cross Servicing between Retailers but it will only assigned to one ACB. Which VINs are NOT in the ACB? o Recent New Vehicle Sales vehicles in service for less than 6 months will be excluded from scoring. At six months and one day, VINs are added to the appropriate ACB. Any qualified visits in the first 6 months will count at that time o Fleet Vehicles (5 or More VINs registered to the same entity) o Fleet Vehicles- reported with a fleet sales type o VINs with the following branded titles- Dismantled, Flood, Junk, Salvaged o VINs with no known current owner. o VINs beyond 35 miles that are not in the Inner Circle o Vehicles known to be in the Retailer inventory or recently at auction o Exported VINs (Sales Type 5 on an RDR or per CARFAX) o Loaner Vehicles Did you know? INFINITI automatically removes close to 20% of the national VIN population from ACBs and Retailer assignment if INFINITI cannot match them to a current client with confidence. Where can I access my Assigned Customer Base (ACB)? In the NNAnet choose Svc & Parts Marketing & Svc Retention Reporting Choose the Service Retention Link Click on the Assigned Customer Base tab in the middle of the page Click on the List of my Assigned Customer Base link on the bottom right or choose from other list options. Once downloaded, you can click on Export to Spreadsheet Note: The count from the download will not exactly match the dashboard as the dashboard is updated monthly while the ACB lists are updated weekly. Is there a grace period for new cars? Yes. New vehicle sales are exempt from the Service Retention calculation for the first six months from the in-service date. The purpose of this grace period is to allow VINs to establish service history before being included in the calculation.

5 Note: You can access you 0-6 month VIN list on the Assigned Customer Base tab. Use this list to ensure VINs are coming in for the expected 1st maintenance. Is there a grace period for pre-owned deliveries? Yes. Used vehicles will be suppressed from SR for 6 months and 1 day after the date of sale. This applies to vehicles sold by a Retailer and not through a private sale. Used vehicles are considered sold by a Retailer if there is a sales date in the sales table in SR (matching based on client ID, VIN and sales date). Certified Pre-Owned 1 visit credit. Credit will be given to the selling Retailer when they sell a CPO vehicle that counts as 1 SR eligible visit. CPO credit will be valid for 12 months after the latest CPO sales date. Note: this credit WILL NOT show up in the number of visits column on the ACB How does the Service Retention model calculate the distance to Retailer value? Values in the Distance to Dealer column in the ACB are measured as the exact distance between longitude and latitude mapping points. This is a straight-line calculation. Service Retention Website Resources What is on Service Retention Home Page? The Service Retention Landing Page is the place to find the most current month s retention numbers and trends. This page is updated once a month on or about the 20th of the following month. This page contains hyperlinks to valuable key reports:

6 What is the Breakdown ACB by Distance Chart? Own your own backyard! The Service Retention website makes it simple to identify and target opportunity closest to the Retail store. The ACB by Distance Chart allows Retailers to mine their ACB by specific mileage bands in order to maximize marketing efforts. The top row shows population by mileage band. The lower number shows cumulative totals. Any underlined number can be clicked to get the full owner list. Sorting criteria include: 1. View a. Overall ACB (7 year) b. 1st Year c. In Warranty d. Out of Warranty 2. Owner a. Un-retained b. Retained c. All

7 What is the Defection Report? The Defection Report depicts the Retailer s New and Used sales. The Retailer s defection percentage represents the VINs which have not returned for a maintenance visit between 4 and 12 months from the date of sale. Since defection begins tracking VINs at 4 months, it can be used as an early indicator of 1st year service retention. The client-specific defection list can be downloaded from the Service Retention website or the Inner Circle service marketing website. A best practice is marketing to or calling these clients to get them in or survey them as to what might keep them from coming in for service.

8 Where can I see my Service Retention Score History? Two years of Service Retention history can be found by choosing the trend link underneath any score on the Service Retention home page. You can choose the date for any 12 month trend within two years in both chart and table formats. Best Practices Four Keys to Growing Retention ONE: The Sales-to-Service Handoff At new/used delivery, clients need to be informed why your Retailer is the BEST option for service and maintenance throughout their ownership. Analytics indicate that setting the 1 st Maintenance appointment at time of new vehicle delivery increases 1 st year Service Retention by approximately 8 points! TWO: Sustained Service CRM Program The INFINITI Inner Circle service marketing program provides a high-touch communications strategy to keep your most loyal clients on regular factory maintenance intervals. These clients often generate 50%+ of monthly service revenue. Through welcome mailers, service reminders and overdue for service communications these clients receive regular maintenance communications.

9 THREE: Seasonal ISMP campaigns ISMP campaigns market to the conquest clients in your area. These are clients who are not coming in regularly and need additional incentives to come in. Campaign response rates average more than 11% nationally. These are the 50% of INFINITI clients that may be servicing their INFINITI elsewhere. FOUR: Retailer Direct Marketing INFINITI s On-Demand Marketing (ODM) program allows for specific Retailer offers to targeted client segments. For example, targeted marketing lists available in the ACB can be utilized to send timely offers such as oil changes to 0 and 1 visit clients within 10 miles. Retailers participating in the Inner Circle CRM program have the ability to access, customize and send the entire suite of ODM pieces, including pre-built lists and highly customizable Build Your Own activities where you can choose creative from a library, choose client segmentation, choose offers and expiration date. Retailers not participating in One to One do not have access to Build Your Own. Regular marketing campaigns are essential to keep your Retail store top-of-mind for INFINITI clients. Monthly campaigns are highly recommended. Assistance is available through Retailer Support by calling (866) INFINITI marketing programs are integrated to offer maximum value to clients. Service reminders and offers incorporate messaging on Express Service, Online Service Scheduling, Tires and more... Convenience Value Trust...meet these basic client expectations for the best foundation for Service Retention.

10 Best Practices Client Lifetime Value Why retain in-warranty clients that generally generate low CPRO dollars? Building regular servicing habits from the beginning of the ownership experience leads to loyalty throughout ownership lifetime. A retained VIN generates almost 2 ½ times the CP revenue than does a one visit per year VIN.

11 Appendix A Are all Repair Orders received by INFINITI? Two years of Customer Pay Repair Order history can be found by choosing the Change in CP tab in the middle of the home page. Then choose 12 month RO trend in the lower right. You can choose the date for any 12 month trend within two years in both chart and table format. RO Trend by Month Appendix B Standard Service Retention Formulas The 7-Year Retention formula is as follows: Retained VINs 6 90 months in service VINs 6-90 Months in Service The First Year Retention formula is as follows: Retained VINs 6 18 months in service VINs 6 18 Months in Service The In-Warranty Retention formula is as follows: Retained VINs 6 48 months in service VINs 6 48 Months in Service The Out-of-Warranty Retention formula is as follows:

12 Retained VINs months in service VINs Months in Service Appendix C Returned Mail and VIN Removal Requests Returned ODM Mail Any ODM sent that is undeliverable is returned to the print fulfillment center for processing. There is no action required by the Retailer to ensure this happens. When processing occurs, the address on the returned ODM is compared to the latest information as shown on the ACB. If the address is different that means an update has just been received. If the address on the returned mailer matches the ACB, then that client is removed from the Retailer s responsibility for service retention scoring. A disposition of returned ODM counts, and removed client counts are sent to the Service Manager listed in the Inner Circle profile on a regular basis. Did you know? The average return rate of any marketing list is about 10%. The INFINITI ACB generally yields a much lower than half that in returned mail. Due to the numerous filters in the ACB, less than half of returned mailers are found in the ACB for removal. As time elapses, this percentage drops even more as the filters update the database. VIN Removal Requests: Should a Retailer have documentation demonstrating that a VIN should or should not be assigned to their ACB or service visits are not captured, such documentation can be sent for review to one of the addresses above or ed to Retailer Support at contact@infinitiinnercircle.com. Submissions must include a minimum of 5 VINs. Please follow these steps for VIN review: 1. Retailer downloads current ACB. 2. Highlight rows containing VINs for review 3. Supply notes in the final column identifying the removal reason 4. Provide documentation such as DMV records, CARFAX or printed repair orders Valid reasons for removal include: 1. Retailer Inventory 2. Auction 3. Dismantled, Flood, Junk, Salvage title 4. Registered in a different city further than 35 miles away If fewer than 5 VINs are requested and are sent to the support team, the Retailer will receive an confirming receipt with notice that the VINs will not be reviewed until

13 there are 5 VINs for review. Review Process For either returned mail or VIN removal requests the Retailer will receive a confirmation once a request has been received. Another will be sent with the investigation summary and action. Requests are usually processed within 10 business days of receipt. Please make sure any requests are sent at least 2 weeks prior to the end of the month to ensure they are processed in time for scoring. Any request received late will not be considered for any historical score adjustments. Retailer Support can always be reached by telephone at (866) or by at contact@infinitiinnercircle.com Appendix D Service Retention Data Feeds (Including but not limited to) Service Transactions Daily New Sales Transactions Daily through RDR reporting NCOA (USPS National Change of Address) Quarterly 9th day of the last month of the quarter. Polk Vehicle Owner Verification Monthly, third week of the month. DMV updates to POLK vary by state. Undeliverable Addresses Daily files from the post office from 3rd class mailings (ISMP) 1st class mail as returned by Retailers (See Appendix C) IFS Lease Groundings Weekly on Monday Large fleet VINs

14 Daily included in RDR files. Enterprise, Hertz sales type 2. Any combination of currently owned vehicles in excess of 5 registrations to the same entity is flagged as fleet. Export VINs Daily included in RDR files. Any sales type 5 VIN is excluded. Existing registered VINs are flagged as export when reported through CARFAX. IFS Lease Ownership Data Monthly on the first weekend of the month Name Filters (Infiniti, Lexus, IFS, Auto Auction, etc) Weekly. Applied before data is processed, part of the service retention export process SIC Code Processing Daily, exclude business records with automotive related SIC codes (auctions, used car dealers, etc). IESNA Records Weekly (CPO), Elite Service Contracts, Elite Maintenance Warranty Claims Weekly to include NESNA claims ACB Owner Refresh Weekly: (Wednesday) Client records and assignments to Retailers CARFAX Monthly: (2nd Wednesday of the Month) Retailer Inventory Auction Exports