CustomerLink, share comments?

[Joe Marconi]

Have any shop owners had experience with CustomerLink. I viewed a demo today and I was impressed with their strategy, particularly how they analyze your data base, ID your ideal customers and also target market and advertise to find more of your ideal customers. Also liked the reports.

 

Any info on CustomerLink is appreciated, Thanks in advance!

[mmotley]

I'm also interested in this and had a live demo. I'm not really interested in the email advertising (see Gmail and their new filter system) or their mail outs (Hand addressed envelopes seem to work better and are comparative in cost). But I do like the way they break down your customer database into categories with details, maintain your social media accounts, and actively pursue positive online reviews. They also let you see how you compare to other local shops in advertising and other numbers.

 

Joe, I can tell you this. I have spoke with a customer who used to go to another shop and I asked for her opinion on mail outs (thank you notes and reminder cards). She said she had gotten a reminder card from the other local shop and said it looked cheesy/mass production/not personal at all. She said my hand addressed thank you letter and reminder letters that I personally sign looked way better and came off a lot more personal (she kept it and showed it to her friends). I'm 99% sure the other shop was using customerlink.

Edited January 27, 2014 by mmotley

[Big_K]

Hi Joe,

I have been with DemandForce, MechanicNet, and now CustomerLink. I also considered the new Alldata offering.

 

All are fairly similar, what I liked about CustomerLink is the fact that they only deal with Auto Repair. MechanicNet...when I needed things changed, it was impossible to get anything done. Everything was very quick to sign me up, but afterwards it was lagging. DemandForce was working fairly well, although CustomerLink was a little cheaper, and I really liked what they did with the mailers. I am not sure if our customers were ready with text messages, but I had a huge fallout with text messages through DemandForce and perhaps that's what made me change.

[ATLAuto]

I am not sure if our customers were ready with text messages, but I had a huge fallout with text messages through DemandForce and perhaps that's what made me change.

 

Was CustomerLink recommending sending a text message ad to all your customers? If so, I can see this having a negative impression. Curious if they have success with this anywhere.

[ATSAutomotive]

Wow I had a demo with CustomerLink too. Haven't had any issues with DemandForce but CustomerLink had a great setup as well. Cheaper and no contract.....

 

P.S. I have customers who love the text messages and some who could care less. All they need to do is opt out at the first text and they will never receive one again.

[Big_K]

CustomerLink doesn't have the text message option. DemandForce does, I had it setup that I sent a preliminary text to acquire approval. I wouldn't ask for permission, sometimes I'd forget...I had one guy in particular throw a 3 minute tantrum on the phone about privacy and then ask me which service that is since he's a lawyer and his company could use something like that...great guy.

 

 

Otherwise, the lack of contract was really easy to switch. If you're ever with DemandForce, prepare to get a call from a professional bully at the end that will try dissuade you by any means necessary to not cancel. I told him that I would consider coming back if CustomerLink wasn't working but by the nature of his phonecall, I won't be back. He didn't care, he lost his commission and was pissed...he also offered a lower monthly price.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Big_K

[b1qwkbird]

I just did a 4 month deal with Customer Link and used a tracking number to report any calls from the flyers. The only phone calls I received were 2 wrong numbers, one looking for a plumber and the other asking for their "Uncle Steve" and one person asking if we were hiring. I have started simply passing out flyers myself and using the post office and their route delivery option to target people around my shop and received much better results. Not to mention when I asked if I could change anything about the program to get better results all I was offered was a free month of mailers if I didn't receive any calls. However since I received 3 calls (the first of which came before the mailers were even mailed out) this was also not an option. After cancelling service I was also charged a $90 fee the next month and could not be told why. In my opinion their professionalism disappears once you start the service.

[ncautoshop]

I've not used any of these products but I have used the usps direct mail system and it's very easy to use. Didn't get many results but that was likely due to the offerings on the postcard.

 

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Jeff]

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[dantheman]

 

Was CustomerLink recommending sending a text message ad to all your customers? If so, I can see this having a negative impression. Curious if they have success with this anywhere.

Law requires that if you are sending something for promotional services, you're required that the customer opts in themselves. So no sending a text message without consent.

 

We're probably going to move away from customer link soon. Their postcards were useless, and their review system stays..on their review system. Its nice to have all the reviews, but they aren't in the most effective place - like they would be on bing and google (I'm looking at going with overdrive strategies maybe, for reputation stuff. they were recommended to me by a friend). But i've moved our email marketing off, over to just mail chimp, I think the demographic photos are a bit cheesy, and I doubt their effectiveness. Looks cool from shop owners perspective, but that may be the extent. Looking into replacing all they do to save $300.

[b1qwkbird]

Could you guys elaborate on the usps services? Thanks.

Basically you take your own flyers, postcards, etc. to the post office and buy a route and every address on that route gets one of your pieces. They have all the info as far as how many houses and businesses are on each route. It is very reasonably priced (I am just north of Atlanta and can buy most routes for under $50) and the main hassle is getting the flyers printed. I do all of my own but you can also farm it out to companies like Vistaprint.

[mikesauto2427]

My customer link rep has pretty much told me to run. It was really good but they were bought out. I already noticed some little price bumps. Not to mention the dreaded automatic renewal if you don't catch it

[mspecperformance]

bought out by intuit, if you don't like demandforce (me!) then I would not mess with customer link at this point. Check out KuKui. Price point is higher but thats due to website they build you and also the SEO they set you up with. I am using them and I am happy so far.