Mobile App Users Become More Frequent Visitors to Dealership Service Department; Visiting Nearly 50% More Often Than Non-App Users

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Aug. 19, 2014: DMEautomotive (DMEa) today released new research proving that mobile app users become more frequent visitors to a dealership's service department after they download the app. The study looked at 307 dealerships nationwide that offer a dealership-branded mobile app and compared the 6-month service visit frequency of consumers after installing the app, versus prior to downloading.

According to the research, after downloading a dealership's mobile app, users'

6 month service visits increased by 25% after download of the app service visit frequency grew 3.7 times faster than non-app users "These are remarkable findings," said Marcie Hopey, Director of Strategy for DMEautomotive. "While most dealers may think a branded mobile app is a 'nice to have,' this proves that not only do apps engage customers in unprecedented ways, they also deliver significant incremental service revenue."

DMEautomotive estimates an annual lift of $144,000 in incremental service revenue for every 1,000 app users.

"This is striking evidence that a dealer-branded mobile app designed to keep customers engaged drives real service revenue," said Mike Walther, president and CEO of DMEautomotive. "Combined with our previous research showing that a customer with a dealership-branded mobile app is 73% more likely to buy a vehicle from that dealer than a customer without one, and app users spend 7% more on their vehicle purchase than non-app users, it's clear that apps have a profound and positive revenue lift on both the service lane and in the showroom."

The DMEautomotive research studied over 2.2 million consumer records between the months of 04/2013 and 06/2014. The study covered a mix of 307 dealerships, representing multiple brands, store sizes, and regions, all of which offer Driver Connect, DMEautomotive's dealership-branded mobile app, to their customers.