Black Book says the integration of its vehicle valuation data with auto industry mobile marketing company TEXTiUM will help ease buy-back mail problems by providing it with a timely update.

The companies will do that through TEXTiUM’s Instant Trade-in Values product, which uses TEXTiUM’s Precision Texting and Mail-to-Mobile Technologies.

The companies say that Black Book’s vehicle valuation data and intelligence will power TEXTiUM’s TIV, which will help dealers increase accuracy of vehicle information, which they say will increase customer response rate to buy-back mail.

Using buy-back mail, dealers can currently see up to 30% of every campaign deliver mail with the wrong vehicle information, according to Black Book and TEXTiUM, who say the stated valuation is often inflated. Because of that, according to the companies, the dealer must either disappoint the customer or over-pay for the trade in attempting to close the deal. That depletes profit and lowers customer satisfaction, the companies say. But they say the technological gap between printed direct mail and the modern consumer is the biggest issue.

TEXTiUM’s founder and chief executive officer Craig Schmitz said in a news release that with current mail, the customer is expected to call the dealership or fill-out an online form.

“This runs contrary to what today’s customers expect,” Schmitz said. “Studies show that 85% of customers prefer to communicate with businesses by text. By not giving a buy-back customer that option, the campaign is doomed to fall far short of dealer expectations.”
 
Each mail piece with TEXTiUM’s new Instant Vehicle Values powered by Black Book includes a unique identifying PIN for every customer. It also includes the offer for the customer to receive the current trade value for his or her vehicle.

The companies say limiting the offer to a specific vehicle attached to the customer’s record is not necessary because with TIV, the customer can receive a value for up to three vehicles in his or her household.
 
After texting his or her PIN, the interested customer receives an instant personalized text response from the dealer and an official Black Book Trade Value Certificate with what the companies describe as “a realistic rough-to-average valuation.”

At that exact time, TEXTiUM delivers a real-time lead to the dealer’s CRM, with correct name, vehicle data, and the customer’s mobile phone number.
 
“TEXTiUM, powered by Black Book, is a game changing technology that we have integrated with our Buy-back direct mail campaigns,” Mudd Advertising president Chris Mudd said. “Our dealers are thrilled with the high-quality leads they receive and the increased vehicle sales that result. We are recommending to our dealer and OEM clients that all buy back mail be integrated with TEXTiUM.”

“TIV allows dealers to provide customers with the most up-to-date and precise vehicle valuations through Black Book,” Black Book executive vice president of revenue Jared Kalfus said. “With this information, dealers can receive leads faster and increase their profits.”