Database Management Improved for BASF Refinish

CHALLENGE:

BASF is the largest chemical producer in the world. The company turned to us to help its Refinish division produce thousands of quarterly factory vehicle paint colors and cabinets for automotive body shops. BASF’s previous way of handling this produced problems that included: 

• Body shops didn’t always submit cabinet registrations.
• BASF got no notice of the shop closing, which led to charges of $50 per mailing return.
• More shops closed due to the recent economic downturn, increasing return shipping rates. 
   

SOLUTION: 

Our team worked quickly to establish a cabinet registration process via direct mail with personal URLs (pURLs). These pURLs would give improve BASF’s client contact information and communications. Our solution also provided BASF with many other benefits, which would include:

• Creating a manageable database of body shop contacts.
• Providing accurate insight into which shops needed cabinet updates.
• Facilitating a direct relationship with body shops.
   

RESULTS:

Our Authentic Marketing approach generated these transformative and sustainable results:

• Over 3,000 client contacts captured or updated.
• Encouraged 45% of contacts to provide email addresses.
• Over 4,800 paint chip cabinets registered.
• A 40% reduction in quarterly chip updates distributed.
• Saved more than $960,000 annually in production and distribution costs.