The ZIP/Postal Code Analysis Report provides a list of customer vehicle counts by ZIP (or FSA for Canadian postal codes), within a specified date range by analyzing all the invoices used in the date range you specify. The information on this report lets you know if a promotion brought customers in from a particular demographic area. This information can help you target certain ZIP/postal codes for a future promotion.
Additionally, the report shows repeat business, fleet counts, and coupon/discount use by ZIP/postal code. This information allows you to see how your business is divided geographically between fleet customers and regular customers. It also helps you analyze the use of coupons and discounts by customers in different ZIP/postal codes. For this report, the Repeat Customer figures indicate how many customers came more than once within the date range of the report. For the actual number of customers who came to your store, you can use the Vehicles count. The grand totals at the bottom show total numbers, average percentages and dollar amounts for the entire report.
For each ZIP/postal code included on at least one invoice, the report prints the following:
- ZIP/postal code, city, and state
- Total number of tickets
- Total number of vehicles
- Number of repeat vehicles and the percentage of the total vehicle count
- Number of fleet vehicles and the percentage of the total vehicle count
- Number and amount of coupons used
- Number and amount of discounts used
Printing the Report
Use the following steps to print a ZIP/Postal Code Analysis Report:
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This report can take up to several hours to run because it searches your entire customer database. |
- On the Main Menu, select Marketing Menu.
- Select ZIP/Postal Code Analysis Rpt (3) to receive the ZIP/Postal Code Analysis Report Control Screen.
- Use the following field definitions to create a report according to your needs.
Field |
Definition |
Range of Dates |
Fill in the beginning and ending dates for the range you want to include on your report. Leave blank to print the report for all information on your system. |
ZIP/Postal Code |
To select only one ZIP/postal code range, type it in both the Low and High fields. For all ZIP/postal code areas, leave this field blank. |
Stores |
Fill in the beginning and ending store numbers for the range you want to include on your report. Leave blank to print the report for service history from all the stores with which you share vehicles. If you only want to see the report for your store, type your store number in both the Low and High fields.
Note: |
Sites sharing vehicles (as well as O.I.L. Centrals) can also use this field. If you are not sharing vehicles with another store, leave this field blank. |
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Print Time on Report |
Printing the time helps you identify the most current report when the same report is printed more than once during a day. This field defaults to Y to print the time on the report. If you do not want the time to print on a report, type N. We recommend that you always print the time on a report. |
Duplex |
This field appears for terminals that have report type 2 enabled in the Set Up Printer Controls screen. Duplex mode enables printing on both sides of the paper.
Note: |
This will only function on printers that support Duplex mode. |
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Landscape |
This field appears for terminals that have report type 2 enabled in the Set Up Printer Controls screen. It prints horizontally on the paper. |
Number of Printed Lines per Page |
This value tells the computer how many lines to print on each page of the report. A typical 11-inch page can contain up to 66 lines, but this field defaults to 60 to allow three-line margins at the top and bottom of the page.
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If you type 0 (zero) in this field, the report header does not print and the form feeds do not work. |
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Total Number of Lines per Page |
This field indicates the length of the paper in the printer. A typical 11-inch page contains 66 lines. Your system interprets a 0 or 66 in this field to mean that standard 11-inch paper is loaded in the printer. Because a 66 causes a form feed to take more time, accepting the default, 0, is recommended. |
Print Report To |
This field tells the computer where to send the report. The following list contains the different selections available for this field.
- 0 Printer – Sends report to the terminal’s default report printer immediately. (Default)
- 1 Screen – Provides an on-screen view of a report. This can be used as a preview before you print it or when a hard copy of the report is not needed. The function keys at the bottom of the on-screen version allow you to move around to view the entire report.
- 2 Disk file – Useful when you want an electronic copy of the report. If you select this option, you receive a prompt to enter the name of the report file. The file that is created can be copied to a USB drive or viewed later. This option is for advanced computer users.
- If you use this option, we suggest you precede your report name with /tmp/. For example, at the prompt to enter the report name for a customer list, you might type /tmp/custlist. This is a good storage directory for temporary files.
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Command Line Options |
The line at the bottom of the screen contains commands to print the report and to save or change the report settings.
- Save – Press [F4] to save the current settings for the report. This is useful if a report is generated repeatedly with the same options. Do not save date selections because they may not be useful in the future.
- Start – Press [F7] to submit the report to print on the printer, on the screen, or in a disk file. (Reports print in the order they are submitted.)
- Again – Press [F9] to return to the top of the screen. This allows you to change any of the information you have entered on the screen before you submit the report.
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- Press [F7] to start the ZIP/Postal Code Analysis Report. When the processing is complete, you return to the Marketing Menu.
Report Contents
Item |
Description |
Date Range |
Range of dates for the report information. |
Stores |
Range of store numbers included in report. |
ZIP Code |
ZIP or postal code of one or more customers who had vehicles serviced during the date range.
Note: |
If the Metric field in the Center Control File is set to Y, this column header will be Postal Code. |
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City |
City corresponding to the ZIP or postal code. |
State |
2-character state or province code corresponding to the ZIP or postal code.
Note: |
If the Metric field in the Center Control File is set to Y, this column header will be Prov. |
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Tickets |
Total number of invoices for the ZIP/postal code. |
Vehicles |
Total number of vehicles for the ZIP/postal code. One vehicle may have more than one ticket for the date range, so this number may be lower than the number in the Tickets column. |
Repeat |
Number and percentage of customers from the ZIP/postal code that came more than once in the date range. |
Fleets |
Number and percentage of customers from the ZIP/postal code that were fleet customers. |
Coupons |
Number of tickets that included coupons, and the total dollar amount of the coupons used. |
Discounts |
Number of tickets that included discounts, and the total dollar amount of all discounts. |
Grand Total |
Totals from all ZIP/postal codes included in the report. (In the Repeat Percentage and Fleet Percentage columns, the average percentage is reported). |
Recommendations for Using This Report
This report can be a useful tool for marketing. It is generally run on an as-needed basis. To monitor changes in the customer base, it is best to print the report regularly (monthly or quarterly, for example). The ZIP/Postal Code Analysis Report can help with your marketing efforts because it shows the geographic distribution of your customers. For instance, it indicates where repeat business is strong and where fleet customers are concentrated. This information can be used to help identify target areas for expansion and marketing. When you receive this report, watch for high or low activity and how well coupons and discounts are used in specific ZIP/postal codes.
Beyond the Basics
You may want to monitor this report to get an idea of how well a particular marketing strategy works. For example, you may direct a promotional flyer to an affluent neighborhood or an industrial area with lots of potential fleet customers. An increase in business in a particular ZIP/postal code, along with a high number of coupons used, would indicate your promotion has been successful in that area.
The following items may affect the statistics on this report:
- Vehicle sharing. If the store shares vehicle information, the coupon and discount information may not be accurate on this report. Coupon and discount information is not shared with vehicle sharing, therefore, when running this report for a range of stores other than the store that originated the invoices, the coupon and discount information shown on the report will only reflect the originating stores data.
- If the report is printed for a range of dates so that services are still in history but the coupon/discount information is not, some of the report information will be incorrect. To evaluate this, you should look at your periods to retain history on screen 4 of the Center Control File (1-6-1-1). Make sure the dates you choose for the report are within the period to retain history for coupon/discount information.