Yext Provides a Scalable Solution for Enterprise Holding's 6,000 Locations

Enterprise Holdings, Inc., is a global leader in transportation solutions — and is the largest car rental company in the world. Through its integrated global network of independent regional subsidiaries and franchises, Enterprise Holdings operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands at more than 10,000 fully staffed neighbourhood and airport locations. The Enterprise Holdings global network operates in more than 90 countries and territories, including North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean and Europe, as well as parts of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Today, the company's three brands serve more than 95% of the worldwide car rental market.

In the early days of digital, Enterprise managed the facts about its locations directly through Google, but it faced challenges when it came to scale and consistency. "We were trying to manage our location information internally," says James Wilson, Global Performance Marketing Manager. "It was unmanageable to stay on top of it all. We frequently have new locations opening, relocating, hours changing, seasonal hours, etc. At one point, we had someone on our SEO team spending most of their time trying to manage all of this and eventually it became too cumbersome."

On top of that, Google wasn't the only place where Enterprise's location and brand information appeared to consumers. "It was challenging to manage our data on all the important websites and apps," adds Wilson. "As time went on, the emergence of social media and the iPhone advanced the use of mobile and all kinds of apps where people could find travel and rental information proliferated. At that point, we needed a more automated solution. That's when we began working with Yext."

With Yext, Enterprise is able to update the facts about its brand across approximately 175 digital services globally — all from a single dashboard. "We have a central system from which we pull our location data," explains Brook Warnhoff, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist. "Our operations teams are able to update the data themselves and then we send those updates in a feed through Yext."

While accurate, up-to-date brand information is important for day-to-day operations, it can be particularly crucial during unforeseen circumstances. Dramatic weather events, for example, create conditions that increase consumer urgency and the need for greater operational efficiency. The ability to respond to shifting conditions is imperative when it comes to maintaining brand value and customer loyalty.

"One big benefit for Enterprise is how fast Yext can react and change our locations' vital information," Warnhoff says. "For example, when Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas, the storm affected hundreds of our locations. I was able to send over a daily report saying which locations were closed, which ones were open, if they just had adjusted hours, and Yext was able to get that information updated online as quickly as possible. That meant people searching on Google could see which locations were actually closed and when they were going to open again."

Enterprise's Performance Marketing Team assessed the overall value of Yext's services.

"It's always important to understand the value of our marketing investments," Wilson says. "We've been able to implement analytics to measure the impact from the listings we manage through Yext. When we look at the bottom line compared to other digital acquisition channels, it's the most efficient in terms of driving volume at a low cost."

"We're really excited about the project we recently completed to automate our process fully so that we're updating location data daily. This significantly cuts down on time spent troubleshooting one-off issues, freeing up resources to focus on more strategic initiatives. Looking forward, having our location-related data more accurate and feeding out to Google and other services will help us become easily discoverable through emerging trends like voice search."

"The strength of our brands is our foundation, but it's important to consider all aspects of the customer journey. Customers are increasingly turning to new digital technologies to research, plan and book travel. This includes apps, social media and voice-based assistants. Yext has helped us future-proof our brands as consumer behaviour shifts with new technology. Regardless of whether someone is comparison shopping, looking for a specific type of vehicle, location or business hours, it's crucial they get the correct information and that our brands and business lines are easily discoverable. Yext empowers us to manage and optimise effectively at scale."

Since launching with Yext, Enterprise holdings has experienced a 31% year-over-year increase in listing clicks. This includes a 45% year-over-year increase in clicks for directions, a 39% year-over-year increase in website clicks and a 30% year-over-year increase in clicks to call.