Email Marketing

Email marketing is quickly becoming one of the most important marketing practices that a dealership can utilize today.

Here’s why:

• It's a highly targeted, extremely cost-effective and timely way to reach customers.
• Its return on investment (ROI) is greater than that of its alternatives - direct mail, print ads, newspapers, etc.
• It’s easier to build lasting relationships with specific segments and individuals within your customer base.
• It integrates well with other marketing tactics that your dealership may be conducting, for instance, to remind customers about a physical mail piece you’ve sent them, or to complement print advertising.
• Email can instantly provide opportunities for interactivity in ways that other types of marketing cannot.
• Furthermore, technology is changing at such a rapid pace that those traditional forms of communication are quickly becoming outdated. Direct mail is at the top of that list. Why pay for printing and postage when you can communicate faster, cheaper, and better through email?

If you're like most dealerships, you've been talking about email for a couple of years now and perhaps you’ve had some serious challenges to overcome. Your customers weren’t ready, your existing technologies inside the dealership weren’t ready, and email was primarily considered to be a business tool.

But today your customers are ready and this is good news for your dealership if you need to reach more of them for less money. According to EmailLabs.com, 78 percent of consumers prefer to be contacted by email.

• Email is the number one reason people turn on their computers.
• Consumers check their email more times daily than they watch TV, read the newspaper or listen to the radio.
• Email has proven to be an essential form of communication in daily life.
• Many consumers now use handheld devices to receive and send emails.
• Email is immediate, allowing real-time, on-going communication - you to your customers and they back to you.
• Email can include a variety of links, to other websites, to CSI surveys, to appointment desks, etc, enabling you to add value to your message.

However, unless you are doing it right, email marketing might not be right for your dealership. You need to spend the time to get the performance out of your customer lists and campaigns. I can’t tell you how many times I see a dealership just sending out emails to everyone hoping that X recipients take an action or visit the website. Think bigger and focus on driving results. And have planned results to measure. In addition, you will want to develop an ongoing program that includes:

• Driving email acquisition at current customer interaction points inside and outside of the dealership.
• Training sales and service staff on the value of collecting email addresses.
• Creating and marketing exclusive email-only coupons and offerings.
• Creating website landing pages that speak to the link, the offer, the creative, the copy and more. (Once I click, give me a reason to engage with your campaign.)
• Make your email program work for all of your dealership profit centers - not just new car sales.
• In conclusion, email marketing is no longer a secondary item in your digital marketing to-do list. It should be a major driver of your online communications, community, marketing, and traffic drivers.

Get to work today to guarantee your dealership capitalizes on the best practices and available technology to make you more efficient and more profitable!