Email Blast Bastards

[Jeff Kershner]

It's a product we built for dealers. I used to run the same campaigns by hand in 2011 but it became far too much work and the labour costs made no sense.
http://bumperapp.com

Import a CSV (or DMS integrations) of customers and it generates everything for you.
Just have to provide some sort of offer and messaging, but "best practices" are the difference between 1% conversion and 12% conversion rate. The targeting is critical as well, which Alex was right about, but I still find we can group 500+ customers and nail a high conversion rate.

@craigh - I may need a demo of that!! I'll DM you on FB.

It's interesting to see the different opinions on this topic. We sorta have 2 conversations going on - bulk email campaigns VS hyper targeted & YES to newsletter VS NO to Newsletter.

 

[john.quinn]

...people don't give a shit about a car dealer's newsletter.

Isn't that more a content problem than an ideological "don't send more than 100 emails" as a process problem?

Even though I don't read every email they send, there are several vendors that I like seeing in my inbox -- vendors with whom I know I'll be engaging in the future.

I don't see why dealers should be any different... there's alway the challenge of "frequency" and relevance, but I wouldn't blanket everything with a "100 Limit" rule.

The problem with most dealer newsletters is they are trying to sell everyone in their database a new car every month...

 

[Alex Snyder]

it's not the quantity, it's the quality....Alex, I'm curious what kind of personalized follow-up messages are you sending to customers after the sale?

about quality. Kinda works that way for life in general eh?

Although I have not worked in a dealership for nearly 8 years now, I can tell you what we used to do. I ran 4 kinds of after-sale/lost emails:

1. Review solicitation: 2 days after delivery that came from the sales person asking that he (not the dealership) be reviewed
2. Inventory gaps: when a specific model was trending up in wholesale price, or was getting rare to buy, I ran a search in the CRM for customers with those vehicles. Then sent an email to them letting them know we wanted their car along with a large incentive to buy something new. This was always successful by the way.
3. Lost deals due to credit: we were fairly decent at tracking why we lost deals and were able to market to those customers when we were nearing the end of the month or if one store's finance manager was feeling pretty strong.
4. Purchase anniversaries: instead of birthdays we would congratulate people for every year of ownership with a different message for each year. As the car aged, we would include enticements for a new purchase.

These were performed in a combination of CRM automations and on-the-fly blasts.

 

[Alex Snyder]

The problem with most dealer newsletters is they are trying to sell everyone in their database a new car every month...

For sure! But it is because of this, and some "simpleton" thinking, that limitation rules work. It isn't because the number of 100 means anything. There is no technical point to why I picked it. It is just a number that is FAR less than what is being blasted right now. It is cause for pause and reflection.

To take a piece from Malinda: why hit every customer with 7 things you shouldn't leave in a cold car, when you can just hit Corolla owners with it and then another broadcast to Camry owners.

So, if you have 15,000 customers in the database and want to hit them all with the 7 things you shouldn't leave in a cold car (as most dealers would), I would like them to think of how I can get this list down to 100 people. Okay, let's hit Corolla owners. Now, let's think about customers who have opened our email in the last year. And what about customers that are within driving distance of our store. Now, your list is much smaller and you can "hyper-target" the message to local Corolla owners who are actively engaging with you. Then rinse and repeat for each model. It is more work, but the fruits of that labor are better.

 

[craigh]

So, if you have 15,000 customers in the database and want to hit them all with the 7 things you shouldn't leave in a cold car (as most dealers would), I would like them to think of how I can get this list down to 100 people. Okay, let's hit Corolla owners. Now, let's think about customers who have opened our email in the last year. And what about customers that are within driving distance of our store. Now, your list is much smaller and you can "hyper-target" the message to local Corolla owners who are actively engaging with you. Then rinse and repeat for each model. It is more work, but the fruits of that labor are better.

Couldn't agree more and the data supports this.
Dealers that are willing to take the time to do model-specific campaigns tend to do far better.

I also see many dealers run campaigns that just don't deserve an email - if you want their attention, the offer should be worth their attention.
Pick a car with good rebates this month, target owners of that vehicle based on lease maturity, finance maturity or the mileage on their model (makes a good trade in) - show them the new rates and incentives and explain that it's the best time for them to upgrade because <OEM>s are selling well in the pre-owned market and with the added incentives this month there's never been a better time to get high trade-in value and a low sale price.

It's a classic, but it still converts.

 

[john.quinn]

People buy cars once every 3-6 years... but maintain their vehicles several times per year.

Very interesting to me how we assume "Sales" with all these communications, how we pour all our thought and effort into Sales, and treat the operation's multi-touch opportunities like a red-headed step child.

I am soooooo boooooored thinking and talking about macro solutions to salesy stuff! hahahaha