Targeting Techniques: Effective Email Marketing for Dealerships
Today, it would be difficult to find someone who has never felt irritated by the marketing emails that arrive in their mailbox. Email marketing gets a poor rap when clients receive spam emails, click-bait promotions, or useless messages, not to mention the person sending them.
In order to effectively use email marketing, you must not only reach your customers but also convey the message that will appeal to them the most. the secret to it all? Effective targeting, in two terms.
Everything Begins with Data
Do you remember the adage that says you receive out of something that you put into it? That also applies to your email marketing plan.
Think about the 40% of your customers’ emails that are incomplete or incorrect in your dealership’s DMS. Consider how effective your dealership’s reach is using those data.
The data you utilize in your marketing campaigns makes a MASSIVE difference, and starting off with outdated or incorrect data restricts your success. It’s important to assess how frequently your data is updated and cleaned, and if your marketing isn’t producing results, think about whether inaccurate data might be caused.
Short tip:
Sending emails to addresses that have hard bounced will gradually lower your delivery rate, and sending emails to unsubscribed addresses may result in irate customers (not to mention possible compliance issues). Make sure to frequently update your email send lists to delete addresses that fit into these categories.
Segmentation is another option.
No one wants to receive an email that has nothing to do with them or their interests, even if the data is clean. Since you haven’t rented a car in years, how would you feel if you received an email about renewing it? According to 78% of organizations, subscriber segmentation is the most successful approach for email marketing efforts. This makes it possible to guarantee that your clients only receive emails that are pertinent to them.
Looking at your consumer profiles and connecting them based on comparable interests, buying habits, demographics, and projected needs constitutes effective segmentation. It implies verifying that the customers who purchased a pre-owned SUV from you aren’t receiving lease notifications and specials for a new model year sedan.
Predictive segmentation that considers client life changes is the most effective. The consumer may no longer be interested in the same kinds of offerings from you if they move to a larger city, graduate from college, purchase a house, get married, have children, or even just get a little older.
For instance, a person who recently relocated to the city could be more interested in a tiny car than a large SUV, whereas a couple who recently welcomed a child might be wanting to replace their current vehicle with one that is safer and more suitable for families.
Short Tip:
Unsubscribes are unavoidable, but it might be useful to understand the reasons why people choose not to receive your communications. Adding a poll or comment section can provide you with some insight into how relevant customers find the emails you’re sending them. In many cases, an unsubscribe is nothing personal (whether the customer moved to a new location or they simply don’t remember signing up), but in these cases, it’s still not a big deal.
Now all it needs is a little personalization.
So segmentation determines who to distribute to and clean data makes your message deliverable, but what about the message itself?
Whatever message you want to communicate, it’s crucial to seem personable because emails often come out as clunky, mechanized, or like a shortened sales pitch, which is annoying.
Most clients value learning that your dealership consists of people who are similar to them. Let that personality come through in the emails you send to your clients. This can entail adding that funny quip or corny pun to a few emails.
Customers don’t want to feel taken advantage of, so avoid sending emails with incomplete details about an offer or with subject lines that can be perceived as clickbait. The audience may open an email with the subject line “Our Best Offer Yet!” but you will lose their trust if you oversell the offer and fall short of your promise.
Short tip:
Everyone appreciates being spoken to directly. Use personalization tokens sparingly, but they can be a terrific way to get clients’ attention. Consumers are adept at spotting dishonesty. Most people will avoid your message if adopting customization feels like a forced marketing strategy.
Effective targeting is the difference between an email that gets marked as spam and one that gets flagged to come back later. Customers want to hear from you via email, but they prefer for those messages to be meaningful. With the right tools—clean data, proper segmentation, and a personal message—your dealership will see greater results from your email efforts.
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