The start of a new year means the automotive industry is eager to begin strong with new incentives and sales which can led to new opportunities. It is crucial for a dealership to know how to effectively relate these new year tactics to their customers. One of the best ways to do so is to implement innovative and effective email marketing strategies.

Does email marketing still even work? Yes, head to our previous blog to learn why it is worth it and valuable for advertising purposes! Email marketing has existed for over 40 years. Throughout those years the digital age has caused email marketing to evolve drastically due to the development of new platforms advertisers can reach their audience such as mobile, television and social media.

Despite all the different platforms dealerships can use to reach customers email has remained a popular and common medium. Email marketing has become more complex than ever after the digital age introduced HTML emails, the ability to personalize and target. This why dealerships email marketing strategies for 2020 should reflect the following: personal messaging, a defined target audience, open to collecting feedback, utilizing the appropriate platform for connecting.

1. The importance of personal messaging or “storytelling”

A recent Radicati report states by the end of 2019 the average worker receives 126 emails per day. So, if you think about it this way daily your customers’ inbox is full of personal, marketing, advertisement and sponsored emails. The average person responds to this amount of emails by neglecting all them, deleting them all or skimming through them and opening only the ones that they dem worthy of their time and attention. Here is the challenge everyone in the email marketing industry is trying to tactical: how do you capture the customers attention?

Personalization.

Telling stories, informing and educating your customers is how you can standout against your competitors. While your competitors are filling up your customers inbox with dozens of promotions and useless marketing operations you are sending captivating, clear and useful messages.

According to an article by eConsultancy, 74% of marketers have stated that targeted personalization increased their overall customer engagement rates. To effectively personalize messages to your customers you need to take count their demographics and behaviors.

2. Determining your target audience

The digital age has made it possible for us to collect data in an intelligent and functional way. The data collected from digital traces can be analyzed and interpreted to segment your target audience. As stated above two type of audience segmentation are demographics and behaviors. Demographics include age, income level, job type and geographic location. Behaviors include what people buy, how often they make a purchase and why they buy the product or service.

Collecting this data will inform you on the needs of your customers. This is an effective way to avoid spending money on emails that are going to be deleted. The data makes it easy to pinpoint the content customers want to be informed about. For instance, sending an email about car safety features to a customer that purchased a family vehicle. Instead of having to Google this information you are handing it to them! Or depending on the customer other content talking about environmentally friendly, smart and tech-forward vehicles will be just as effective. Emails that are segmented by target audience are proven to increase engagement and click-through rates.

3. Collecting Feedback

Being open to creating a dialogue between you and your customer is the best way to assess how your marketing strategies are doing. Emails are the channel between you and your customer. Within an email your customer gets a glimpse of your brand, image, promotion, sales and customer service processes. Interacting with your consumer allows you to build customer loyalty.

By reaching out to your customer you are showing them that you are attentive to their needs. Your customers won’t feel like they are just a means to an end. This is what stops them from going to one of your competitors when it’s time to get a new car. It is also help you see what exactly your weaknesses and strengths are. Your email marketing strategies should constantly be evolving. What better way to tweak your strategies than receiving direct feedback from your customers? Thinking about the long-term goals of email marketing collecting feedback back your customers will only positively impact your dealership.

4. Connecting with the appropriate platform

According to an online article by Statista mobile devices generate 47.60% of Internet traffic in the world and this percentage continues to increase. An effective email should be formatted for mobile. An article on Campaign Monitor states that if emails are not well formatted for mobile, more than 70% of recipients will delete it within three seconds!

The best way to avoid this is to take the time and test the email before scheduling it. This gives you the opportunity to view how the email looks on mobile. Email marketing in the automotive sector must be designed for mobile… An article on website Email Monday states that over 50% of emails today are opened on smartphones. Meaning the best way to get your customers to see and open your emails is to connect with them through a mobile device.

Successful automotive email marketing strategies are built on a foundation that reflect: personal messaging, a defined target audience, open to collecting feedback, utilizing the appropriate platform for connecting.

If you are looking to revamp with current email marketing strategies for 2020, contact us for more information on our D2D email campaigns with powerful calls to action!