The Dealer Impact Blog

5 tips for successful action-prompted emails

By Scott Roth and Katrina Willis

A triggered email is any message sent to an individual based on the occurrence of an event (or a non-event). Consider one of our favorite examples — the “Birthday Club” email. On your Big Day, you receive an email message from your favorite restaurant offering a 20 percent discount on your dinner tab. You click through the email to the restaurant website, make an online reservation and receive a return email confirming a table for your party of six.

That scenario involved two triggered emails — the initial Birthday Club email automatically triggered by date, and the confirmation email triggered by the action you took on the website. The interaction was seamless for the recipient — and for you as a marketer. That’s quite possibly the best thing about triggered emails: They keep working for you, even when you’re not thinking about them.

If you haven’t yet incorporated triggered email into your business plan, it’s time to start. You’ll discover it’s well worth the front-end effort to experience the back-end benefit.

As email has evolved (see “Say goodbye to mass emailing“), subscribers have developed new expectations. They expect to receive a confirmation email after they purchase a product (or book a reservation). They expect to hear from you as soon as their item has shipped. Don’t disappoint them with an untimely delay — or worse yet, no response at all.

The following tips will help you think about triggered emails differently. Consider these the initial steps toward a well-rounded, fully functioning triggered email marketing campaign.

1. Think “response”
Triggered email can refer to a variety of scenarios; from password reminders to shopping cart abandonment to whitepaper downloads. The key to using triggered email effectively is to identify points of interaction with your business and prepare pre-defined responses to different scenarios. Start with simple interactions first, and then begin looking for areas where a little customer service can impact your business — and your bottom line.

2. Take control and free IT
Your IT department has coding to do. Take control of your one-to-one communications and free IT from the email grip. It’s easy with a program that gives you visibility into marketing campaigns and allows you to make changes on the fly to improve subscriber response. You can pause, change and restart your email marketing campaign without missing a beat. No IT intervention necessary.

3. Get them close
Research consistently shows that reducing the number of clicks required to take action on your site increases responsiveness. For example, instead of linking to a general product landing page, link to a page in your triggered email message that highlights the accessories directly related to a recently purchased product. 

4. Seize the opportunity
Emails triggered in response to website activity are highly anticipated by subscribers. Take advantage of getting in front of customers by offering an upsell, advertising a promotion or presenting a marketing call-to-action. Think of the wildly successful Amazon.com approach — “if you enjoyed this, you might like this.” Just make sure your marketing offer doesn’t overshadow your triggered message.

5. Look at the big picture
It’s easy to get caught up in the minutia of your triggered campaign reporting. Start measuring your triggered email effectiveness by looking at aggregate results. Is your overall campaign contributing incremental revenue or leads? Are your customer service calls decreasing?

Effective triggered campaigns keep subscribers engaged and make continued contributions to your bottom line. You can’t beat a program that keeps working while you sleep! You owe it to yourself, your subscribers and your bottom line to automate your digital communications plan with triggered email.

Source: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/19653.asp

This Time, It Is Personal

When you send out direct marketing materials, be they postcards, letters or emails, how personal are they? You’ve certainly abandoned the “Hello Valued Customer” greeting for a first name… but is that where it stops? Are you using past purchase history, geographic information, age and income levels and such to create truly personal messages and offers?

The database technology the drives today’s direct marketing — and the digital printing and data-driven email marketing that make the data come to life — allows for a level of personalization that we could only dream of a decade ago. And these technologies open up new doors for the smart marketer — and give us all a new responsibility — to make good use of that data.

This means not offering a minivan to the 24-year-old single male, or the two-seater sports car to the mother of three. It means targeting the customers who bought big SUVs from you 3 years ago with messages about the new hybrids or other vehicles that will get them out of that gas guzzler. It means being smart — and that will lead to profits.

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC

Experimenting with the Devil

It’s been said, “the devil is in the details.” Which means, of course, that the difference between success and failure is often something small and seemingly insignificant. This is absolutely true when considering the effectiveness of your dealership’s marketing. Try experimenting with the following little details and you may realize some huge gains in your return on investment.

Timing. Sending your email campaign out first thing in the morning? Try mid-afternoon or midnight for different results. Or trying sending the message on a different day of the week or time of the month. All of these things will make the difference.

Personalization. Have you made an effort to make your direct marketing personal? Does that personalization stop at “Dear John” or are you using everything you know about a prospect to make their communications specific to them?

Email Formatting. Not all emails are created equal. You’ve got the full graphic and multimedia capabilities of HTML or the more traditional, potentially more personal, all-text email. They each have their place. Experiment with when and where you use each format to try and maximize results.

Offers. Which drives more traffic? $500 customer cash or 1.9% financing? How about a $50 bill just for test driving? How about $100? These little details can make a huge difference.

Expiration dates. Trying to drive immediate response, toy around with a 24-hour-act-now offer. Or try stretching it out to 3 or 4 weeks. Again, different timing will drive different responses from different customers.

The difference between mild success and rousing, ring-the-bell success can be found in these little devilish details. Experiment with them and you may very well find the results you’ve been looking for.

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC

Tags: email campaigns, email marketing

What is the future of e-mail?

From eMarketer, May 27, 2008

An old digital format still has plenty of life left

Compared with today’s virtual worlds, e-mail is solidly Web 1.0—an almost archaic communication channel.Yet e-mail works, and marketers and advertisers keep putting it to new uses. Moreover, consumers—whose opinions are the ones that matter—genuinely like e-mail. Nearly three-quarters of adult e-mail users in North America said they used it every day, according to an April survey conducted by Ipsos for Habeas.

Two-thirds of adult respondents said they preferred e-mail for communicating with businesses. Just as many—and this is the important part—said they expected to still prefer e-mail five years from now.

“Far from being eclipsed by Web 2.0 and other emerging communications methods, consumer expectations suggest that e-mail will be the workhorse channel around which future online communications will revolve,” said Des Cahill, CEO of Habeas, in a statement.

That is not to say that consumers are ready for random, untargeted e-mail. Opt-in is still key. Consumers are even willing to help marketers custom-tailor their messages. More than 88% of respondents said they would like more choices in e-mail content and frequency, including options on advertisements and special offers.

So if e-mail is set to remain a consumer favorite for the next several years, that must mean e-mail ad spending will grow during that time, right?

Yes and no.

eMarketer predicts that e-mail ad spending in the US will hit $492 million this year, then increase by 55% to $765 million by 2012.

And while e-mail accounts for only about 2% of all online ad spending, eMarketer predicts that percentage will actually drop to only 1.5% of online ad spending in 2012, despite the growth in dollars spent. The amount spent on other formats will dwarf what is spent on e-mail, thanks to its low cost.

E-mail is cheap marketing. The pricing scales well, too: The cost of sending a million e-mails is little more than the cost of sending a thousand. However, this can also cause problems.

“E-mail is so inexpensive that it lulls many marketers into underestimating its influence on entire campaigns and a company’s brand,” said David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006334&src=article1_newsltr

Tags: email campaigns, email marketing

Weekly ISM Checklist

from drivingsales.com, posted 6/3/08

Now for the weekly check list.  ISMs need to be completelting these items on a weekly basis and reporting to their management on their progress of each of these items.  Following this task list regularly will greatly increase your success: 

Weekly Check List

Date _______

1. __ Visit dealership website. Call toll free and other phone numbers to ensure they’re working and being answered properly.

2. __ Check AutoTrader, Cars.com, UsedCars.com, and/or other third party website photos, pricing information, and phone numbers.

3. __ Blind shop competitors selling both similar and different makes and models.

4. __ Post any upcoming Events and Specials on website. Be careful about posting any future discounts or pricing – those should be only posted once they are on, or when they are about to end to instill urgency.

5. __ Schedule broadcast email once per month, at the beginning of the third week of the month. Preferably, send on Tuesday or Thursday afternoon. Always have something for the customer first and foremost – give them a compelling reason to open your email.

6. __ Schedule automated targeted email campaigns to existing customers, including interests, specials, birthdays, etc.

7. __ Check with vendors to see if there are duplicate addresses they are sending leads to, to former employees, etc..

8. __ Test templated emails to see how they are arriving to customers.

9. __ Check your site for manufacturers compliance or non-compliances issues.

10. __ If you find any issues, send an email to your vendor (so you have it in writing), cc-ing your GM or ID, and immediately follow up with a phone call. If the issue is not resolved in 24 hours, re-send the email, and cc you GM or ID. They should take it from there.

Following these processes and checklists will help you maximize you efforts and success! Good luck.

http://drivingsales.com/blog/rafi/2008/06/03/weekly-ism-checklist/

Tags: auto dealer website, checklist, marketing strategy, web site

The Power Of “Thank You”

As our society speeds along ever faster and communication is channeled through one technology or another – all this powered by the internet and instant access to the totality of man’s accumulated knowledge, of course – common courtesies seem to be falling by the way side. So much so, that even a simple “thank you” is often hard to come by these days.

And that breakdown creates an opportunity for the savvy marketer. And it’s a simple one to deliver on. Whenever a customer or prospect stops in, whether it be for a test drive, to make a purchase, get their oil changed or just to say hello… say thank you. Follow up with a quick note, email or phone call. All are fine and they let your customer or prospect know their time and attention are valued. It’s simple to do and it’s simply good business.

So remember to say “thank you.” Do it for of the goodness of your heart, for your respect for your fellow man and for your bottom line.

Thank you.

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC

Make Those Opt-Ins Count

So you’ve been collecting emails for months or even years now. You’ve got hundreds or maybe even thousands of people who have raised their hands and agreed to listen to what you have to say.

So what are you doing with that list? If you’re just sending them a quarterly newsletter and a Christmas card, you’re probably not making the most of it. Here are a few things you might consider:

• 1. Ask for referrals. Heck, offer a bonus (free oil changes for a year or something similar) if they bring in a friend or family member who buys a car from you.
• 2. Don’t always send to the whole group. Segment the list and hit them with timely, targeted offers.
• 3. Invite them to special events at the dealership or get them tickets to an event (minor league baseball game, comedy club or the like).
• 4. They’re special, treat them as such by offering to unveil new models to them first. Give them first dibs on that hot new sports car that you can’t keep in stock.

In short, making being on your list worth their time and attention. Otherwise, you risk being deleted along with the other stuff we all wished we hadn’t signed for.

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC

Text-Only or HTML: Email’s Million-Dollar Question

It’s one of the most commonly debated issues in e-marketing: Should the emails you send out be text-only or should they be HTML? The argument for text-only goes like this… It feels less like advertising, it’s better at getting around spam filters, the most important emails people get are usually text-only. The argument for HTML is this… The message feels more “polished,” I can include graphics, animations and other high-impact items, and I’m able to carry my brand into the message.

So which should you use?

The answer, as you might expect, is both. Anytime you’re sending a person-to-person message, it should be text-only. This applies to sales and service staff following up with customers and other such one-to-one communications. But when that message is coming from the dealership (rather than an individual) HTML is the way to go. It will do a better job of carrying your brand and carries a more put-together, dynamic message.

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC

Study: Auto Market Among Top Online Sales Categories

From Auto Remarketing
April 08, 2008

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Despite widespread retail declines across the American economy, a recent study projects an upswing in online shopping for 2008. This includes the auto industry, which analysts predict to be among the top three Internet sales categories.

The State of Retailing Online, a Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research, anticipates that online retail sales will increase by 17 percent this year to $204 billion. 

The auto industry is expected to account for $19.3 billion of those sales, which would make it the third-largest online segment behind apparel ($26.6 billion) and computers ($23.9 billion), the report highlighted. 

“From higher shipping costs to changes in consumer shopping habits, online retailers are not immune to the current economic climate,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org.

“But the fact that online sales will increase substantially this year demonstrates the resilience of the channel and is a testament to the value and convenience most customers find when shopping online,” Silverman continued.

The study pointed out that as people become more comfortable with the Internet, online retailers must choose between two sales focuses: retaining current customers or attracting new ones.

According to officials, 53 percent of online retailers’ marketing budgets is devoted to finding new online customers, while 21 percent is for customer retention. 

But, many retailers have used search-engine or affiliate marketing as effective retention tools that not only market to existing customers, but bring in new shoppers, as well.

“What’s spearheading online retail sales growth is a tale of two shoppers that visit the Web for very different reasons,” explained Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research principal analyst and lead author of the report. “The casual shopper goes online to look for the best price, leveraging the transparency of the Internet to save money.”

“However, more affluent customers appreciate the convenience of shopping online and are not necessarily looking for the best deal,” Mulpuru continued. “Retailers would be wise to recognize there are significant opportunities within both audiences and should market to them accordingly.”

In order to find new customers, retailers have used search-engine marketing more than anything else. According to the study, 35 percent of sales have originated from that source.

Moreover, 90 percent of respondents stated they use pay-per-performance search placement. Seventy-nine percent plan to make it a greater priority in the coming year, officials stated.

Still, such offline strategies as catalogs and direct-mail have helped retailers convert shoppers to the Internet. What’s more, the study indicated that retailers tend to use those tactics more than TV or newspaper advertising.

According to the study, 65 percent of respondents said they would focus more on social networking resources, while 55 percent indicated they would devote more focus to widgets.

These type of campaigns, however, are thought to be more useful in brand-building versus driving revenue or sales conversion, officials indicated. 

Instead, officials stated, the report recommended that e-mail marketing and free shipping promotions be used to boost sales.

http://www.autoremarketing.com/ar/news/story.html?id=7681#

Best Practice: Tracking E-Marketing

One of the great promises of e-marketing is that it’s trackable. You’ve been told for years that e-marketing would lift the fog of accountability from your marketing mix and show you what worked, when it worked and even why. Well all of that is true (mostly), but most folks aren’t taking the simple steps needed to make that dream a reality.

So here’s what you do: Incorporate a series of simple landing pages in to each marketing touch you send out. Require people go to a web page to register or collect their prize or whatever. Then don’t just set up one landing page, but a different one for each marketing message (the pages may look and function the same, but you’ll need unique pages). By tracking hits, downloads and forms submitted from these pages, you’ll have a near-perfect understanding of which messages are driving customer action and which aren’t. And that, my friend, is measurable marketing done in a simple, straightforward way.

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC