CRM with blocked email...

[BillH]

My CRM vendor claims they have cleaned up the mess, and added new processes, split the bulk emails from day to day and stopped dealers from self-made email blasts. I think everyone has figured out who we are referring to.

Anyway, the issue to me is the reactive nature of the situation. We know we lost business because emails didn't get through. It wasn't just us, most of their customers lost the same functionality, but we noticed. Very frustrating.

 

[ChrisR]

My CRM vendor claims they have cleaned up the mess, and added new processes, split the bulk emails from day to day and stopped dealers from self-made email blasts. I think everyone has figured out who we are referring to.

Anyway, the issue to me is the reactive nature of the situation. We know we lost business because emails didn't get through. It wasn't just us, most of their customers lost the same functionality, but we noticed. Very frustrating.

We noticed, too. I asked my rep what we were supposed to do with all the lost revenue from the time our emails weren't going out. Their response was less than refreshing.

CRM changes are a nightmare, they know this, so they aren't worried about people leaving. Between this, and many other issues though, I am tempted to go through that nightmare again.

 

[Ajay S.]

Cleaning the mess is not one time - its a constant battle unless you have proper processes in place. There are many variables to this puzzle. Moreover, when you are doing marketing - don't just depend upon only emails - think about marketing integrated on all the channels and devices known to man today - but well targeted and thought out strategy. Going mobile, social, internet way - can take you well into this game of marketing.

 

[ChrisR]

Cleaning the mess is not one time - its a constant battle unless you have proper processes in place. There are many variables to this puzzle. Moreover, when you are doing marketing - don't just depend upon only emails - think about marketing integrated on all the channels and devices known to man today - but well targeted and thought out strategy. Going mobile, social, internet way - can take you well into this game of marketing.

Of course, overall digital strategy should encompass many avenues. However, for records in a CRM that have ONLY an email address as a means of contact, it does limit striking up conversations in a one-to-one setting.

 

[BillH]

We noticed, too. I asked my rep what we were supposed to do with all the lost revenue from the time our emails weren't going out. Their response was less than refreshing.

CRM changes are a nightmare, they know this, so they aren't worried about people leaving. Between this, and many other issues, though, I am tempted to go through that nightmare again.

LOL, yeah, me too. Not much of a response, sadly the performance managers don't have a fix, it comes from above, but they get the grief. My performance manager is great.

I can only hope most of my competitors are using them as well. But that doesn't fix lost business. Too bad that there is not the power of numbers to pressure them to make good.

CRM changes are a pain, but we cannot continue to spend hours per week to fix what they should have sorted. Now, I have a new hire and cannot transfer leads to her because that isn't working. It seems like "what is it today"? But, we all pay them a lot of money to deliver a good product.

 

[ChrisH]

Of course, overall digital strategy should encompass many avenues. However, for records in a CRM that have ONLY an email address as a means of contact, it does limit striking up conversations in a one-to-one setting.

With digital strategy, you can use the email to target through Facebook. There are great successes in targeting the social platforms for where that customer is, and other customers with similar interests/demographics/etc.

I don't know what CRM you are using, but it often a problem when sending bulk emails. No matter who the CRM, you should always be diligent in segmenting and targeting your customers, if the CRM provider isn't blocked, your dealership domain can be. Blasting frequently and without a tailored message can also lead to high opt-out rates, which hurts as bad as being blacklisted. Good luck!

 

[ChrisR]

With digital strategy, you can use the email to target through Facebook. There are great successes in targeting the social platforms for where that customer is, and other customers with similar interests/demographics/etc.

I don't know what CRM you are using, but it often a problem when sending bulk emails. No matter who the CRM, you should always be diligent in segmenting and targeting your customers, if the CRM provider isn't blocked, your dealership domain can be. Blasting frequently and without a tailored message can also lead to high opt-out rates, which hurts as bad as being blacklisted. Good luck!

The problem that we are discussing is our CRM was blacklisted from sending individual emails, as well as bulk. Targeting customers using email on Facebook is a great idea. Once they are in our CRM though, we were unable to communicate with them via email. That was our major issue.

It seems things have been fixed on their end though, so we shall see what happens from here.

 

[Jlewis74]

Don't think this was a industry wide issue, only one CRM provider had this issue in the past 2 months. Not sure why those users don't name them so others will be aware and maybe not go that route.

 

[Racer X]

What CRM was having the issue?

 

[Big J]

The CRM that was blacklisted was Eleads. There was a post a few back that had some images of the sender score search. We've had the same challenges at our dealership. Using manually created emails now instead of their internal system. Thinking of changing to one of the other best known auto CRMs - they just launched a new updated version and it is supposed to be very good...I know a competing dealer (next door) who LOVES it. Easy to use and customize. just not sure if ready to face the hassle.