Email Marketing - Fundamental For Success

[Alex Snyder]

I've been looking for an alternative for some of my Canadian dealers that don't think they're getting enough bang for their buck with IMN.

I touched on this issue a while ago: Dealership spam and opt-in rules | DealerRefresh

The main reason why dealers are not getting the best for their buck is they're spamming through IMN. They're sending newsletters to every email address they can get their hands on and a big chunk of those people didn't ask to receive it.

Blame it on IMN all you want; they're not the problem.

 

[Ryan Thompson]

Alex,

I learned my lesson with this tactic a few years ago. I agree that IMN is not the problem with spamming. Dealers need to have a process in place to get the opt ins.

I've had great success as I'm sure DealerRefresh has with newsletters by working hard to gain the visitors trust, and letting them sign up on there own.

In regards to bang for their buck, I guess I was referring more to how "conversion" friendly the newsletter is.

This is a case that size (of the list) does not matter!

Alex thanks for posting that link it is quite valuable as a 101 tool for dealers.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Here is an older article over on iMedia that I stumbled across (after reading their email updates this morning).

Here is my favorite paragraph (combining email marketing and search) from the article...

"See it, remember it, search Google for it - There is a very interesting phenomenon that I've seen, particularly in the retail space. In some instances, we see an uptick in search around a particular brand in the days following a large email send. I don't believe in coincidence, so what is likely happening here is that someone notes your email, and then decides it's easier to search your brand than it is to go back and find the email.
While it certainly is easier to do attribution to the email channel if these people click through the email, it's important to note that the email played a crucial role in that customer's engagement with you. No email, no search. And possibly no transaction. Beware of giving all the credit to the search team in these instances. If you reduce your email budget and move more money into search, you're likely to see a drop in searches on your brand."

Why the email inbox is the new DVR - iMediaConnection.com

I encourage you to read this. As you are - think about how you manage your inbox.

A few supporting factors why email is NOT dead and why it continues to be one of top marketing channels.

 

[dtg]

analytics, for me, show proof of Jeff's last statement with any reasonable tracking. I used Google analytics, Constant Contact console and web hosting analytics to verify a direct correlation of email / newsletter to search results. my personalized dealership newsletter results (20K mailers through Constant Contact) yielded significantly higher results than IMN based (I believe) on local relevant content PLUS built ongoing quality SEO content. downside was time and effort required. Lower cost, lower effort, lower results = outsourced. Note: CRM bulk mailing remains a bad idea.

 

[jeffreydominic]

E-mail marketing is the link building strategy in SEO techniques. It brings back links to your web site. But must be theme relevant. There are some fundamental rules that must be followed in E-mail marketing are

1. The email must be anticipated.
2. The email must be theme relevant.
3. The email must have a value.

 

[Kelly Wilson]

HELP! I'm loosing the battle to do only targeted emails. My DP just had me do a blanket email to tell everyone about "The greatest New Ram Offer Ever" and to say buy or get a referral fee. I even had to send it to those that bought a Ram last month (yeah, ouch! I know). Now there's a TDM and most of the people on the list just got the RAM email, and the system wide Service coupon email, not to mention Dodge's heavy emails many also got with our name on them. I know sales are slow and everyone is trying to get the 12's out the door...
The thought is, "They can't be mad-we're just telling them what there is out there and how it can benefit them." If it was an invite to a non-sales community event we were hosting, I might think it was OK...but I just feel like the emails I'm being asked to send are TOO MUCH.
Talking points, Data, Ideas...Please I need a hand here under the rock!

 

[ddavis]

Kelly, you can reach a point of diminishing returns. There isn't anything more cost effective than email marketing from your database. Dealerships, as a whole, do a poor job of capturing email addresses. By abusing the resouce, they risk having customers block or ask to be removed from future emails. I was always very protective of my database. I usually limited emails to two new car, two used car and one service broadcast emails per month.
Not being an expert on this, I would welcome anyone else's opinion.

 

[malinda.terreri]

Kelly-

See if this helps: according to eMarketer, 39% of email marketers that practice list segmentation see better open rates; 28% see lower opt-out and unsubscribe rates; and 24% see better email deliverability, increased sales leads, and greater revenue.

I can't find my copy of that paper, but here's a couple of related hubspot articles:

Why List Segmentation Matters in Email Marketing

Segment Your Email List To Increase Open Rates [Data]

A helpful stat to show how the lack of relevance is impacting your list might be to show the number of unsubscribers from your recent email blast:

- who purchased within the last 30 days or
- that received a certain number of emails within the last 30 days

Email providers (Yahoo, Gmail, etc.) are now looking at your email history with that contact. If the contact isn't opening your email and clicking on it, the email providers will start delivering your messages to the bulk folder. Then, when you do need to get a relevant message to a customer they'll never know it because it is in their junk folder.

Ask your dealer if he/she just bought a new house last month would they still want to be getting weekly emails on new home listings?

Email content needs to be relevant and engaging.

If you don't treat your customer email database like the valuable asset it is, soon it won't be.

I'll step off my soapbox now.

 

[kcar]

Mail Chimp user here. I use mail chimp ONLY because ReyRey CRM has VERY POOR email management tools.

LOVE mailchimp.com but running 2 vendors SUCKS because keeping the email lists updated is a PIA.

As every day passes, CRM gathers new customers and new prospects.
That info is fed into the "Other" Mail Vendor (MailChimp).
MailChimp system will auto-remove "opt outs" and bounces.
These "Opt Out" people needs to be fed back into the CRM data to keep the core info clean
THIS IS DONE BY HAND.
I have 33k addresses and >2k optouts and 5k bounces.

Someone kill me.

I'm doing the same thing with MC, not fun but LOVE their platform.