Complete Dealer Solutions

Effective mass mailing takes planning.  What?  I can’t just e-mail my entire customer list?

Not if you want it to be effective.  There are steps involved, that many people skip either because they don’t have the ability to do it, never thought of it, or are just lazy.

Most common method:

1. Generate list of customers.
2. Generate generic e-mail message to send
3. Send e-mail to everyone and hope for high responses and low opt-outs.

Better method:

1. Think about your message.  What do you want to convey? For a good example, lets say you’ve just slashed your prices and anyone coming in will get an additional $1000 over their trade.
2. Now, think about your customers, and who would be most interested?  Then limit the e-mail.  If someone just purchased a vehicle from your dealership in the last few days, would they want to hear, straight from you, about missing the great deal by a few days?  Kind of salting the wound isn’t it?  Why didn’t you tell them about this great deal?  Maybe it would be best to leave them off of this mailing.
3. Now think about all the customers on that list.  With each e-mail you have a single opportunity to reach a customer with something beneficial to them, otherwise you risk the dreaded opt-out request.  This request will put you into a legal position to stop sending them the cheapest, most effective form of communication until they request it again.  There is a lot on the line.  Do you feel your simple promotion will be useful enough to prevent people from clicking that opt-out link? I doubt it.  Not everyone is in the market for a new/used car.  Constant bombardment of sales isn’t going to change that.  While it may plant a seed, or someone may tell a friend about it, most people will delete the message.  After enough (and sometimes that’s just 1), many people will just opt out.

   How do you prevent this?  Broaden your e-mail message.  Convert it from a large advertisement to a functional newsletter.  Take the time to add one or two articles that pertain to general car maintenance, how to save gas, other items that people would be interested in hearing about, that isn’t trying to sell them something.  Then, when possible, give them a great deal they can use, even if they aren’t shopping for a car.  A coupon for a discounted oil change.  Even better, if you run an article about the benefits of flushing your coolant system before summer, then offer a discount to do the service (but do not place the discount in the article, it will cheapen the effect and turn it into an advertisement.

4. Now, think back to step 2.  With the new format, it may not be so bad to e-mail those customers.  But you’ll have to make that judgement call based on your offer.
5. Now think about the entire process.  Would it be more beneficial to schedule a bi-weekly/quarterly/monthly newsletter that provides this great information, instead of a hit and miss approach only when you have something special going on?  Absolutely.

So ultimately it comes down to some planning.  Think about your message.  Is it just a large advertisement, or is it something that your customers will truly get something from, and decide they want to continue to hear more.

I highly recommend the book “Permission Marketing” by Seth Godin.  And join is blog/mailing list at www.sethgodin.com.

- Aaron

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