How to energize vehicle sales with direct mail -
We get it; working in sales is not easy. It requires a lot of patience, positivity, repetition, and extensive knowledge of what you're selling. Luckily, you can include direct mail as a member of your sales team. With direct mail's help, you can energize vehicle sales or trade-ins and grow market share. But, before digging into more complex strategies, we need to cover the basics.
The Basics: Targeting, Personalization, & Creative
Targeting
How you segment your data and who you target has a huge impact on the success of any campaign. Below are two target segments that often bring quick sales wins.
- Lease/Warranty: This one is a ‘give-me’ for quick car sales. Targeting consumers with positive equity, or those whose lease is about to expire, is the easiest way to win trade-ins and new vehicle sales.
- New-movers: New movers are a gold mine. Within the first 180 days of moving, new homeowners spend more than the average consumer spends in three years - with 15% of new movers purchasing an automobile1. More importantly, if you reach new movers first, they are 5x more likely to become long-term customers2.
Another consideration is that a new mover's mailbox will be relatively empty for a while, giving your dealership the perfect opportunity to stand out and make a good first impression. 80% of new movers will redeem coupons from businesses before, during, and after the move3; so even if they aren't currently interested in your inventory, you can still send enticing sales or service offers, discounts, and freebies to encourage them to bring their vehicle to your dealership.
Personalization
Impersonal mail is the quickest route to the trashcan and it undervalues your customers. Let’s face it, no one likes being addressed as 'Current Resident'. It screams ‘bulk-send' instead of 'this offer is just for you'.
Creative
You either have strong creative or you don't. To stand out in the mailbox, your creative needs to be branded, flashy, and distinct. Have you considered using more daring paper colors, like neon? At the very least, nontraditional colors are sure to get your dealership noticed.
Complex Strategies
For the highest engagement, reach, and likelihood of conversion, GSM recommends using an omnichannel strategy – one that uses consistent messaging and creative across multiple channels. The tactics below help your marketing channels work together to elevate the success of your sales campaigns.
- Include a website link to your inventory on direct mail pieces
- Include a %-off or $-off towards a new car purchase
- Design your offer around the most popular searches on your website
- To restock your lot, send an instant guaranteed trade-in offer
- Use trade-in analysis to determine top trades for conquest customers and the top pre-owned models consumers are looking for
- Incorporate third-party data like Black Book data or NADA values for a best-offer
- Promote national sales or clearance events
- Promote holiday car sales (New Year, Valentine's Day, etc.)
- Try targeting owners with high-mileage vehicles. Upgrade them to a new ride.
- Host an enter-to-win sweepstakes
GSM’s front-end, templated mail is specifically designed to drive new car sales by incorporating Black Book or NADA values to provide consumers with a best offer up front. A quick 48-hour turnaround makes these mailers perfect for promoting events or last-minute markdowns. With a 1.4% response rate and $11:$1 ROI, this solution is helping dealerships across the nation drive new car sales, trade-ins, event attendance, and increased showroom traffic.
For big-investment purchases like a new car, GSM recommends an omnichannel approach for the highest likelihood of conversion. A consistent message and creative across multiple channels will help remind consumers of their new car or trade-in options available at your dealership.
More about GSM's Front-End Mail Solution
To learn more about all of our Direct Mail solutions, follow the links below:
Front-End Templated Mail Segmented Mail Templated Mail Custom Mail (Includes Neon & MVP)
1,2,3 V12 Data; February 2018: How to Acquire New Customers With New Mover Marketing
