Few companies today can put the one-to-one personalization of retail together with the detailed customer intelligence provided by behavior targeting, according to Gartner Research Director Penny Gillespie. But if any business can, it might be a car dealership that blends national manufacturer insights with its own customer relationship data.
At Friendly Chevrolet in Fridley, MN, Internet Sales Manager Margie Martin uses an outside agency that sends an email newsletter to the dealership’s current database. Automobile owners, on average, keep their cars for seven years these days, and the newsletter is a nonintrusive way for Friendly to maintain customer relationships over time that not only may lead to new sales, but also may help to refill its lot with pre-owned inventory. “We can track what people looked at in the emails and send them information on specific models or invitations to events we think they might be interested in,” Martin says. “Our focus is to stay in front of our regular customers and keep them thinking about us.”
The newsletter is fueled with data provided by Outsell, which pulls customer information from auto manufacturers, as well as social listening, to keep tabs on potential car buyers in-market. Behavioral data available to dealers includes who’s in market, what vehicle types they’re searching, and what price points they’re considering, down to the dealer level. “We help dealers keep content relevant,” says Outsell VP of Product Dan Smith. “We keep them from sending email and direct mail offers for luxury cars to new drivers, for instance.”
To Martin and the salespeople at Friendly Chevy, this behavioral targeting means more effective appeals and less annoyance factor—a distinct edge, especially in auto sales. “We market to them in a way that isn’t apparent that there’s any tracking taking place. We don’t want them thinking we’re following them,” Martin says. “We’ll send them an email targeted to what they’re looking for, and it just seems like we’re really on top of things. Maybe we’ll be having a sale on the model they’re looking for and we’ll send them a personalized offer for $2,500 off on the car for a limited time.”
What’s more, [the effort] is measurable. “I can track newsletter response in the course of a sale and it goes into my ROI reports,” Martin says.
