The #1 Way to Improve Your Auto Email Marketing

By Matthew Stoffel on 07/29/21
Updated on 02/14/22

Strong auto email marketing is vital to a successful digital marketing strategy.

You don’t want to spend thousands of dollars driving qualified prospects to your website, getting them into your customer relationship management (CRM) system . . . and then letting them die on the vine because they weren’t ready for the sales team and nobody was there to qualify them.

You also don’t want to send such bad email that you shove a good prospect toward that dreaded “unsubscribe” button.

At 9 Clouds, we see a lot of bad auto email marketing.

There are stores that pelt every new lead with way too many emails (I once received seven emails within two days from one dealership). There are stores that reach out to truck leads about sedan sales or to used vehicle leads about new vehicle leases. And then there stores that send flat-out ugly emails with too many numbers, too many explosion graphics, and nowhere good to click.

Our philosophy is that every email sent from your store should be:

Relevant
Attention grabbing
Targeted
Personalized
Armed with a crystal-clear next step

Above all, your marketing emails need to offer value. And from all the awful auto dealer emails I’ve waded through, and all the conversion-driving emails we make every day at 9 Clouds, here’s my number-one piece of advice to start fixing your email strategy right now.

How to Fix Your Auto Email Marketing

It might seem simple, but this makes a world of difference for your dealership email. There needs to be one person at your dealership who masterminds all the email that goes out.

Sounds obvious, but let’s really think about what that means.

From the automated responses that send when someone requests a quote or brochure, to your monthly marketing emails, to every bit of email automation you’ve set up, to the follow-ups your salespeople are sending their leads . . . you need a ringleader who can keep tabs on all of it.

This person doesn’t need to read or approve every line of text going out — there’s simply not enough time in the day. But this person does need to be able to sort through all the different variables and processes to make sure your email marketing strategy offers value to every reader, fits the branding of your store, and serves its purpose for your dealership.

Why an Email Mastermind Matters

Why do you need just one person overseeing your entire email marketing strategy? Let’s flesh out a few reasons.

For example, if your email mastermind is aware that you’ve messaged the “New Truck Leads” list twice during Truck Month, they’ll know that audience might need a break — or at least something with a more personal touch — so you don’t drive away those leads in swarms (and end up overstocked on pickups).

Or, if your email mastermind knows there’s a “Used SUV Leads” workflow that shares a specific blog post or resource to those leads early on, they can make sure your sales team isn’t overusing that same resource when they get the chance to reach out.

As you move into the world of automating your auto email marketing, streamlining the system becomes even more vital. You need someone who can sort through the redundancies and exclusions to give every contact a highly personalized, relevant email experience — and, as a result, give your sales team every highly qualified email opportunity you can.

Designating an email mastermind is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to automotive email marketing. Get all our best email tips and tricks in our free eBook, Email Marketing for Auto Dealers!