5 Email Marketing Trends for Dealerships in 2018

5 Email Marketing Trends for Dealerships in 2018

Email’s here to stay!

And the further we move into 2018, the clearer it is that to keep your customers’ attention, you have to move away from cold and impersonal emails — and move toward relying on automation and good data to make your message personal. 

That’s not really a new idea, especially in auto marketing emails, but the best ideas get better with time!

So if you’re looking to improve your email marketing tactics for dealers this year, keep reading for the top five email trends of 2018.

1. Get Social 

Email Uplers claims that 2018 is the year of an omnichannel user experience

Omnichannel marketing means that all of your social channels can work together to give a complete experience to the consumer, especially if you’re doing a lot on Instagram or Snapchat.

Just make sure that the driving force behind any sort of social implementation effort is to add more value to your customer’s life.   

2. Make It Positive

Getting even more personal, 2018 is the year of getting an emotional response from your email subject line. The greater the emotional response, the better chance your email gets opened.

. . . Especially when that response is positive!

Your subscribers like to feel good. Moz encourages email writers to give the people what they want. So make your subject lines (and your emails themselves) positive.

And while you’re at it, make that subject line sentence case, rather than title case. Look at these numbers from MailChimp!

Man smiling, hopefully because he just received a clever and personal email.

3. Educate First

It is now necessary to communicate what the consumer can expect from you when they opt in for your emails. We’re talking how often you send, whether or not you send promos, etc.

As Matt Helbig from ReallyGoodEmails.com puts it:

“It’s important subscribers know what they are signing up for and the frequency.”

One of the easiest ways to annoy and ultimately lose a subscriber is not living up to their expectation. The only way to avoid that unsubscribe is to be supremely clear on your sign-up page or form.

Setting legal expectations is just as important.

On your opt-in page, you should spell out exactly how you’re going to use a contact’s information after they give it to you (“so we can send you weekly digital marketing updates”). And then provide a long and thorough version of your privacy policy, both in privacy policy update emails and on its own page on your site.

4. Use Data

The importance of good data cannot be understated.  

Another email giant, Jenna Tiffany, says:

“Putting data to work is a hurdle and can be the biggest barrier to creating intelligent personalized experiences.” 

We’re nodding so much in agreement that our necks hurt.

With the right tools to handle that data, you can stop doing email blasts and get relevant content to your customers

And while you’re at it, make your email life easier with these three free email templates for auto dealers.

Man holding his phone, discovering a fun and personalized email in his inbox.

5. Build Relationships

Tons of noise and clamor isn’t super awesome in real life (unless you’re into EDM) — and the same goes for emails. Don’t add to the Internet noise. Just talk to your customers.

Stop sending generalized or impersonal messages. Have the digital form of a conversation. Switch to building a relationship (and while you’re at it, personalize the subject line, too).

Again, automatization and good data can help you with that. Make sure the right email is getting in front of the right person, and you’ll be golden.

The Biggest Email Marketing Trend of 2018

Every email is a customer service experience.

Treat every single email as though it’s the only way your customer is going to interact with your brand all day.

Act on your data in the right way, and you’ll be much better set up for a sustainable relationship with your email list! We’re happy to help you accomplish your auto email goals too; just get in touch!

And if you’d like to see how 2018 panned out for us, check out our top blog posts of 2018.

GET A FREE DIGITAL AUDIT »