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Marketers consider
themselves fortunate to receive a 1.5-3% response on direct mail.
Recently we saw one client receive a 15% response to their
campaign. Perhaps more significantly, we are still seeing responses
months after the campaign.
Of the 88 email
addresses collected by the dealership for the month, there were 14
direct email responses. This measured response rate does not
include phone calls made to the dealership or additional visits
prompted by receiving the email.
Responses ranged from
coming back to the showroom to buy a car to requesting more
information. In almost every case, the customer thanked the
dealership for their prompt and professional follow-up.
The majority of the
email replies were directed to the salesman that sent the email, a
direct result of the automated system. The ability to keep
both the dealership and the salesperson in front of the customer
adds personality to the emails.
Many respondents
indicated that they would be purchasing a car a few months down the
road, and "would keep you in mind." That will be easy to do
when they are receiving a newsletter every two weeks!
Even the one "bad" email
was very helpful. In this case, the customer complained that
the salesperson had promised to email her a list of cars in her
price range. She was upset when she received only the Leadkeeper
emails with no direct response to her request. Feedback
like this is crucial to sales managers, as they can respond quickly
to weaknesses in a salesperson's follow-up skills.
Most significant was a
response that came almost three months after the customer had
received their email! They had been waiting for the lease on
their current car to expire, but decided to move ahead and emailed
the dealership asking for someone to call and give them information
on a particular model.
We have a one-page sheet
with the actual responses to the follow-up campaign, and if you
would like to see the responses for yourself,
click here. |
