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There is a reason for
all of the concern. We all get messages in our email box that
we don't want or need. A recent estimate pegged the cost of
spam email to business - just in terms of lost productivity - at
$8 billion per year.
So, what is spam and how
is this affecting marketing? Spam is the act of sending email
to someone who has not given permission for the message to be sent.
It's also called unsolicited commercial email.
If you already have a
business relationship (the person visited your showroom or is a
current customer) or permission (they signed up to receive more
information either online or at the dealership) you are legally and
ethically allowed to send email.
Marketing people who
follow the rules have only two choices when they want to use email
to reach prospects. They can use the in-house list that they
have developed, or they can "rent" a list of interested parties from
a list broker.
Renting a list gives
that marketer a one-time shot to reach the prospects. They do
not receive the actual list - the email is sent on their behalf.
If the prospects do not buy directly from the email or provide you
with contact information and the permission to contact them again,
you have basically wasted your marketing dollar.
These lists can be
expensive - you pay about the same as you would pay for a regular
mailing list, but you do not get anywhere near the demographic data
- and you don't actually get the list. When you buy a
traditional list, you can use it over and over again. With
email you can't - unless you want to pay over and over again!
So, should you maybe
forget about email marketing altogether? That would be a
mistake. Consumers are increasingly using the web to research
before they buy. They are also beginning to prefer that
legitimate marketers contact them via email instead of postal mail
or phone.
The trick is to use the
low costs and high effectiveness of email appropriately. This
means that you must follow certain rules:
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Have a real "From"
address that people can respond to.
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Use a descriptive and
accurate subject line.
-
Let them know exactly
who the email is coming from.
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Always offer the
opportunity to remove themselves from your list.
There is no doubt that
the use of email to market vehicles and services will become more
important to your dealership as time goes on. Developing an
effective strategy and building a proper database now will pay
dividends years down the road. |
