5 ways to use SMS in a car dealership

One of the good things about the motor trade is the amount of mobile numbers they’ve got on their databases. There are still many though who miss out on the advantages of having this information. SMS is an extremely powerful way to generate business. It’s easy, quick and very good value for money.

161 cars sold from 6000 text messages sent 

Here are 5 ways to use SMS in a car dealership to generate extra revenue.

1. Use SMS in a car dealership for events

What better way to invite people to your event than send them a personal text? With automatic response you can use the reply to book their attendance and even send them additional information – All whilst your team get on with what they’re meant to be doing.

2. Use SMS in a car dealership for sales

Let your customers know that a new vehicle has arrived or that you’re offering a special deal. Use sms replies to interact with your customer before you’ve even spoken to them.

3. Use SMS in a car dealership for aftersales

MoT reminders and service reminders are 2 places that sms can be great for getting customers booked in. Using automated responses the customer could even book in by text. The ultimate in convenience.

4. Use SMS in a car dealership for servicing

A vehicle in the workshop needs some extra work and authority from the customer. Simply send them a text with the details and let them reply ‘yes’ to authorise the work. Could it be simpler? Easy, convenient and quick.

5. Use SMS in a car dealership for settlement requests

When a customer requests a settlement figure on their vehicle, the chances are that they’re in a showroom looking at a new vehicle. There’s the obvious customer service angle of sending the settlement figure to the customer by sms but there’s also an opportunity to send a text alert to the original sales person to give the customer a call.

Hopefully you’re already using sms to help your customer experience and deliver more sales.

Need more help?

As specialists in marketing and automation, we not only put all the creative together for our customers including writing text messages and producing supporting materials such as banners and email templates, we also handle the whole communication process and database administration with our rmcom system. rmcom is a software system already used by many motor groups in the UK and further afield, simply rebadged to us.

By Ryan Mullins

Top 5 considerations when thinking about marketing automation

When you’re considering marketing automation there are 5 points that need to sit at the top of your decision making priorities. Although marketing automation has clear benefits for many organisations, the key factors for its success are the same.

1. Data you can use for marketing automation

Organisations that have plenty of data are the ones that will benefit most from marketing automation. The reasons are quite simple, without data, it’s going to be an uphill challenge from the off. The kind of data we are talking about begins with basic contact details. Email, mobile and address details are core to communicating with people.

2. Processes that would benefit from marketing automation

Sales processes and buying patterns need to be mapped out comprehensively to gain the most advantage from automation. By mapping processes it not only makes it simpler for setting up your marketing automation, it also helps identifying where there are weaknesses or opportunities to improve and streamline sales processes. You’ll also need to be considerate of the areas where your sales and marketing processes interface with other business systems as these areas can affect the ease of implementation.

3. Commitment to marketing automation

Before you make the decision to go forward with marketing automation, you need to evaluate your level of commitment. There’s plenty of evidence that marketing automation works but overnight success is unlikely. The setting up process can be time and labour intensive so it’s important to be realistic about the time and budget you’re prepared to commit to setting up and evaluating your marketing automation project.

4. Metrics you can apply to marketing automation

How you measure the success of marketing automation is a principle consideration from the outset. It’s important to be very clear and concise about what your marketing automation investment needs to achieve to make it worthwhile. For many, the metrics are sales related, for others, retention is a principle factor. Whatever it is that your business needs, scoping your success metrics are vital to the longevity of your plans.

5. Budget you’ll invest in marketing automation

Moving to marketing automation from campaign driven communication is a major change in the way you operate. Although you can stage budgets, your overall budget needs to be considerably more than your normal campaign type spends. It is possible to gain quick wins and start to benefit from your investment early but you’ll need to be realistic about the size and scope of your marketing automation project and the subsequent budget needs of such an undertaking.

Summary

Marketing automation is not a quick or simple task. The benefits are increases in sales, reductions in administration, improvements in retention and much more. Before you set about implementation of marketing automation in your business, you should speak with a professional who will be able to assess the ease, cost and benefits to you.

By Ryan Mullins

How Email Marketing Automation can streamline your sales process

What is email marketing automation?

Email marketing automation is a valuable marketing tool which enables you to build customer relationships. By automating your email campaigns you can build a profile of your prospects and customers so that you only contact them with information they are likely to be interested in. This is based on their previous interactions, meaning you don’t overload people with information that is of no interest to them.

An example of a simple Email Automation Campaign

A car dealer sends out an introduction email to its database detailing their latest offers on their new models. Our email automation software (rmcom) will automatically record which link each email record clicks on. Based on this information, a second email will automatically be sent giving more information on the model of the car/s they (have previously clicked on) are interested in.

[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”24″ size_format=”px”]Number of email accounts in the world = 3.2 billion
91% of email users check their account daily[/typography]

Read on to discover the many benefits of Email Automation and how it can help your business increase sales.

[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Develop Prospects[/typography]
Email is a tried and tested way of engaging prospects and existing customers alike. With automated email campaigns you filter your marketing campaigns so that you only send relevant messages to your prospects. The more you can relate to people with engaging relevant information, the more likely they are to interact with you and ultimately become a customer.

[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Timing is everything[/typography]
You can programme rmcom to automatically contact records at timely intervals. This can be based around key buying dates (contract renewal dates) or you can send emails  one day, one week or one month after a previous email has been opened- Anything is possible!

[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Personalised Communication[/typography]
One of the most basic functions of rmcom is that you can personalise your email campaigns effortlessly.

[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”24″ size_format=”px”]A personalised subject line can increase your open rates by over 35%[/typography]

[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Unopened email still gets your brand gets promoted[/typography]
Every time emails are sent you increase your brand awareness, just by appearing in their inbox. Remember 93% of emails are checked daily, so even if your email is not opened the odds are high that your company name has been seen just by landing in their inbox.
[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Every communication will (eventually) be read[/typography]
If your email isn’t read within a specified time scale, rmcom can be programmed so that your communication will automatically re-send, again and again until it is opened.
[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Work your hot sales leads[/typography]

By automating your email campaigns, you free up your sales team’s time to focus on the hot sales leads your campaigns produce.
Every time someone interacts with your email a notification can be sent to your sales team so that they can follow this up….in real time if required!
[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Ongoing Promotion of your Business[/typography]
Email automation continuously keeps in contact with your customers. The more frequently your name appears in someone’s inbox, the more likely they are to recognise your company name, remember it, and buy from you when the time is right.

[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Reach customers on mobile[/typography]
People check emails on their smart phones. Reaching your customer on their mobile gets your email read, clicked-through and converted. We can also set up campaigns to reach your customers via SMS campaigns.

[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”24″ size_format=”px”]You will increase your website traffic through email automation.[/typography]

[typography font=”Quattrocento Sans” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Drive traffic to your website and record it[/typography]
Email gets people who are interested in your brand to click-through to your website. rmcom will record the pages they click through to and even what time of day they are likely to read your email. All this makes targeted marketing campaigns much easier and extremley cost effective.

Get in touch with Renew Marketing if you would like to understand more about how rmcom can streamline your sales process and generate additional sales using email marketing automation.

By Lorraine Mullins