Email marketing is a convenient and fast way to market your business to a large number of people at the same time. It’s beneficial to your business to send out emails on a consistent basis. If you’re not, you’re missing opportunities with your valued customers! Emails are still the preferred way for consumers to receive this type of information — customers subscribe to receive emails for a reason! It’s convenient, and you’re providing them with valued information they’re interested in.
I tell every dealer that their website is the face of your dealership, and it’s important to always keep it up-to-date. Sending out an email to your customers is an effective method to get customers back to your website. There are many other online marketing strategies to help drive traffic to your site and sending out an email that provides product information, dealership news, helpful tips, upcoming events and more will engage and inform your customers. Your newsletters should always serve a purpose and the content within should be of value to your customers.
Emails are extremely helpful for keeping in contact with your customers, and you can increase your sales if you’re repetitively reminding your customer about your services, vehicle selection, products you carry and why they should buy from your dealership. Most people will not buy a product the first time they see it online, and it helps to send them emails every now and then to remind them about its availability.
Putting together a newsletter that’s professional and easy-to-read is very important. We all get bombarded with a ton of miscellaneous emails every day, so it does matter how a newsletter is set up and presented to your
customers.
Here are a few recommendations to build a better email:
Subject line
Did you know that the subject line is the most important part of the newsletter? I get 100s of dealer newsletters every month, and this is the one thing that many dealers miss. The subject line is what a customer sees before they open up the email. Always include the name of your dealership in the subject line.
The message or main tagline should reflect the main content within the newsletter. For example, “ABC Dealership Bike Night” or “ABC Dealership Pre-Owned Bike Sale.” Your subject line should be catching and eye grabbing. You only have a few seconds to grab their attention, and the subject line will determine if a customer opens it or not.
Do not use all caps in your subject line. It’s too in-your-face, so keep it simple and be creative with the words that you use.
Email content
Content within your newsletter should have an order of importance, and the main promotional message should be front and center. Whatever you promote in the subject line should be the first piece of information a customer sees in the newsletter.
The content displayed within a newsletter should be organized and visually appealing. A cluttered newsletter can confuse a customer, so make sure that your department promotions and announcements have an organized flow to it.
Most importantly, set up links back to the website so customers can easily get additional information if needed. If you’re promoting products, you should always provide a link to the site for additional information or to buy online. Never make your customers work to find additional information.
When to send a newsletter
I get asked when the best time of day is to send a newsletter a lot, and it depends on your audience and the subject matter of your newsletter. Logically, it doesn’t make sense to send out a newsletter on a Sunday because most people are not checking email. Email marketing experts have also said that sending out an email on a Monday is also not recommended because people are getting caught up from the weekend, and they’re more focused on their work for the week. Sending out an email Tuesday through Friday is recommended, and you’ll most likely have a better opening rate than sending on a Sunday or Monday. You might have to experiment with your days and keep track of your opening rates when sending out an email. Your best day may change frequently.
How often to send a newsletter
I recommend sending one to two email newsletters a week. Be careful not to spam your customers with multiple emails every month. If you’re sending more than four emails per month, you may be spamming your customers and bombarding them with too much information. My recommendation is to send out a newsletter the first week of every month with all of the latest and greatest on what’s going on at your dealership. Keep it consistent so customers get used to receiving a newsletter the first week of every month. If you are sending out multiple newsletters, the subject for each email should be different. Don’t send out the same newsletter twice.
Be creative and be consistent when you send out your monthly emails. Plan ahead and be sure to provide customers with information that you know they’re going to want to check out. Your customers subscribe to receive your newsletters for a reason. Just remember that some newsletters will have a better reaction of customer responses than other emails. Keep up with it and keep track of what’s working for your business.
