Email vs. Mail – Which is Better in the Automotive Industry

The way we communicate and how we want to be communicated to is continually evolving.  New technology has allowed today’s consumer to be constantly exposed to messaging and information.  So what is the best way to reach your car dealership's customers - Email or Mail?

Email communications have many advantages for car dealers, mainly the efficiency and timing of sending your messages.  Consumers can receive emails at any time with mobile devices, work and home computers.  You can measure how a customer responds to your email message by either a transaction or tracking click-thrus to a website or other links.  Your customer does not have to rely on what is included in the email but can seek out what is relevant to them.  With that being said, what is your email capture rate?  And are your Sales, F&I and Service departments at your dealership getting valid email addresses or entering anything to get credit?  With an email append service, you can increase the reach to your customers on a monthly basis by capturing valid emails and bounce testing your existing database.  Even with email appends, 60-70% email capture rate is remarkable.  Remember that even though email is an efficient channel, blasting your database too often could make your customers numb or cause them to opt-out. 

Mail communications have advantages for car dealers as well.  Foremost, your dealership’s DMS is more likely to contain 100% of your clientele’s mail addresses so you can reach your entire database.  Though mail is more expensive than email, OEM programs can provide support with co-op funds if you meet their guidelines.  When done correctly, direct mail can be a relevant, personal invitation to a customer for their business.

Email and mail have their disadvantages too – both channels can get cluttered.  How does your dealership's message break through that clutter?  You can argue whether email is better than mail or vice versa.  But the key is how can you make them work together to get higher response rate from your campaigns.    If you are watching your budget, send email to those customers with a valid email address and then backfill with mail to reach your target.  If you want a greater lift in response, overlay your mail campaigns with an email message.