Beat the competition when sales decline

3 tactics to beat the competition when automotive sales decline

How behaviorally-targeted email marketing in the automotive industry can help convert prospects into customers

Automotive News reported last week that September sales will fall about 2 percent, a decline for the second consecutive month. J.D. Power and LMC Automotive reported that this will be the fifth month in the past seven to show an overall retail sales decline.

As we head into the final quarter of 2016, auto dealers are understandably nervous that they are not going to meet their sales goals. The simple truth is, not as many people are shopping.

Jeff Schuster, lead forecaster at LMC, said that “group and brand performance is beginning to diverge as competitive pressure is at an all-time high.”

To stay ahead of the competition and finish 2016 strong, dealers need to focus on these three tactics:

  • Retarget based on consumer behavior
  • Start with service – 85% of customers stated that their experience with the service department influenced their likelihood of purchasing another vehicle from that dealership
  • Engage long term prospects and customers

Automotive email marketing tools that work for you

Dust off your automotive marketing and use the latest in marketing technology to beat the competition. Try something new and look for vendors that don’t make marketing overly complicated. Today’s tech-savvy world requires marketing tools that are both set-it-and-forget-it and hands-on, depending on your goals in any given month.

Kristy Elliott, Executive Manager for Sunshine Chevrolet, had a goal this year to move 100% to digital from traditional marketing. This might seem extreme to some dealers, but by taking a calculable risk, Kristy has seen increased sales:

  • Up 42% in New Car Unit Sales CYTD
  • Up 87% in New Car front & back gross CYTD
  • Up 20% in Service Department sales CYTD
  • Up 26% in Service Department gross CYTD

Learn more about Kristy’s 2016 automotive marketing secrets with Advanced Training from Automotive News.

Outsell helped sell 60+ more cars while saving time

When Auburn Volkswagen was looking to lower email opt-out rates and send personalized communications based on customer behavior, they didn’t increase their marketing spend, they reduced it by removing two other point solutions and switching to a customer engagement platform that worked for them—Outsell Fuel.

auburn-vw-case-study

Link to full case study

Outsell helped Auburn VW sell an additional 60+ vehicles a year, and reduced their time spent on email marketing by 75 percent.

With auto sales declining, now is the time to utilize personalized offers with automated tracking and follow-up to help strengthen customer relationships and identify in-market buyers.