Dealerships are always looking for new ways to get customers in the door. Sometimes, a tried-and-true marketing approach like direct mail marketing is just what you need. In this guide, we'll explore exactly what automotive direct mail marketing is and how it can benefit your dealership.
What Is Direct Mail Marketing?
Direct mail marketing is when businesses send promotional materials to potential customers through the mail. While individual departments might send mail, like service reminders or warranty notifications, direct mail marketing is part of a campaign with specific goals and metrics for success. For example, you might send out a flier advertising an upcoming sale at your dealership to previous customers and sales leads in your local area.
Some people might think direct mail marketing is outdated and ineffective in the digital age, but that's not the case. Consumers are bombarded with digital ads all day and still look forward to seeing what the mail has to offer, especially when they receive something that can help them make a purchasing decision1. Digital marketing is a valuable tool for dealerships, and so is direct mail. You don't have to choose one or the other.
Types of Automotive Direct Mail Advertising
There's more variety to direct mail advertising than you might think. These examples are commonly used to promote car dealerships.
Postcards
Postcards are small but mighty in the world of direct mail. If you want to send customers a short, straightforward message, there's no better option than postcards. These one-sheet mailers can range in sizes typically from 4” x 6”, 6” x 9”, and 6” x 11” so keep your design and text simple2.
Postcards are ideal for simple messages, like promoting a service event, or a special event, like a preferred customer preview of recently added inventory. Add a personalized URL (PURL) or QR code for recipients to RSVP online and capture data to track the mail campaign’s success3. You can also think of the postcard as a large coupon the recipient brings in to redeem for a discount.
Self-Mailer
A self-mailer is a type of direct mail that doesn't need an envelope. Typically, it's a brochure or similar folded piece that includes all the necessary mailing details right on the document itself. Since you have more room, you can add more text and detail.
Self-Mailers can also be effective for established customers through a method called variable data printing (VDP). This allows you to pull information from your dealership’s DMS to personalize your messaging. If you have customers affected by a manufacturer recall, a VDP campaign is an effective way to get them into your service department. If you’re looking to acquire used inventory, entice customers to trade in by sending them recent information about the value of a car they purchased from you in the past4.
Benefits of Automotive Direct Mail Marketing
Direct mail can be a vital part of your broader marketing efforts. The benefits of using automotive direct mail include:
- Cost-effective results: Direct mail marketing is very budget-friendly compared to other forms of advertising, such as radio, digital, and TV ads. You can achieve impressive results with direct mail campaigns without breaking the bank.
- High visibility: Direct mail is physical, making it harder to ignore than an email message. Your recipients have to interact with the promotions your dealership sends, even if they just take them out of the mailbox and put them on the counter.
- Measurable impact: When you include features like coupons and QR codes on your mailers, you can easily track the results of your direct mail campaigns. You’ll be able to see how many people engage with the mail you send by redeeming offers or following the QR code to your website.
- Strong response rate: Ideally, you want recipients to respond to your marketing messages. Direct mail produces a much higher response rate—nearly 10%—than other marketing channels like email, social media, and paid search5.
- High return on investment: The return on investment for direct mail campaigns is very high. Sending letter-sized envelopes to prospects had an average ROI of 112%, well above other forms of marketing6.
How to Make Your Automotive Direct Mail Campaigns More Effective
Sending simple mailers about your dealership to everyone in your area would probably generate some positive results. If you want to make your direct mail campaigns as effective as possible, though, follow these best practices:
Leverage Internal Data
Broad direct mail campaigns are useful, but a targeted approach is even more effective. Different customers respond to different messages, so the best campaign customizes marketing messages to customers' unique preferences, needs, and interests. For example, you may want to send younger customers deals on more affordable used cars and promote luxury SUVs to high-income families.
Your internal dealership data contains all the insights you need to craft targeted, impactful direct mail campaigns. Use data about customers' ages, locations, purchase histories, and more to segment them into groups by shared characteristics. Then, create campaigns with targeted messages for those customer segments.
Personalization
You have valuable customer data, including their names, the year, make, and model of the vehicles they purchased. Leverage this information on the direct mail you send. Recent research shows that personalized direct mail campaigns experience an incredible 135% increase in response rates compared to non-personalized efforts7.
Include a Special Offer or Coupon
Every direct mail campaign needs a call to action (CTA) so the recipients know to interact with your business. What better way to get people in the door than with a clear, tangible offer? Including a special coupon in your postcard or flier, like a specific percent off maintenance and service, is an excellent way to draw in customers.
This is where your PURL or QR code comes in handy: You'll be able to track the effectiveness of your campaign based on how many recipients redeem the offer3.
Use a Creative, Eye-Catching Design
Your direct mail ad competes for attention with all the other mail your customers receive. Customers should know who they’re receiving promotions from, even at a quick glance. Use clear, print-ready versions of your logo and any photos you wish to include, and keep your color and font selection consistent with your existing branding.
Have one main heading that announces what the mail campaign is about, like the introduction of new inventory, end of model year , seasonal sale (i.e. Labor Day, July 4th, etc), or service discount4. The smaller the mail piece, the more focused the message should be.
Drive Customers to Your Dealership
Whatever marketing channels you choose—whether it's direct mail, email, search engine ads, or others—data is the key to effective campaigns.
ACV MAX integrates with your DMS and CRM systems, as well as OEM data, to help you leverage internal data and optimize your dealership operations. With it, you can create automated and optimized vehicle descriptions, and identify the best vehicles to stock based on customer demand.
Schedule your free demo to see how ACV MAX can upgrade your dealership performance.
Sources
- Direct Mail Marketing: The Definitive Guide to High ROI [2024]. PostPilot. Retrieved August 21, 2024, from https://www.postpilot.com/direct-mail-marketing/the-definitive-guide
- Sizes for Postcards. U.S. Postal Service. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://pe.usps.com/businessmail101?ViewName=Cards
- Bobnak, P. (10 September 2021). Automotive Direct Mail: 7 Best Practices + 14 Examples. Who’s Mailing What. Retrieved August 21, 2024, from https://www.whosmailingwhat.com/blog/automotive-direct-mail/
- 4 Automotive Direct Mail Campaign Ideas That Work. Qualprint. Retrieved August 21, 2024, from https://qualprint.com/4-automotive-direct-mail-campaign-ideas-that-work/
- Navarro, J.G. (6 January 2023). Response rate to selected digital marketing channels in the United States in 2018. Statista. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030527/us-response-rate-select-media-digital-marketing/
- Direct Response Media ROI Benchmarks. Marketing Charts. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://www.marketingcharts.com/advertising-trends/creative-and-formats-224818
- "Direct Mail Marketing Statistics: Undeniable Trust, ROI, and Influence." Zipdo, 25 Jul. 2024, zipdo.co/direct-mail-marketing-statistics/. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.
