Combine quality direct mail creative, a targeted qualified audience, and a high ticket product like a new car and you’ve got everything you need for a positive return on investment.  Direct Mail works for auto dealers, but maximizing your dealer response rates requires you to deliver a custom solution for each campaign.

To start, gather everything you can from your prospective dealer in terms of what they’ve mailed in the past as well as the success rates of each campaign.

Who were they trying to target?  Was it consumers within a 50 mile radius with a credit score of 550 to 680, age 45 to 65, with at least 50% auto loan paid down on their car?

What was their offer?  Discounted purchase on their trade-in?  Rebate check?  Savings on new but older model?

How qualified were the prospects that came into the showroom?  Of those coming in, were they coming in from the sign out front, or was it from the mail piece they received in the mail?  For those who came from the mailed invitation, how many were “financiable”?

Were they able to distinguish between mail prospects, newspaper prospects, and walk-ins?  Did you measure what caused these people to come into the showroom that weekend?

Tags: auto dealer, auto mailing lists, car loan mailing list, car mailing lists, direct mail

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 6:14 PM and is filed under Automotive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.