strategy

What is the Best Internet Structure for Each Dealership?

Auto Remarketing Magazine

By Bobby Malatia, of Kain Automotive

September 05, 2007

As I travel throughout the country, I am constantly asked, “What is the best Internet structure for our dealership?” Most of the time the dealership already has a current Internet setup, and it is just looking for reassurance that what it has in place is a good one.

The simple answer is it is not a simple answer. You have to look at many different factors to see which one will be most effective for your dealership and your market. I will try to break this question down and go over some of the main factors that need to be considered to answer this common but difficult question.

Let us first look at what different Internet structures there are that have experienced moderate to extremely good success.

SalesFloor: Internet leads are taken by one of the managers and distributed out to the regular sales floor.

The one person show: One dedicated Internet person who answers all the incoming Internet requests. a. The one person handles the leads and sets appointments to be given to the regular sales floor. b. The one person handles the leads as well as sales the vehicles themselves.

Appointment setters: Having multiple people handle the Internet leads and then set the appointments. a. These appointments are set for the regular sales floor.b. These appointments are set and given to a manager and then are distributed to certain salespeople. Internet Department: Having a dedicated team handle the leads as well as sale the vehicles (commonly referred to “cradle to grave”). a. Typically this is done using a different process than the regular floor process, though it does not have to be.

Internet Department and BDC: Using a dedicated Internet sales department with the support of a BDC. a. Leadsare handled by the BDC and then set or turned to the Internet department for the sale of the vehicle. b. The Internet department handles the lead, and then the BDC takes over after a set amount of time to take care of the long-term follow-up, and then gives it back to the Internet department once the BDC makes an appointment, or re-stimulates the prospect.

As you can see there are many options, and of course there can be variations of any of these as well.

Now that we have looked at some of the options, let’s tackle the tough question: which is the best one for you. To answer this question you must understand that most, if not all, of these structures can be and have been successful.

There is no one perfect idea for handling your Internet leads, and therefore we must look at the different factors that can influence your individual process. This will help you determine which structure will be most effective for your dealership.

The first of these factors is what the dealer principal/general manager wants to get out of the Internet. Does the dealership want an Internet department, or does it want an Internet dealership?

An Internet department can be a bit redundant given the structure you have in place, but an Internet dealership takes advantage of the skilled personnel already in management roles and molds them into the reality of today’s Internet-dominated sales and marketing environment.

However, we find that because of management resistance to working Internet leads through their current set up, it is normally best to set up a department and incubate the success before considering a merger back into the regular sales environment.

The second of these factors is your current personnel or personnel recruiting options. We believe you should decide on the structure your management feels most comfortable with and then recruit to fit the structure rather than the other way around. Otherwise, each time you hire someone for the role you will be prone to adjust the structure based on the talent and skills, which is not productive long-term.

There is a certain profile that we look for that has the best chance to excel in this type of role within the dealership, and we feel someone with a solid success record in sales, whether it be automotive, real estate, cell phones or airline reservations.

Persons in this position first must be persistent and willing to make multiple phone calls each day, be personable enough to build rapport quickly and be able to sell the appointment if the dealership has any hope of getting the consumer into the store.

Your current employees should be considered for these roles, but you should not be afraid to recruit from outside your dealership. Use the profile and understanding of what the job requires to be successful and grow the department as needed.

The last factor that must be considered when deciding on the correct structure for your Internet department regards your current lead volume. We have recommendations on the volume for each set up and feel it is vital to maintain the right volume or the system will not do as well.

Before you worry about growth and spending more money to get more sales, you must be able to analyze what you currently have structure-wise and how effectively you process your current leads.

Using all three of the factors will help you put together an appropriate action plan to determine “what is the best structure” for you and your dealership.

http://www.autoremarketing.com/ar/news/story.html?id=6787

Five Things your Dealership Should Do to Embrace the Internet

Digital Dealer Magazine August 2007

by : Mitch Turck

The following five suggestions on how to get the most from your Internet department should yield some financial benefits. The sooner these actions are put into place, the better.

1. Your used car manager should be the most Internet savvy of all your sales employees. The used car manager should be scouring popular consumer sites (AutoTrader, cars.com, etc.) on a weekly basis to see how your used inventory pricing compares with the competition. The used car manager should also be checking the out-of-state wholesale auctions online, many of which will put together a great package to get your store’s business. And when it comes down to getting rid of one particular car, it should be the used car manager posting that car on Craigslist, enthusiast chat rooms and other community forums to maximize the vehicle’s exposure.

2. Your perceived DMA should shift from a “death grip on a five-mile radius” strategy to a “fishnet across a 50-mile radius” strategy. One huge obstruction the Internet presents to your local business is that it reduces traveling distance between stores from 45 minutes to five mouse clicks. Consumers who live in your area don’t need to come to you for their favorite brand anymore if a dealer 30 miles away is giving them a significantly better price, or has the customer’s car in-stock and ready to test drive while you are showing the customer a paint chip and telling him to use his imagination. Many dealers complain about this loss of local traffic due to the Internet, but then the obvious question becomes, “if a dealer 45 minutes away is stealing from your DMA, why aren’t you stealing from his?”

3. Your managers should submit mystery shopper leads to competing dealers every month. Are you wondering why so many of your Internet leads are telling you that Grass is Greener Motors is beating your offer by $100 a month? Instead of scratching your head, why not put a mystery lead into that store yourself, and see what kind of deal they are sending to Internet leads? Furthermore, find out what everyone is doing to stay in touch with their Internet customers, and how your competition is trying to differentiate itself from the rest of the pack. If your autoresponder says, “Unlike other dealers, we focus on 100 percent customer satisfaction,” and your three closest competitors say the same thing, then what good is that line? Use that opportunity to find ways to stand out from other dealers… and don’t forget to mystery shop your own Internet department as well.

4. Your sales staff should come to grips with the fact that Internet customers know more than they do. Depending on the competence of your sales staff, this may or may not be true, but it’s more important to realize that many Internet customers believe it’s true. They have access to information they never knew about before, and this puts them in a controlling mindset. If your staff doesn’t respect that, or is too proud to admit that maybe the customer does know more than them, there’s a high probability you will lose that customer to another store who lets them think they’re in control.

5. Everyone in your dealership should recognize that it’s only a matter of time before your entire customer base becomes Internet shoppers. If you are responsible for the future of your dealership, there is one statement you can’t afford to ignore: every customer is an Internet customer… they just don’t know it yet. Think about it – you can use the Internet to find a vehicle’s color combinations, standard features and options, MSRP, invoice price, typical prices paid by consumers, rebates (including manufacturer to dealer rebates), residual value, inventory availability, and dealer specials. Now try to tell me there’s a single up out there who wouldn’t take advantage of all that information if they knew where to find it.

The sun is setting on the days of uninformed customers – either have a plan of action, or have another career lined up.

http://www.digitaldealer-magazine.com/index.asp?article=1522

Marketing Dollars Don’t Grow on Trees: How online advertising can revolutionize your dealership’s marketing budget

If you’re an auto dealership trying to establish an online presence, or trying to improve on your existing internet foothold, you’re probably thinking about internet marketing. If you’re not, get thinking, because the internet is just like anything else – he who markets most effectively, wins.

The internet has a couple of huge advantages over the rest of the advertising mediums you’re already familiar with—television, radio, newspaper, billboard, side of a bus. While these traditional methods are fine for building brand awareness and reinforcing purchase satisfaction, they are expensive. They are also typically not well targeted– there’s just no way of knowing if the people watching a particular show are in the market for a new car.

It’s on those two points that internet marketing blows all other mediums out of the water. For starters, if you are smart about your online strategy (or work with people like Dealer Impact Search Marketing who get paid to be smart about online marketing strategies) the internet is a cheap, cheap place to advertise. Running an ad on Google or Yahoo (the search engines are, after all, where the vast majority of people begin their purchasing research) doesn’t cost anything unless someone is interested enough to click on your ad—and even then, it’s typically only around $0.50-$2.00 per click. Not a high price to pay to send an interested lead to your website.

What’s more, online advertising is highly targeted—your ads only show up when people search for something related to your dealership or your inventory. Worried that your money will be wasted if your ads show up for people who aren’t in your city? Search engine advertising is so effective that it actually figures out where the searcher is located, and only shows ads relevant to that location. And if you use an online marketing company that builds your advertising campaign on an adaptive platform like the Dealer Impact Search Advertising platform, your campaign will become more targeted over time – only showing your ads for searches that have the best conversion rates.

These smart platforms also have the added advantage of detailed tracking. You can find out how many people have clicked on ads, for what keywords, what forms they filled out on your site, and even find out who’s called your dealership. Some have the added benefit of recording those phone calls and adding them to your online report.

What does this all mean to the average car dealership? Basically, if you move a chunk of your marketing budget online, and then spend those online dollars correctly, you can decrease your total budget while bringing more qualified leads to your site and increasing your sales. The online marketing arena is effective and cost-effective, so stop wasting money with those newspaper ads and get online today!

Jamie Wilson
Search Engine Marketing Specialist
DealerImpact.com

What Online Shoppers Want: More local

Published: August 20, 2007, iMedia Connection

Kelly Blue Book reports that consumers want more local information when they’re purchasing a car; here’s the data and how to apply it.

When consumers go online, they most likely are searching for information that appeals specifically to their lives. What’s the hottest new restaurant in my city? Is there bad traffic on my commute route home from work today? When is this concert coming to my town? What movies are playing at my theater? What is the 10-day forecast in my area? Even in the burgeoning age of social networking media and popular online dating sites, consumers are looking to connect with something (or someone) online that is meaningful and relevant in their lives, and most likely, in their local geographic area.

The same is true for online shoppers, and in particular, online vehicle shoppers. Research from a 2007 DoubleClick Performics Survey shows that more than half of in-market vehicle shoppers use the internet as a primary source for gathering information. According to J. D. Power and Associates, the number one site used by new-vehicle shoppers is Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com, with nearly half of all in-market new-vehicle shoppers visiting the site to conduct their research. Throughout all phases of the funnel, consumers looking to purchase a new vehicle rely on the web to deliver timely and relevant information that applies specifically to them. Third-party auto sites like Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com and Edmunds.com have been privy to this concept for a while; both require visitors to enter their zip codes, to provide the shopper with specific vehicle pricing information relevant to that particular area plus geo-targeted regional OEM and Tier II/III messaging.

But while websites have been targeting ads specific to consumers’ geographic locations for some time, and even delivering certain location-specific data and information, we still have a way to go in truly providing the total package of local content that consumers say they desire.

According to a recent study conducted by Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research in May 2007, when asked to rate their interest in having more local area information on kbb.com, shoppers responded favorably. With one being “not at all interested” and 10 being “extremely interested,” shoppers weighed in overall at 8.1, showing positive interest in added local content to the site. The study further showed that consumers are most interested in local information related to obtaining new-car pricing, real-time local dealer inventory and trade-in values. Other popular options included special local offers/incentives, consumer reviews of dealerships and dealer locators/maps. On the other hand, consumers indicated they are least interested in information related to dealer-sponsored events, finance/lease pre-approval and images of the facilities.

Consumers telling us what they want (and don’t want) in local content is the first major step toward meeting their shopping needs in their own areas. But how we integrate this new local content with Tier I, II and III messaging is proving to be the big challenge, not just for the publishers of the third-party sites, but also for the agencies creating the messaging and OEMs/Associations/Dealers who hire them. How do we coordinate this messaging in a way that facilitates our partners’ communication with the consumers while not overwhelming them and providing only the most relevant content? Thanks to testing and surveys, we can count on the consumer to tell us when we are on target and when we are not.

Kbb.com is launching a new effort at the beginning of 2008 to start tackling this industry-wide conundrum and to help better serve its more than 12 million unique monthly visitors. The site’s all-new Tier II strategy will locally connect consumers with their vehicle of choice by providing engaging local content to shoppers accompanied by targeted local messages from Dealer Associations and regional OEM messages. The challenge still exists for Tiers I, II and III to coordinate messaging in a way that accomplishes each group’s specific goals, and the third-party sites still have the challenge of integrating the content and messaging in a way that makes sense for everyone.

But at the end of the day, challenges aside, we all are working toward the same common goal: third-party sites want to provide the relevant information that consumers want and need to make an informed vehicle purchase decision, and Tiers I, II and III all ultimately desire to sell cars. We’ll continue to work hand-in-hand, and surely in time a strategic balance will be achieved.

Robin Cooper is VP of advertising and business development at Kelley Blue Book.

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/16296.asp

Coupons: A Story of Redemption

Published: August 14, 2007

iMedia Connection

by Steven Boal

If you want to both boost sales and track how online is affecting offline purchases, try online coupons.
The rise of interactive marketing has been incredibly quick and continues at a pace that keeps brands, marketers and media properties on their toes. With consumers spending more time online, marketers are redirecting serious dollars online, where more and more shoppers get news, entertainment and make their shopping decisions. Interactive is an essential piece of most marketing budgets.

Consumer packaged goods (CPGs) marketers are finding even their core buyers are spending more time online and making shopping decisions based on web research. They also realize the incredible sales potential in word-of-mouth marketing created by the more than 25 million internet users considered influential in recommending products to others [eMarketer, June 2007].

The challenge for these brands is how to close the loop from engagement to action and gain real insight into the impact their online advertising and promotions are having on in-store sales.

Where money is being spent in interactive

CPGs and other leading brands are leveraging a variety of methods of interactive marketing, including increasingly robust brand websites, rich media and video ads, email marketing campaigns, and much more.

However, since only 10 percent of shoppers purchase online (and even fewer purchase grocery products), it’s difficult to track return, whatever the goal.

Promotions, as distinct from brand advertising, often provide more measurable impact and are proving popular with online audiences and have resulted in robust consumer participation. Coca-Cola, for example, is currently running the highly successful MyCokeRewards program, with on-pack codes driving traffic to the promotional website where points can be exchanged for rewards.

One way Coke has “closed the loop” with these highly engaged consumers is by offering printable coupons in exchange for the reward points, bringing them back full circle into the store and giving Coca-Cola the ability to measure impact on sales.

Similarly, Pharmavite LLC, the parent company of Nature Made vitamins and SOYJOY nutrition bars, generates awareness, sales and brand loyalty through an integrated couponing program, where each element supports another. Emails to its database of 1.3 million subscribers often include links to the $5 worth of printable coupons (powered by Coupons, Inc. technology) on NatureMade.com. There, consumers can also join a rewards program, with cumulative points building toward a single, high-value coupon mailed to the participant.

In addition, coupons in the Sunday newspaper’s freestanding insert (FSI) include promotional verbiage driving coupon-hungry consumers to the website to print additional coupons.
Sheryl Biesman, manager of integrated marketing for the Nature Made Wellness Advisor, the online division of Pharmavite, sees printable coupons as an incentive to encourage people to register, which in turn builds the opt-in database.

“A robust, highly-qualified database is the key to successful retention marketing,” she says.

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/16120.asp

Internet Buy-In From the Top

by : Craig Criswell

Discussions with Internet directors, managers, trainers and consultants from around the country show there is a universal theme for a successful Internet deployment – you must have buy-in from the top (the top being the dealership owner or GM or whomever is in charge of decisions and money). I do not disagree, but how do you go about getting that, or for those of you reading this who are in charge, how to give it?

My experience in numerous dealerships indicates several key factors in getting this buy-in. First, you must understand your audience and spend some time looking at their world. Are you aware of your top person(s) responsibilities and time constraints? Have you virtually walked a mile in their shoes?

• What is their knowledge level (or lack there of in a lot of cases) of the Internet and its applications? Does that lack of knowledge (a point you must be an expert on) create an initial atmosphere of distrust?
• Do you know how many different irons that person must deal with? The internet is a new and to them unknown tool that may only become another hot iron to juggle.
• Most people at the top have people around them all day long for one reason or another. Watch them interact for a while before creating your approach. Time issues can make or break your attempt to get buy-in.
• Do you have any idea of the overall budget and corresponding ROI (return on investment) responsibilities your person must handle? You must show you are there to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Assuming you are the Internet expert looking for that buy-in – show and live your expert knowledge by opening an ongoing line of communication. I have found setting up regular meetings will set a good foundation for everyone concerned. The key to your early meetings will be your assuming absolute responsibility for everything that happens with the Internet approach. They need to give you at least 90 days to develop a system that works. I like to use the phrase “give me enough rope.” I have never hung myself or anyone else I worked with.

Let me state, for the record, that I hate meetings. If I am going to have a meeting, I will have an agenda; it will be typed and handed out. The purpose is to cover the items and get back to work! I advocate a weekly meeting of no more than 15 minutes. These have proven the most beneficial in my experience. If the meeting ever runs long, it is because the top person(s) were truly engaged and asking questions (note: that is a good thing!).

Those meetings should be used to show your control and growth of the Internet approach at your dealership. Some of the items I have covered are web site images, subliminal messaging in e-mail and on the site, autoresponders, used vehicle pictures and information, and pricing. Don’t do them all at once.

Stay in control of the meeting and that is best done by taking charge. You set the standards for communication – after all you are not only the expert here, but you are the one taking full responsibility for everything happening with the Internet approach.

When you get to month’s end, you should make sure that your summary for the month’s and YTD numbers is all on one 8 1/2” by 11” piece of paper. Keep your summary to no more than 10 to 15 minutes. Point out the successes and the areas where you will be improving performance. And most importantly, you don’t want the focus to be on any single month, but rather the trending that is taking place in the department. This is best shown with graphs (you need at least a little Excel experience) and graphs are easy to show trending and even easier for those at the top to see and understand your effectiveness. And by taking charge on a day-to-day, week-by-week basis, you build a respect and trust in your management.

Finally, if you are the person at the top, you must be sure the person you put in charge for your Internet approach is an expert! Find that person who will readily accept full responsibility for everything Internet-related and give them the power to succeed or fail. You must stay in constant communication – not to micro-manage but to inspect what you expect. With the right person, you can give them enough rope.Craig Criswell is the Internet director for O’Rielly Chevrolet, Tucson, AZ and also the president of Internet Certified Dealer, a consulting and training organization for the automotive industry. ICD now offers online self-paced courses and webinars to assist dealers all over the country.

http://www.digitaldealer-magazine.com/index.asp?article=1483
Digital Dealer
Jul 30 2007

Dealer Websites Built in Flash are Pretty… Invisible

When an auto dealership is considering a new website, one of their first considerations is typically the look and feel of the site. Dealerships pride themselves on the image they project to their customers, so it’s natural that they are drawn to great looking websites.

One trend in the auto web design industry is the “flash” website. You’ve seen these sites—they take a while to load, they move very fluidly and have great graphics and navigation, and usually they play some sort of movie upon loading.

But don’t be fooled: Flash sites will kill your search engine traffic.

Flash sites look good, and they’re an easy sell to dealers who don’t understand the downsides of using flash as the basis for an entire website. Flash has been the demise of many unsuspecting sites, so let me explain a few facts before you get fooled by flash.

Flash websites started out as an easy way to integrate video and animation onto a website, most commonly used for the introduction page of a site (you’ve probably seen this, unless you’re like most people and immediately click “skip intro”). Now that the use of flash is becoming more commonplace, entire websites are being built in flash.

So why is this bad? To put it simply, flash websites are essentially a huge movie file instead of a traditional website (that’s why when you visit a flash site, you first must install a plug-in to view Flash if you don’t already have one, and then kick back and wait for it to load). When a search engine robot arrives at your homepage, they just see a movie file, not a page full of good text and links to read and analyze.

This doesn’t work out very well for the friendly little search engine robot, because he can’t download flash movies. Even if he could, there’s no way for him to read anything in the movie to figure out what the page is all about and what it should rank for—it’s just images (even the text in a flash movie is really an image).

So what does he see? Just an empty page. Instead of your big, beautiful, flashy site, Google just sees an empty page. If Google can’t read and analyze the text on your site, Google is certainly never going to rank you for anything.

This leads us to another problem: the rest of your site.

If your whole site is built in flash, and the Google robot can’t even see flash, then he can’t see that you have any pages besides your homepage. This makes a lot more sense when you visit a flash site like http://www.automaxhyundaibrokenarrow.com/. Just click on a few of the pages up in the navigation bar, and look at your URL. It never changes because you’re not actually going to a different page, just a different part of a big movie file (like skipping to a scene on a DVD.) This website is just one page, and one page websites rarely get ranked.

Getting ranked by the search engines for your target terms is vitally important to online businesses—and it’s becoming increasingly important for offline businesses just because so many consumers begin their buying process online. If they find your dealership first, you are ahead right out of the gate. Flash websites are an immediate handicap—the search engines just can’t read them, so they generally ignore them altogether.

Flash can be a great technology, when it’s used like it should be: as a movie. A nice embedded flash movie within your html web page can be a great way to show off a new vehicle, advertise a special, or just get your customer’s attention. But when your whole website is created as one big flash movie you’re essentially invisible to Google, rendering you invisible to your potential online customers.

Don’t be fooled by flash. Do the research before buying a website, and be sure to make search engine visibility a priority. You wouldn’t build a new dealership in the middle of nowhere—you want to be where the traffic is. Internet traffic is on the search engines: if you’re not ranked, you might as well be invisible. Just like a website built in flash.

Jamie Wilson
Search Engine Marketing Specialist
DealerImpact.com

And, on a related note, check out this post from Blogpro Automotive:
http://blogproautomotive.com/2007/07/13/search-engine-basics-an-introductory-lesson-to-basic-internet-search-and-how-it-is-evolving/

Women Dominate Auto Decision Making and Purchasing Arena

An article on the decision makers & how they make their decisions (hint: it isn’t a commercial involving a rock song)

Women are the primary decision makers for over 80 percent of any major and minor household purchases, including cars where 60 percent of new car buyers are women, says Marti Barletta of Brandweek. Although, most car ads target men, women will actually make a purchase.

More than two-thirds of new-car buyers use the Internet during the shopping process, according to a 2006 study by J.D. Power and Associates. Knowledge is power and surfing the Web allows car shoppers to learn every detail about a car, including how much the dealer paid for it. Several third-party Web sites, not affiliated with the manufacturers or dealers, provide shoppers with the dealer invoice or the wholesale price on each car giving buyers a competitive edge in negotiating the price. Edmunds.com, for instance, provides what it calls “true market value”, an estimate of what buyers are paying for a particular car in a particular market.

While many women plan to take advantage of this information by conducting online research, in the end, they will request the attendance of a male counterpart. In accordance with a Capital One survey, 77 percent of women said they would bring a man to the dealership with them to make sure they get a good deal.

Over half of U.S. female Internet users, ages 25 and older, say the Internet is their main source for checking out potential product purchases, in accordance with “Online Insight” report published by Burst Media in June 2007. Online shopping increased with household income where half of the respondents with annual incomes of less than $35,000 bought something online in the past six months, while 68 percent of households with annual incomes of $100,000 or more had done so.

Conducting research via the Internet was the method of choice showing 10 percent or fewer of respondents stating they received their information from asking family and friends, reading newspapers and magazines, viewing television or referencing other sources.

However, as women consider the Internet a key source for product information, they refer to fewer Web sites on average in their research than men, states “Understanding Online Shopping Behavior Topline Summary” published by Frank About Women in March 2006. Adult female Internet users typically visited four or more Web sites during their research, while men visited an average of nearly five.

Barletta highlights some steps for marketers to consider while developing car ads for women:
Women don’t care about how many seconds it takes to reach 60 mph.

Women tend to be more interested in a car’s interior.

Women care about vehicle safety. Specifically, what happens when her car is hit, not if she can avoid it.

Women do consider the environment such as pollution.

From Digital Dealer
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Issue 28 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 28

http://www.imakenews.com/digital1/e_article000858239.cfm?x=b9ScsHT,b4TSprpk

Win the E-mail Budget Battle

Good article that supports e-mail marketing, find out how to make it work:

Email generates the best ROI of all marketing channels. Find out how to get a piece of the pie and turn the cold, hard numbers into a success story.

Email marketing works. Studies from numerous sources support this. The Direct Marketing Association, for example, reports that email delivers an eye-popping ROI when compared to other media: $57.25 for every dollar spent on it in 2005, compared to $7.08 for every dollar spent on print catalogs, and $22.52 for every dollar spent on non-email internet marketing.

Done right, it does even better. Jupiter Research has found that engaging audiences in more relevant communications increases net profits by an average of 18 times more than broadcast mailing. And marketers back up the claims.

According to Internet Retailer, 50.6 percent of internet retailers report that 6 percent or more of their sales come from email marketing, while another 25 percent say the proportion is over 11 percent.

In addition, 45 percent of chief marketing officers say their best performing online advertising tactic is emailing an in-house list, according to the CMO Council in 2006.
Despite these statistics and success stories, email programs remain under-funded compared to other marketing tactics. The latest IAB/PWC report on digital marketing spending in 2006 put email at only 2 percent of overall budgets.

“Companies are reticent to spend the dollars in the email marketing areas for a few reasons,” says Mark Politi, VP, marketing and media relations for Planetwide Media. Those reasons include:

-Lack of knowledge of how to send out large email blasts legally and not be considered a spammer.
-Lack of an internal email database list to work with.
-Lack of an email rental source to target the correct demographic.
-Proper measurable metrics to prove ROI for the campaign. Unique custom landing pages that can measure visits, downloads, sign-ups and purchases.
-Work involved compared to other online advertising programs make an email campaign low on the totem pole.

But to generate the type of ROI mentioned above, it takes investments in back-end technology for such tasks as targeting, email experts to ensure compliance with legislation and ISP guidelines, and creative specialists to write stellar copy.
So if you can get more, you can make more. Here’s how to do it.

Know the facts

Armed with information, an email marketer can convince the budget keeper his channel is worthy of more dollars.

Of greatest significance, Forrester reports that email has reached almost universal penetration, with 97 percent of consumers using the channel. That’s 147 million people in the United States using email almost every day, eMarketer calculates.

And that usage includes interaction with marketers.

According to JupiterResearch, 90 percent of users will use email to engage in and determine the value of a relationship with a company. And Quris reports that 40 percent of email subscribers will go “out of their way” to patronize a company whose email programs they like.

Not only do consumers use email to make specific purchases (50 percent of shoppers, according to Return Path), 50 percent of them who open and read email marketing messages are likely to also purchase other items on impulse and to spend 138 percent more than those who don’t buy through email (Forrester).

Do your math

Citing general statistics will provide the framework, but it’s the calculations on your own projects that will complete the picture for your CMO.

Simms Jenkins, founder and principal, BrightWave Marketing and EmailStatCenter.com, provides the following guideline:

Establish upfront what your goals from an email marketing effort are, including revenue, page view, in-store traffic, conversions, retention, subscribers, et cetera.

Then, create a monthly scorecard. What good are your email metrics if they live alone on a spreadsheet? A monthly scorecard provides an opportunity for the email/interactive team to monitor the key email performance indicators in the context of company goals (email specific and non-email specific) and industry benchmarks. Since email campaigns are so fluid, these goals in your scorecard are best evaluated and revised as an ongoing exercise. If anything, it prevents surprises and ensures the email team knows the score at all times.

Make sure to benchmark against the industry. Benchmarking internal stats against comparable industry metrics can be both valuable and an exercise in futility. The key is context. You want to make sure you are in the same ballpark as your industry on specific metrics like deliverability and open rates, but you should not make drastic changes to campaigns based on one research report that touted Tuesday as the best day to send emails.

Finally, focus/budget/judge on end-game/ROI. Go beyond CT/Open. Too often email marketers obsess over open and clickthrough rates. However, who cares if your open rate was high but no sales were generated? Your email program’s ultimate goal is what matters. Many email teams can’t even define that. If you fall into that camp, do yourself a favor and call a meeting and set your big picture goals. Worth considering are revenue, page views, sales leads, conversions, in-store sales, email subscribes, PR, cross promotion; the list can go on. Make sure your list is concise and clear.

With this information, make sure you see open and clicks as a means to an end, the end being your overall campaign goals. Otherwise, you may be flying blind.
Note: Company Current/Desired States are purely examples.

Share the successes

The final step in the process is to turn the cold, hard numbers into a success story.
Here’s an example. Furniture retailer Chiasso relies on email to drive customers to its website and Chicago store. Facing issues with deliverability and problems with its email lists, Chiasso spent much-needed cash on Bronto Software. The investment paid off. Chiasso embarked on two email campaigns that increased its online sales to 55 percent of total company sales, up from 32 percent the year prior.

Bronto helped VP of eCommerce and Systems Jerry Bergquist segment his contacts according to location, so he could send a store-opening announcement to his “Chicago” contacts. However, he wisely chose to not exclude his “Not Chicago” segment from the store-opening festivities. Besides keeping non-Chicago contacts aware of the company’s growth, the message also included $10 off coupons for online purchases.

The discount offer to the “Not Chicago” segment generated impressive results: 32 percent open rates and 10 percent clickthrough rates. Not to be outdone, the “Chicago” segment received a 49 percent open rate and a clickthrough rate of nearly 22 percent, with the vast majority of clicks linking to a landing page that included directions to and information about the new retail store.
Metrics for opens and clickthroughs provided Bergquist with important measurements for campaign evaluation, and conversion tracking provided him with sound insight into success. Conversion tracking let Bergquist follow the dollars-and-cents results of his messages. Some Chiasso campaigns, such as its “Good Buy” [note the clever pun] Winter Clearance Sale or its Art Décor Sale grossed more than $13,000 and $14,000, respectively, in sales.

“At Chiasso, we’ve seen such impressive ROI from email marketing that we are always open to increasing our budget,” says Bergquist. “Email marketing software has proven to be a cost-effective method for growing our business.”

Published: July 03, 2007
By: Dawn Anfuso senior editor, iMedia Connection.

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/15448.asp

Do You Use Videos?

If not, maybe you should. See below article:

Poll results: video as a marketing tool
Digital Dealer recently conducted a poll asking dealership Internet sales managers, e-Commerce Directors, BDC managers, CRM managers, dealers and department managers who are most interested in sales-related technology solutions and applications if they use online video ads as part of their marketing initiatives. Our research revealed that 50 percent of managing personnel found success in utilizing online video ads in all marketing categories including: Web site, e-newsletters and e-mail campaigns.Top-Line Results:

69 percent included online video ads as part of their marketing program
31 percent didn’t include online video ads as part of their marketing program

Out of the 69 percent who utilized online video ads successfully as part of their marketing program:

41 percent used online video ads on their Web site
6 percent used online video ads in e-newsletters
3 percent used online video ads in e-mail campaigns

Conclusion: online video ads are generating sales.

In support, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) working in partnership with OTX published a report: Frames of Reference: Online Video Advertising, Content and Consumer Behavior in June 2007 citing, “Eighty percent of viewers who had watched an online video ad, just over half had taken some sort of action. Nearly a third had checked out a Web site, while 22% had searched for more information, 15% had gone into a store and 12% had actually made a purchase.”

Reaction and behaviors of US online video viewers who have seen an online video advertisement in April – May 2007 (% of respondents)

– 45% elicited a response
– 31% check out company Web site
– 28% looked for more information
– 22% searched for more information about the product
– 19% clicked on banner ad that accompanied video
– 16% bought something
– 16% talked to friends/family about the product
– 15% gone to store to check out product
– 13% requested information about the product
– 13% made a purchase
– 9% forwarded video ad to friends/family
– 9% signed up for product/service trial
– 5% called toll free number to find out more
– 4% ordered subscription

From Digital DealerThursday, June 21, 2007
Issue 25
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 25http://www.imakenews.com/digital1/e_article000840660.cfm?x=b9LHBL9,b4TSprpk