Future of Automotive Marketing-Make it Personal

In the five years I've been in the mail business there have been huge new opportunities when it comes to personalizing your message. Here are just a few: 1. Putting names on a saturation mailer! Yes, now you can send out your big saturation mailer but instead of it saying "current resident" or "future satisfied customer" it will have the person's name on it. 2. Adding "variable data"--even just a little. Variable Data is when you speak directly to the person, by name. You can now add "Value Variable Data" extremely inexpensively to any mailer. 3. Personal Websites. Ask the person to go to a website that has their name in the web address. Something like: www.Reveal.MyNextVehicle.com/JohnSample. For additional questions on PURLS please check out my Frequently Asked Questions post. 4. Mail to people that drive your brand...but don't buy from you! There have been exciting developments in these new lists. You can send a customized letter to homes in your market that already own your brand. Talk about gaining market share!

PURL Frequently Asked Questions

Here are just a few questions I've received regarding PURLS. Please shoot me an email or comment with any additional questions and I'll be sure to post those as well. Q. I'm trying to increase traffic to my dealership website, won't having another website on the piece confuse the customer? A. We've found the most successful PURL campaigns are ones in which they are the only website on the mailer. This does not mean you won't have dealership website traffic off the mailer! After the consumer has answered the 3 questions on the survey they have the opportunity to go to your website straight from the PURL to view inventory and get more information. You get traffic to your website & have qualified information on the lead that is looking! Q. The people in my market are not Internet savvy, they don't use technology. The PURL wouldn't work here. A. I'm not a know it all, and honestly I live here in Indianapolis and know this market. I don't know yours personally. There are Internet Service Providers all across this great country. It could be very true that the people you typically see responding to a Direct Mail campaign are not computer types--why not open up a new way to respond to a new type of person?? I'd be truly be surprised if there aren't some "techy" people in your area-who also happen to be in the market to buy a vehicle! PS: You also don't have to have a technological genius on staff to get and follow up with the leads! Q. I already use a credit website on our mailers-isn't that enough? A. Credit websites are a great tool, they are a quick & easy way for people to log on in privacy and enter their credit information. They are also great for dealers because you have all the info before you ever have an appointment with them-you know what financing you can help them with and probably have vehicle picked out that fits that criteria. They are great. BUT they only appeal to someone that is concerned about their credit. Someone with excellent credit is typically not going to fill out an app prior to coming into the dealership. The PURL appeals to anyone that would like more info on your event but doesn't like to gain it by just showing up or picking up the phone. The PURLS have a link to the credit website, along with your dealership site--so you can still get all the benefits of the credit challenged, while picking up some new leads that have better credit. Q. What's the best way to follow up on a PURL lead? A. Simply put, quickly & in the same manner the responded to you. More and more you've been hearing me say "respond to your leads in the same way they contacted you." In any marketing campaign there are those that will call, email, or come in--soon they may even be text messaging you. This is the way these people feel comfortable gaining more information, and you know it! If someone hits the PURL page a very timely personal email from one of the sales people or managers should be the first step. Most of these people report they are in the market to buy in the next 1-6 mos. Courteous follow up is then obviously a must. Q. Can I get the PURLS from you? A. Of course you can! Mail companies that offer PURLS take care of everything for you- including Tri-Auto. You don't have to go out and secure another new vendor. They are inexpensive and very easy to understand. Most the time they are just a few pennies a piece.

What's a PURL or personalized website?

We've been offering PURL's or Personal Websites for a while now, and I'm finding many dealers don't know what they are, and are having trouble seeing the value in them. This post is going to be just a basic explanation of what these snazzy little websites can do for you and why you might want to give them a shot. I'll do some Frequently Asked Questions early next week, if you have a question please leave it as a comment or shoot me an email with it and I'll be sure it makes the list (sthompson@triauto.com). First off, what's a PURL? These are not the type your wife (or yourself) ask for as Christmsa gifts! PURL stands for "Personal url" a "url" is a Uniform Resource Locator, or in regular person terms, a website. So for our purposes it's a Personal Website, but PURL is shorter so that's what I'm using for the rest of the article :) Who is the personal in PURL? Your future customer. Anyone you send a mailer to will have their own personalized website. On the mailer it may something like "Attention John, check out your website below for additional offers & discounts: www.Reveal.MyNextVehicle.com/JohnSample" Every mailer will have a different website with the person's name included in the URL. What is the experience like for the PURL user? It's simple really. They type the website into the Internet browser and it takes them to a site that is personalized with their name, and has a copy of your mailer & dealership information. It asks them 3 quick questions and gathers a little more contact info (in addition to name and address which are already there). If you really want to know what the experience is like, go to www.Reveal.MyNextVehicle.com/JohnSample, be sure to fill out the contact info with your name & email address. You'll then receive an email from "the dealership" thanking you for your participation. The dealership would then receive and email immediately with your contact info and the answers to your questions. In short, the experience is:

1. Log on to PURL
2. Fill out quick questions & info
3. Receive thank you email from dealership immediately
4. Receive follow up email correspondence or email from an actual person at the dealership within the next couple of hours

Why would I put a PURL on my direct mailer?

1. You gain new responders. The people that respond to mail by walking in the door or picking up the phone are different from the people willing to go online to check things out.
2. PURL responders are much more likely to be in the market than your typical prize seeker. Over 60% of our respondents say they are in the market to buy in the next 6 months.
3. PURLS drive more traffic to your website. Most dealers I talk to are trying to get more people on their website-at the end of the PURL they can click to "view inventory" which takes them directly to your site.
4. You get their email addresses and you know how these people like to be marketed to. Building a large & valid email database is becoming more and more important. You can now keep in touch with these people for the long term by adding them to your email list. You also know the best way to reach them is via the Internet since that's how they reached you (see my post on customer follow up for more http://directmaildiva.blogspot.com/2008/12/customer-follow-up-on-automotive.html)
5. You close more car deals. These leads are real and timely, most are in the market & they are usually on your website looking at inventory when you get the email letting you know they've visited their PURL. What is a hotter lead than that?

That's all for now on PURL's. If you haven't experienced this type of marketing before please take a minute to go to the sample site & follow the steps. The best way to understand this technology is to experience it. I'm excited to answer any additional questions readers have on this one--so please get them over to me this week or weekend.