Why Vehicle Value Tracking Emails Get Opened When Dealer Promos Don't
Your customers ignore emails about your incentives and inventory. Mike Crothers explains the one email they actually want to open, and why it matters more now.
Dealer emails built around "we" (we want your car, we have incentives, we have new cars) get ignored because customers care about themselves.
A message that tracks the customer's own vehicle value gives them something they actually want to open and click into.
Shoppers now work out their trade value and interest rate before they ever show up at the dealership.
Payment calculators miss the mark when shoppers don't know their trade value yet, because most people on a dealer website are looking for one answer: what is my trade worth?
Pull up your store's last few email campaigns and read the subject lines. If they say we want to buy your car, we have new incentives, we have new cars, you have a problem. As Mike Crothers, CEO of MOTO(acquire), puts it: "Nobody cares about that." Vehicle value tracking emails flip the message from what the dealership wants to what the customer actually wants to know.
Why do customers ignore dealership emails?
A lot of dealers are sending "we, we, we" messages. We want to buy your car. We need your car. We have new incentives. From inside the store, those are real priorities. From the customer's inbox, they are noise.
Mike's point is simple: customers "care about themselves." An email built around your inventory needs or the latest manufacturer program gives them no reason to open it. If your dealership email marketing open rates are disappointing, the subject of the email is the first place to look.
This is not about writing better copy for the same message. It is about changing who the message is for.
Vehicle value tracking emails give customers a reason to open
If you want to send customers something they actually want to open and click into, Mike's answer is tracking their value. An email that tells someone what their own vehicle is worth is about them, not you. It answers a question they already have.
That is the heart of dealership equity mining done the right way. Instead of pushing your agenda at past customers, you keep putting the one number they care about in front of them. When they start thinking about their next vehicle, your store is the one that has been giving them useful information.
Shoppers answer the trade question before they visit
"We are in the era of education and information," Mike says. The old buying sequence went like this:
Go to the dealership and find the car you want.
Have the store look at your trade.
Get an interest rate.
Decide to buy.
That order has changed. A lot of people are working out the interest rate and trade value before they even show up. They want that information first, and they are going to get it from somebody.
What is my trade worth? The question your website has to answer
Plenty of dealer websites lead with a calculate your payment tool. Mike's view: people don't even want to calculate their payment until they know what their trade is worth.
Even if your payment calculator includes a trade, the consumer may not realize it. They buy a car every five years, and that feature didn't even exist five years ago. So when most people land on your website, they are looking for one thing: what is my trade worth?
Any dealer marketing built around that question, on the website or in the inbox, should answer it directly instead of burying it inside another tool.
How MOTO(retain) puts value tracking to work
MOTO(retain) sends past sales and service customers their vehicle's value every month. It is built on the same idea Mike describes: lead with the customer's vehicle, not the dealership's wish list.
MOTO(retain) value tracking emails have a 36% open rate and 99.5% deliverability. On the website side, MOTO(convert) offers instant valuations and monthly value tracking, so the trade question gets answered wherever the customer asks it.
The takeaway is simple. Stop sending we, we, we. Send customers the answer to the question they are already asking. For more on this approach, browse our Customer Retention and Equity Mining videos, or see how MOTO(retain) works.
Frequently asked questions
What are vehicle value tracking emails?
They are emails that tell a customer what their current vehicle is worth. Instead of promoting your inventory or incentives, they give the customer information about something they own. MOTO(retain) sends past sales and service customers their vehicle's value every month.
Why do customers open vehicle value emails from dealers when they ignore other dealer emails?
Because the email is about them. Mike Crothers points out that customers care about themselves, not about what the dealership wants to buy or sell. MOTO(retain) value tracking emails have a 36% open rate.
How do value tracking emails fit into dealership equity mining?
Equity mining is about staying in front of past customers so they come back to you when they are ready for their next vehicle. Value tracking does that by sending them the number they care about most, their trade value, on a regular basis. It keeps your store connected to the customer without a we-focused sales pitch.
Should my website lead with a payment calculator or a trade value tool?
Mike's view is that people don't want to calculate their payment until they know what their trade is worth. Most people visiting a dealer website are looking for one thing: what is my trade worth? Making that answer easy to find meets shoppers where they already are.
Does MOTO(acquire) work with my DMS?
MOTO(acquire) integrates with all major DMS platforms and many others, including Tekion, Dealertrack, CDK, Reynolds, and Auto/Mate. If your store uses a DMS that is not integrated yet, MOTO(acquire) will build the integration.
Keep your past customers coming back to you
See how MOTO(retain) sends past sales and service customers their vehicle's value every month.
More on Customer Retention and Equity Mining
Full transcript
A lot of dealers are sending we, we, we. We want to buy your car. We have new incentives. We have new cars. We need your car. Nobody cares. Nobody cares about that. They care about themselves. So if you're sending them something that they actually want to open and click into, it's tracking their value. We are in the era of education and information.
It used to be you go to the dealership, find the car you want, have them look at your trade, then you get an interest rate, then you decide to buy. Well, a lot of people are doing the whole interest rate and trade value thing before even showing up. They want to know that information. So you might have on your website, calculate your payment. Well, people don't even want to calculate their payment until they know what their trade's worth. And even if your calculate your payment does a trade, the consumer in their mind doesn't even know that, because they buy a car every five years, and that thing didn't even exist five years ago. And they go to the website and they're looking for one thing, most people: what is my trade worth?
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