1. Your e-mail address must be branded
One of the most unprofessional things you could be doing on a daily basis is advertising and communicating through a generic e-mail account like Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL. E-mail accounts like these send a message that your dealership is not trying to provide Internet customers with a true Internet experience. It also doesn't build consumer confidence. Ask yourself, how confident would you feel if your bank's e-mail address was bankofamerica@hotmail.com or worse yet you were sending credit card information to buy something from a company and the representative of the company told you to send it them at products@yahoo.com? It costs mere dollars per account to dealer brand your e-mail account.
2. Get a T.O. on your templates
For the people new to the industry, a T.O. is known as a "turn over," typically involving a sales manager meeting with your prospects. In this case it means letting a second set of eyes review your e-mail templates. You've just written and created an exciting e-mail template that's going to target customers who you have not heard from in 30 days. It's all ready to go and the headline reads "A Month Has Past Since We've Heard From You" followed by exciting program changes, huge rebates and other information. Did you catch the error above?
3. Brand, brand, brand
Every e-mail must have your dealership name and dealership tagline. Logos are a plus as long as you have formatted the image properly. The harsh reality is that customers shop multiple dealerships so your e-mail communications should indicate to them who you are in more areas than the signature line. Also, make sure to stay away from including things that you may think are cool but could be considered hokey such as smiley faces, flames, or wagging dogs. (Yes, we have received e-mails with dancing dogs.)
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