Many of us will agree that customers (ourselves included) are constantly bombarded with brand communications. With email inboxes receiving hundreds of promotional marketing emails every day, the generic ones eventually blur together and fail to capture a click. To go beyond generic and garner your customers’ attention, your dealership needs to ensure every email communication includes a crucial element: content personalization.

We’re not just talking about adding your customers’ first names to the email subject line—although a compelling subject line is important. A personalized marketing strategy that’s not only customer-centric but also thoughtfully planned can help you develop stronger brand loyalty and customer retention with superior ROI.

Bland or Brand? How Content Personalization Makes the Difference 

What is content personalization for an automotive dealership? This strategy includes tailoring your messaging and communications to the specific needs, interests, and preferences of your individual customers. Instead of speaking to a generic crowd, you aim to have one-on-one conversations with your customers.

1. Customers Expect Content Personalization

That’s right—over 70% of consumers expect companies to deliver a personalized experience, recognizing them as individuals and understanding their interests. Some of the definitions of personalization for these shoppers include:

• Ease of navigation whether online or in-store
• Product and service recommendations that are relevant
• Messaging that is tailored to their needs
• Targeted promotions sent at specific stages in the customer lifecycle
• Timely communications celebrating milestones such as birthdays and anniversaries

One of the ways you can meet these customer expectations and optimize your personalized marketing is via AI technology. From collecting insightful customer data and generating intriguing content to automating marketing tasks, this advanced tech can help your store outsmart the competition while providing premium personalized content for your customers.

2. Personalized Content Deepens Customer Connections

Your business goes beyond simply selling and servicing cars, and your continued success relies heavily on creating—and maintaining—strong customer connections. Increasing the effectiveness of these connections means adding authentic personalized content to your customer touchpoints. Some of the top ways to do this include:

• Equipping your sales and service staff with the customer data needed to personalize each interaction as well as capture any info that will help every customer feel acknowledged
• Developing a dealership blog or resource that offers customers simple vehicle maintenance how-tos, new vehicle spotlights, and walkthroughs of sales processes such as applying for financing
• Sending customers a personalized monthly newsletter with dealership news, lifestyle articles, community initiatives, and customer-specific vehicle equity offers and service recommendations

3. Personalized Marketing Generates Proven Results

When it comes to return on investment, does content personalization really move the needle? Researchers found that it does, with every dollar invested in email marketing earning $36 in a recent study. To make the most out of every bit of your store’s budget, you must attract, engage, and convert your potential and current customers through personalized content—with technology that makes it possible.

In order to maximize your marketing efforts, invest in a system that doesn’t only create customer-centric content but also provides the ROI tracking needed to review and refine your strategy. With the ability to explore your dealership marketing performance via in-depth reporting, you can continue to adjust and improve your customer communications to increase your results.

Connect with Your Customers in a New(s) Way

Affinitiv Newsletter takes your dealership marketing to a more personalized level, featuring customizable dealership articles, customer-focused sales and service offers, and an engaging layout. Our team of professionals is available to assist you with your dealership’s specific marketing needs, with ROI and engagement reporting to gauge effectiveness and identify new opportunities. To explore all that Newsletter has to offer, contact us to book your live demo.