A profile of Kia of Easton

The Challenge

After being acquired, Service Manager David Sturgill and Kia of Easton in Columbus, OH welcomed the change but still faced several challenges. The previous owners had done little service marketing, so consumer recognition in the market was low.

The is much competition within 30 miles, driving consumers to constantly search for coupons and deals. At the time of the change, the store sold an average of eight new cars a month, feeding little business to the back end.

The team immediately started making changes. “We’ve got a new image, new owner, the dealership looks so much better, so I wanted to do a huge conquest campaign.” said Sturgill. “Something that said hello world, here’s Kia of Easton!”

Our Solution

In December 2017, Sturgill turned to their Affinitiv Business Development Manager for help. She recommended a winter direct mail campaign that included an eye-catching oversized postcard featuring a Kia SUV tearing through the snow, along with six appealing service offers.

The campaign targeted 7,200 people, including 1,224 inactive customer and 5,976 conquest customers. The mailer was reinforced with two email campaigns to the same lists. The total cost of the campaign, which launched right after Christmas and ran through the end of February, was $6,120 before Kia’s co-op contribution.

Proven Results

4.9% Total percent return on investment

352 ROs within a two-month period

294 New service customers during the slowest time of year for dealership customer traffic

$110,874 Total service revenue

“The response below me away,” said Sturgill. “There were days I was getting 12 new customers in a single day. I never dreamed a direct mail strategy could be so successful.”