Barely a day goes by when I don’t get a phone call with a dealer on the other end of the phone that wants to do an automotive direct mail campaign that starts the conversation with the question, “What’s Hot?” While this question can sometimes be easily answered simply based on which automotive direct mail campaigns auto dealers are requesting and willing to reuse on a regular basis it is more important to remember that what works in New York in June may get poor results in Georgia the very next week.

So, is the success of an automotive direct mail campaign due to demographics, the data, timing or the mailer itself? The answer is, YES. All of these things determine if an automotive direct mail campaign is one that “works” or one that doesn’t. Formulating a direct marketing campaign that produces immediate results is just that, a formula. To produce an effective automotive direct mail campaign, one must first consider the audience they are targeting (demographics). After all, if you are in an area that predominantly has households with a high income average and good credit scores it wouldn’t be advisable to send out a saturation mailer (every household in the zip code) that focuses on helping people with bad credit and low income.

This brings us to the second most important part of the formula for creating automotive direct mail that works, the data. Data, and the way you employ, goes hand in hand with who you are marketing to. The success or failure of your automotive direct mail campaign hinges on the data you use to target your market and if it is in line with the demographic you are marketing to. This can be accomplished regardless of whether you are doing a simple saturation (super sale event mailer) or if you’re doing a targeted automotive buyback mailer.

While (super sale event mail) saturation mail has established a reputation for being successful using a “shotgun blast” type of approach you can still increase your response rates by mailing to areas with qualifiers that historically produce better qualified customers for the product you are selling. For example, you could mail to single family homes if you find that the majority of your buying customers are homeowners. However, if you find that the majority of your previous customers are renters you could focus on spending more of your automotive direct mail advertising dollars on prospects living in multifamily dwellings. Furthermore, it is important to remember that when using super sale event style saturation mail campaigns that your objective is to expand your market and create new business or even bring people into the market earlier than they would have been so it can be counterproductive to exclude any more than the proven underperforming demographics of your area.

With targeted automotive direct mail such as automotive buyback mailers and automotive credit mailers the data is by far the most crucial ingredient for a successful campaign. What are your customers trading? How long have they had their current vehicle? Were they satisfied with the current make they own or are they making a change? What is the average credit score and income of your customer base? All of these things are important to know.

As you can see, automotive direct mail is more complex than just paper and ink. Sure, you can just choose a campaign based on intuition. However, if you want to benefit from an automotive direct mail campaign that works then it is essential to form a relationship with a company that is experienced in the development of automotive direct mail campaigns that work.

Call 888-828-MAIL (6245) to speak with an experienced automotive direct mail campaign manager.