With new car registrations for both private and fleet vehicles continuing to decline, it’s time for car and van retailers to start thinking differently in how they promote their stock. SMS Landing Pages can help with this by providing a visually rich, interactive way to engage with customers, and increase conversions.
Automotive dealerships could be missing a trick in how they advertise their new models and registrations. Using traditional forms of media like printed publications, radio and TV are fine, but as the saying goes, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got. Forward-thinking dealerships have to find new ways to showcase their cars and trucks to audiences, and this is where the next generation of customer communications like SMS Landing Pages can help. But before we get into that…
What’s wrong with the way that automotive dealerships are currently advertising?
Well, the proof is in the pudding. New car registrations for both fleet and private have continued to fall into 2019. While we can’t completely blame the way that cars are marketed on these figures, finding better ways to shout about the latest models can only help.
Radio adverts are 20% more effective than other mediums for brand awareness because you can’t ‘switch your ears off’ (source); however, if you try to recall the details of a radio campaign, most of us struggle. For this reason, they’re not great at prompting action – 74% of us listen to the radio while driving (source), so we simply can’t visit a website or make a call at the point at which it’s suggested.
TV advertising is widely reckoned to be in decline, with 84% of viewers admitting to fast-forwarding through TV ads (source). There is also no way to refer back to any important information you need your audience to remember.
Print advertising decreased from 1.65 billion GBP in 2017 to 1.46 billion in 2018, and is forecasted to continue to fall (source). Concern for the environment and difficulties tracking ROI are contributing to this; it’s also very hard to do well.
What is an SMS Landing Page and why do they work so well?
SMS Landing Pages are web pages designed specifically to be viewed on a mobile phone. They’re delivered to customers by sending an SMS message containing a web link which when selected, takes the recipient straight to the SMS Landing Page.
Although they can include all of the same things you would expect to see on a conventional web page like branding, images and video, SMS Landing Pages are highly personalised to the recipient. You can include details of their current model of car, for example, and suggest an alternative which meets similar criteria. You can reference their location (“you’re five minutes away from…”), or offer up-sale options based on their car model and previous services purchased.
In addition, call to action buttons can also be used which can link to any other web location or even test drive booking platforms. Location buttons can also be added which allow your potential customer to easily find your dealership on Google maps and navigate there.
SMS Landing Pages are a proven method of increasing sale conversions. For some of our customers, using the platform has seen sales increase by as much as 30%. Another interesting point to consider is that 95% of vehicle buyers now use digital as a source of information during the buying process. (Source)
How can automotive dealerships use SMS Landing Pages?![]()
The range of applications for dealers using SMS Landing Pages reaches far and wide, but here are just some of the best ways we’ve seen them being used in the automotive sector so far:
Delivery of marketing and promotions
Drive buzz for the release of new registrations and models before they arrive by targeting the place where your customers are already having most of their interactions – their mobile phones. You can even include a ‘Book test drive’ now button which could initiate a call to a live agent, or link to a hosted booking platform.
Service reminders
Send fully branded, personalised service reminders to your customers with links to online booking platforms. This allows your customers to self-serve and allows your agents to focus on selling.
Supply digital receipts/contracts
Paper documentation can be easily lost and sending those documents via email can be easily blocked by spam filters. Better to send a digital SMS Landing Page, which can be quickly referenced by customers at any time from their messaging inbox.
What are the next steps?
At Esendex, we’ve worked with various types of automotive dealers to have better interactions with their customers and prospects.
To find out how you could start building your very own SMS Landing Page today with a free trial of our message builder (Messaging Studio) contact our team today on 0345 356 5758 or visit [email protected] for more information.
