IRVINE, Calif. -- October 23, 2008
Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq:ABTL) today announced that it has introduced real-time email alerts and activity reporting to its Email Manager program, the company’s unique dealership email follow-up program targeted at longer term customers. With the upgrade, dealers now receive instant email alerts on various customer actions, including when a customer opens an email, responds to a survey, opts out, or clicks through to the dealership site.
“According to our dealers, their number one tactic for weathering the current economic challenges is improved focus on follow up and lead conversion processes^1,” says Autobytel Vice President Dealer Sales Lenny McGinley. “We have upgraded Email Manager for our dealers with this specifically in mind. The addition of data-rich Real Time email alerts provide dealerships with the opportunity to communicate with their longer term customers in a timely, efficient and targeted way. This is an important competitive advantage at a time when dealers need every advantage they can get.”
The Email Manager program, offered to Autobytel member dealers for $10 a month, is a value-added service that is already helping over 900 dealers across the country target long-term buyers without having to invest in additional personnel. When a car buyer requests vehicle information from a dealer on an Autobytel site, Email Manager automatically generates a series of sophisticated dealership-branded emails over the course of 90 days, each containing relevant vehicle information (based on the customer’s query) and multiple points of entry to the dealership. Open rates for Email Manager are 40%^2, which is well above the industry average.
With Email Manager 2.0, dealerships now receive email alerts the moment a customer expresses interest in the dealership -- whether their action is opening an Email Manager email, clicking on the dealership link, responding to a survey indicating where that customer is in the sales process, and/or opting out, etc. Email Manager Real-Time Alerts can easily be customized according to the level of customer information and data the dealership is interested in.
Industry data shows that while the average car-buying cycle stretches for 50 days, many salespeople drop customer follow up after just a few weeks.^3 Email Manager 2.0 is designed to help busy salespeople continue to communicate with customers throughout the car-buying cycle.
“Designed to bridge the communications gap between the dealership’s initial contact with the customer and the moment when that customer is ready to buy, Email Manager is unique in our industry with its focus on the customer who takes more time to make his/her car purchase decision,” concluded McGinley.
About Autobytel Inc.
Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq:ABTL) is an Internet automotive marketing services company that helps dealers and manufacturers sell cars and related products and services. The company owns and operates consumer-facing automotive websites, including its flagship site, MyRide.com®, which is designed to help consumers find, see, buy and learn anything related to automobiles. The company’s other websites are: Autobytel.com®, Autoweb.com®, Car.com^sm, CarSmart.com®, AutoSite.com®, and CarTV.com®. By providing a convenient and comprehensive automotive consumer experience across the purchase and ownership lifecycle, Autobytel seeks to provide dealerships with opportunities to connect with a steady, diverse stream of motivated, serious shoppers, while providing manufacturers with precision-targeted brand and product advertising opportunities. In addition to its websites, the company generates leads and advertising opportunities for dealers and automakers through its marketing network, which includes the AutoReach^sm ad network, co-brands, such as ESPN.com, and marketing affiliates such as AOL, Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book.
^1 A recent Survey.com study sponsored by Autobytel surveyed dealerships across the country, finding that nearly half of U.S. dealers indicated that an increased focus on follow-up and lead conversion (adopting processes to convert every possible lead into a sale) will be their #1 most important strategy for weathering the current economic downturn.
^2 Average unique open rate for the life of the 90 day campaign.
^3 Outsell Study 2007