Email Marketing — Luxury Automotive Edition
Does exclusivity not communicate?
As marketers, we are all familiar that consumers need to be reached X number of times before they make the decision of purchasing your product or signing up for your services, etc… The number of times varies, I have seen 10, 15, 17. Every interaction counts and email is an easy way to connect with consumers and share your content.
Luxury brands have the opportunity to connect with their target audience in multiple ways and through different experiences. However, through my research, I found that several luxury automotive brands are not taking advantage of email marketing. But why is that the case? Does exclusivity not communicate? Are luxury brands only relying on “legacy”?
On Cheeta Digital’s 2022 digital marketing trends they outlined email as one of the most important methods to reach consumers.
When it comes to driving sales, email has always been one of the most effective channels, especially considering its ability for the hyper-personalization of content and offers. In fact, email still beats banner ads, social media ads, organic posts, and SMS by up to 108%, with half of consumers reporting they have purchased a product directly as a result of an email they received in the last 12 months.
Let’s use Porsche as an example.
The newsletter sign-up wasn’t intuitive, it was buried on the website behind a menu at the bottom of the page (take note UX designers). After signing up, a “thank you” screen appeared. I was excited to receive a welcome email as beautiful as their website, maybe with information about the latest model or apparel. The complete opposite happened. I received an email that looks like it’s from the early 1980s when email was first introduced, it had no personalization or personality. If it wasn’t because I had just signed up, I would have thought it was a scam.
From my experience of working at multiple luxury properties, I have learned that there is no such thing as overcommunication. What does the consumer want? How do they want it? At what time? How often? Why? How can we enhance the experience? And I understand, we can’t compare apples to oranges, or cars to hotels. But when you target the same audience, you learn a thing or two about their preferences. It’s the same idea for email marketing, how often should the newsletter be sent out? What does the email journey look like for the brand? What does the newsletter look like?
Through research, we learn what is the best way to communicate with luxury consumers. So, I have created a checklist of 5 must-have items you need to craft the perfect luxury email marketing campaign:
1. Personalization
You already asked for their name when signing up. Use it.
2. Design
Add your logo, colors, and photos. It’s a newsletter, share content.
3. Automation
Send a personalized welcome email the moment they sign-up.
4. Timing
Design an email timeline that makes sense for your audience. Don’t fill their inbox with useless information.
5. Content
Share useful content, informative, and exciting. Something they could only see through your newsletter, add exclusivity to it.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different designs and content. The only way to learn what your audience likes is by asking them or by trying different options until you find the one they enjoy. Email marketing is great a way to connect with your audience on a more personal level, and by not implementing it you are losing that connection. Even more so if you are a luxury brand selling an experience accompanied by a product.
