Direct helps drive car buyers into action

Here’s some good news for auto industry execs and their marketing partners: Consumers respond aggressively to direct mail when they’re in a car-buying mood.

52% of direct mail readers planning to buy a new car read automotive direct mail. But more important, 73 percent of those readers surveyed respond to those mailings by turning to other media and/or heading to dealership showrooms, according to research by Vertis, a Baltimore-based marketing services firm.

SHOPPERS VISIT WEB, DEALERSHIPS

35% of adults who have responded to automotive direct mail by visiting a company’s Web site are planning to purchase a new vehicle within the next 12 months;

26% of those who plan to make a purchase visited a dealership in person.

“Automotive marketers who use direct mail notice results when targeting the right audience at opportune times,” says Jim Litwin, vice president of market insights for Vertis.

Vertis’ Customer Focus® 2005 Automotive Direct Marketing study revealed the following findings for those who had read automotive direct mail:

37% of men and

39% of women visited a dealership;

23% of men and

13% of women were driven to a sender’s Web site.

AGE MATTERS

A consumer’s age is also a factor in how they respond to the automotive marketing they receive in the mail:

Of the younger baby boomers (born between 1956 and 1964) surveyed who read automotive direct mail,

46% said they visited a dealership; 38% of Generation Y (born between 1977 and 1994) took the trip.

32% of Generation Y readers of automotive mail and 24% of Gen X (born between 1965 and 1976) respondents visited a sender’s Web site.

14% of Generation Y and 7% of younger baby boomers who read the direct mail replied to the offerings from an auto company via mail.

“The numbers show that a targeted medium like direct mail is an effective way to talk to car buyers,” says Scott Marden, Vertis director of marketing research. “Direct mail plays a key part in closing purchases by driving consumers to dealerships.”