autobizInsights #21 : What if your future buyers were already in your CRM?
Manufacturers and large dealer groups now have huge databases, which are often siloed. This data is proprietary, high-quality, as well as being free. Nevertheless, it remains largely underutilised: either forgotten or used for generic, rarely personalised contact plans.
The result: a great proportion of contacts lie dormant in CRMs. They are neither re-engaged with nor guided on a new buying journey that corresponds to the target audience's real expectations.
However, in a context where acquisition costs are increasing, a question arises:
Why look elsewhere for leads when your databases already contain part of your sales potential?
The database: an untapped business opportunity
In many dealer groups or central CRM systems, the volume of contacts collected over the years has become substantial. However, a large proportion of them are no longer being used for sales purposes.
They become dormant contacts: present in the tools, but absent from the more up-to-date business processes.
It is estimated that between 20-30% of contacts, on average, are in this lost zone.
This is particularly true at the level of a manufacturer present in several markets, and even more so at the dealership level. On a national network scale, this often represents several thousand, or even tens of thousands, of inactive profiles.
Let’s take a simple order of magnitude: 10,000 contacts in the database, a huge majority of which have an identifiable vehicle and a mostly untapped potential for re-engagement.
Despite a low conversion rate, the impact can be significant because these contacts already have an established relationship with the brand, network or dealer
Trade-in, projection, loyalty: what transforms a database into leverage?
As we discussed in our previous autobizInsights article, ‘How can your multichannel marketing build loyalty amongst your new car customers?’, the volume of contacts collected over the years, in many points-of-sale or central CRM systems, is substantial. However, a significant proportion of these contacts are no longer actively used for sales purposes.
This profoundly changes the client’s mindset: they no longer think in terms of list price, but in terms of what they will pay. They don’t think about ‘purchase’, but about ‘transition’, and the value of their current vehicle.
This is where trade-in becomes strategic, not as a negotiation tool but as a lever for future projections. Providing a customer with a valuation of their vehicle means:
- to trigger reflection,
- to give them a concrete reference point,
- to remove a financial obstacle,
- to re-engage them in the relationship.
Use case: how to transform an existing database into a marketing campaign?
Cas d’usage : comment transformer une base existante en campagne commerciale ?
One of the manufacturers with which we work was experiencing a common issue: they had a database of several thousand contacts, but struggled to convert them into business opportunities.
The CRM campaigns generated little engagement: the messages remained generic, and the majority of contacts did not envisage themselves being involved in a new project.
The goal was not to send more messages, but rather to ensure that each message greater impact and spoke the language of the target audience.
Thanks to autobiz’s expertise (identification, trade-in valuation), we enriched customer data with a trade-in valuation. For 85% of the lines sent, we provided a valuation which was then integrated into campaigns for vehicle launches.
What if your first lead generator was already in your CRM?
Your databases are already in place.
Your customers too.
The potential, too.
What is most often lacking is not the data itself, but the ability to transform it into useful, concrete information that has real value for the customer.
Raphaelle BIANCHI, Digital Marketing Manager