One of the most popular SMS marketing case studies on the Tatango blog is about how Ford’s SMS marketing campaign generated a 15.4% conversion rate. Not to be outdone, the Nimnicht Family of Dealerships in Florida, launched their very own SMS marketing campaign to generate leads.
Instead of advertising in print like Ford did, the Nimnicht Family of Dealerships leveraged the radio to advertise their SMS call-to-action. They created three different SMS contests, each being aimed at a different car buyer persona. For example, one SMS contest was to win Taylor Swift tickets, one was to win a GMC Sierra, and the last was to win Pro Bowl tickets. As you can tell, those are very different prizes that would entice very different car buyers.
What’s important to take away from this dealership case study is that Nimnicht Family of Dealerships made sure to state the keyword and SMS short code 72239, a minimum of two times for each radio ad. This way listeners weren’t left interested in opting in, but unable to because they couldn’t remember the SMS keyword and short code used in the ad. Very smart takeaway for any brand thinking about advertising on the radio, or any advertising channel for that matter where consumer recall may be a little harder.
How did their SMS contest fair? Pretty good, with 4,000 people texting the short code 72239 to enter one of the SMS contests. After the SMS contest had concluded, the dealership sent an SMS promotion to those 4,000 people that entered the SMS contest, that would only be valuable to consumers interested in purchasing a new or used vehicle. The SMS promotion had consumers respond to the text message if they were interested, and that generated 370 workable leads, equating to a 9.25% conversion rate. Pretty impressive! These people that responded to the SMS promotion were then personally called and invited into the dealership for a test drive.
What did the marketing folks at the Nimnicht Family of Dealerships think about the results of their SMS contest? Below are a couple quotes from the Director of Marketing and Advertising at the Nimnicht Family of Dealerships, Lauren Dozier.
“Utilizing mobile has allowed us to build a stronger and deeper brand relationship with potential new customers. As an added bonus, we were able to analyze the strength of our radio partners by judging the mobile response, which has helped us plan our marketing more efficiently.”
“Mobile addressed several challenges for us. First, simple SMS helped us build a one-to-one relationship with both current and new customers. It allowed us to communicate with them and actively drive sales. Second, mobile helped us stand out from surrounding dealers; our advertisements stood out, had fresh call-to-action statements, and generated immediate tangible leads. Finally, mobile has helped us monitor our advertising and measure each ad’s effectiveness.”
