Overview:
In business more than 60 years, Ken Grody Automotive Group is a Southern 
California based Ford dealership group. There are over 200 employees between their two locations in Buena Park and Carlsbad, CA. Their primary focus in new Ford cars and trucks, with a secondary focus on used cars, parts and service. Ken Grody Ford has dozens of performance awards from the manufacturer and is one of the premier Ford Dealerships in San Diego County and Orange County. They have been Orange County’s #1 Ford Dealership for over 25 years.
Dealer EFX has spent the last 10 years focusing on the email communications needs of dealerships. They have researched and listened to dealers to create the most comprehensive Email Template Managed Service available to dealers. 
This service integrates with existing dealership CRM and lead management systems. It works with any system that can process html or raw html input.
Background:
With the changes in spam filtering by email hosting companies, it has become increasingly difficult for dealers to deliver a consistent message that reaches the customer’s inbox, regardless of device: desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Even emails that the customer actually requests – price quotes are a good example – are ending up in spam.
“[We need to be] sending out a consistent message to the customer that not just offers attachments and vehicle quotes, but a professional, personalized presentation that will set our dealership apart from the competition,” said Chad Coates, Marketing Director at Ken Grody Ford.
Other needs included making sure emails looked good on mobile devices and incorporating the existing CRM system, VinSolutions. The expense and hassle of changing internal software applications is not something any business takes lightly. Coates was naturally frustrated. “Our existing CRM system offered no solution for this huge problem.”
“Large attachments were a big contributing factor keeping our emails out of reach of the customer. It [was] time to develop a better method to deliver the information.”
Project:
“Having seen examples of the graphics-rich email responses possible from DealerEFX, we decided to work with their Email Response Quality Assurance Service to address our core challenges.”
- Costly, complex and hard to use email template tools
- Inconsistent email presentation quality
- Poor email campaign penetration
- Inability to surpass junk/spam filters
DealerEFX went in and coded their emails to avoid the spam filters that various email hosts employ. This “required hundreds of man hours of research and testing,” according to Chad Coates.
Outcomes:
Ken Grody Automotive Group has seen amazing results. The system integrates into their CRM as a dropdown menu that allows the user to ‘select & send’ their email response of choice. It’s easy to both learn and use, minimizing training time and screen time for sales people.
“This tool has helped us present and maintain a high level of professionalism… and has driven customer confidence,” according to Ken Grody. “A few prospects asked if the email came directly from the manufacturer!” The importance of OEM-compliant look and feel is something every dealer understands. Dealer EFX is keenly aware of this. The CRM add-in provides a standard template across all departments, eliminating inconsistent presentation quality.
As far as reaching the Inbox, Chad Coates, Marketing Director adds, “I’ve yet to have a customer state they had not received our email, and prior to DealerEFX that was a daily complaint.”
