Contents
Why email marketing makes sense for a dealership
How to build your contact list from scratch
What tools to use and how much they cost
What types of emails to send and how often
How to write an email that gets opened and read
Segmentation: not all contacts need the same thing
How to measure if your email marketing is working
Dealcar and dealership contact management
Frequently asked questions
Why email marketing makes sense for a dealership
Most used car buyers do not purchase on their first visit to the dealership or during the initial contact. The decision cycle can last weeks or months. During this time, the dealership that maintains contact has a real advantage over the one that disappears after the first interaction.
Read also how to recover cold leads in a dealership.
Email allows you to maintain that contact systematically, at a very low cost and without relying on social media algorithms or the buyer's availability at the exact moment you post. An email arrives in the contact's inbox and waits for them to read it, unlike an Instagram post that disappears from the feed in hours.
For a dealership with a list of 300 or 400 contacts among past customers, leads that didn't close, and potential buyers, a monthly email with new stock or a specific offer can generate between 2 and 5 active contacts per send with no additional acquisition cost. With a 20% conversion rate on those contacts, that is between 0.5 and 1 additional sale per month at virtually zero cost.
How to build your contact list from scratch
The email list is built from the contacts you already have, not by waiting for people to voluntarily subscribe to a newsletter that didn't previously exist.
Past customers are the first block: anyone who has bought a car from you has an email recorded in their transaction file. If you have been in business for 3 years and have closed 400 sales, you have 400 potential contacts for your list.
Leads that did not close are the second block: people who showed interest, inquired about a vehicle, or visited the dealership but did not buy. Many of them are still looking or will look again in the future.
The third block includes organic contacts: website forms, valuation requests, content downloads (guides, ebooks). Each of these forms can include a consent checkbox to receive commercial communications, which is the legal requirement to be able to send them emails.
Read also how to build a local brand for a dealership.
Spanish law (LOPD and GDPR) requires explicit consent to send commercial emails. You cannot email just any contact you have had: you need them to have given their express consent, whether by filling out a form, signing a contract with a communications clause, or through a verified opt-in process.
What tools to use and how much they cost
To start, the most accessible tools for a dealership are Mailchimp and Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Both have free plans that cover initial use:
Mailchimp: free up to 500 contacts and 1,000 emails per month. Intuitive interface, good visual email editor, and basic statistics included. From 500 contacts, the paid plan starts at around 13 euros per month.
Brevo: free up to 300 emails per day (unlimited contacts). It has native integration with WhatsApp and SMS, which can be useful for combining channels. The paid plan starts at around 19 euros per month for 20,000 monthly emails.
For a dealership with fewer than 1,000 contacts and a sending frequency of 2 or 3 emails per month, the cost of these tools is practically zero or very low. The real investment is the time spent preparing the emails.
What types of emails to send and how often
There are three types of emails that work well for a dealership, each having different objectives.
The new stock email is the most direct: when interesting vehicles enter the inventory, send an email to the list with photos, price, and a link to see more details or get in touch. You don't need to send it every time a new car arrives: a weekly or bi-weekly send featuring the 3 or 4 most prominent cars of the week is enough.
Also check out the best portals to sell cars in Spain to coordinate your distribution strategy.
The one-off offer email serves to move vehicles that have been in stock for a while or to communicate a price drop. "This Seat Ateca has been in stock for 60 days and we have dropped it to 14,900 euros" is an email that generates responses because it is specific, has implicit urgency, and offers a clear reason to act.
The informational or content email is what builds the relationship with contacts who are not buying right now but may do so in the future. A helpful article on how to transfer car ownership, how to know if a vehicle has outstanding finance, or what to check before buying a used car provides value without selling directly and keeps the dealership fresh in the contact's mind.
The recommended frequency is between 2 and 4 emails per month. Less than once a month allows the list to go cold, and contacts might not remember why they subscribed. More than once a week starts generating unsubscribes if the content is not relevant enough.
How to write an email that gets opened and read
The subject line of the email determines whether it gets opened or not. A subject line like "October Newsletter" is opened by no one. A subject line like "Tiguan 2021 at 17,500, are you interested?" or "This Clio has been here 60 days and today we have dropped the price" triggers curiosity and gets opened.
The principles of a good subject line for a dealership: be specific (mention the specific car or topic), keep it between 40 and 60 characters so it displays in full on mobile, and avoid words that spam filters frequently block such as "FREE", "OFFER", or "DISCOUNT" in capital letters.
The body of the email should be brief. Emails that work for a dealership are not long: they are 2 or 3 short paragraphs, one or two photos of the vehicle if it is a stock email, and a clear call-to-action button or link (view car, call, send WhatsApp).
The first paragraph is the most important: if it doesn't capture attention in the first two lines, the rest of the email won't be read. Get straight to the point: the car, the offer, or the useful information, without any corporate introduction.
Using the contact's name in the greeting ("Hi Paul") when the tool allows it consistently increases open rates. It is basic personalisation, but it works.
Segmentation: not all contacts need the same thing
A list of 400 contacts is not a homogeneous block. Within it, there are buyers who have already bought and may be in a renewal cycle, leads who looked at SUVs but didn't find what they wanted, and contacts who were only looking for information and never had any immediate intention to buy.
Sending the same email to everyone is less efficient than sending targeted emails based on the profile. With tools like Mailchimp or Brevo, you can create segments by type of vehicle of interest, date of last contact, or whether they are already customers or just leads.
A practical example: when a 7-seater SUV comes into stock, sending that email only to contacts who at some point showed interest in family or larger vehicles generates a higher response rate than sending it to the entire list. The contact feels the email is directed at them, not that it is mass advertising.
Segmentation does not require a complex infrastructure: 3 or 4 basic tags applied to each contact (type of vehicle of interest, lead status, whether they are already a customer) are enough to make your send-outs more relevant.
Consult which car brands turn over fastest in a dealership to segment by buyer profile.
How to measure if your email marketing is working
The three metrics you need to check after every send-out are open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribes.
The average open rate for business emails in Spain is between 20% and 30%. For a dealership with a list of qualified contacts (people who have shown interest at some point), an open rate of 25% to 35% is reasonable. Below 15%, the email subject line is not working or the list is too cold.
The click-through rate measures how many of those who opened the email clicked the main link. For specific stock emails, a click-through rate of 5% to 15% of those who opened is reasonable. For informational emails, it may be lower because the goal is visibility rather than the click.
Unsubscribes are a signal of list quality. An unsubscribe rate of 0.5% or less per send is normal. Above 1%, the content or frequency is not being relevant to the contacts.
What these metrics do not measure directly is the sales generated. For that, you need manual tracking: when a contact visits the dealership or calls after receiving an email, record that source. Over time, this data tells you how many sales the email channel generates per month.
Read how to calculate the CAC and ROI of marketing in a dealership.
Dealcar and dealership contact management
Dealcar's CRM centralises all dealership contacts, complete with the history of each interaction, the vehicle of interest, and the status of the lead. That database is the starting point for building your email marketing list: the contacts are already registered with the relevant information to segment them.
Exporting that database to an email marketing tool like Mailchimp or Brevo, or using the communication features of the CRM itself, allows you to activate your email channel without building a list from scratch. If you want to see how contact management works in Dealcar, request a demo at dealcar.io.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need explicit permission to send emails to my past customers? Yes. GDPR and the Information Society Services Act (LSSI) require express consent to send marketing communications via email, even to past customers. A prior business relationship is not enough to send marketing emails without consent. The cleanest way to handle this is to include a consent checkbox in the sales contract or in the website contact form.
How many emails a month is too many? It depends on how relevant the content is. A well-segmented list can handle 3 or 4 emails a month without generating significant unsubscribes if the content is relevant. A poorly segmented list with generic content starts to suffer from unsubscribe issues from 2 sends per month onwards. The practical rule of thumb: if you have nothing specific to offer, it's better not to send.
Does email marketing work for all vehicle price ranges? It works best for mid-to-high ranges (from 8,000-10,000 euros upwards) where the buyer has a longer decision time and the email can support that journey. For very cheap vehicles (under 4,000 euros), the decision cycle is shorter and the buyer usually already has a specific portal or channel where they search. Email has less impact in that segment.
Does it make sense to invest in email marketing if I already use Meta Ads and portals? Yes, because it covers a different stage in the process. Portals capture active demand. Meta Ads generate new demand. Email works on the contacts you already have: people who already know you and have shown interest at some point. The cost of this communication is very low and does not compete with other channels; it complements them.
Contents
Why email marketing makes sense for a dealership
How to build your contact list from scratch
What tools to use and how much they cost
What types of emails to send and how often
How to write an email that gets opened and read
Segmentation: not all contacts need the same thing
How to measure if your email marketing is working
Dealcar and dealership contact management
Frequently asked questions
Why email marketing makes sense for a dealership
Most used car buyers do not purchase on their first visit to the dealership or during the initial contact. The decision cycle can last weeks or months. During this time, the dealership that maintains contact has a real advantage over the one that disappears after the first interaction.
Read also how to recover cold leads in a dealership.
Email allows you to maintain that contact systematically, at a very low cost and without relying on social media algorithms or the buyer's availability at the exact moment you post. An email arrives in the contact's inbox and waits for them to read it, unlike an Instagram post that disappears from the feed in hours.
For a dealership with a list of 300 or 400 contacts among past customers, leads that didn't close, and potential buyers, a monthly email with new stock or a specific offer can generate between 2 and 5 active contacts per send with no additional acquisition cost. With a 20% conversion rate on those contacts, that is between 0.5 and 1 additional sale per month at virtually zero cost.
How to build your contact list from scratch
The email list is built from the contacts you already have, not by waiting for people to voluntarily subscribe to a newsletter that didn't previously exist.
Past customers are the first block: anyone who has bought a car from you has an email recorded in their transaction file. If you have been in business for 3 years and have closed 400 sales, you have 400 potential contacts for your list.
Leads that did not close are the second block: people who showed interest, inquired about a vehicle, or visited the dealership but did not buy. Many of them are still looking or will look again in the future.
The third block includes organic contacts: website forms, valuation requests, content downloads (guides, ebooks). Each of these forms can include a consent checkbox to receive commercial communications, which is the legal requirement to be able to send them emails.
Read also how to build a local brand for a dealership.
Spanish law (LOPD and GDPR) requires explicit consent to send commercial emails. You cannot email just any contact you have had: you need them to have given their express consent, whether by filling out a form, signing a contract with a communications clause, or through a verified opt-in process.
What tools to use and how much they cost
To start, the most accessible tools for a dealership are Mailchimp and Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Both have free plans that cover initial use:
Mailchimp: free up to 500 contacts and 1,000 emails per month. Intuitive interface, good visual email editor, and basic statistics included. From 500 contacts, the paid plan starts at around 13 euros per month.
Brevo: free up to 300 emails per day (unlimited contacts). It has native integration with WhatsApp and SMS, which can be useful for combining channels. The paid plan starts at around 19 euros per month for 20,000 monthly emails.
For a dealership with fewer than 1,000 contacts and a sending frequency of 2 or 3 emails per month, the cost of these tools is practically zero or very low. The real investment is the time spent preparing the emails.
What types of emails to send and how often
There are three types of emails that work well for a dealership, each having different objectives.
The new stock email is the most direct: when interesting vehicles enter the inventory, send an email to the list with photos, price, and a link to see more details or get in touch. You don't need to send it every time a new car arrives: a weekly or bi-weekly send featuring the 3 or 4 most prominent cars of the week is enough.
Also check out the best portals to sell cars in Spain to coordinate your distribution strategy.
The one-off offer email serves to move vehicles that have been in stock for a while or to communicate a price drop. "This Seat Ateca has been in stock for 60 days and we have dropped it to 14,900 euros" is an email that generates responses because it is specific, has implicit urgency, and offers a clear reason to act.
The informational or content email is what builds the relationship with contacts who are not buying right now but may do so in the future. A helpful article on how to transfer car ownership, how to know if a vehicle has outstanding finance, or what to check before buying a used car provides value without selling directly and keeps the dealership fresh in the contact's mind.
The recommended frequency is between 2 and 4 emails per month. Less than once a month allows the list to go cold, and contacts might not remember why they subscribed. More than once a week starts generating unsubscribes if the content is not relevant enough.
How to write an email that gets opened and read
The subject line of the email determines whether it gets opened or not. A subject line like "October Newsletter" is opened by no one. A subject line like "Tiguan 2021 at 17,500, are you interested?" or "This Clio has been here 60 days and today we have dropped the price" triggers curiosity and gets opened.
The principles of a good subject line for a dealership: be specific (mention the specific car or topic), keep it between 40 and 60 characters so it displays in full on mobile, and avoid words that spam filters frequently block such as "FREE", "OFFER", or "DISCOUNT" in capital letters.
The body of the email should be brief. Emails that work for a dealership are not long: they are 2 or 3 short paragraphs, one or two photos of the vehicle if it is a stock email, and a clear call-to-action button or link (view car, call, send WhatsApp).
The first paragraph is the most important: if it doesn't capture attention in the first two lines, the rest of the email won't be read. Get straight to the point: the car, the offer, or the useful information, without any corporate introduction.
Using the contact's name in the greeting ("Hi Paul") when the tool allows it consistently increases open rates. It is basic personalisation, but it works.
Segmentation: not all contacts need the same thing
A list of 400 contacts is not a homogeneous block. Within it, there are buyers who have already bought and may be in a renewal cycle, leads who looked at SUVs but didn't find what they wanted, and contacts who were only looking for information and never had any immediate intention to buy.
Sending the same email to everyone is less efficient than sending targeted emails based on the profile. With tools like Mailchimp or Brevo, you can create segments by type of vehicle of interest, date of last contact, or whether they are already customers or just leads.
A practical example: when a 7-seater SUV comes into stock, sending that email only to contacts who at some point showed interest in family or larger vehicles generates a higher response rate than sending it to the entire list. The contact feels the email is directed at them, not that it is mass advertising.
Segmentation does not require a complex infrastructure: 3 or 4 basic tags applied to each contact (type of vehicle of interest, lead status, whether they are already a customer) are enough to make your send-outs more relevant.
Consult which car brands turn over fastest in a dealership to segment by buyer profile.
How to measure if your email marketing is working
The three metrics you need to check after every send-out are open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribes.
The average open rate for business emails in Spain is between 20% and 30%. For a dealership with a list of qualified contacts (people who have shown interest at some point), an open rate of 25% to 35% is reasonable. Below 15%, the email subject line is not working or the list is too cold.
The click-through rate measures how many of those who opened the email clicked the main link. For specific stock emails, a click-through rate of 5% to 15% of those who opened is reasonable. For informational emails, it may be lower because the goal is visibility rather than the click.
Unsubscribes are a signal of list quality. An unsubscribe rate of 0.5% or less per send is normal. Above 1%, the content or frequency is not being relevant to the contacts.
What these metrics do not measure directly is the sales generated. For that, you need manual tracking: when a contact visits the dealership or calls after receiving an email, record that source. Over time, this data tells you how many sales the email channel generates per month.
Read how to calculate the CAC and ROI of marketing in a dealership.
Dealcar and dealership contact management
Dealcar's CRM centralises all dealership contacts, complete with the history of each interaction, the vehicle of interest, and the status of the lead. That database is the starting point for building your email marketing list: the contacts are already registered with the relevant information to segment them.
Exporting that database to an email marketing tool like Mailchimp or Brevo, or using the communication features of the CRM itself, allows you to activate your email channel without building a list from scratch. If you want to see how contact management works in Dealcar, request a demo at dealcar.io.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need explicit permission to send emails to my past customers? Yes. GDPR and the Information Society Services Act (LSSI) require express consent to send marketing communications via email, even to past customers. A prior business relationship is not enough to send marketing emails without consent. The cleanest way to handle this is to include a consent checkbox in the sales contract or in the website contact form.
How many emails a month is too many? It depends on how relevant the content is. A well-segmented list can handle 3 or 4 emails a month without generating significant unsubscribes if the content is relevant. A poorly segmented list with generic content starts to suffer from unsubscribe issues from 2 sends per month onwards. The practical rule of thumb: if you have nothing specific to offer, it's better not to send.
Does email marketing work for all vehicle price ranges? It works best for mid-to-high ranges (from 8,000-10,000 euros upwards) where the buyer has a longer decision time and the email can support that journey. For very cheap vehicles (under 4,000 euros), the decision cycle is shorter and the buyer usually already has a specific portal or channel where they search. Email has less impact in that segment.
Does it make sense to invest in email marketing if I already use Meta Ads and portals? Yes, because it covers a different stage in the process. Portals capture active demand. Meta Ads generate new demand. Email works on the contacts you already have: people who already know you and have shown interest at some point. The cost of this communication is very low and does not compete with other channels; it complements them.
