“The Marketing module of Automotive CRM primarily sped up and simplified our work. It opened up new possibilities. We also expect increased profitability thanks to unified data management between sales and marketing.”
Hana Jelínková, CRM Manager, CarTec Group
About CarTec Group
BMW CarTec Group is the largest dealer of BMW, BMW ///M performance, BMW i, MINI, Rolls-Royce, and BMW Motorrad in the Czech Republic. They have been operating since 2003 and now has a presence in five Czech cities.
Challenge
CarTec Group implemented Automotive CRM in 2020, significantly expanding the capabilities for their salespeople and allowing them to work with customers using relevant digital tools. This transition not only enabled the dealership to work with data but also to generate it. However, customer data, interaction history, and other insights hold great value for modern marketing.
The marketing team at CarTec is forward-looking, and the data stored in Automotive CRM beckoned to be utilized. CRM Manager Hana Jelínková realized that this data could significantly help in better and more effective communication of CarTec’s offerings to their customers. Nevertheless, there were several obstacles to overcome.
Isolated tools
CarTec used a separate emailing tool to reach out to customers. While it was possible to transfer data from Automotive CRM, the process was manual, time-consuming, and prone to errors, relying on Excel exports for data transfer.
CarTec Group also distributes several brands, each with largely separate systems—BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin for cars, and BMW Motorrad for motorcycles. A single customer could belong to several of these “worlds,” so CarTec aimed to manage customer data in a unified way across all brands.
The email communication process was isolated, and customer interactions were not reflected in the CRM, meaning the data was not further enriched. Customers couldn’t be segmented directly based on CRM data.
Additionally, the sales representative responsible for the customer wouldn’t know if or how the customer had responded to the communication, making it difficult to follow up with personalized offers.
Security and compliance
Transferring data to another tool (often to another computer’s storage or via email) was complex from a personal data protection and GDPR standpoint.
Segmentation and automation
As the email communication process was isolated, customer interactions weren’t reflected in the CRM and therefore did not enrich the customer data. Customers couldn’t be segmented directly based on CRM data.
Automated online communication, for example, triggered by customer actions recorded in the CRM, such as a visit, service, or order, was also not possible or feasible without significant effort.
With the easing of the pandemic, CarTec also planned more customer events. It became desirable to use CRM data directly for communication and event organization, as well as to track participation and measure the success of these activities.
Solution
The suitable solution to these problems was to expand Automotive CRM with the Dynamics 365 Marketing module. This application extends the marketing team’s capabilities, especially in the following areas:
- Automated email campaigns
- Single source of leads (web, OEM, events, etc.)
- Easy creation of landing pages
- Preparation, promotion, and execution of events
The key arguments for this decision, in addition to the functionalities of D365 Marketing (Customer Insights: Journeys), included the fact that it is built on the same technological platform. This expands the possibilities for working with unified data stored in one place (in the cloud) and managed according to the same set of rules.
The marketing module was deployed after a period of using Automotive CRM, allowing it to immediately start utilizing the existing database. The deployment included:
- System enablement
- Customizing user roles
- Adjusting CarTec’s forms and templates, enriched with 360° data from Marketing
- Training users
CarTec’s marketing team, distributed between Prague and Ostrava, was able to quickly start using the new module for its first large-scale campaigns.
During the implementation of specific user scenarios, our implementation team encountered several limitations within the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing platform, particularly in the area of after-sales processes. However, we quickly discovered that these challenges could be effectively overcome by leveraging another Microsoft technology – Power Platform.
Benefits
The Marketing module for Automotive CRM brought many new possibilities and simplifications to CarTec’s sales and marketing.
Unified Data and Streamlined Workflows
- All five companies within the CarTec Group now work with a single tool connected to one shared database.
- Ability to track customer activity across all websites, including behaviour in emails and interactions with forms directly tied to a contact.
- Segmentation based on the customer’s relationship with the company.
- Evaluation of activities through visual Power BI dashboards.
More efficient emailing
- Easy creation and distribution of emails — each team member can build attractive messages with unified branding using prepared templates for individual brands.
- Before implementation: 1 email per month, requiring a full week to prepare the design and select the target group.
- Now: An average of 20 emails per month, using dynamic target segments without the need for manual adjustments before each mailing.
Simplified event marketing
- The invitation process now allows direct segmentation from the CRM database.
- Effortless creation of registration landing pages.
- Registrations are automatically recorded in CRM linked to the relevant contact card.
- Ability to customize forms and insert custom fields as needed.
Do you want to learn more about Automotive CRM or its extensions for marketing and after-sales care?