Antoine Bourdy, Marketing Manager at BodemerAuto granted us an exclusive interview in which he explains the reasons that drove the automotive group to work with Advalo and how the platform contributes to improving marketing performance particularly in second hand and new vehicle segments. Antoine Bourdy, Marketing Manager at Bodemer Auto ” Thanks to Advalo’s algorithms,...
Antoine Bourdy, Marketing Manager at BodemerAuto granted us an exclusive interview in which he explains the reasons that drove the automotive group to work with Advalo and how the platform contributes to improving marketing performance particularly in second hand and new vehicle segments.
Antoine Bourdy, Marketing Manager at Bodemer Auto
” Thanks to Advalo’s algorithms, we were able to present the ideal product for each prospect and know when to push it at the right time“
Can you introduce BodemerAuto?
BodemerAuto is a trademark of Bodemer group. It includes thirty two Renault, Nissan, Dacia and Alpine dealerships located in the west of France, Brittany and Normandy. Each sales location also proposes multi-brand certified used vehicles and an after-sales workshop. On a daily basis we rely on the expertise of our 1,200 employees to assist customers throughout the life cycle of their vehicle (purchase / maintenance / resale). In terms of results, we have achieved a turnover of over 600 million in 2017, with more than 30,000 vehicles sold.
What were your expectations prior to choosing Advalo?
Since the creation of the brand in 2014, growth has been sustained and fast. This implies a growing volume of data. Previously, the thirty two dealerships that make up the automotive group were divided into six autonomous subsidiaries that operated with their own traditional marketing strategies. The creation of BodemerAuto reasserted the group’s ambition to concretize its interest in data analysis, especially for marketing automation purposes. We wanted to evolve from manually prepared launched campaigns towards intelligently planned automated actions.
In 2015, when the collaboration with Advalo started, we identified our needs for a technical automation tool, but particularly for marketing intelligence which analyzes and segments data to identify the potential of each prospect (or customer) , and be able to push them the right campaigns, at the right time … two objectives: better understand our data and send communications to specific audience segments.
Why did you choose to work with Advalo?
Advalo’s areas of competence have proved a perfect match for our technical needs. Advalo was able to demonstrate to us the power and credibility of its algorithms and models, whether to precisely and properly segment the base according to customer or prospect behaviors, or implementation of relevant campaigns.
In addition we developed a very positive working relationship with Advalo teams. When we started searching for providers, the relationship was an important selection criteria, as was geographical proximity. We wanted to choose local partners. Beyond the possibilities of the tools, it is relationship and proximity which played a large a role in our choice.
How did Advalo answer your problem?
By clearly providing answers to our problems. In terms of “consumer knowledge”, we can now finely analyze our data, which was very limited before with all the manual work that it required. This gave us an in-depth knowledge of the data, to analyze the behavior of customers and prospects, to be able to link our customer and digital data, and thus be able to identify web visitor profiles.
Technically, also, starting from several systems that did not communicate with each other, Advalo managed to group all of our datasets into a single platform. And more than that, make them communicate with each other for setting up campaigns.Personalized support is also important. A real collaborative effort of the teams led to a rise in competence and full autonomy on both the use of the tool and on these subjects.
From the beginning of the collaboration, we listed all the actions that we wanted to put in place.Customer follow-up on new vehicles, second-hand cars or after-sales..We still have a lot of campaigns to implement with Advalo, but we are taking the time to do things well to make it work. In addition, on both sides there is an ongoing improvement approach that works! Advalo develops new models, new algorithms, which can be precisely applied to our business issues. For instance, we really wanted to measure campaign success from an ROI standpoint. Advalo was able to integrate algorithms that allowed us to obtain precise measurements.We can now monitor the effectiveness of the tool in terms of processing and address the everyday issue of marketing teams, ROI.
Can you tell us more about your campaigns?
Most of our operations focus on prospect and post lead follow-up. For example, we launched a recognition campaign. Immediately after a client expressed need for assistance via phone, we sent them an email encouraging them to get acquainted with our website.
Today 1/3 of leads come from our website bodemerauto.com, and the remaining 2/3 come from other external sites, and media…When people have gone through these external sites, they do not necessarily know ours. We took advantage of this initial contact to introduce people to the Bodemer Auto universe, content, and offers specific to our network.
This allowed us to keep in touch and increase traffic on the site, which is also growing steadily: + 50% over the last year, notably through organic traffic. Two years ago, we set up a platform to collect reviews and ratings about vehicles. Thanks to the Advalo platform, customers who have bought a vehicle, or disposed of an old vehicle, are sent content which encourages them to share their opinions on the car. This allows us to promote reviews on the bodemerauto website.
Since the launch we have accrued more than 4,700 reviews, at a rate of 6 to 8 reviews per day, making an acceleration, since Advalo’s involvement in the project. The latest campaigns touch on product recommendation. Depending on the vehicle that pushed the user to express a lead, we target similar vehicles, in geographical proximity of the person, to be able to offer alternatives in the same price range and features.These campaigns have recently been put in place but the results are already promising. Conversion rate is at 4.2%. Additional orders generated through the Advalo platform have an average basket value of 14 – 15,000 euros, it counts.
What are the next steps with Advalo?
Our top priority is to broaden and deepen work on product recommendations.Thanks to Advalo’s algorithms, we were able to present the ideal product for each prospect and know when to push it at the right time. We would also like to apply this model to people who visit the site, and those thinking about renewing their vehicle …
We also have a goal to strengthen customer loyalty. For now, campaigns are focused on prospects. We are thinking about what actions to put in place to keep customers informed about latest offers, and address a commercial offer at the best time so that they can renew their vehicle and continue their story with us.
Why recommend Advalo?
For it’s innovation and product intelligence, the power of its algorithms and platform, the human side, the relationship, the availability and support from teams that really allowed us to have autonomy with the tool, and also develop skills on all these topics.
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