Kia Gets 36% Response to Dealer Mailing

Kia Motors America has pulled in a 36% response to a mailing promoting a new online communications system to its dealership owners.

So far the U.S. arm of the Korean carmaker has sent out 600 mail packages in a series of staggered drops to dealer principals and chief financial officers that began last November and runs through this spring. The system improves dealer efficiency and helps boost profitability, said Kathleen Hanover, spokeswoman for B/R/C Marketing, Kia's Dayton, OH direct response agency, which designed and executed the campaign.

The mailings consist of three teasers and a dimensional. The latter comes in a white box and contains a silver-like shift lever mounted on a gearshift-pattern base. The tagline “Shift Into High Gear” is printed on the box's inside flap.

The letter, addressed to dealer principals, reads in part:

“You've been waiting a long time for a simpler, secure communication network that offers you high-speed multipoint access. Now the Kia Dealer Communication System Network (DCSN) is here. And all it takes to shift your performance into high gear is a simple toll-free call to set up your implementation schedule.”

The two-page letter, co-signed by Kia's IT director and manager of e-business development, goes on to tell dealerships how they can:

• Get more done in less time.

• Have greater online access with fewer worries.

• Get connected to a flexible system that meets their needs.

Just before they get the box mailings, the dealerships receive oversized post card teasers showing work gloves displayed on an orange background along with the text, “You May Need These Soon.”

On the reverse side, the headline reads, “It Won't Be Long Before We Put More Power in Your Hands.”

A separate drop to dealership controllers focuses on the system's security features and ability to “accelerate efficiency and profitability.”

This latest effort from the Irvine, CA company follows a test this past summer that heightened productivity among 12 Kia dealerships in the United States, according to Reynolds and Reynolds, Kia's online marketing agency, also based in Dayton.

DCSN gives dealers unlimited access points on Kia's internal system and the Internet, reducing information technology costs and simplifying operations, according to the agency.

For example, the new system allows dealer mechanics to immediately give customers the status of their service work, eliminating the need for a call back.

In addition, DCSN can process financial statements within five minutes and warranty claims in seconds instead of minutes on the dial-up connection. Each dealer employee also can connect from his or her workstation rather than move to a Kia PC and wait to use it.

DCSN is intended to replace Kia's current communications system, which is slower and less comprehensive, Hanover said.