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Automobile manufacturer boosts digital conversions with

a data-driven marketing campaign

O P E L N L C A S E S T U D Y

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COMPANY

Opel NL

WEBSITE

www.opel.com

INDUSTRY

Automobile Manufacturing

GEOGR APHY

The Netherlands

PROGR AMS

• Robust website personalization

• Opt-in and personal data enhancement

• Dynamic Personalization

• Journey Map Automation

• Behavioral Targeting

• Segmentation

Founded in 1862, Opel is a German automobile

manufacturer that prides itself on changing the

world through innovations in its products and

services. The company designs, engineers,

manufactures and distributes Opel-branded

passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles,

and vehicle parts. Together with its British

sister brand Vauxhall, it has a presence in over

50 countries around the world.

ematters is an Amsterdam-based agency for

marketing and data engineering. With a team

of digital marketers, developers, marketing

automation experts, and data specialists,

ematters helps A-brand clients with complex

online challenges, providing them with top-

notch marketing advice and future-proof

digital marketing strategies.

We strongly feel that the Selligent Marketing Cloud provides the right tools and possibilities for many businesses. The combined power of the platform, SQL database and SITE product provide unlimited marketing opportunities.

Wouter Theijsmeijer

Director/Founder

ematters

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T H E C H A L L E N G EAs Opel’s official subsidiary in the Netherlands, Opel NL was driving in the fast lane with sales

numbers well above targets. But with competitors getting closer in the rear-view mirror and

consumers switching to digital channels, Opel NL needed to boost digital conversions.

Working with creative agency ematters, the Customer Experience & CRM team at Opel NL

developed a data-driven marketing strategy to capture new email contact data on current and

potential Opel customers while building an integrated digital sales funnel. To get there, the

team needed to:

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BUILD A FUTURE-PROOF DATABASE FOR RELEVANT CAMPAIGNS

FROM THE GROUND UP, INCLUDING A DATA MODEL

MAP A CUSTOMER JOURNEY AND DRIVE IT FORWARD USING THE DATA

ECOSYSTEM

INCENTIVIZE CUSTOMERS TO SHARE PERSONAL DATA BEYOND

AN EMAIL ADDRESS

IMPLEMENT FEEDBACK MECHANISMS TO VERIFY CAMPAIGN

SUCCESS

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T H E P A T H T O S U C C E S STeaming up with Selligent Marketing Cloud, Opel NL created a 360⁰ marketing automation campaign that put lead

generation on the fast track. Here’s how it worked:

TO INTEGRATE SALES, PERSONAL, AND WEB BEHAVIOR DATA,

ematters built a relational database connecting web behavior from Selligent Site,

third-party data from Dutch car ownership repository RDC, plus lead and sales data

from central Opel database.

TO OBTAIN NEW MARKETING OPT-INS

and collect personal data beyond email, Opel NL leveraged incentive offers; for

instance consumers earned potential discounts when they indicated the date when

they were ‘ready to buy’ a new car. This date then served as a trigger for several

automated campaigns.

TO ENHANCE CONSUMER PROFILES,

Selligent Site captures website behavior, including the car model they are interested

in. As a result, 20 percent of active opt-ins have a known car model of interest and an

estimated purchase date for a new car.

TO SERVE WEBSITE VISITORS AT OPEL.NL THE RIGHT CONTENT,

a probabilistic data-model and predictive algorithms selected which campaign

content to display in dynamic lifecycle campaigns.

TO NURTURE CONSUMERS TOWARDS CONVERSION,

the team designed two campaigns in Selligent: The ‘Ready to Buy’ campaign guided

customers ‘in the market’ to their perfect ride in six personalized emails. The ‘Model

of Interest’ campaign targeted consumers with three emails about their car model

of interest. Integrated with Selligent Site, email content changed as consumers

preferences changed.

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R E S U L T SBy switching to a data-driven marketing approach that addresses users based on the car models

they are most drawn to, Opel NL turbo-charged its marketing program with impressive KPIs:

O N “ R E A D Y T O B U Y ” L I F E C Y C L E C A M P A I G N

• 70% email open rate

• 37% click-through rate (300% increase over general newsletter)

O N “ M O D E L O F I N T E R E S T ” L I F E C Y C L E C A M P A I G N

• 71% email open rate

• 50% CTR (500% increase over general newsletter)

O V E R A L L I M P R O V E M E N T S

• 30% increase in database growth in 6 months

• 473% in identified profiles using Selligent Site behavioral capture and forms

• 16% of all Opel NL sales attributed to the campaign

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As a major long-term improvement, instead of following a static road map, Opel

NL’s marketing model optimizes its course as needed: Selligent Site continuously

feeds behavioral data from the website and emails to make the journey smarter.

“The integration of Site within the entire campaign is crucial for the success

of this campaign. The reason why we used Site instead of similar software is

because Site is directly connected to the Selligent platform, allowing us to serve

personalized content real time,” said Wouter Theijsmeijer, Director/Founder at

agency ematters.

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A B O U T S E L L I G E N TM A R K E T I N G C L O U DSelligent Marketing Cloud is a marketing automation platform that enables B2C brands to engage consumers across all critical channels. Built for the relationship marketer, Selligent Marketing Cloud is the only marketing cloud built on a single code base, featuring artificial intelligence and a Customer Data Platform with a universal consumer profile at the core of every action.

More than 700 brands across retail, travel, automotive, publishing, and financial services rely on Selligent Marketing Cloud’s proven platform. With 10 offices across the United States and Europe and more than 50 agency partners, Selligent Marketing Cloud serves over 30 countries with local, personalized service.

Learn more at www.selligent.com and connect with the team at Twitter, LinkedIn, and our blog.

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