Renault Sport Cars has structured its contact data and improved the efficiency of its relationship marketing with Webmecanik.
Born from the merger in 1975 of two subsidiaries of the carmaker Renault, Alpine and Gordini, Renault Sport develops and markets the brand’s sports vehicles. Since February 2016, Renault has reorganized its activities following the brand’s return to Formula 1. Renault Sport Cars handles production models. Models intended for competition, both single-seaters and sedans, are now in the new Renault Sport Racing entity. Renault Sport Cars also organizes « passion days » on racetracks where enthusiasts can drive competition vehicles, production sports vehicles rented for the occasion, or their own vehicles. These days are as much educational as they are recreational. The company wanted to develop its customer relationships and boost traffic both on its website and on its social media presence.
Renault Sport Cars’ target audience is the general public. In January 2015, before the recent reorganization, Renault Sport wanted to improve the management of its contacts and professionalize its email campaigns. It therefore needed to structure its different databases in a single tool before increasing the number of contacts and then intensifying the relationship with them.
Increasing the intensity of the customer relationship
For five years, Renault Sport has collected consumer contacts, notably through newsletter sign-ups, contests, or participation in events organized by the company. « We want to stay in regular contact with our community of enthusiasts » says Marie Ruckebusch, digital marketing manager at Renault Sport Cars.
This relationship is maintained through the monthly R.S. Inside newsletter, which is available in two languages (French and English). But it is also and above all maintained through specific newsletters based on each person’s interests. Marie Ruckebusch gives an example : « we invite people interested in a model to come and test-drive it. » Recent campaigns have been built in particular around two models : the Clio R.S. 220 EDC Trophy and the new Mégane GT.
Knowledge of interests at the heart of the system
Interests are identified through browsing on the website, which generates cookies, and clicks on links in the newsletter. To leverage this data and manage email campaigns, Renault Sport chose the Webmecanik solution. « Our first criterion was the competitive cost of the annual subscription given our volume, the second was the recommendation of our digital marketing agency, Indexel » recalls Marie Ruckebusch.
Webmecanik therefore manages the single contact database and links the different types of information, such as browsing cookies, clicks on newsletter links, and email addresses, for example. Marie Ruckebusch estimates that « newsletter open rates have increased by 10% on average and the number of page views has tripled. »
In 2016, different Renault departments should make greater use of Webmecanik. In addition, Renault Sport will also develop its relationship with its network of dealers specializing in sports vehicles by deploying the tool to address this particular B2B target.
Article written by:
Bertrand Lemaire, Editor-in-chief of CIO
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