Emil Frey Czech Republic, a member of the Swiss group of the same name operating in 12 European countries, is also a major car dealer in our country. In April, Emil Frey first tested active customer acquisition in a new environment – on the social network Facebook. And among Czech car dealers, Emil Frey was probably the first to take advantage of the new progressive Lead Ads format.
Spring 2016 was an eventful season for Emil Frey. On the same day Emil Frey took over the import of the French brands Peugeot and Citroën, which significantly strengthened its domestic position, Emil Frey also decided on its first Facebook campaign. At its three stores, the company offers a total of five brands (Kia, Subaru, Suzuki, Opel and Toyota).
In the spring, its management decided to launch a promotional campaign called “4 days full of benefits for 4x4s.” Subaru Outback, Kia Sorento and Suzuki Vitara were selected among the popular all-wheel drive models. From April 4 to 7, 2016, an enticing offer was set up including 4 × 4 test runs and the chance to win four weekends with a free full tank. Those interested could also look forward to extraordinary discounts on selected models.
The leadership of Emil Frey of the Czech Republic decided for the first time that the budget reserved for traditional radio advertising would be invested in the Facebook campaign. For this purpose, they chose our agency Business Factory and ROI Hunter. One of the fields we are focusing on is the automotive industry (advertising campaigns for importers and retailers).
The goal of the campaign was to prove that Facebook is one of the most effective marketing tools not only for a nationwide car importer, but also for dealers with a lower budget and a regional catchment area. The specific goal of the campaign was to generate the highest number of leads in the form of test-driving orders through the 4x4x4 awareness enhancement.
Prior to launching the campaign, we made the necessary preparations including the launch of a credit line for Emil Frey Czech Republic’s client so that invoices for Facebook campaigns would arrive on a monthly basis, just as with other suppliers. We then set up a custom ad account, which is important in terms of transparency reason to protect strategic data. For the purposes of the campaign, the client provided customer contacts (according to individual brands) from which Custom and Lookalike Audiences were created. We used two basic types of ad formats in our campaign:
This format was used to bring users to www.emilfrey.cz or to its sub-pages dedicated to individual brands. The ad also contained a basic description of a special offer. Given that this format contained multiple brands at one time, it ran under the universal page of Emil Frey of the Czech Republic, which was created primarily for the purpose of the advertising campaign. For content marketing, the client used the concept of multiple Facebook sites associated with individual brands and stores.
In order to collect leads from Facebook (on mobile and desktop), the Lead Ads format was used. Filling out online forms, especially on mobile, is not very user-friendly, so Lead Ads offers a great alternative. When you click on an ad, you’ll see a form pre-populated with the required user profile information from Facebook. Those interested in test driving left the following contact details: name, surname, e-mail, and telephone number. For the list of details about the 4x4x4 offer, intermediate pages were used (see picture), as the Lead Ads format offers a link to the client’s website after completing the form.
The acquisition part of the campaign used interest-based and demographic targeting. Regional targeting was restricted to users in Prague and in a 40 km radius around Stodůlky. The people were further segmented according to interest in off-road vehicles, select models of cars, brands and competitors. At the same time, based on our customer contacts, we also used contacts of people who had already bought cars of the brands Subaru, Suzuki, or Kia through Emil Frey Czech Republic in the past (Custom Audience). We also targeted people who are similar to them (Lookalike Audience).
During the campaign, we were faced with difficulties caused by the blocking of Lead Ads by Facebook. This was due to the suspicion of unauthorized collection of leads and their sale to third parties. Business Factory and ROI Hunter have a Facebook Marketing Partner status and, thanks to direct contact with Facebook representatives, the situation was quickly solved. About 36 hours after blocking, Facebook reassessed the situation and unblocked the campaign.
Emil Frey took the role of a pioneer by using a Lead Ads format, leading the way for other Czech car dealers to use this format. However, the case showed how important it is for an advertiser to have someone in direct contact with representatives of Facebook’s regional representation in Dublin and Warsaw.
The Facebook campaign started on April 1 and ended April 11, 2016. On the last day of the 4x4x4 event (Thursday, April 7), the existing visuals and texts were replaced with new ones, just communicating the offer of test rides. The campaign had a total reach of 71,945 users on Facebook, which represents almost a third (exactly 27.6%) of all 30-year-olds from Prague who are active on Facebook. Altogether, 210,440 impressions have been made. They were addressed to the users who are actually considering purchasing a new car.
I evaluate the achieved results positively. Thank you for your effort.
In just 10 days of the campaign (we are not counting the period when the Lead Ads had been suspended), 57 people interested in a test drive were acquired (KIA 43, Suzuki 8 and Subaru 6). We saw 11 comments in the ads and 297 people who had “liked” it. On the Emil Frey Czech Republic Facebook pages, 60 new fans were added. The management of Emil Frey Czech Republic is evaluating the pilot campaign as positive and Facebook is likely to become a regular part of media mix campaigns to support the sale of new cars.