Project Name
Reduced Manual Campaign Sends by 4x and Delivered 86%+ Open Rates for Australia's #1 Automotive Brand on Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Our client is Australia’s number one automotive brand by market share, holding approximately 18% of the national passenger and commercial vehicle market and operating through a national dealership network of over 280 sites.
The direct marketing team manages all 1:1 customer communications across the full vehicle ownership lifecycle, from prospect acquisition through new owner onboarding, in-life engagement, and repurchase, for both consumer and fleet segments, covering small and large business owners. The brand operates Salesforce Marketing Cloud as its enterprise marketing automation platform, connected to Salesforce Service Cloud as its CRM backbone, Sitecore for web personalisation, and SAP and a Master Data Management system for vehicle and ownership data.
Ksolves was engaged as the SFMC implementation and delivery partner, responsible for platform management, journey design, campaign execution, data strategy, and performance reporting.
A 2-million-record CRM database, 26 million annual sends, and almost none of it personalised to the customer receiving it.
- Mass Email Blasts Without Personalisation: 26 million emails were sent yearly using generic campaigns, with little targeting based on vehicle type, ownership stage, purchase history, or customer preferences.
- Limited Reach Despite a Large Customer Base: Although nearly 4 million vehicles were on Australian roads, only around 1 million customers opted in for email communications.
- No Automated Customer Journey Framework: Onboarding, delivery updates, ownership engagement, and repurchase communications were handled manually, making CRM operations inconsistent and difficult to scale.
- B2C and Fleet Customers Shared the Same Communication Logic: Retail and fleet customers received similar messaging journeys, with no tailored communication based on customer type or business needs.
- Weak Engagement During the Pre-Delivery Stage: Customers waiting for vehicle delivery received mostly generic transactional updates instead of personalised journey-based communications.
- No Structured Testing or Optimisation Strategy: Campaigns lacked continuous A/B testing, send-time optimisation, and a systematic approach to improving customer engagement over time.
As a leading AI-first Salesforce consulting services company, Ksolves transformed the brand’s Salesforce Marketing Cloud programme by replacing mass email blasts with automated, trigger-based customer journeys personalised by ownership stage, behaviour, and vehicle preferences. The team managed the complete SFMC ecosystem, creating a scalable, always-on CRM framework with minimal manual effort.
- Complete Vehicle Lifecycle Automation: Built Journey Builder automations across onboarding, pre-delivery, loyalty, retention, and repurchase stages, personalised by vehicle type, ownership data, and customer behaviour.
- Track My Car 2.0 Personalisation: Transformed pre-delivery updates into personalised, model-specific journeys, delivering an 11x increase in CTOR and 12x higher CTR compared to the earlier journey version.
- Behavioural Segmentation and Einstein AI Integration: Used vehicle ownership data, Sitecore behaviour tracking, wishlist activity, and Einstein AI to deliver personalised content and optimise send times automatically.
- Database Growth and Contactability Expansion: Increased the opted-in emailable database from around 1 million to nearly 2 million through structured lead capture and prospect nurturing journeys.
- Dedicated B2B Fleet Communication Journeys: Created separate Journey Builder automations for fleet customers, with distinct messaging, content flows, and CRM logic independent from B2C campaigns.
- Always-On Analytics and Optimisation Framework: Established continuous optimisation through Analytics Builder dashboards, QBR reporting, database health analysis, competitor benchmarking, and ongoing performance improvements.
Technology Stack
| Category | Technology |
|---|---|
| Platform | Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) |
| Platform | Journey Builder |
| Integration | Salesforce Service Cloud |
| AI/ML | Einstein AI (SFMC) |
| Architecture | Sitecore Web Personalisation |
| Analytics | Analytics Builder + Dashboards |
From 26 million untargeted database blasts to always-on personalised journeys, with double the contactable audience, four times fewer sends, and engagement rates that consistently exceed industry benchmarks.
- 4x Reduction in Manual Campaign Volume: Automated lifecycle journeys reduced annual sends from 26 million generic emails to 6–7 million targeted communications, improving efficiency and engagement quality.
- 2x Growth in Contactable Database: Opted-in emailable customers increased from around 1 million to nearly 2 million, with the total CRM database reaching 2.325 million records.
- 11x Higher Engagement for Track My Car 2.0: The personalised pre-delivery journey achieved 60% CTOR and 51% CTR, compared to just 5% CTOR and 4% CTR in the earlier version.
- 57% Programme-Wide Open Rate Against a 40% Benchmark: Average open rates significantly exceeded SFMC automotive benchmarks, while onboarding and launch campaigns delivered consistently higher CTRs.
- 280+ Dealerships Enabled with Automated Onboarding: A fully automated 10-touch onboarding journey now delivers personalised welcome experiences across all major vehicle segments nationwide.
What began as a high-volume, untargeted email programme has evolved into a fully automated, AI-driven customer lifecycle ecosystem. With personalized Journey Builder automations across onboarding, pre-delivery, retention, repurchase, and fleet communications, the brand now delivers more relevant customer experiences at scale. The transformation reduced send volume by 4x, doubled the contactable database, and consistently exceeded SFMC engagement benchmarks, creating a scalable foundation for future AI-powered loyalty and predictive engagement initiatives.
Is Your Automotive Brand Still Managing CRM as a Campaign Calendar Rather Than a Customer Lifecycle Programme?
