Kawasaki Motors Corp. released response rates yesterday from its first-ever rich media e-mail marketing campaign.
As part of a test, Kawasaki sent audio- and video-enabled e-mails to 30,000 consumers last month. The e-mails promoted the company's Good Times promotion, with half of the recipients receiving an e-mail promoting a Good Times sweepstakes and the other half receiving information about a Good Times give away.
The sweepstakes gave respondents a chance to win a new Chevy Silverado, while the give away offered $500 in free accessories or zero money down on a Kawasaki Vulcan Cruiser.
The company said 28 percent responded to the sweepstakes e-mails and 19 percent responded to the give away promotion.
“That blows away anything we've done in the past,” said Jason Davis, an executive in motorcycle marketing product management at Kawasaki, Irvine, CA.
Davis said Kawasaki was unable to track how much traffic was converted into sales.
Prior to the e-mail campaign, Kawasaki bought lists from magazines or sanctioning bodies of race organizations, Davis said.
Kawasaki is in the process of converting other lists from its database into larger future campaigns, Davis said. Depending on an evaluation, the company plans to roll out another test in the spring or summer, he said.
MindArrow Systems, Aliso Viejo, CA, a provider of digital direct marketing software, provided Kawasaki with the technology.
