Social media is like giving a new toy to a child. While it is bright, shiny and new and you want to play with it constantly, you shouldn't forget the old "toys" that you have, such as email.

Your email marketing strategies can still be an effective means of staying in contact with your customers and helping your dealership to make new sales.

Send Surveys through Email

Whenever you have contact with a customer, whether it is through selling them a new car, a visit to the service center or even just an inquiry, send them a survey about your contact with them.

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important indicators have how well your dealership is doing and sending a survey through email is one of the quickest ways to get feedback from your customers.

While not every customer will send the survey back, sending it through email within 24 hours of your contact with them will likely garner more responses than sending them through the regular mail. By the time they receive your survey through the mail, your contact with the customer will have grown stale and they may not accurately remember their customer experience with you. Email is immediate and the responses you get will be more accurate.

Use Email to Send Customers Incentives

Use email marketing strategies to send your customers incentives through emails. Whether it is an offer on an extended warranty or simply oil changes, sending them through email can help you market your products and services to customers to whom you've already sold something.

Since they already have dealings with your business, your customers are less likely to consider your email spam and they may be more likely to open it.

Don't Ignore Your Own Emails

You wouldn't ignore a customer who walked onto your lot, so don't ignore the queries customers may send through emails. Customers who call or send emails are closer to the buying stage than customers may be who walk onto your lot.

If you respond quickly and answer their questions sent through email, you will be more likely to sell them a car because these customers are ready to buy.

Carefully read the emails all the way through and answer their questions quickly and thoroughly. This shows the customer that you have paid attention to their questions and that you are interested in their business. This will make them more likely to spend their money with you rather than your competitor.

Treat all email leads equally because you can never be sure who is sending you the email. You could easily be dealing with a business that is ready to buy a fleet of vehicles or a customer who wants to find their next new car.

Since you cannot be sure who is making the inquiry, treat all emails the same in order to gain their business. Email is still a great way to market products and services, so don't neglect it in favor of social media.