Kunzmann car dealership group automates customer communication across all channels with Evalanche
As an innovative car dealership, Kunzmann faced the challenge of not only reaching its customers both analog and digitally, but also implementing omnichannel communication as automatically as possible. Standing in the way of this goal were an outdated newsletter tool and a CRM system, neither of which were linked to each other. Thanks to Evalanche, Kunzmann was able to eliminate data silos in marketing and sales and optimize its customer communication.
Robert Kunzmann GmbH & Co.KG is an owner-managed automotive sales company based in Aschaffenburg. Founded in 1935 as a sales partner for Mercedes-Benz, the car dealership has now grown into a group with over ten locations around Aschaffenburg, employing 1,000 permanent staff and 180 trainees annually. In addition to the Mercedes-Benz brand, the company also carries Smart and Fuso and acts as a VW service partner. Since the beginning of 2024, KIA has also been part of the brand portfolio. The car dealership group offers customers classic leasing or financing models for new and used cars, as well as subscriptions for rental cars. In addition, the service includes a Carlack Center, which handles bodywork, paint, and glass repairs as well as other refurbishments. Kunzmann also has an online shop for parts and accessories, which receives up to 300 orders per day from all over Europe.
The initial situation
The path to automated customer communication
In order to market their products and services effectively, retail and online marketing are already working together behind the scenes. A selection management team deals specifically with campaign selection and data quality. To continue along this path, Kunzmann not only wants to push ahead with the development of CRM and marketing automation, but also invest in their smooth interaction in order to leverage the long-term potential of automated customer communication. “Our broad range of products means we have a large number of different use cases and target groups,” explains Dennis Ostner, Head of E-Commerce & Website Technology. “That makes it exciting, but also complicated. In order to ultimately increase customer lifetime value, we simply had to become even more professional in terms of automated communication.”
Improved data integration and marketing efficiency thanks to Evalanche
In recent years, the car dealership group's portfolio of services and offers has grown steadily. However, this was also accompanied by increased demands on the internal systems: On the one hand, there was a pure newsletter tool that offered no options for further automation of marketing processes. On the other hand, there was the CRM system CustomerOne, which used the customer's postal address as the leading piece of information for identifying the customer, while the outdated newsletter tool relied on the email address. This in turn led to duplicates and a dilution of the data. In addition, there was a lack of transparency regarding newsletter unsubscriptions, for example. There were also difficulties with CRM: The CRM system itself did not show when which customer had received a mailing. This also meant that the inbound and outbound teams in marketing and sales lacked relevant insights. The information was entered manually by employees, piece by piece. Kunzmann saw great potential here to speed up processes and free up resources. The solution: marketing automation. It was in this context that SC-Networks, the manufacturer of the Evalanche marketing automation platform, and CAS Software AG entered into a strategic technology partnership at almost the same time. Due to this cooperation and because the software competition had obviously reached its limits with regard to Kunzmann's requirements, the decision was ultimately made in favor of Evalanche.
PROJECT FACTS:
- Industry: Automotive
- The company: Robert Kunzmann GmbH & Co.KG
- Company size: 1.100 Employees
- Project focus: Automated communication, sales support, system connection for automotive
- Systems involved:Evalanche, CustomerOne
- Highlights: Evalanche CRM connector from emkada, 360° communication online and offline
- Goals: Marketing automation for the automotive industry, sales relief, smooth data flows
- Herausforderung: Basic system connection for automotive
- Results: Data synchronization between CRM and marketing automation
Kunzmann car dealership group automates customer communication across all channels with Evalanche
Project facts
- Industry: Automotive
- The company: Robert Kunzmann GmbH & Co. KG
- Company size: 1,100 employees
- Project focus: Automated communication, sales support, system integration for automotive
- Systems involved: Evalanche, CustomerOne
- Highlights: Evalanche CRM connector by emkada, 360° communication online and offline
- Goals: Marketing automation for the automotive industry, sales relief, seamless data flows
- Challenge: Basic system integration for automotive
- Results: Data synchronization between CRM and marketing automation
As an innovative car dealership, Kunzmann faced the challenge of reaching its customers both offline and online, while making omnichannel communication as automated as possible. Standing in the way were an outdated newsletter tool and a CRM system that were not integrated. Thanks to Evalanche, Kunzmann eliminated data silos across marketing and sales and optimized its customer communications.
Robert Kunzmann GmbH & Co. KG is an owner-managed automotive retail group based in Aschaffenburg. Founded in 1935 as a Mercedes-Benz retail partner, the dealership has grown into a group with more than ten locations in the Aschaffenburg region, employing 1,000 employees and taking on 180 trainees annually. In addition to the Mercedes-Benz brand, the company also represents smart and FUSO and serves as a Volkswagen service partner. Since early 2024, Kia has also been part of the brand portfolio. The dealership group offers classic leasing and financing options for new and used vehicles, as well as car subscription models. In addition, the service includes a Carlack Center, handling body, paint, and glass repairs as well as other reconditioning services. Kunzmann also operates an online shop for parts and accessories that receives up to 300 orders per day from across Europe.
The initial situation
The path to automated customer communication
To market its products and services effectively, the offline and online marketing teams already work together behind the scenes. A segmentation team focuses specifically on campaign selection and data quality. To continue on this path, Kunzmann aims not only to advance its CRM and marketing automation, but also to invest in their seamless interaction to unlock the long-term potential of automated customer communication. “Our broad range of products means we have a large number of different use cases and target audiences,” explains Dennis Ostner, Head of E-Commerce & Website Technology. “That makes it exciting but also complex. To ultimately increase customer lifetime value, we had to become even more professional in our automated communications.”
Improved data integration and marketing efficiency thanks to Evalanche
In recent years, the dealership group’s portfolio of services and offers has grown steadily. This came with increased demands on internal systems: On the one hand, there was a basic newsletter tool that offered no options to further automate marketing processes. On the other, the CustomerOne CRM used the customer’s postal address as the primary identifier, while the outdated newsletter tool relied on the email address. This led to duplicates and degraded data quality. There was also a lack of transparency regarding newsletter unsubscribes. CRM had limitations as well: the system did not show which customers had received which mailings and when. As a result, the inbound and outbound teams in marketing and sales lacked relevant insights. Data had to be entered manually, piece by piece. Kunzmann saw strong potential to speed up processes and free up resources. The solution: marketing automation. Around the same time, SC-Networks, the maker of the Evalanche marketing automation platform, and CAS Software AG entered into a strategic technology partnership. Given this collaboration—and because competing solutions had clearly reached their limits in meeting Kunzmann’s requirements—the decision ultimately favored Evalanche.
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The requirements
Combining analog and digital
Kunzmann needed one thing above all: cross-channel communication. Customers reach a dealership through many channels—online via newsletters, the online shop (and Kunzmann’s innovative customer portal), by phone, or in person at the dealership—in short, omnichannel. The CRM had to provide full transparency and, like the website, serve as the interface to the marketing automation tool. It had to ensure that customers who subscribe to the newsletter on the website using double opt-in are added to the newsletter distribution list just like customers who have already acknowledged the privacy policy on site. The goal was to combine offline and online touchpoints to create a holistic digital customer profile and automatically deliver personalized content to it.
Specialization for B2B and B2C
As a dealership, Kunzmann targets both B2C and B2B audiences—private buyers and fleet managers. The online shop also provides data on first- or second-time buyers, abandoned carts, and the date of first order. All of this data from different sources had to be synchronized in both the CRM and Evalanche—separated into B2B and B2C—so it can be used for sales work and marketing campaigns.
The implementation
Strategic pilot partnership creates industry standard
After initial contact with SC-Networks in 2018, the desire for greater automation led to a formal comparison between the existing newsletter tool and Evalanche at the end of 2020. In January 2021, Kunzmann and SC-Networks decided to collaborate, and implementation began. Individual use cases essential to the automotive industry were rolled out one by one—until it became clear that case-by-case adjustments would not be sufficient. Instead, a foundational architecture focused on automotive was needed: Kunzmann became a pilot partner in developing an integrated CRM–marketing automation solution tailored to the automotive industry. The result is an industry standard for the automotive sector, as the system now supports the integration of both customer data and associated vehicle data, along with numerous use cases: service and maintenance reminders, first-year ownership anniversary messages, recommendations for relevant spare parts, and more. The emi sync interface framework from emkada is used to connect to the CRM system, while CRM access via the website runs through a SOAP API.
Valuable insights from the automotive industry
Kunzmann had a clear vision of how a CRM for the automotive sector should look and function and took ownership of configuring the fields now stored in Evalanche, such as make, first registration date, vehicle owner, vehicle driver, and model. The latter was particularly important for displaying personalized content related to products in the online shop. As a strategic partner of SC-Networks, Kunzmann now brings both system worlds together. Since early 2023, another collaboration with interface provider and CAS partner emkada has been underway to introduce a customer profile concept that enables full synchronization of profile data between the CRM and Evalanche.
The CustomerOne–Evalanche connector
The Evalanche–CustomerOne connector emi sync from emkada acts as the interface between the CRM and the marketing automation solution. It enables bidirectional synchronization of customer and vehicle data to prevent data silos and duplicates and to support error-free customer communication across all channels. The 360-degree customer view is particularly important for the inbound and outbound teams, both online and offline, especially for tracking the sending history of email campaigns. The goal is upstream and downstream customer communication through an omnichannel approach—for example during test drives or to create a “digital awakening” of anticipation for new-vehicle delivery. A customer satisfaction survey is also conducted after workshop visits. Thanks to the website API integration, Kunzmann has visibility in the CRM into all data generated via its website and online shop. This enables, for example, targeted newsletter distribution and personalized content to improve both sales opportunities and customer loyalty.
Results
Newsletter marketing 2.0
In 2022, Kunzmann sent a total of 160 newsletters across segments including sales, service promotions, parts and accessories, and appointment reminders. To date, 40 of these newsletters have been fully automated with Evalanche. By automating previously manual processes—such as building newsletter distribution lists and sending email campaigns—the dealership has achieved a significant reduction in process costs. Thanks to a TAK XML feed linked to Kunzmann’s website, it has also been possible to offer personalized products based on the customer’s vehicle and tailored to the car’s model series.
Cross-channel lead generation
To acquire new leads, Kunzmann ran an email campaign in July 2022 to promote a test-drive event. Clicking the invitation generated a callback request email that was automatically recorded in the CRM, enabling the outbound team to schedule an appointment by phone. After the test drive, this newly created audience segment received an informational newsletter with content related to that vehicle class—matched to the model the customer had tested.
Thanks to Evalanche, Kunzmann was already able to send 40 of 160 newsletters automatically in 2022. (Source: Kunzmann)
Kunzmann gained new leads thanks to an email campaign created in Evalanche Campaign Designer. (Source: Kunzmann)
Lead nurturing in the purchase route
Customers can also have their vehicle valued via the dealership’s website. After submitting their data, they receive an initial price email. Depending on the make or the vehicle’s accident status, this is followed by up to five reminder emails. If Kunzmann purchases the vehicle, it resells it on B2B aftermarket auction platforms, generating dealer margin. If there is no further response from the customer, the automated email campaign concludes with a brief survey. Was the price too low? Has the vehicle already been sold elsewhere? Finally, a thank-you email is sent. The purchase-route campaign then ends, and regular communication for double opt-in (DOI) customers resumes.
Kunzmann also acts as a purchasing partner for used vehicles via e-mail campaigns. (Source: Kunzmann)
The advantages
Limitless possibilities
By integrating the Evalanche marketing automation platform with the CustomerOne CRM from CAS, Kunzmann benefits from automated communication that can be continuously enhanced and tailored to the dealership group’s needs. “Since we started working with Evalanche, we no longer face tools that are incompatible with our CRM and create data silos,” explains Dennis Ostner. “Campaign Designer, in particular, is a valuable component in our drive toward greater automation. It’s intuitive to use, and we haven’t hit any limits with the system so far. Even multilingual content works easily at the click of a mouse.”
Conclusion
Outlook for the future
Kunzmann plans to stay the course toward greater automation. The dealership group will continue to optimize its customer communications and is continually developing new use cases together with Evalanche to enable fully automated sales and marketing initiatives over the long term. The integration of additional channels—such as sending newsletters via WhatsApp—is also under consideration.
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