Customer specifications were emailed to dealers who then contacted prospective buyers with price offers. Autobytel has remained in my Internet marketing showcase. Beyond the new business model it introduced, Autobytel is an excellent example of how to use information to develop permission style marketing. Permission marketing is typically triggered by a contest to grab people s attention. But a contest doesn t have the staying power to keep people returning to a Web site or the stickiness to keep them clicking through its pages.
Useful information is the trick to getting a Web site bookmarked.
Though I always use Autobytel in my workshops to demonstrate Internet marketing concepts, I rarely visit the site personally. The only kind of automobile that interests me is a taxi. But my husband is a different story. He is a car fanatic. He loves pricing, configuring and comparing them.