Q1 2026 Automotive Email Marketing Benchmarks

Automotive Email Marketing Benchmarks and Statistics – Q1 2026

Published: May 2026

Using Q1 benchmarks to plan a successful Q2 and beyond

The first quarter of 2026 saw a welcome uplift in new car sales, year-on-year, as well as robust demand for used cars. This all brought with it an inevitable upturn in the overall volume of enquiries, and in parallel, retailers have to contend with the steady rise in consumers’ expectations about the speed, relevance and timeliness of communications. Even for the smallest motor retail businesses, responding effectively at scale cannot be done via manual processes alone.

Now, as part of TekCor4, we can offer an even broader range of services to our retail partners and use increasingly rich datasets to drive more effective digital marketing communications. By expanding the VoiceBox Aftersales programme with TekCor4’s data sources, we can now cross-reference a retailer’s customer database with OEM data feeds, improving the accuracy and relevance of our aftersales messaging.

Analysis of response rates in Q1 has given us a keen insight into the effectiveness of different communications. This data can be used by retailers to benchmark their own performance, as well as plan their proactive and reactive communications over the next few months.

The numbers in review

VoiceBox gives retailers the ability to deliver high-quality, personalised email communications specific to each customer, such as prompts about relevant available stock, details of maintenance work due or finance renewals. These automated communications nurture enquiries to maintain high levels of engagement with thousands of customers and prospects, with minimal intervention required from sales and aftersales departments.

In the opening quarter of 2026, over 3,406,953 emails were issued using VoiceBox for sales and aftersales, resulting in 346,464 new enquiries, achieving an impressive enquiry-to-sale conversion rate of 25%.

Monitor data capture and consent to underpin success

Analysis of CRM data from over 500 of our retailer clients revealed that 8% of customer records lacked an email address, and 15% were missing a phone number. Among records with an email address, 26% did not have consent to receive email marketing messages, and 35% did not have mobile consent, meaning a large proportion of potential customers could not be contacted.

As ever, high-quality data provides the foundations for effective marketing, and accurate records with appropriate consent maximise the chances of success.

Automated communications to support sales

With an average open rate of 62%, our sales enquiry follow-up emails are a highly effective method for retailers to progress active leads and act as an introduction for tailored stock update emails. Our Stock Alert emails are targeted emails that help to re-engage with prospects when relevant stock is added or prices change. In the first quarter of 2026, these emails received an average open rate of 48%. Stock Alert emails can be hyper-targeted to a customer’s preferences, and in Q1, more retailers saw the benefits of EV-specific stock alert emails.

Another area where automated emails drive success for retailers is with ‘lost lead’ messages. Retailers receive a vast number of leads daily, and a high proportion are marked as ‘lost’, often due to unavailable stock. An average open rate of 55% and an average click rate of 17% illustrate how effective these messages are in keeping customers in the sales funnel, without placing additional workload on the sales teams.

Combined data sources for accurate aftersales messages

Our VoiceBox platform can build automated digital marketing campaigns for sales and aftersales that draw on both retailer and OEM data. Customers expect communications to be ‘joined up’ in this way, and for aftersales, they respond best when different jobs can be combined into fewer workshop visits.

Integrating service and MOT prompts into a single reminder has gained notable success for retailers, with an open rate of 54% and a click rate of 14% achieved during the first quarter of 2026.

Enhanced CRM email open rates and click-through rates for UK car, van, and motorcycle retailers

Message	Objective	Av. Open Rate	Av. Click Rate
Enquiry Follow Up	Nurture active leads	62%	17%
Stock Alerts	Engage open enquiries with new or reduced stock	48%	17%
Appointment Confirmation & Reminders	Improve kept appointments	74%	10%
Lost Sale Follow Up	Capture business insight and re-engage unconverted leads	55%	17%
Post Delivery	Capture reviews and introduce aftersales	78%	19%
Motability Messages	Bespoke customer journey for Motability customers	60%	14%
Service and MOT reminders	Re-engage customers and keep workshop front of mind	54%	14%
End-of-term finance renewals	Warm up existing customers to aid sales retention	60%	15%

Our VoiceBox platform reduces the burden of ongoing interaction from sales teams by issuing automated communications that support customer engagement until the right car becomes available. VoiceBox uses AI to support 24/7 customer communications and maintain a wider reach, far beyond what would be reasonably achieved via a human-led process.

TekCor4 builds customer marketing solutions exclusively for the automotive sector, with AI-driven, dynamic, and personalised email, SMS, and social media communications.

If you’re looking to enhance your CRM, contact us today.

Disclaimers

The accuracy of email open rates may be impacted by Apple’s privacy changes and their Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) feature, and this should be considered as you interpret open rate data. The data provided is an average of all emails sent between 1 January 2026 and 31 March 2026 and may vary from email marketing benchmarks data provided within the VoiceBox application.

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