Motorway refuels its reactivation campaign into an always-on testing engine with BrazeAI Content Optimizer™

Motorway is the UK’s first and biggest exclusive car-selling platform. The company connects private sellers with a network of more than 8,000 verified car dealerships, representing more than two-thirds of the national market, effectively simplifying the process of selling a car. While most UK residents own a motor vehicle, they tend to engage with Motorway only when they're thinking about making a sale, making it essential that the brand engages them effectively when the opportunity is there.

Motorway's customer relationship management (CRM) team is lean by design. However, while their focus has historically been on brand-led, one-off campaigns that can bring in new sellers, in recent years they've successfully embraced a culture of experimentation while also piloting an AI-first approach to customer engagement.

One key example? Following an audit of their user journeys, the CRM team realized that they had an opportunity to drive stronger impact by prioritizing an overhaul of their re-engagement messaging. In particular, they discovered that an automated message targeting users who had requested a valuation for their car (but who never ended up listing the vehicle) was now out of date, potentially limiting the impact of this key touchpoint. To fill this gap the team turned to the beta version of BrazeAI Content Optimizer™, which provided them with the infrastructure to support an AI-first approach at scale.

Automatic messaging set to idle

Naturally, a small team aims to automate messaging wherever possible, but it becomes difficult to test and personalize every automated sequence. The reactivation message in question was sent monthly and had been mostly untouched for years. The template was simple, highlighting general market data like the previous month's top-selling model, even though the landscape was far more nuanced and often influenced by external variables like interest rates, fuel prices, local weather, or major sporting events. These factors also made it difficult to know whether someone decided to list their vehicle because of external influences or campaign or creative changes.

BrazeAI Content Optimizer™: An engine for change

The scale of the reactivation campaign made for an ideal proving ground and test subject for BrazeAI Content Optimizer™. After joining the beta program, Motorway’s team tested more than one or two variations at a time. Instead, they used Content Optimizer to test 125 combinations that were made up of five subject lines, five body copy variations, and five CTAs against an audience that was split 80/20, where only 20% were the control group receiving the old static messaging.

What they learned was that messaging and nuance matter. Early results were so strong that the team expanded their approach to seven campaigns in total, testing messaging across email, push, and SMS channels. They also began feeding their learnings back into other programs. For example, after Content Optimizer surfaced that including a specific vehicle model in the CTA outperformed a generic call-to-action, the team tested that same insight against their previous top-performing variant in a business-as-usual campaign—and won by 30%.

Results: Driving revenue through stronger personalization

The flagship reactivation campaign delivered a 114% lift in click volume and a 37% increase in new valuations compared to the static control. A second, lower-volume reactivation campaign saw a 47% uplift in click-through rate once it went live. Those metrics reflected real, positive impact for Motorway’s business, with the increase in click volumes connecting more potential sellers to their platform and the jump in new valuations effectively re-engaging these lapsed users, restarting a process that could end with a successful sale.

Beyond the metrics, Content Optimizer has given the team the confidence to experiment more freely, and has become a regular focus area in weekly business reviews as campaigns consistently outperform forecasts. Motorway now treats experimentation as an always-on discipline rather than a periodic project, and plans to leverage the intelligence ofContent Optimizer across the rest of its Canvas portfolio.

“Content Optimizer has transformed our test and learn agenda. We are able to get learnings at scale that have accelerated the velocity of testing, and the positive initial results have gained us trust with stakeholders. Now, we can run an always-on strategy of AI-driven experimentation.”

Rumi Hallingstad

Growth Marketing Director, Motorway, Motorway

Key takeaways

1. Identify a real opportunity for change: Motorway's reactivation campaign was automated, high-volume, and long overdue for a refresh. This gave the team a clear, measurable proof point on their very first Content Optimizer test.
2. Let one campaign's learnings power the next: Insights from Content Optimizer, like the value of personalizing CTAs with vehicle models, were redeployed into business-as-usual campaigns for compounding value.
3. Early wins build the trust an always-on strategy needs: Consistent, low-risk positive results gave Motorway's team, and its stakeholders, the confidence to move from occasional, manual tests to continuous, programmatic experimentation.

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