At Cox, we’re all about creating a frictionless, end-to-end experience for customers. And with so many Cox Automotive solutions, we strive to create valuable connections between our solutions to deliver dealers and consumers real value.
That’s why we believe Cox Automotive marketing solutions—Dealer.com, Autotrader, and Kelley Blue Book— just work better together.
One valuable connection that was unveiled at NADA Show 2023 that really takes the power of connection to the next level, is Kelley Blue Book My Wallet now being integrated into Dealer.com dealer Websites who have Accelerate My Deal.
Noah Lee, Senior Director of Product Consulting at Dealer.com, provides a quick overview of KBB My Wallet. He also demos how car shoppers can navigate the My Wallet tool on Dealer.com websites and easily complete even more steps of the car buying journey online with Accelerate My Deal.
As the only end-to-end auto digital marketing agency, Dealer.com wants to help transform your digital retailing and increase your car buyer leads with a truly connected, end-to-end experience for consumers.
Kelley Blue Book® My Wallet on Dealer.com websites received the Enterprise Retailing award during the 2023 AWA Awards. Presented by Brian Pasch Enterprises, the AWAs have been a benchmark in the auto industry for recognizing innovative products in technology, design, search marketing, social media, and digital retailing.
Pictured L-R: Mike Wulfe, Katie Wilkins, and Paul Paridy.
Kelley Blue Book® My Wallet is an intuitive tool designed to improve the shopping to buying journey and drive more quality connections between buyers and sellers.
Debuted at the NADA Show 2023, Kelley Blue Book® My Wallet automatically integrates into Dealer.com dealer websites who have Accelerate My Deal. This means dealers will have access to everything from down payment, trade-in, and financing information – the data needed to speed up the deal-making process and get more accurate leads.
When My Wallet meets Dealer.com websites, consumers will have the most comprehensive and consistent power of Digital Retailing at their fingertips.
How Does Kelley Blue Book My Wallet Work?
If a shopper engages with Kelley Blue Book My Wallet on Autotrader, they’ll be prompted to enter a desired monthly payment, trade-in, down payment, credit range and term length. This gives consumers more accurate “all-in” pricing.
From there, their entire search will be customized. Consumers gain budget guidance to help them better understand purchase power and can shop by payment which opens a whole new world of possibility. Dealers Get insights into the consumers financial profile on more leads to provide a personalized sales process with less friction.
Kelley Blue Book My Wallet + Accelerate My Deal
80% of consumers think it is a good or great idea to buy entirely online. And with Accelerate My Deal, consumers can complete even more steps online, speeding up the deal for everyone.*
When shoppers enter their information into Kelley Blue Book® My Wallet it’s automatically transferred into the Accelerate My Deal experience. Accelerate My Deal leads on average close at a 48% higher close rate compared to other internet leads helping dealers get more highly qualified leads and boost their profits.** My Wallet gives shoppers a personalized shopping journey and Accelerate My Deal moves the shopper from journey to purchase.
Want to transform digital retailing with a truly connected, end-to-end experience for consumers? Click here to learn more about My Wallet today.
*2022 Car Buying Journey Study
** Cox Automotive Product Analytics. Accelerate My Deal Lead to Close Analysis using VinSolutions sales data. Data from Jan 2020-Nov 2020. Analysis performed January 2021
Summary: Kelley Blue Book® My Wallet, a personalized shopper tool on Autotrader US and Kelley Blue Book, will now be automatically integrated into all Dealer.com dealer websites. Learn more about this exclusive lead-driving tool.
Consumers have spoken and dealers have responded. As a result of overwhelming demand, about 70% of dealerships now offer some form of a digital buying experience.* They are giving customers what they want—the option to start and (in some cases) even complete the car buying process online. But with so many dealers going digital, how does your digital dealership stand out?
Bring Awareness to Your Customers
Simply having a digital buying experience is no longer enough, especially if your customers don’t know what you offer. To differentiate your dealership and win more automotive leads, you have to bring awareness to your digital options.
Having digital buying tools on your website is a good first step, but you have to create, design, and implement a buying experience that speaks to your audience—modern car buyers. Customers are already motivated to move through a digital buying experience (two out of three want to complete even more steps digitally during their next buying experience). And when they know what dealership offers, you stand out.
Tell your customers all about your digital buying experience and make the benefits clear to the customer—reduced time in the dealership, added convenience, and the ability to buy even when out of market. Doing so can expand your reach, attract more car buyer leads, and provide a clear pathway to engage with your offerings.
Make Your Digital Experience as Easy as Possible
One of the top pain points of buying a car is spending time in the dealership. If your customers can complete a handful of steps digitally before arriving at the dealership, the entire car buying process will be smoother, more efficient, and easier for your customers. These initial digital steps may include the ability to:
Calculate personalized payments in every aspect of their deal structure
Include every possible incentive and rebate available to your customers
Value a trade-in and see how the price of a new or used car adjusts accordingly
Get an idea of their credit worthiness and even apply for and get preapproved for financing
Schedule a test drive appointment
When you offer this kind of experience, word gets around. Before long, your online reviews will reflect that buying a car from your dealership is the best, most efficient experience around. This has a compounding effect of bringing even more awareness to your dealership as a place of business that speeds up the overall buying process and treats customers right.
Take Your Digital Buying Experience Above and Beyond
Another way to differentiate your digital buying experience is to implement steps that few other dealerships offer. This can disrupt the status quo of the new digital dealership and create some buzz around your offerings. These steps may include:
Personalized virtual video test drive: This may involve a video call with the customer while members of your sales team drive the car and show off features.
Remote deal signing: Give customers the option to complete signing from the convenience of their home or office. This can expand your dealership audience to include out-of-market customers and may give your dealership a competitive edge through inventory shortages.
Online vehicle reservation: On a similar note, giving digital customers the ability to put their name down for a car and get in line for an upcoming purchase can give your dealership an advantage when inventory is low across the industry.
Scheduling a first service appointment: Consider introducing your customers to your service department with a virtual service meeting. This can help your customers establish a consistent pattern of bringing their car to your service department and boost service revenue.
The digital dealership may be the new norm, but your digital dealership can stand out from the crowd by bringing awareness to customers, making your digital experience as easy and customer-friendly as possible, and going the extra mile to offer digital steps other dealerships don’t.
To learn more about how you can stand out in a world of digital dealerships, check out Dealer.com Manager of Performance Management B. Malaczewski’s recent webinar, all about differentiating the digital buying process. You can also learn more about delivering the kind of digital shopping experience your customers expect at Dealer.com.
* Digitization of End-to-End Retailing (DoEER) study by Cox Automotive
Why are some digital shopping experiences more successful than others? What motivates consumers to move through the digital shopping experience with one dealership and drop off with another?
These are complicated questions with more than one answer, but in the end it all comes down to the consumer experience. What consumers want, consumers get, even if they have to shop at a different dealership.
Pay attention to these key consumer interests when it comes to implementing your digital shopping experience.
Complete More Steps Online
Consumers don’t want to spend a lot of time at the dealership, no matter how they choose to buy their cars. One major difference between various digital shopping experiences involves the number of steps the consumer can complete online (and as a result, the amount of time spent at the dealership).
As recently as 2018, consumers were spending approximately 3 hours at the dealership, just to get a deal done. Two years later, with more dealers incorporating elements of a digital shopping experience, that time decreased to an average of 2 hours and 37 minutes.
For consumers who complete at least 50% of the car buying process online, time spend at the dealership went down even more dramatically to about 2 hours. Even more telling, consumer satisfaction increased as more dealers offered a digital buying experience and the amount of time spent at dealership decreased.
Implement Steps Customers Want
It’s not just the number of steps in your digital shopping experience that matter. The specific steps that you include within that experience can convince car buyer leads to do business with your dealership.
The following steps are the basic building blocks of a digital shopping experience. Even if you already incorporate them as part of your digital shopping experience, it’s important to communicate and promote their availability to your prospective dealer leads.
Personalized Payments: Most customers are payment shoppers. They want to know as much about their future car payment as possible. This key information will help them decide whether or not to continue down the path to purchase. Give your consumers the tools to create all aspects of their deal structure online.
Incentives and Rebates: Every consumer wants to get a good deal on their new car purchase. They want to know that they’re getting every possible incentive and rebate available. Be upfront with your shoppers about what they can expect to receive and make incentives and rebates an integral part of the digital shopping experience.
Trade Valuation: Consumers know that their trade-ins carry value. If they don’t think they can include their trade-in as part of the digital deal, they may shy away you’re your digital shopping experience. In fact, according to Cox Automotive data, 80% of all digital deals include a trade. It’s an important part of the car buying experience for the majority of consumers.
Credit Application: If one of the main goals of the digital shopping experience is to promote convenience (and reduce time at the dealership), including a credit application is near the top of every customer’s digital shopping checklist. Offer an online credit application to give you a better idea of consumers’ credit worthiness and allow them to pre-qualify, even before they step foot in the dealership.
Test Drive: What would the car buying experience be without a test drive. It’s the time when consumer meets car and matches are made. Including the ability to self-schedule a test drive as part of the digital car buying experience allows consumers to make their own appointments and take that all-important next step toward buying their next car.
Transform Your Digital Shopping Experience
Again, what motivates consumers is a complicated question, and these are just a few of the basic elements of a digital shopping experience. You may also consider including:
Offsite test drives
The option for home delivery
The ability to view and buy vehicle protection products
Virtual tours and test drives
Remote deal signing
Vehicle reservation
Service scheduling
Just remember, in general, consumers appreciate the opportunity to complete more steps online and spend less time at the dealership. It saves them time and differentiates your dealership’s digital shopping experience from the host of online competitors.
To learn more about how your dealership can transform the digital buying experience, check out Dealer.com Manager of Performance Management B. Malaczewski’s recent webinar, all about differentiating the digital buying process. You can also learn more about delivering the kind of digital shopping experience your customers want at Dealer.com.
Nearly every franchise dealer offers digital retailing, but very few do anything to effectively market their experience. They take a set-it-and-forget-it approach and fail to capitalize on a prime opportunity to engage customers and stand out from the competition. In this on-demand webinar hosted by Drew McEleney, you’ll learn:
Why digital retailing is so important in today’s market
Why marketing and branding your digital retailing experience is worth the investment and how it sets you apart from other dealers
Best-in-class examples of digital retailing marketing
As the automotive sales industry shifts toward offering more digital buying experiences, dealerships need to do more to stand out from the increasing crowd of competition. It’s no longer enough to simply offer a digital buying experience. Your dealership needs to seriously consider how to be different. That means appealing to auto sales leads with a digital buying experience that’s appealing and gives them reason to choose your dealership over your competitors.
B. Malaczewski, manager of Performance Management at Dealer.com, recently spoke to dealers about the importance of differentiating the digital buying process. She offered valuable insight into what motivates car dealer leads to choose one digital shopping experience over another and how you can promote your brand to best appeal to buyers. Key takeaways from the presentation included:
A list of essential and optional steps for your digital shopping experience
How to decide which digital processes are right for your dealership and your customers
Branding considerations that will set you apart from the competition
How to maximize communication on your digital storefront for digital shopping
How to leverage connected Cox Automotive brands to differentiate your dealership online
Watch the webinar to see how your dealership can stand out from the crowd to offer a distinct digital buying experience.
