As NADA 2024 approaches, Noah Lee, Director of Product Consulting for Dealer.com shares a preview of what to expect at the “auto industry event of the year”—plus some tips for networking while you’re at the show. Want to know what else to expect at NADA this year? Check out the new First Look Guide from Cox Automotive.
1. Why Dealer.com? What’s the biggest differentiator?
a. I think the connectivity to the Cox Automotive immense data network is a huge Dealer.com differentiator. I’d also say the integration to the Accelerate My Deal (AMD) digital retailing tool because it allows shoppers to complete more steps of the buying process online.
2. Why should dealers beef up their advertising strategies into today’s competitive market?
a. Advertising allows dealers to target the right people at the right time and land them on pages with information that is relevant to them, so they are more likely to call, click, or start their deal online.
3. What new products are you excited about/can you preview that are in the Dealer.com pipeline?
a. The new product I am most excited about is Retail 360 because it is going to truly revolutionize the way shoppers buy cars. A dealer can come into the store and buy the car, complete some steps of the buying process and finish in-store, or even buy completely online.
4. Why should dealers be focused on digital retailing?
a. With digital retailing, dealers can get shoppers to complete more steps online which saves them time in the dealership and makes them more likely to buy a car from your dealership.
5. Anything you want the dealers to know going into NADA 2024?
a. Dealers need to start thinking about personalization, first-party data, and integration across their solutions as they prepare for NADA 2024.
Favorite TV Show: Better Call Saul
Favorite Thing about NADA: Seeing all the people and the amazing marching band at the show kickoff.
Favorite Vegas Restaurant: Mamafoku and Mr. Chow
Top Industry Buzz Words: AI, CDP, and Personalization
How many NADA’s have you attended: 4
Visit us at NADA to learn how Dealer.com can make every contact an opportunity. Secure your demo today.
Author: Paulo da Silva, VP of Ecommerce Operations
In the first installment of our two-part ecommerce blog series, we examined the overarching focus areas that dealers must prioritize to be successful in embracing automotive ecommerce. Let’s take a closer look at what dealers can do today to better position themselves for ecommerce success.
The process of purchasing a car online can be daunting for consumers. This is a huge financial decision that involves emotion, research (According to the Cox Automotive 2023 Car Buyer Journey, third-party sites are their go-to source and usage have ramped up since 2021), and a ton of consideration. But what can alleviate customer concerns with buying online? The answer is TRUST – both in the dealership and the condition and quality of the vehicles you’re selling. Establishing trust and transparency is paramount, considering the significant commitment involved in buying a car online. Unlike adding items to an Amazon cart, purchasing a car is a huge investment for most and holds profound meaning, demanding confidence that the purchase will be smooth, and that the dealership will take care of the customer.
There are three tangible ways to build that needed trust: credible vehicle content, a mature review program, and preparation for a data-intensive future.
As a dealer, you may realize you’re already on the right track, finding success in your current efforts with trust building. Alternatively, this blog might inspire you to accelerate your implementation, discovering that you’re positioning yourself for ecommerce on a smaller scale sooner than expected.
1. Building Trust and Transparency Through Vehicle Content
Emphasize the Crucial Role of Vehicle Condition: Beyond standard photos, consumers are increasingly expecting walk-around and 360 videos to gain a comprehensive view of your vehicles. As it allows customers to view and explore the product in more detail, resulting in a more informed buying decision. In fact, we’ve heard directly from our ecommerce dealers that adding 360 views for vehicles has increased the likelihood of the vehicle being added to their cart.
The dealers leading this charge are taking trust a step further and disclosing all (or most) vehicle blemishes, and detailed vehicle inspections.
Provide robust blemish disclosures: Highlight minor imperfections like dings, dents, and scratches, whether through 360 videos or distinct photos. Customers are demanding this, which further supports the fact that complete transparency builds trust and preempts confusion during test drives or even vehicle delivery.
Complete an inspection checklist: Ensure all your vehicles undergo a thorough inspection process. Customers want to know as much as they can about the vehicle they are purchasing. For example, you can include that the vehicle passed engine testing, muffler testing, etc. The important thing to note is that you must share this information directly on your website because customers want to see it.
List reconditioning completed: Proactively share steps taken to make the car retail-ready after the initial inspection has been done. Provide consumers with a final vehicle report card. For example, let’s say your dealership performed the 100-point checklist of a particular vehicle. Share what your dealership did to address any issues in the report like putting on new tires, replacing the air filter replacement, installing new brake pads, changing the oil, etc. It’s important to communicate any fixes you make so the customer feels confident knowing that their vehicle is in good condition because of your diligence.
But to reveal the findings of your vehicle inspection or reconditioning work, you must make this information consumer-facing. Navigating the disclosure of data to consumers can be challenging, especially when reconditioning information uses industry acronyms and shorthand that might be unfamiliar to customers. Overcoming this hurdle requires creative thinking. Managing data transparency poses a notable challenge. One approach is to cautiously reveal essential report aspects without inundating consumers with exhaustive details. Experiment with phased testing to secure smaller victories and assess positive outcomes. For instance, consider initially releasing this information for certain cars or disclosing specific details, like the installation of new tires, rather than all inspection/reconditioning data. The aim is to strike a balance that conveys transparency without sacrificing clarity.
2. Developing a Robust Review Program
When it comes to consumer decision-making, online reviews have evolved into a cornerstone of research, influencing the choices of 88% of online shoppers.
Harnessing the power of positive customer reviews (Read this blog for a deeper dive on how to generate more positive reviews) is integral to increasing traffic and attracting leads to your dealership. Without a structured system for cultivating reviews and amplifying the voices of satisfied customers, negative reviews may create an inaccurate online portrayal of your dealership.
Make online reviews a priority. And ensure your reviews come from verified customers, as this increases your credibility and further fosters trust with shoppers. Take the time to research the right technology and technology partner to realize the benefits of this resource. Doing so can help you generate more positive reviews and turn those reviews into a viable auto dealer marketing tool to build your brand and boost sales.
Here are a few things you should consider as you get started:
Review Collection Approach: Evaluate your current review collection methods. Ensure customers have adequate time to provide feedback within a relevant timeframe.
Enhance Vehicle Content Quality: Encourage customers to share engaging, detailed reviews. Emphasize the importance of specific details, photos, and videos to provide valuable insights that are attractive to potential customers. You can even simplify the feedback process by offering guidance and tools on how customers can submit reviews and the best approach to doing it.
Feedback Loop Implementation: Encourage customers to write reviews on Google, Facebook and Autotrader for example, and leverage these reviews by posting them on your website. Customers can also opt for third-party review services or apps like BazaarVoice or TrustPilot.
Publicly Respond to Reviews: Establish a process for addressing reviews with 3 stars or below. While you may not resolve all issues, addressing them publicly demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction and issue resolution, fostering customer confidence that you care about reaching a positive outcome.
Incentivize Reviews: Some dealers opt for incentives, but caution is advised. Instead of a direct offer, consider incorporating incentives thoughtfully into your strategy, such as through sweepstakes, avoiding a quid pro quo scenario.
Establishing a solid review process can mean more money in your pocket, serving as a valuable foundation, especially in the ecommerce landscape. When a consumer decides to purchase a car via a distance dealer, having the confidence that they are buying a vehicle from a reputable dealership that is going to take care of them throughout the entire car buying process is critical.
3. Preparing for a Data-Intense World
The automotive industry is undergoing significant transformations, with new technologies enhancing efficiency in daily workflows. Customer expectations for quicker transactions are on the rise, as highlighted by the Cox Automotive Future of Digital Retailing Study, where less than half of consumers express satisfaction with the car buying process duration. And dealerships are consolidating like never before; the top five dealer groups in the U.S. are made up of a combined 979 dealerships, according to the 2017 WardsAuto Megadealer 100.
Despite these revolutionary shifts, numerous dealerships continue to operate in outdated ways. Many still maintain a segmented approach to customers, where sales lacks awareness of service interactions, and Store A remains oblivious to a customer’s engagement with Store B nearby.
The most successful dealerships today are those that have overhauled their operations, viewing each customer as an individual rather than a disconnected entity. Shifting operations to adopt a unified customer view is driven by three things: data hygiene, streamlined workflows, and the quality of customer connections.
I challenge dealers to envision a future where the integration of solutions is a requirement. Establishing a comprehensive and connected view of the consumer becomes extremely necessary in navigating the data-intensive landscape of the automotive industry.
In conclusion, by focusing on vehicle content transparency, mature review practices, and preparing for a data-intense future, automotive dealers can build a foundation of trust that resonates with consumers and position them for success in the evolving ecommerce landscape.
The NADA Show 2024 is right around the corner. Cox Automotive is thrilled to present our exclusive 2024 First Look Guide, crafted by our exceptional retail brand marketing teams—Dealer.com, Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, xtime, VinSolutions, Dealertrack, Retail 360, and Ecommerce solutions. We encourage you to dive into this guide for a glimpse of the exciting new products and enhancements we’ve prepared for you – unveiling only at NADA Show 2024.
Don’t miss the Dealer.com-specific pages (18-21) for an exclusive preview of what’s in store. Visit us at NADA to learn how Dealer.com can make every contact an opportunity. Secure your demo today.
Author: Paulo da Silva, VP of Ecommerce Operations
The idea of consumers buying their vehicle completely online used to sound like a crazy idea, right? As the automotive industry has evolved—and quite frankly online shopping in general—the desire and capability to buy vehicles completely online has taken the automotive industry by storm. Let’s take Mark. He saw an ad for his dream car, started searching online and found it at his local Honda dealer website. After he personalized his payment, he was able to start the financing process, provided required personal documents, signed a contract, and now his dream car is being delivered to his front door. All this is being done in the comfort of his home without having to engage with dealership staff via phone, email, text, or in person. During this online shopping process, however, support is still always available should the consumer decide to engage with a salesperson from the dealership.
With this shift in the car buying process, there’s an amazing opportunity for dealers who are ready to supplement and transform their business by implementing true ecommerce into their operations to stand out from the competition. As we define true ecommerce today, it provides time savings for consumers and dealers through automation capabilities, allowing them to complete a full transaction from end-to-end.
Through research at Cox Automotive, we discovered two growing segments of car shoppers:
Efficient Independents: Mostly open to buying completely online in the future and prefer test drives and purchase delivery.
Guided Innovators: Have an increased want to start the car buying process online and seek website that allow them to complete more purchase steps online.
75% of these of these two fastest-growing car shopper segments said within the next five years they would buy ENTIRELY online. The shoppers in these segments are forward-thinking and already – do 10 out of the typical 13 car-buying steps online. Preparing for these consumers who will make up most of future car shoppers is crucial to ensuring your dealership is not left behind.
In this two-part blog series, you will get a glimpse of what we think the current state of automotive ecommerce is, and what dealers should know about what the road forward could look like for consumers buying cars completely online.
Where is automotive ecommerce today?
Ecommerce is an emerging channel, and we are seeing consumers who want to go through the car buying process entirely online, from end-to-end, with minimal handholding from retailers. The convenience and flexibility that it offers is an attractive option for consumers.
But while industry ecommerce adoption is still in the beginning stages, dealers who want to get ahead of the curve can be strategic by investing where consumers are going to be in the mid to long-term.
Dealers who are ready to embark on this journey need to commit to the long game, so their ecommerce business is built in a way that’s sustainable. If a dealer is expecting 30% of their sales to come from full ecommerce straight out the gate, those dealers are probably not in the position to really start seriously investing. Dealers should strive to be trusted sources as this ecommerce journey continues to ramp up, but need to recognize that the economics of this are going to improve over time. Thus, understanding the importance of getting into the ecommerce space sooner, rather than later, will make the difference between the dealerships who come out on top.
Why is it important for dealers to execute an omnichannel approach that still involves the in-store experience?
There will be a growing segment of your business that’s going to be truly 100% online and this segment will continue to grow over time. However, through our learnings in 2023 the majority of consumers prefer an omnichannel approach to car buying. Omnichannel is considered that idea of back and forth during different points in the transaction from online to in-store, and often back online again. Omnichannel ecommerce can be a bridge that dealers could use to get more and more experience at guiding consumers from online to in-store at different parts of the journey.
But omnichannel is also the destination itself. Even when ecommerce is at maturity, we expect the majority of transactions to still involve the in-store experience in some way. This means that the majority of consumers are still omnichannel, and dealers still need to focus on the in-store experience and creating a seamless journey no matter where the consumer finalizes the deal.
What role do digital retailing tools play in becoming ecommerce ready?
Digital retailing allows dealers to help consumers do pieces of the car buying experience online. Through this process the consumer starts the deal online and can take the deal from a credit app submission to sometimes even a credit decision, but at that point, dealership personnel will need to engage with the consumer to usher him or her through the deal. So, while technology plays a big role, the digital retailing process is largely supported by a person in the dealership. While digital retailing is not true/full ecommerce, implementing DR tools is a step in the direction of ecommerce. which is just pulling in more and more pieces of the transaction online.
Digital retailing helps lay the groundwork without requiring major channel strategy shifts because at the end of the day, the consumer still wants to come in to complete the deal so it can mirror the existing in-store approach.
What other things should dealers be focused on to prepare for the ecommerce road forward?
We will dive deeper into these focus areas in the next blog, but there are three areas dealers should focus on:
Building trust and rapport through content: Provide content about cars that answers consumers’ questions before they ask.
Establish a mature review program: Proactively collect reviews, and showcase high-quality, detailed reviews—providing incentives where it makes sense.
Prepare for a data-intense world: Partnering with companies like Cox Automotive that help uncover the full picture of the consumer.
These three focus areas will lay the foundation dealers need to fully adopt an automotive ecommerce world. And there are so many benefits of being an early adopter in this space versus taking a backseat approach. These are things that you must start doing today to be ready for what will be an expectation down the road.
In our next blog, we will walk through the key focus areas. We will explain the value of building an extensive set of positive reviews online, creating relevant content and maximizing your data so you can start working out the process kinks while scale is relatively small. This will ultimately help you appeal to a new segment of customers and reach new markets.
In conclusion, ecommerce is a preferred pathway for a growing group of car shoppers and dealers should be thoughtful and patient with their implementation of these new tools. It’s important to remember that ecommerce shouldn’t be a siloed part of your strategy. It should be integrated into your existing channels to work cohesively, not with separate teams, brand and inventory. This shift will not happen overnight but is a long-term strategy that will pay off with diligent preparations and consistency.
While many dealerships work hard to reach shoppers, there are three compounding challenges that leave profitability in a dangerous place.
But when you know what the gaps causing potential problems are, as well as how to bridge them in today’s times, you’ll be able to plan both around and for them as you work towards building a solid foundation for how you’ll do business with the future of eCommerce.
The Main Gaps
It’s not always easy seeing gaps in your business and strategy, but most profitability gaps in the eCommerce landscape fall into one of these two categories:
Disconnected Solutions: Complex and misunderstood digital solutions need to be connected to truly unlock their full power. When this isn’t done right, you’re only getting a fraction of their intended impact and intended use, making it near impossible to personalize your marketing and experience.
Data Insights and Actions: We all want, need and use data to make critical decisions about marketing and our business – but it’s important to remember data is just numbers. Often times insights are not used to their full potential and aren’t activated, which severely limits your ability to effectively engage and convert shoppers into buyers.
When you connect both your data and your digital solutions, you can ultimately build a better shopping-to-buying journey and overall experience for both the consumer and your internal organization. And with consumers continuing to show that what matters most to them is a seamless, personalized experience, it’s time for dealers to plan for a more connected future in order to meet that demand.
more than a catch phrase
In a recent learning series we released “Bridging the Gap” (you can register to access all sessions of the series here) we spoke of revolutionizing how you did business to prepare for the eCommerce future that was already knocking on your front door. .
Disconnections in personalization, data, and solutions are leaving money and opportunities on the table.
The strategy behind bridging the gap and changing how you do business online refers to connecting your data and solutions to your consumer experience is to build that seamless, personalized journey we mentioned consumers wanting above. And the good news is once you learn how to do this, the end results are immediately measurable – your dealership should be able to see improvements in ROI in your marketing spend, higher customer satisfaction and CSI scores, and overall profitability.
Connecting the Dots: Keep the deal moving
In order to keep the deal moving, and help consumers connect the dots that hopefully lead them to you, dealers must plan and strategize for a connected eCommerce experience. Especially as it relates to their online to in-store experience.
As dealers, like you, move more of the automotive buying experience online, it’s important to keep the deal moving—even as consumers move from online, to offline, and back online again. Each time there’s a transition in the deal, there’s an opportunity for your customer to be captured by your competitor. And there’s an equal opportunity for you to capture what should be your competitor’s consumer if they’re not providing a personalized frictionless experience.
If a consumer experiences disconnection during the deal, they are likely to completely stop the deal. Bottom line: If your digital solutions are disconnected, and your data doesn’t sync, you won’t build the seamless shopping experience necessary to succeed in today’s times.
However, a transition in the deal also represents an opportunity to secure the deal.
Stay on Track with the Following Strategies
Consumers have come to expect personalization, especially in our highly targeted online world. It’s what builds, or breaks down, trust. And it’s what will capture their attention in a crowded and noisy online space – someone that knows who they are and what they want.
Personalized experiences are a part of everything modern consumers do. During the pandemic businesses had to raise the bar to connect with consumers virtually – and it drove significant change in nearly every industry. The automotive industry is no exception.
The bar was set high. And as we all know and have experienced ourselves… once the bar has been set high, there’s no lowering it. Each and every time a consumer has an interaction with you either online or in-person they have an expectation of it being better than the last. Connected data and solutions can help you meet that demand and continue to have the ability to raise the bar.
Connect Solutions to Your Marketing Strategy: Make sure your messaging meets the right people, at the right time with connected digital technology solutions. Now take that a step further and make sure it’s done in the right way!
Connect Consumer Behavior Using Data: Tailor a personalized shopping experience for each lead using activated data. Look and interpret your insights and the actions they’re mapping out for you to take to capture both the consumer and the deal.
It’s Time to Supercharge your Digital Marketing
Your dealership either thrives or struggles with data. At its core, the information that comes from your consumer data platforms isn’t useful just in itself, it’s what you DO with your data that matters. How you read and interpret it.
An important question to ask yourself is what solutions do you have that turn your data and insights into actions? Once you get those actions, how are they enacted on? Gaining these behavioral insights will supercharge your data into understanding and having the ability to market with focus on:
• Who’s your shopper?
• What are they interested in?
• How likely are they to buy?
• What is their budget?
This information should inform your online messaging, empower your sales team for in-person interactions, and build a personal and relevant experience for potential and existing customers.
Plan to Increase AI
The connected experience goes way beyond traditional, and even non-traditional, car buying. Efficiency for the dealership depends on your ability to build trust and transparency through data-based decisions.
While digesting insights via multiple data sets grows more and more complex, the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more promising. AI can help you connect the most important behavioral insights to the needs of your sales team. This will not only help your sales team take more targeted actions that matter to drive business but help them get a more complete picture of the consumer to get them in the funnel faster.
When planning your eCommerce strategy for the future, look for connections and actions AI can help you make, especially when bridging online and in-store experiences to fast-track them and make them more personalized.
For the Road Forward
Technology is designed to deliver data to drive your business forward. But it’s very likely that your dealership solutions are disconnected, not capitalizing on what they were truly built for… to power your business and fuel your marketing. If they’re not set up to deliver the data in a way that is useful to your sales staff, it’s time to take a step back and do a hard reset.
As you do, you’ll have a huge opportunity to ensure that the level of personalization you’re bringing to the table is meeting your customers’ high expectations. Not just now, but into the future. The bar has been set very high, and there’s no reason not to aim to exceed it when you have the ability to by connected your solutions, data, insights and actions.
Cox Automotive has the most connected and comprehensive view of the automotive industry and offers unmatched data and insights into consumer behavior, automotive trends and operational best practices. Whatever your goals, we can help you get there faster to stay a step ahead and successful in today’s marketplace.
For more insights on activating these capabilities and a deeper dive on unlocking the profit potential in your marketing automation, watch the full Bridging the Gap video / audio series.
Listen, I get it! Staying on top of all-things advertising can be a daunting task. This is a fast-moving space that seemingly evolves daily. From Google rolling out new campaign-types each quarter, like pMax+, to Meta offering verified business checkmarks that help customers feel confident they’re dealing with a legit brand, all these changes affect your advertising in very real ways. We constantly see new advertising capabilities surface that can help dealers reach their customers in what can feel like an endless space.
However, taking your advertising to the next level does not have to be a massive, time-consuming evolution. It is worth remembering that there is no such thing as “perfection” in this sometimes-confusing space – that is an illusion – we aim for progress!
Something I’ve learned in my years as Director of Advertising at Dealer.com is that many dealers are only on the cusp of what their advertising strategy can do. Excuse me for taking advantage of a few overused clichés, but there is almost certainly some low-hanging fruit that could mean more traffic on your website and your showroom floor. I’m not talking about reinventing the wheel here or buying a whole social media platform just to change the name to a single letter for the sake of headlines.
A stale strategy is paramount to failure. But there are steps you can take to beef up your advertising strategy, small things that we can do today can have an impact.
As we have known for decades, most organisms will grow to the size of their environment, reaching out towards the limits of their domain and then slowing their expansive growth at the edges, becoming rigid – a marketing campaign is no different. Like most successful species, innovative advertising strategies need to be elastic, have room to flex, and be ready to push your boundaries with a diversified media plan.
Allocating just 8-12% of your monthly advertising budget to evolving your marketing and communications channels can reveal a lot about the topography of your space. You’ll get a better view of what works for you – and what doesn’t – and how much room you have to grow. Try something new for 45 to 60 days, assess the results, and pivot accordingly. Avenues that you wrote off a few years ago may prove fruitful, or perhaps a channel you hadn’t considered is now blowing up because of technological strides in targeting or audience capabilities.
While doing channel discovery testing (which is distinctly different than traditional A/B asset testing) it is important to note that what works for some advertisers doesn’t always work for everyone. And what worked in the past won’t always work in the future! So many external factors affect the market and buzzy trends tend to capture industry headlines. But continued and repeated channel testing can often lead to breakthroughs, even on a seasonal basis.
Why are you not using data?
In today’s ecosystem, the key to staying in front of high-value car shoppers is with first-party data and audience targeting is the keystone. First-party data allow you to:
Predict Auto Shopper and Consumer Behaviors
Gain Audience Insights
Personalize Content and Advertisements
Define and Map Out the Customer Journey
First-party data also gives you valuable insights into audience demographics, product-interest engagement metrics, lease or financing options, and service specials, just to name a few. This data also informs us on what customer behaviors are prevalent within an individual’s web activity, which gives you the ability to not only understand more about your consumer but have a clearer picture of how you can effectively reach them at the right time. These are insights that third-party cookies or purchased list data just can’t compete with.
How many of you are using your own data?
There are three areas that immediately come to mind when thinking about how to activate the first-party data that you probably already have at your dealership, information you’ve been collecting since the first day you opened your doors.
Your CRM – This is direct access to your customers’ behavior and can help you with lead management and marketing. Your CRM can be a treasure trove of information on your customers that you can harness to get your message in front of the right people.
Your Website – Uncover the pages that shoppers have visited on your website, what specific offerings or vehicles they’ve looked at, when they signed up for email specials or price alert notifications, or any of the other ways they’ve engaged with your site.
Your Email Engagement Strategy – Your consumer emails give you insights into what your target audience engages with. You’d be shocked if I told you most dealers don’t focus on analyzing and activating these insights. You can have a clear picture of what that consumer is interested in so you can use it to tailor your marketing to them and create those critical personalized experiences.
If you’re already advertising with Cox then you have access to our huge dataset, hyper IP targeting, and cookie-less household addresses. But setting aside just an hour per month to format and upload the info you already have, which we layer onto our own data, can help give a more accurate picture of your customer’s path to purchase, and that’s something we can really use!
We live in a visual world, now more than ever.
You heard about Barbenheimer, right?
Here’s a secret; every agency uses the same providers. Google, Facebook, Instagram, CTV/OTT, etc. are essentially the same platform no matter who is at the wheel. What sets agencies apart is their data – which we talked about above – and the ability to manage creative, especially when it comes to visual mediums like CTV/OTT and Display ads, and creative collaboration is a big part of any successful equation. Fresh, professional-looking creative can make or break the success of a campaign.
One thing we’ve seen over the years is that, despite best intentions, visual assets often become an afterthought for many clients. The focus of strategy discussions invariably drifts to campaign budget allocations, search ad copy, or keywords, but these things are slowly disappearing as our world increasingly becomes more bite-sized and visually oriented. Google’s Performance Max campaign type relies heavily on custom static creative and video messaging, as does CTV/OTT, and Cox’s proprietary audience-targeted display and dynamic remarketing.
Evergreen Visual Assets – In this new world, it has become imperative that dealers have evergreen assets that act as an anchor for these newer, visually engaging channels. Crafting an overarching message about your business, that speaks to the customer not about individual products but branding of the buying process, must be the core of these campaigns. From there, we can build on the message for more seasonal messaging that is more surgical in nature; monthly specials, limited-time deals, or rare inventory, to name just a handful.
Whether you supply your own custom assets or have our Content and Creative teams build them out, it is important not to let this slip through the cracks.
Build on momentum. Finding what works for your business can be uniquely individual. We can analyze broad consumer data to get the broad strokes, but identifying what has worked for your dealership, in your market, is the key to unlocking the inertia within the data. Using the Email Engagement Strategy above as an example, we can see what types of imagery and verbiage worked well to guide our digital strategy. Did people respond to a specific deal or phrasing, did they respond to a specific product image or color, or is the market culture focused on a specific topic that is locally relevant?
Our Barbie meme above show just how much outside “momentum” can affect outcomes.
With a little coordination, the momentum you get from a well-crafted marketing blast, physical mailer, or even signage can all be reproduced in your digital campaigns, especially as the industry moves quickly towards a more-visual mindset.
At the end of the day, though, the best way to find success is to test, fail, and test again. And make no mistake, just because an idea isn’t a homerun this time doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it! Frequent testing and refinement, combined with continually evolving audience data, is the new normal for digital advertising.
Having a digital presence as well as online capabilities is something every auto dealer needs in order to do business in today’s times. However, it’s not just a Field of Dreams scenario – if you build it, they will come. Today’s consumers have specific wants, needs and preferences in how they can purchase cars, and it’s reshaping the process for consumers, dealers and the industry alike on a whole.
In order to plan for the road forward, successful dealers know mid-year is the perfect time to take a look at both their current business and marketing strategies, as well as map out how they plan to step into and bridge into the eCommerce future that is already knocking on their front door.
To do this, it’s important to understand where consumers are, where they’re heading, and what your business should be moving toward for the road forward.
Consumer needs and preferences are reshaping the purchase process
When thinking about today’s consumer, it’s important to remember there’s been an evolution in the way they research, shop, and purchase cars. Especially over the last few years. In-market auto shoppers have new and different considerations during the shopping journey, and you must have new and different ways of strategizing and running your business than you did in years past.
A successful strategy should be firmly centered on meeting consumers where they are. No longer a linear path, consumers follow the purchase path in different ways, at different times, and take different steps in a different order.
But by focusing on personalization and offering a frictionless purchase path that both aligns with their needs while simultaneously overcoming their pain points, you’ll still arrive at the end goal of making the sale and giving your customer the experience, they desire. Staying in front of them, no matter where they’re at in the process, is key.
With so many different types of shoppers that your dealership comes across online, it’s important to take a step back and do a deeper dive into who those customers are, what their pain points are, and how you can offer solutions to not only capture their attention, but also gain their trust and business.
Cox Automotive’s recent Car Buyer Journey Study identified five (5) segments of consumers, and the two (2) categories that they fall in – one shrinking in the market and one growing.
Growing Segments:
Comprised of two different segments, the growing category includes Efficient Independents and Guided Innovators. Efficient Independents comprise roughly 18% of today’s market, and they’re mostly Gen X’s (1965-1980) and Millennials (1981-1996). The largest sector is the Guided Innovator. They make up a quarter of in-market auto shoppers. They’re the youngest – being comprised mostly of Gen Z (1997-2012) and Millennials.
Both growing segments prefer to buy online – with 75% of them saying within the next 5 years they would buy entirely online and currently complete 10 out of 13 purchase process steps online.
Shrinking Segments: It’s also important to note that the three (3) other segments found in the shrinking category are more likely to still buy in-person, however they still take some steps online during the purchase process. The Researchers, Traditionalists and Resisters prefer a process they are familiar with and that’s worked for them previously, that’s very straightforward and simple. These shoppers typically only complete 4 out of 13 shopping steps online.
So, what are the opportunities here for you? We can see how consumers want to do business online, but it’s important to remember it’s still new for them. Focus on educating them and bringing them along the purchase path with you. Your business and marketing strategy should be dialed into those growing segments. They’re online, and in our “Amazon world” they’re open to or moving toward buying high ticket items online, like cars, predominately online both now as well as in the very near future.
Advantages to stair stepping your digital retailing tools into eCommerce
Not every in-market auto shopper wants the same things from their online experience, but one thing they all do want is options. Our research shows that consumers don’t want to follow a prescribed sales process. In fact, 9 of 10 consumers prefer a flexible, personalized car buying experience.
With a complete full service-connected digital retailing experience, like that provided by Cox Automotive, you can give them just that.
Unlike digital retailing, eCommerce directs customers to complete the purchase through an online store.
When it comes to promoting and marketing digital retailing and eCommerce, there are several different strategies that businesses can use.
Digital Retailing Strategy:
It’s important to focus on creating a user-friendly experience for customers when it comes to digital retailing. This includes optimizing your website or mobile app for search engines, ensuring that customer service is top-notch, and using targeted advertising to reach potential customers. You also want to give shoppers the tools to explore the information they are comfortable researching or calculating on their own (inventory, trade-in values, financing terms/payments, F&I products) and make it easy for them to move and bridge the process to the dealership when they’re ready. Being able to easily pick up where they left off will increase their confidence, satisfaction and willingness to do business with you.
eCommerce Strategy:
Businesses should focus on creating a visually appealing online store that’s easy to navigate as they shift toward the full eCommerce experience. Other strategies to consider include using social media to reach customers, running targeted ads, and optimizing content for SEO. Additionally, businesses should consider using customer relationship management (CRM) software to store customer data and track customer activity. Everything from the car, to add-ons, to financing, to delivery and so on should be connected and seamlessly lead into each other.
Overall, digital retailing and eCommerce are two very different forms of retailing. However, both can be successful if dealerships take the time to properly promote, market, and educate the consumer on them and how their business integrates them. By taking advantage of strategies such as SEO optimization, targeted advertising, and actively using the many features of CRM software, dealerships can maximize their chances of success for their business in both digital retailing and eCommerce.
Is automotive eCommerce the way of the future?
Automotive eCommerce is becoming more and more popular as a way of retailing because it’s all about convenience. With eCommerce, customers have access to a much wider selection of vehicles and access new markets than they normally would. Additionally, they can browse through different models and features at their own pace and make informed decisions before making a purchase.
Today’s consumers both want and expect a flexible, personalized car buying experience on their timeline. And eCommerce provides exactly that.
What can you do now to prepare for the automotive eCommerce revolution?
In the beginning as you work step-by-step from having a few digital retailing solutions toward being fully eCommerce enabled, it’s essential to have a strong online presence. This may sound easy, but it involves more than you may think, and it’s built brick by brick, step by step.
Sure, this strategy includes setting up a high functioning easy-to-navigate website, creating a social media presence, and using SEO and PPC, but it also includes building strategies around integrating eCommerce technology into your business plan and timeline as it is adopted within your business and how you’ll market it. When you plan for the shift, it will make it easier for you to track customer preferences and trends if you make it possible for your customers to browse and buy vehicles directly from your site.
For the road forward
The automotive industry is on the cusp of a revolution, and working toward stair stepping your digital retailing into eCommerce is at the forefront of this change. By creating an online presence and integrating eCommerce technology into your business model, then supporting it with a thought-out marketing and consumer educational plan, you can ensure that you’re prepared for the future of the automotive industry.
Reshaping is and will continue to happen to the auto purchase process. And as times and consumer preferences change, so must your business plans and strategy. When you leverage the power of mixing, matching and modernizing your digital retailing toward full eCommerce capabilities, you’ll not only reach more customers and streamline operations, but you’ll also have the ability to unlock the potential for your business’s future success.
Want to hear all the ways to fully activate your first party data to plan for a more successful road forward? Catch the replay of a unique webinar opportunity with Automotive News hosted by Jade Terreberry and Noah Lee. They share examples of actions you should take now, and outline strategies successful dealerships and OEMs are implementing to make the most of your marketing efforts and dollars.
As the majority of us know, there are really big benefits to both having and collecting first-party data for your business. Think of your contacts, your customers, your leads, your website, your insights, your predictions… Everything that you have been collecting since the day your doors first opened and website went live at your dealership.
Your revenue sits in that first-party data. Or more importantly the strategy tied to it. And you can unlock many benefits and advantages by learning new ways of how to activate that data. Especially with a cookieless future quickly approaching on the horizon. In an ever-shifting automotive industry and world, your first-party data will help you stay a step ahead.
When it comes to your business and marketing goals, it’s essential to understand and map out where your dealership or brand is today, and where you’ve set your sites on going. Data can and should be a leading driver to help you successfully do this.
So together, let’s take a closer look at how your activated data can help you stand out to your ideal customer in your marketing efforts, mix-match-modernize your strategy, and help you map out your step by step as digital retailing and our industry bridges towards an eCommerce future.
It’s time to re-strategize how you’re activating your dealership’s data
Part of activating your data is interpreting and acting on the insights, especially when it comes to what your consumer wants, needs and prefers. However, your existing methods of activating your first-party data don’t quite work the same way anymore.
It’s time to revamp your strategy to accommodate the changing landscape of the industry and connect to new shopper insights.
Educate and Demonstrate: Remember, how we do business, where we do business and who we do business with has and will continue to shift. You need to make sure that your marketing strategy includes educating and demonstrating to the consumer you have the cars, service, experience and capabilities they want and are willing to show them how to use them.
Some of these consumers will be existing customers, but they might need reminders of how your business has evolved. And some of these consumers will be part of the heightened 56% of cross-shopping auto buyers who are open to and entertaining a different brand and type of car. Educate and demonstrate the advantages of doing business with you and what makes your brand the one they should choose. They’re new and haven’t had the first-hand experience yet, so give them the virtual experience and highlight hallmark values and experiences your brand offers.
Communicate the Way TheyPrefer: If you’re not communicating the way your consumer prefers, you are definitely missing out on business and probably losing some of your current customers. This year’s Cox Automotive annual Car Buyer Journey Study revealed that for the two growing segments of in-market auto shoppers, their preferences for communication steer them towards who they ultimately decide to do business with.
And what they prefer when it comes to communication is ease, a frictionless experience, and in their preferred method. For many that means texts, having chat available on your site, and instant buttons so they can quickly complete their desired actions.
Shifting Parts or All of the Car-Buying Process Online: Both of the growing segments of auto shoppers surveyed in the 2022 Car Buyer Journey Study said they prefer to buy online – with 75% of them saying within the next 5 years they would buy a vehicle entirely online. They’re a growing target, currently completing 10 out of 13 of the purchase steps online.
It’s an Amazon buying world. Consumers are open to and moving toward being more comfortable with buying high ticket items online, like cars, predominately online as well. Look at what you currently offer with your digital retailing tools and map out what steps you still need to go towards a fully eCommerce future. We have a few suggestions and items to consider when doing that below!
Rome was not built in a day, but it was built brick by brick. And so should your digital marketing strategy – lean the most on your first-party data to be your bedrock foundation and the digital retailing tools you have supporting, feeding and connecting your customers to what they want and need.
It’s time to gear up for the new speed of retail
Digital retailing tools continue to grow and expand how auto dealers do business and plan their marketing strategies. This digital foundation was laid in our industry during the pandemic with the goal of a better shopping experience. As satisfaction levels continue to likewise grow with the online experience, so should your focus on adding more digital retail solutions and capabilities as well as connecting them with your first-party data to help drive your business.
Did you know 70% of shoppers are more likely to buy
From a dealer if they can start the process online?
The new speed of retail is here, and shoppers expect a streamlined, digital experience. So, to help you meet them where they are, it’s important to take a look at where you are.
Whether your dealership is on the low end of the eCommerce spectrum only offering a few digital retailing tools, or are fully automated and full-spectrum eCommerce ready, there are distinct advantages to mixing, matching and modernizing your digital retail strategy. And first-party data should be the core pillar of how you’re connecting it all and moving forward, especially in a cookieless future.
As we touched on before, by alleviating your consumer’s pain points, and activating your first-party data with personalization, you’ll have the ability to not only stand out to your ideal customer and retain existing customers, but you’ll also have the ability to improve your customer’s experience in the following ways reported in the annual 2022 Car Buyer Journey Study. In a cookieless future this is where your revenue will have the ability to grow.
In-market auto shoppers and buyers reported the following satisfaction levels and advantages with transacting online:
88% – Save time at the dealership
86% – Save time with the buying / leasing process
83% – Seamlessness of continuing the online buying transaction in store where they left off
81% – Improved the overall buying experience
78% – Greater transparency with pricing
By connecting your first-party data to your existing and future digital retail tools, you’ll not only give your consumers what they’re looking for, but you’ll set yourself up for increased exposure and reach, the ability to turn vehicles more quickly, increase your opportunities for acquisition and inventory and close more deals. More specifically… profitable deals!
Automotive digital retailing vs. eCommerce: What’s the difference?
There is often confusion when it comes to the differences between digital retailing and eCommerce. While they both start online, that’s where the similarities both begin and end.
Digital retailing helps guide the overall experience for your shopper and saves time for both you and the consumer. Your customers can easily navigate and engage with your website during different stages of their purchasing journey.
Digital retailing: Largely supported by a person at your dealership: There are many steps that digital retailing can connect. For example, the consumer starts the deal online and can take it to a credit app submission, sometimes even a credit decision, but at that point dealership personnel will need to engage with the consumer to walk them through the deal. So, while technology plays a big role, the process is largely supported by a person in the dealership.
eCommerce: A fully digital transaction: On the other hand, eCommerce also begins with the consumer starting the deal online. But the key difference is that a consumer can take a self-paced fashion, working through the deal all the way through digitally signing the contract package and scheduling the delivery of the vehicle. The process is also supported by F&I automation primarily, not dealership personnel. Most dealerships have dedicated eCommerce teams who solely focus on these end-to-end online transactions.
If adding an eCommerce channel isn’t feasible in the near future, digital retailing can still satisfy those digitally savvy shoppers. Consumer research confirms that not every consumer wants the same results from their online experience. In fact, 9 out of 10* prefer a flexible, personalized buying experience. Make it simple for customers to explore the information they are comfortable researching (inventory, trade-in values, financing terms/payments, F&I products) and move the process to the dealership when they are ready.
Aside from leveraging digital retail and eCommerce solutions to provide seamless transitions between digital and physical interactions, training your entire team (not just your BDC) on switching between online and offline interactions goes a long way. You’ll see increased confidence, improved satisfaction and the consumer will appreciate this more personalized and efficient way of doing business.
For the road forward
A cookieless future isn’t as worrisome when you put your first-party data to use. By revisiting your current marketing strategy, mixing-matching-modernizing your digital retailing tools to connect them to your data, and planning everything your dealership does from the top down on how you’ll grow your eCommerce business, you’ll stay a step ahead of your competitors and align your dealership for success in the future.
As technology continues to evolve, activating first-party data is essential for every auto dealer, whether your business is brick-and-mortar or strictly eCommerce. You’ll gain insights into consumer behavior and preferences, improve customer experience, and optimize your marketing campaigns and dollars.
It’s time to start shifting from just collecting first-party data to activating and connecting it. Because when you do, you’ll quickly see the difference it can make for your business to increase conversions and your profits.
Cox Automotive has the most connected and comprehensive view of the automotive industry and offers unmatched data and insights into consumer behavior, automotive trends, and operational best practices. Whatever your goals, we can help you get there faster to stay a step ahead and successful in today’s marketplace.
WWant to hear all the ways to fully activate your first party data? Catch the replay of a unique webinar opportunity with Automotive News hosted by Jade Terreberry and Noah Lee. They’ll share examples of actions you should take now, and outline strategies successful dealerships and OEMs are implementing to make the most of your marketing efforts and dollars. Sign up for the watch webinar.
As more consumers shop online for cars, dealers must maintain a consistent online presence at every touch point of the car buying journey to drive engagement and sales. Dealer.com, combined with Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, provide unified access to the industry’s most visited consumer shopping site, most trusted vehicle research site, and the premier dealer digital marketing platform.
Nuan Openshaw-Dion and Jessica Stafford share how Dealer.com, combined with Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader is the only connected, end-to-end set of solutions designed to help dealers reach more in-market shoppers and engage them at every stage of the car buying process.
At Dealer.com we believe partnership and accountability are key to lasting success at your dealership.
That’s why we have a talented team of Performance Managers to offer expert digital marketing for car dealers. From delivering monthly insights to tweak your short-term digital marketing strategy, to ensuring you’re using our technology to seize every opportunity, your Performance Manager is always focused on your success.
Are you already a Dealer.com and want to know how to best partner with your Performance Manager? Or are you thinking about partnering with the only end-to-end digital marketing in the industry? Here’s an overview of how our digital marketing experts can give you the tools to run a successful dealership.
What to Expect
You can expect your Digital Storefront Performance Manager to work with your team to show you the dos and don’ts of digital marketing and retailing, the strategies that drive sales, and the winning formulas that have worked with other dealers. With Dealer.com, you get
Direct access to a skilled digital marketing expert with extensive experience in the automotive industry
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Best practices to work into your marketing, digital retailing, and sales processes
The Power of True Digital Marketing Partnership
Your Digital Storefront Performance Manager is always focused on your dealership’s success. Through regular consultation meetings, you get expert digital marketing and digital retailing advice and insights to customize your digital marketing strategy and ensure that you’re getting the most out of your solution to seize every sales opportunity.
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Get The Most from Performance Management
With an average of at least three years of experience in automotive sales, Digital Storefront Performance Managers deliver digital marketing expertise, unrivaled industry knowledge, and a unique understanding of Cox Automotive technologies to help you run a successful digital dealership. Follow a dedicated support model with a team comprised of directors, managers, and digital marketers committed to implementing strategy changes.
Ready to put the power and expertise of our Digital Storefront Performance Managers to work for your dealership? Schedule a consultation today.
