Category: Business Continuity

Support The At-Home Experience

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By Kevin Byer, Director of Sales at Dealer.com 

The past several months has brought lasting change to the automotive industry. While consumers adjusted their shopping behavior to comply with social distancing mandates, your dealership rolled out or enhanced digital solutions to meet their needs to produce automobile leads and keep the business in operation. The sales process is undeniably shifting to and advancing online, which means your marketing should too. Adjust the processes and technology for automotive digital retailing and advertising in order to support a seamless sales and services experience. 

It’s become essential to support a new, at-home shopping experience that enables the car-buying transaction in the comfort, safety and convenience of the shopper’s home. Services like 100% virtual car sales, home delivery and test drives, and remote vehicle service and repair have long been a dream for consumers.  This dream is becoming reality.  So, if your business still requires an in-person visit to your dealership, then it’s time to make some improvements. 

Start by generating a list of your current marketing activity and mapping it to your sales process. Does each activity align with the story your dealership is telling?  Better yet, does your marketing enhance this message? Connect and align your dealership story and shopper convenience. The recommendations listed here can help you accomplish this. 

Evaluate Website Tools 

Explore your website through the eyes of the consumer. Start from the homepage and navigate through the search, vehicle deals, and service pages, paying close attention to communication tools: 

  • Can shoppers easily find a way to connect with a sales associate?  
  • What communication options are available?  
  • Are communication prompts visible and prominent? 
  • What deal building tools are available? 

By evaluating your website from the shopper’s point of view, you may uncover opportunities to build a bridge to your sales team. And the more convenient and direct these pathways can be, the better your chance to connect and generate quality leads. 

Invest in Technology  

Once you’ve assessed the communication options that are available to shoppers on your website, the next question is whether you have the right mix. In today’s automotive shopping environment, some consumers are still warming to digital retailing, while others are embracing it and would welcome more features. Enter: video chat. What better way is there to offer one-to-one engagement and foster connection with shoppers, while conducting the conversation from different locations?   

Video chat enables a sales team member to guide the shopper through the buying experience as if they were sitting in your dealership together. Explore reallocating a portion of your budget to launch this tool. In addition, CoBrowse is a service that allows shoppers to share their computer screens with their sales associate. Both technologies support seamless communication with shoppers during the car buying process. 

Audit Your Content 

By now, you’ve compared marketing activities against your sales plan, researched communication tools currently available on your site, and explored adding modern technology to connect with shoppers.  Last on this list but not least, have you updated your website content recently? 

While communities are in a period of transition, emerging more and more from their homes for work and play, now is the time to perform a content audit.  There are two recommendations to focus on for the sales context:  

  • Develop clear steps for building a deal, sharing them across all digital communication channels. 
  • Create consistent messaging that tells the seamless experience story, remembering to manage several key customer touchpoints like social media and the Vehicle Deal Page. 

Support Sales to Support Your Customers 

The answer to where and how your customers makes a purchase from you is increasing online, whether it’s a new vehicle or vehicle service. Take a look at how your dealership is operating now.  Do you have the right marketing processes and tech to effectively support your current and ongoing sales process? Support sales to create an amazing experience for your customers. 

If you have questions or would like additional resources to help you check these boxes, please reach out to your team of Cox Automotive Performance Managers.

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The New Currency of Convenience

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By Katie Wilkins – Sr. Director, Product Management 

The Digital Storefront is, now more than ever, essential to the survival of the modern automotive dealership. Digital behaviors deemed essential to operation during social distancing are expected to continue after this period has passed. You offered your customers new tools or reminded them they could shift their shopping activity online, and many responded by adapting to this process. With experience, customers are finding they prefer to carry out the purchase process from the comfort of home. So, are social distancing mandates shining a spotlight on convenience as a valuable currency? 
 

From digital retailing on dealer websites, to sales conversations via Skype and Facetime, will digital conveniences spotlighted by current events permanently change the shopper journey? We will examine the lasting impact that remote shopping behaviors might have on your digital strategy, and how to best position yourself for the future when it comes to generating automobile leads. 

 
Let’s start by recognizing that consumers who cannot come to the physical dealership are still shopping. In fact, the April 4th Cox Automotive COVID-19 Impact Study shows that 66% of shoppers are not delaying a vehicle purchase, and 22 of the continental states actually saw a year over year increase in website visits in March mainly driven by new car incentives.  However, 61% stated they were much less likely or somewhat less likely to visit a dealership. You may ask how these numbers work, and the answer lies in digital storefronts. Dealers who have been slow to adopt and adapt found themselves at a disadvantage, but there are steps they can take to arm themselves for a more digital, more flexible, more consumer first sales future. 

Communicate Online 

First, communication tools are critical, including chat, video chat, virtual walkarounds, skype, facetime. These are modern conveniences that are helping dealers through this challenging time. And many consumers are already familiar with them, so there is little to no work in educating them. There are countless situations where traditional communication options, such as calling on the phone or speaking in person at the dealership, aren’t ideal. By assisting shoppers in the moment and in the way they want to engage, you are moving the research phase of their journey forward and optimizing the experience. 

Accelerate Sales 
Next, online deal-making and digital retailing tools help remote consumers move their purchase forward online. Digital Retail engagement rates grew by 25% since the beginning of March and, despite a general decline in overall website leads, we were seeing Digital Retailing  Deal and Credit Applications up 13% compared to the end of February.  It’s important to recognize there isn’t a cookie-cutter sales process; some shoppers like to engage face to face and test drive multiple vehicles, while others prefer to complete the purchase online and have the vehicle delivered to their home to test drive.  Dealerships that facilitate shopping in any way the customer chooses are the ones that will win in the new age of automotive shopping.   
 

Personalize Content 
Finally, personalization allows shoppers to efficiently find content of interest, automates campaign creation, and drives 2.5x higher click through rates on personalized content. In March we saw 28% more Vehicle Detail Page views and 99% more form submissions on brands running 0% financing and deferred payment incentives. By leveraging Automated Incentives, we will automatically generate assets for these highly engaging incentives and use our personalization algorithm to put the right one in front of that shopper based on their browsing history. Without lifting a finger, the dealership gets real-time assets in slideshows, banners, and specials pages tailored to that consumers preferences.   

Some dealers have found success navigating the 100% virtual car sales experience, and the approaches and methods listed above are good habits to get adopt now. After social distancing orders are lifted there are two things that are likely to happen. First, we are going to see pent-up demand and dealerships will need tools to handle it efficiently, maximizing sales opportunities while also being mindful of costs.  Also, people are going to gravitate back to their busy lifestyles.  Work, errands, and parenting activities are just a few of the demands on our time.  The need for convenient shopping options for consumers, accelerated and proven during this period, will remain and permanently influence the purchase experience. 

At Dealer.com we are committed to our dealers, our team members, and our community.  Our A-team of digital marketing experts are available to help you in any way we can. Wishing you all safety and health during this time.

Webinar: Deal-Making in Today’s Digital World

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Webinar: Deal-Making in Today’s Digital World

How should your deal-making technique shift in today’s climate? It’s still possible to build meaningful connections with shoppers virtually and close more deals. Discover these topics: the current state of car shopping, engaging car shoppers quickly, adjusting your CRM workflows to your new sales approach, and building relationships with shoppers virtually.

Webinar: Creating Your Virtual Sales Approach

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Webinar: Creating Your Virtual Sales Approach

It’s crucial to shift your current selling approach. Learn a 5-step digital retailing sales process that is customized to today’s online car shopper, and learn about these topics: the current state of car shopping, what other dealers are seeing and experiencing, an abbreviated selling approach that works virtually, and key examples we are seeing in the market, in this webinar, hosted by Rich Mertz, Sr. Manager of Digital Retailing & Digital Selling Expert.

Craft Effective Digital Marketing Communications in a Changing Environment

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By Kate Quinn 

With government and public health updates being released every day, you may feel the need to follow this lead and share all the steps your dealership is taking to protect and support your customers. You know what you want to say, so the next issue to address is how you say it. How do you communicate this information so that visitors to your digital storefront see it, read it, understand it, and remember it?     

One option is to consolidate these updates in a single display ad or a homepage slide, pop-up, or the like, but is this effective? And will your customers read all of it? Most likely, the answer is “no;” they will read the headline, a few more words, then navigate to their next page. This defeats the purpose of using this prime real estate on your website. What is a better alternative? 

Now more than ever, it is important to deploy clear and concise messaging to your consumer base. This approach applies to the multiple communication vehicles you may choose from, including Onsite, Online Advertising, Social Media, Email blasts, and more. 

Below are two examples of creative: Slide A is what we discussed NOT doing, while Slide B is the clear and concise alternative. Slide A overcommunicates by including lots of copy in a single homepage slide, increasing the risk of reader fatigue or that online shoppers will bypass the messaging altogether.   

Slide B breaks down the content of the homepage slide. This approach creates message hierarchy while utilizing best practices and drives the online shopper to a landing page with relevant information that’s organized and digestible. This page can also link to respective pages for the online shopper to act on (Schedule Online, Service Specials, New Car Specials, New Inventory, Digital Retailing Step by Step, etc.). An A/B case study showed 70% of online shoppers clicked on the more refined designs over the content heavy designs.  

Slide A:

Slide B:

Now when you layer in your other digital marketing channels, including Off-Site Display Ads, Social Media, Email Blasts, you should retain a consistent creative strategy with clear and concise messaging, as well as a dedicated landing page. The landing page will keep your customers up to date with any operational changes that may impact their customer experience. Equally important, it facilitates engagement between you and your customer.  

Knowing that in our current economic climate, 2/3 shoppers are willing to do 100% of their business online, it’s important to utilize technology to effectively and efficiently communicate. With Dealer Home Services, you can bring your dealership to the consumer by helping your customers shop, buy and service their vehicle safely and conveniently from their home. 

  • Digital Retailing & Shop-At-Home Services: Bring the dealership experience to the comfort of home. With Digital Retailing and Shop-At-Home Services, your customers can shop, schedule a test drive, value their trade, pick their payment and have a vehicle delivered safely to their home. 
  • Remote Vehicle Service & Repair: Fixed Operations are an essential part of your business. While they may be a small percentage of total sales, they make up 50% or more of your gross profit. 

How do you market Dealer Home Services to your customers? Share clear and concise information on your website and off-site marketing channels that drive traffic to a dedicated landing page for these offerings. Include links to respective pages to inventory, parts, and service so your customers can continue to learn about them. 

Take time now to make your website a true digital storefront, and you will see both immediate and long-term returns.  Before the start of social distancing, 83% of car buyers wanted to take their shopping experience online. Current events will have an impact on consumer expectations well into the future. With 28% of shoppers delaying their vehicle purchase, the 78% majority are still actively shopping and want to engage with a dealership.  Refine your digital strategy and accelerate plans that will drive engagement with your customers.  If you need assistance developing your dealership’s creative strategy, please contact your Dealer.com Performance Manager to learn about our Managed Services Content and Creative services.

 

Sources: 

Cox Automotive COVID-19 Impact Study – March 18, 2020 

Cox Automotive COVID-19: Tracking U.S. Consumer and Automotive Dealer Sentiment Survey – March 24, 2020 

Cox Automotive A Fresh Focus on Fixed Ops Is Paying Off – January 16, 2019 

Cox Automotive 4 Truths of “Connected” Retail – January 15, 2018 

Best Practices for Engaging Customers Through Social Media

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By Miranda Jonswold 

Contributor: Matt Murray, CEO and Founder of Widewail 

While social distancing guidelines remain in place, people have become increasingly reliant on digital tools and resources to feel connected. Enter: social media. 

If your business does not already have a social media presence, now is the time to use these platforms to broaden brand awareness, foster connections, earn consumer trust, and provide up-to-date information for a smooth online shopping, servicing, and ownership journey. 

Here are enduring best practices to transform your social accounts into an invaluable part of your automotive digital marketing strategy.

 

1.  Be Present 

Join the conversation and be mindful of how your social profiles will be managed.  There is a social strategy for every business objective, no matter how large or small, and the numbers prove it.  The data for reach and engagement on these platforms is staggering: 

  •  1.6 billion global Facebook users log in every day, and 223 million people in the US access Facebook every month. 
  •  +50% increase in Facebook Messenger use for month ending March 24, 2020 versus the prior month, including engagement with Feed and Stories. 
  •  1 billion Instagram accounts with activity every month, and 90% of accounts follow a business. 
  • 2 out of 3 people on Facebook visit a business profile or event weekly. 
  • 80% of recent vehicle buyers surveyed visited a Facebook property. 

Research each channel, assess its relevance for the audience you wish to attract, and commit to updating it as needed.  Be sure your branding, messaging, and information are consistent. 

2. Be Engaged 

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who only talked about themselves?  Don’t be that voice on social.  Think beyond push-marketing or posting X times per week.  Instead, aim to deliver a comparable level of interaction and service to what your customers receive in your showroom.  Facebook posts are seeing 3-5x more customer engagement.  Connect through social and earn your customer’s trust while maintaining a safe physical distance. 

For content, strive for diversity in post type and topic. Here are some examples: 

  • Snap a 360-degree photo of a vehicle’s interior  
  • Conduct a walkaround video 
  • Showcase a customer taking at-home delivery of a vehicle 
  • Host a live Q&A session 
  • Leverage Instagram and Facebook Stories (62% of people said they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories) 
  • Repost user-generated content like “check-ins” or “mentions” 

For posted content, engagement isn’t complete when the asset is uploaded.  Monitor activity and consider taking small steps to control the conversation: remove negative comments, “like” positive comments, and address customer service issues promptly.   

Some engagement is behind-the-scenes, so check your Inbox and Direct Messages. According to Facebook, 55% of people feel more confident sending a message to a business than an email, so be ready to receive. 

Finally, keep your demographic relevant by following your enthusiasts, community partners, friends, and family. Ask your team members to follow your dealership channels and be sure to tag the dealership in uploaded photos. The more you make your content about your audience and their interests, the more they will remember you.  

3. Be Informative 

What information would both you and your audience benefit from them learning?  For many, this is an opportune time to leverage content focused on their Dealer Home Services, including: 

  • Remote test drives 
  • At-home delivery 
  • Pickup and delivery for dealer service  

Use social to spread the word about digital retailing; it’s safe and seamless with online deals, online trade-valuation, online credit approval, F&I merchandising, scheduling pickup and reserving rides.  Also consider these other topics of interest: 

  •  Product information and updates 
  • OEM news and incentives 
  • Maintenance tips 
  • Staff information  
  • Community news and partnerships 

4.  Be Authentic 

Take this example of two competing businesses set up an auto-feed with the same content. For Dealer A, review responses aren’t tailored, and your question goes unanswered for days.  Dealer B uses custom content that shows the smiling faces of real customers, posts entertaining product videos, and engages with an authentic response to your latest review.  See the difference?  Put in the effort and see a return on your investment. 

For Jones Junction in Maryland, authenticity shines through with photos of customers taking delivery at home. For Don Miller Subaru West in Madison, it’s about archiving all the dogs that have either joined their owner for a service visit or are reaping the benefits of riding in their new Subaru–and all posts are branded as #DogsofDonMillerSubaruWest.  Find what works for you, but above all: be authentic. 

5.  Be Transparent 

Trust is earned, so make your messaging clear and address inquiries expeditiously.  This is especially true for reputation management. Whether on Google, DealerRater, Cars.com, or other review sites, listen to feedback and respond mindfully.  

How you handle conflict may have a lasting effect on those customers, but it may also influence potential consumers. After all, 85% of customers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Furthermore, businesses who respond consistently get 12% more reviews, according to Harvard Business Review.   

Get Social 

Bring social media to the forefront of your digital marketing strategy. If you wear multiple hats, consider enlisting a dedicated provider to execute campaigns for you and provide expert analysis of your performance.  Contact your Dealer.com Performance Manager to learn how social can drive traffic to your site, help your business, improve the customer experience, and create customers for life. 

Sources: 

Facebook Automotive Playbook for Dealers; Facebook IQ “Meet the People Behind Local Business Marketing”; Facebook IQ “Why Stories is a Format that Can Help Marketers Promote Brands”; Facebook IQ “3 Ways Messaging Is Transforming the Path to Purchase 2018; 

Making Your Next Move: Data, Insights and Opportunities in the Age of Social Distancing

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With data and insights from more than 50% of US franchise dealers, Dealer.com has a view into how consumers are adjusting to social distancing. Watch our webinar Your Next Move: Data, Insights and Opportunities in the Age of Social Distancing to hear actionable steps you can take to maximize sales and service.

Data, Insights and Opportunities in the Age of Social Distancing

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By Charles Miller

The US is a diverse place, and as a result, we see diversity within Dealer.com data. While we’ve generalized our findings in this post, every dealership’s story about the impact of COVID-19 will be slightly different. You can apply our findings through the lens of your business and your market to help define your digital marketing strategies moving forward. 

Impacts of COVID-19  

Vehicle sales are down in the COVID-19 timeframe. At the time of writing, Cox Automotive is estimating more than a 60% decline in US vehicle sales compared to the beginning of March. We’ve been working to understand how consumer shopping behaviors are shifting, what this means to the automotive industry and most importantly, what dealers can do about it during this disruption. The data shows there are both short- and long-term opportunities. 

Weathering the Storm 

As we analyze the impact of COVID-19 on consumer shopping behavior, it has become clear that how we measured success yesterday is not how we should measure success today. Currently, we’re seeing about a 20% decline in website lead volumes, however this isn’t nearly as steep as the forecasted decline in sales.  The takeaway here is that consumers are still interested in purchasing vehicles, and they are simply deferring the purchase until later. The April 4th Cox Automotive COVID-19 Consumer Impact Study shows that 61% of consumers are Much Less Likely or Somewhat Less Likely to visit a dealership and 34% of consumers are now delaying the purchase of a vehicle.  

The all-important Cost-Per-Lead key performance indicator (KPI) has less business value today than it did yesterday. We need to shift our evaluation of performance upstream and focus more on brand awareness measures like Impressions and Reach, showing in the form of Website Visits and Vehicle Deals Pageviews (VDP). Dealers also should focus efforts on nurturing customer relationships online until consumer confidence returns.  

Consumers Are Getting More Social Online 

Consumers are going online more during this time, whether it’s to connect with friends and family, to binge watch TV shows, or even to shop for vehicles. OpenVault, which provides industry analytics for broadband operators, is reporting a 33% increase in broadband usage from January to April 3rd.  For automotive, we need to understand what this means in the way of consumer focus. Google and Bing, the kings of low funnel, high purchase-intent activity, are reporting 12-15% declines in Automotive related search terms as of late March. Dealer.com data indicates an 18% decline in Visits from forecasted values.  Meanwhile, social channels are reporting record highs.  Facebook, as one example, has seen more than a 50% increase messaging (group calls are up 70%) and is reporting new record highs for general usage almost daily.  

With this influx of traffic and subsequent ad inventory on Facebook, Dealer.com is seeing a 46% decline in CPMs (Cost per Thousand Impressions). Facebook Cost-per-VDP is down 8%. When you’re evaluating how to best target consumers with your brand awareness and COVID-19 relating messaging, take a strong look at social. Now is likely an ideal time to invest advertising dollars into channels like Facebook and YouTube. 

Another note on social channels: we need to start playing the long game. No matter what we say in an advertisement, some consumers will delay traveling to your dealership to purchase a vehicle, even if they were on the verge of purchase prior to the pandemic. However, social communication offers dealership staff the chance to engage with consumers and foster a relationship online.  These connections are more apt to secure that individual as a customer once the pandemic passes.  

  • Be as active and relevant as you can, providing videos of inventory and informing them on the actions your taking to ensure their safety.  
  • Engage with consumers directly. Train your sales staff to operate more effectively in this area or contract social management experts.  

To date, Dealer.com Social and Reputation Management services have created almost 6,000 COVID-19-related website pages and 1,000 advertising assets to help dealers inform consumers of the services being offered during this time.

Consumers want to learn about the actions you are taking to safeguard their health as well as what services you’re offering. We’ve seen up to 12% engagement rates with these COVID-19 Advertising assets. COVID-19 website pages have been viewed 156,000 times, and this metric is growing by the day. 

Your Digital Retailing Opportunity 

How many times have your customers asked when the automotive industry will allow 100% online virtual car sales?  With stay-at-home orders in place, now would be an ideal time to offer a solution like digital retailing to the market to generate more automobile leads.  Given the fact that many consumers can’t engage directly with sales staff at your dealership, they are starting to explore Digital Retailing tools.  Dealer.com has seen Digital Retail engagement rates grow by 25% since the beginning of March.  Despite a general decline in overall website leads, by the end of March we were seeing Digital Retailing Deal and Credit Applications up 13% compared to the end of February and setting all-time highs for the Dealer.com platform. 

As you plan your advertising strategy and how to communicate COVID-19 services your dealership is offering, now is the time to inform shoppers of the ability to Finance, Trade-In and Fully purchase a vehicle online. Educate shoppers on how to use these tools while social distancing brings them into focus.  Dealers who are effective at educating both their staff and their consumers will see this time as one that accelerates them toward a future where the purchasing, trade and finance processes are handled more efficiently online. 

While the nation’s experts are working to understand how long COVID-19 will stay in the headlines, we will continue to evaluate its affects and provide recommendations as  more data becomes available. 

Reference: Open Vault 

Webinar: Reaching Remote Consumers Through Video Advertising

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Current events have disrupted the car buying journey. While social distancing, customers are less likely to visit your dealership, but will spend more time shopping online. Video advertising is one of the best ways to continue reaching them, but to stay competitive, your dealership will need flexible tools that allow for quick adjustments to campaign messages and offers. This webinar will explain how your dealership can leverage video advertising to reach remote shoppers.

Digital Advertising as the Car Shopping Experience Evolves

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By Scott Blodgett 

As car shopping moves from traditional retail to an online environment, your customers will be leveraging digital channels more than ever. Screen time will certainly increase as we spend more time at home, as we’ve seen happen in Europe with a 50% increase in internet traffic.  The methods in which we research, shop and buy things – including cars – have already started to change. Whether that is researching cars on Kelley Blue Book, watching virtual test drive videos on YouTube, or using online car buying tools to purchase a vehicle, the way in which we market ourselves to shoppers needs to align with how media is consumed. 

Adjusting media allocation and aligning creative messaging are two key components of this new shopping experience. Automotive search queries are expected to decline, yet online activity is expected to rise. Investments in channels such as video, display and social will help grow demand that can then be captured when things return to normal. The messaging that is included in all digital advertising creative needs to be personalized and aligned with both consumer needs and OEM marketing investments. 

Media Mix Diversification 

Video and display advertising are two channels that focus on building awareness with engaging content in order to increase consumer demand. As shoppers consume media in a variety of places and platforms, it is critical to have a strategy that is focused on your audience versus a single platform. Car shoppers who are interested in a Silverado 1500 are reading the news online, using Facebook to check in with friends and family, and browsing videos on YouTube to pass the time. Promoting a consistent message across all these platforms drives efficiencies at a lower cost than traditional print and television advertising. 

One challenge we are looking to solve at Dealer.com is related to creative. Video production and creative services can both be very expensive. We’ve built products with our dealer partners in mind, decreasing the overhead and lowering the barrier of entry into these demand generation focused channels. 

Here is a real-world example: General Motors is offering 0% APR financing for 84 months on the 2020 Silverado 1500 for well qualified buyers. All GM dealers should be including this in their marketing materials. Our video and display products were designed to do just that: 

Inserting dealer-specific messaging is also a great way to communicate updates to potential customers, especially since the COVID-19 situation is constantly evolving. With this running on multiple platforms, including YouTube and Facebook, and serving to an audience of Silverado 1500 shoppers, you have a great branding strategy. 

Personalized Advertising Experiences 

Customers expect personalized and custom-tailored experiences today more than ever. And the data proves that performance across digital properties improves when users are served content that meets their expectation. In studies conducted by Dealer.com, we’ve seen a 2-2.5x increase in activity on Vehicle Detail Pages and a 12% increase in lead conversion when shoppers are served personalized content on Dealer.com websites. Combined with a personalized advertising experience, this is a win-win. 

Here are a few recommendations to drive results: 

  • Leverage in-market shopper data to strengthen audience targeting across all channels and platforms.  
  • Segment audience-based website activity and serve them relevant content. Actively browsing inventory, looking at service schedulers, and engaging with digital retailing tools are all indicators of different stages of the buying lifecycle for your automobile leads. 
  • Promote inventory using creative that matches the shopper’s interests. Dynamic inventory ads are available today.  
  • Focus advertising spend on inventory that needs the most attention. One effective way to accomplish this is combining Facebook advertising with vehicle scoring algorithms. 

As automotive shopping behavior evolves, being able to adapt will be paramount for long term success. Diversifying marketing portfolios, focusing on creative messaging, and personalizing customer experiences will position you for growth in the months to come.