The Cookieless Future has Arrived

Close-up view on conceptual keyboard - Cookies (red key)

As a leading provider of digital marketing solutions for the automotive industry, Cox Automotive has been closely watching and keeping our partners apprised of developments that affect their ability to reach consumers and grow their business.   

For nearly two years, we have been anticipating a time when consumers’ desire for web browsing privacy – and regulators’ intention to mandate it – would come together to kill the tracking cookie as we’ve known it. With the September 2023 release of Google’s Chrome browser update, we’re seeing that moment inching closer.  

Until recently, any website could add a cookie to a user’s browser and track them wherever they went online, storing the information on the site’s server. Often companies would partner to exchange this data to get more insights into a user’s behaviors and preferences. This allowed them to target their marketing more effectively to consumers who had demonstrated their interests.  

With the Chrome update, Google now stores user behavior and activity data within the browser where advertisers cannot access it. The Google Chrome developers’ site says it is phasing out support for third-party cookies beginning in mid-2024.  

Wondering what this could mean for your business? We addressed some focus areas and most asked questions that Cox is prioritizing to stay abreast of the cookieless future so our dealers can continue having success.  

AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION AND ACTIVATION

To address ongoing cookie loss when using third-party pixels, Cox is moving to Server-Side Data connections and APIs. This will allow us to have more durable data signals while remaining privacy compliant. We will also consider Clean Room solutions to provide a secure environment to bring data from different places together for joint analysis. Adhering to privacy parameters and creating the safest place for data sharing and transfer will be extremely important.  

For first-party pixels, we’ll continue using Cox Automotive Identity Graph to help us track and use specific IDs or personal consumer information. To maximize this approach, we want to help ensure your dealer websites are focused on collecting identifiable information, like consumer email addresses or logins during browsing sessions.   

CAMPAIGN AND CONSUMER ANALYTICS AND TRACKING

Campaign Performance and Tracking 

We expect to see fewer conversions being tracked overall. We also expect to see increases in discrepancies from our data verification partners since some data points that are monitored rely on cookies. (e.g., Our verification partner may see the user as being outside their geography when the delivery platform does not.)   

 Server-side will be able to handle signal resiliency issues for the platforms that have Conversions APIs available (mostly social platforms). For other platforms, curated solutions are in developed.   

Consumer Journey Analytics 

Some blocking solutions on browsers will strip some of our tracking mechanisms by default. This would impact some reporting elements for dealers. Since the consumer journey will rely more heavily on identifiable information collected during website visits such as email address or logins, it’s more important than ever to focus on first-party data activation. Read this Dealer.com article on how to collect, connect, and activate your first-party data as you prepare for the cookieless future.  

Additionally, Chrome released an article in August 2023 about Related Website Sets. This may be a solution to customer journey breakage that relies on first-party cookies.   

At Cox, we are committed to helping our dealers throughout the deprecation of third-party cookies. We will continue working on ways to ensure our dealers feel confident with this industry shift and will be there every step of the way to ensure maximum success. We will continue releasing information about the approach we are taking to tackle the future with no third-party cookies.  

Where is Automotive Ecommerce Today? 

Author: Paulo da Silva, VP of Ecommerce Operations

finger touches digital tablet showing car website on screen

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:  

  1. Building trust and rapport through content: Provide content about cars that answers consumers’ questions before they ask.  
  2. Establish a mature review program: Proactively collect reviews, and showcase high-quality, detailed reviews—providing incentives where it makes sense.  
  3. 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.

To find out more about Cox Automotive eCommerce, visit our website here: https://www.coxautoinc.com/solutions/ecommerce/   

How to Connect Your Plan to the Future of eCommerce 

where is ecommerce today blog image

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. 

Sources: https://www.coxautoinc.com/news/2022-car-buyer-journey-study/  

Progress, not Perfection. How to Take Your Advertising Up a Notch.  

Author: Shane Unrein

Advertising SME Blog

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.  

 

Ip targeting

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. 

 

3rd party data

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. 

 

Gosling meme

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.  

Cox Automotive Channel Intelligence

Channel Intelligence uses Cox Automotive’s vast consumer dataset to provide tailored recommendations for automotive advertising to targeted audiences.

How does Channel Intelligence work?

By analyzing consumer behaviors, our advanced machine-learning algorithm identifies the most effective advertising channels. This personalized approach optimizes channel performance, resulting in more leads and cost efficiencies. By reallocating advertising funds based on recommendations, businesses can maximize marketing efforts and achieve better results, reducing the need for ineffective strategies.

Interested in learning more? Have a look at our Channel Intelligence infographic:

Meet EV Shoppers

As different as electric vehicles are from traditional internal combustion models, it’s not surprising that EV shoppers have different motivations and preferences compared to other car buyers. Cox Automotive studies show that EV shoppers spend more time researching their next vehicle and tend to be less brand loyal. It is critical that shoppers are provided relevant and compelling information about EV and hybrid offerings at the national, regional, and local level.

As different as electric vehicles are from traditional internal combustion models, it’s not surprising that EV shoppers have different motivations and preferences compared to other car buyers. Cox Automotive studies show that EV shoppers spend more time researching their next vehicle and tend to be less brand loyal. It is critical that shoppers are provided relevant and compelling information about EV and hybrid offerings at the national, regional, and local level.

As different as electric vehicles are from traditional internal combustion models, it’s not surprising that EV shoppers have different motivations and preferences compared to other car buyers. Cox Automotive studies show that EV shoppers spend more time researching their next vehicle and tend to be less brand loyal. It is critical that shoppers are provided relevant and compelling information about EV and hybrid offerings at the national, regional, and local level.

As different as electric vehicles are from traditional internal combustion models, it’s not surprising that EV shoppers have different motivations and preferences compared to other car buyers. Cox Automotive studies show that EV shoppers spend more time researching their next vehicle and tend to be less brand loyal. It is critical that shoppers are provided relevant and compelling information about EV and hybrid offerings at the national, regional, and local level.

Step by Step: How Car Consumers are Reshaping the Road Forward

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.

Access the on-demand replay.

Get The Most from Performance Management 

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 
  • Proven marketing and branding strategies to help you stand out from the competition 
  • 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. 

“We could not be happier with our experience from the website management to the automotive digital advertising. But most importantly the genuine team effort that our Performance Managers bring to the table.”  

Kara Berry Marketing & Communications Coordinator, Keller Ford, Michigan 

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.  

The 3 Ways Today’s Auto Dealers Should Reinvent their Digital Future

After taking in the results to Cox Automotive’s annual 2022 Car Buyer Journey Study, it was clear that the impacts of digitalization were not only being felt by today’s consumers, but should ring a loud sounding bell for dealerships and OEMs alike to reexamine and reinvent how they do business online.  

Some of the results from the over 10,000 auto shoppers surveyed were a surprise, while others were something our industry had predicted to see continue to trend. But whether a surprise or a given, the undercurrent sentiment of today’s consumers’ wants, needs and preferences all pointed to 3 specifics things.  

Together, let’s take a different look at your business and marketing plans, and consider the 3 ways successful auto dealers are reshaping their current and future digital strategies to stay profitable and stand out to their ideal customer as the one to do business with. 

#1:  Online research – An opportunity to capture and recapture 

With inventory shortages being a headline last year in our industry, it probably isn’t a surprise that auto shoppers had to spend more time online researching when it came to purchasing their car.  

Thankfully, inventory challenges have started to ease, but we’re still seeing fluctuations within the industry. Some dealerships still have little to no inventory, while on the other hand others with a flip of a switch suddenly had a full lot at the end of last year. And still, many dealers are struggling to keep a consistent inventory of cars that have the packages and features their consumers actually want.  

One other important thing to note is that the number of vehicles available, especially new vehicles, is still much lower compared to this time just a few years ago. For that reason, cross-shopping activity has grown within the last year and brand defection is happening at heightened rates.    

This presents an opportunity to gain and stand out to new customers, especially if competitors aren’t putting the needed focus and investment into retaining their customers.   

  64% of buyers considered both new and used vehicles, 

which is up significantly from 55% in 2021  

Today’s auto shopping experience has become less about finding the perfect vehicle, and more about finding any vehicle that ticks some of the boxes and fits within a consumer’s budget with increased interest rates and reduced manufacturer incentives.    

It’s time to reset your CRM 

Seeing that consumers showed less loyalty to dealerships and brands in 2022, especially new vehicle buyers, moving forward this will be an important segment of car buyers dealers should focus on and win-back. Staying alongside and in-front of them will take on an even more important role at the dealership over the next few years. 

Traditional cadence vs. Needed cadence: Take the time within your CRM system to really look at what cadence and automations you currently have set up. Timelines have shifted due to inventory fluctuations, interest rates and doing more of the deal online – so the old ways of mapping things out in 7 day, 10 day, 30 day, 60 day, 90 day and so on may no longer be relevant.    

You’ll have to set different timelines and different funnels depending on the shopper’s or previous customer’s situation, and you should be fast-tracking and educating the ones that are actively communicating with you what the possibilities are.   

Lease Customers: In your CRM, don’t just rely on the OEMs automated lease notifications to your customers. It’s important to elevate your spotlight on these customers. They might need a different interval and set of communications based on if your brand isn’t really offering attractive lease incentives or if you know that you’ll probably still be facing some inventory challenges when that customer comes off lease. Remember, many lease customers were originally captured due to the attractive pricing, or having a new car every few years that is worry free.  

Activate your CRM by reaching out to them well ahead of the normal curve, say 9 months before, educating them on the situation now, what they’d most likely face, and remind them of the advantages your brand and dealership offers. That way if they’d like to stay in a lease – great! You can pre-order a car or ensure one will be available for them. Or… if they want to buy but need help planning for financing options – you can help facilitate and ensure you keep them as a lifetime value client.   

Remember – there is extreme financial value in lifetime value clients, and you don’t want to lose their loyalty or have them cross-shopping if you can be proactive with your CRM and stay alongside and in front of those clients.  

Content influences vehicle choice 

Let’s face it, customers are less likely to find their first-choice vehicle, so they do have to look for alternatives. With more cross-shopping, consumers are more reliant on content to help influence their vehicle selection.   

69% of new car buyers who changed their mind 

during shopping cited content as the most important factor 

for learning about other brands and vehicles   

For example, a Honda loyalist may be searching for a Honda Accord. If Honda currently has a lean inventory level, a Honda loyalist may have to cross-shop. Let’s say online content appears for a Hyundai Sonata during their research. They would have to gain more familiarity of the other brand, make and model, and determine if a Sonata is the right choice.   

This is why content is crucial to cross shopping. You should be frequently evaluating not just how you show up to your current customers or consumers that already know about your brand, but also the frequency and way you show up to your competitors’ customers. Make sure you know the wants, needs and preferences of today’s auto shoppers, and tailor your content accordingly. 

Videos: There have been significant shifts over the last 2 years. And it’s not surprising to see online videos move up in the rankings, now in the top 3. In particular, we found online test drive videos from an expert to be significantly more influential. Content like a test drive video allows consumers to engage in immersive digital experiences, especially as the purchase process moves more online.   

Testimonials: Consumer ratings and reviews remain at the top of the list as well. Gen Z and Millennial buyers like to see and hear what others think, and let that help shape their interest and opinion. Remember, in an “Amazon” world we’re used to leaning on what another consumer experiences after the purchase, and you should be frequently highlighting this is your digital content. 

 

#2 – Car shoppers prefer online purchasing – have options  

In today’s digital world, it also probably doesn’t come as a shock that there is continued growth in consumer preference for completing most, or all, of the auto purchase experience online with the dealer or retailer. 

 68% Say they will do most or all 

of their vehicle purchase process online in the future

80% Think it’s a good or great idea 

to buy entirely online  

Where they are vs. where they want to be: Today, shoppers continue to show enthusiasm towards doing more parts of their shopping journey online, and they are still indicating that they want to do even more online in the future.   

68% of shoppers say they would do most, or all of their purchase process online in the future, which is higher than ever before. But even more important to note is that 4-in-5 consumers think it’s a good or great idea to buy entirely online. It’s time for you, as well as our industry, to prepare to meet consumers where they are today and where they plan to be in the future, which is online.  

Look at what digital retailing capabilities you have today and map out which ones you will need to adopt over the next few years. And remember, just because you build a “Field of Dreams” does not mean the consumer will just naturally come. You have to make sure that your marketing strategy includes educating and demonstrating to the consumer you have the capabilities they want and are willing to show them how to use them. 

Highlight the benefits of online car shopping: The good news is that transacting digitally is a win-win for both consumers and dealers. The benefits recognized by consumers are largely time spent on a whole purchasing a car and pricing.   

But it’s important to remember that although consumers recognize time saved at the dealership and overall efficiency as the top benefits of digital retailing, it’s still a newer process for them. Buying a $25 item online is quite different than buying a $40,000 car in their mind.  

So be sure to highlight that the differences aren’t as big as they think and that purchasing a vehicle online has the same benefits they’re looking for in their other digital interactions: seamlessness, less friction, saving time and better price transparency.  

A better car- buying experience and higher customer satisfaction: Digital retailing can and should lead to a better buying experience overall for the consumer, and you should be making sure your customer knows this with your marketing strategy as well as in-store experience.   

A recent Cox Automotive study compared “Mostly Digital” buyers (those who did at least 50% of their purchase process online) to “Light Digital” buyers (those who did 20% or less of their purchase process online). The results found that “Mostly Digital” buyers are more likely to be satisfied with price, time spent, and overall experience.  

Most importantly, it uncovered that “Mostly Digital” buyers tend to be more loyal to the dealership and brand. So make sure that your strategy includes options and optimizations for these customers as the segment will only continue to grow. 

Bridging the online experience into an in-person dealership experience should not only include a strategy, but at this point be a consistent pillar of focus on how you do business. Make sure the experience online seamlessly blends into that same amazing experience they get in-person, and that they everyone is able to pick-up the deal wherever it was left online.  

#3 – Connect and reimagine your dealership’s digital retailing capabilities 

Consumers recognize the benefits of digital retailing… and it’s safe to say that dealers do too.   

In the annual Car Buyer Journey study, we asked dealers what they’ve been doing with their digital retailing solutions since 2020, Many of them remain happy with their investments, with 87% saying that digital retailing has had a positive impact in at least one area of their business – time, ease and efficiency being the top areas, but also sales, profit and their relationships with their customers.   

H3: A closer look and self-audit: All dealers evaluate how they would rank the top reported positive impacts listed on the graphic above, especially noting the consumer and dealer advantages of: time spent on deal, ease of completing the deal, staff efficiency, and customer relationships. 

If you were to have your new sales staff, or some of the other newer staff, run a 360-degree audit for you going through all the steps of the online purchase your dealership offers using what digital retailing tools you have, how would they report back to you on time spent, ease, efficiency, and the relationship / experience on a whole?   

How to audit your dealership’s online car-buying process: 

– Have your sales staff initiate a purchase process and time how long it takes from beginning to end. 

– Ask them to note what was hard to do, and what was easy to do online. 

– Make sure to ask them to be aware if they were retargeted at all when visiting other sites, if you have those capabilities enabled.   

 – Have them test the ease or uncover any bottlenecks you might not be aware exist during the end-to-end purchase process: research, discovery, scheduling a test drive, financing, etc. 

– Ask them to do part of it online and see if one of your existing sales staff knew exactly where to pick up in-store – rate congruency and if the experiences matched. 

 – Remember, the advantage of having newer employees complete this audit is they still have a bit of a zoomed-out lens and will spot things that the older staff are just “used to” as a way of doing business. Lean on them to give suggestions and offer examples that work on other sites. 

 By consistently doing this 360-degree online audit monthly, or quarterly, and looking at your competitors in these same categories, you’ll have a proactive strategy to capture more of your ideal customers’ attention online. You’ll also be able to funnel them faster through the deal increasing satisfaction and improving your odds of gaining or retaining the sale. 

Additionally, you’ll be able to form a blueprint of the capabilities of your current online digital retailing tools and strategize the tools you’ll need to add in order to provide the full eCommerce experience in the future. According to our research, when it comes to deal-making capabilities, consumers have high expectations of what they can accomplish on dealer websites in terms of digital retailing milestones. So make sure yours are mapped out and easy to find.    

Know what your customer wants, needs and prefers digitally: In today’s times, you need to know your customer, know your business, know the experience you offer your customer, and make sure that your digital retailing tools are working for you!  

This should be aligned with your business and regional goals. For example, a dealership in rural Iowa will have different consumers than that of Laguna Beach, California.  Take a deeper look at what your customers and consumers want when it comes to an omnichannel and an ecommerce experience. Then make sure you build and work around what their preferences are today, as well as plan to build it for the future when it comes to your digital retailing and online capabilities. 

New car pre-order: Dealers and OEMs should also be focused on a consumer’s interest in, and increasing appetite for, new car pre-order. By reevaluating how your brand and dealership not only handle it but promote and educate around it online during the entire car buyer journey, you can reinvent your marketing strategy to include this growing capability and demand. 

With today’s continued fluctuating inventory, coupled with the rise in consumers saying they want to and are willing to complete new car pre-order now, and in the future, it should be a larger focus of your online and digital retailing strategy for years to come. But remember, this is still “new” to many consumers, and you must educate and assure them of the benefits, as well as show them how it’s successfully done online. 

For the road forward 

By understanding what today’s car shoppers’ wants, needs and prefers are, you’ll be able to strategize and capitalize on the digital opportunity for growth. It’s time for dealerships to re-examine their marketing and business strategy to connect and extend their capabilities to attract in-market auto shoppers as well as retain their existing customers. 

By implementing the 3 ways listed above into your strategy, you will not only have reimagined a more profitable way to run and operate your business, but you will be aligned with where consumers are headed currently and in the future. 

Autotrader provides you with qualified leads for people that want cars. We have the data, and we have the shoppers. We know what they want, and our goal is to match them with our dealer partners, driving quality leads and delivering a 35% higher gross profit on average. We connect you with customers virtually, to move shoppers to you, so that you can focus on building and letting your brand shine. 

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 and to stay a step ahead and successful in today’s marketplace.  

See what’s new: The latest digital marketing solutions

And that’s a wrap for the NADA Show 2023! Thanks for stopping by the Dealer.com booth and demoing our latest innovations.  

Dealer.com does more than provide websites, we’re the premier end-to-end digital marketing solution for your automotive dealership. And whether you are current or new Dealer.com customer, now is the time to get started on your digital marketing goals in 2023. 

If you did not get a chance to visit our booth, no worries. There’s still an opportunity to demo the new products and enhancements we unveiled at the show. In the meantime, here’s a recap of what we debuted:  

KBB My Wallet on Dealer.com Websites 

Kelley Blue Book® My Wallet, a personalized shopper tool on Autotrader and KBB.com, will now be automatically integrated into all Dealer.com dealer websites. This means dealers will have even more information on consumers than ever before. 

You can get everything from down payment, trade-in, and financing information – the data you need to speed up the deal-making process and get more accurate leads for your dealership. 

Local SEO 

Take complete control of Search Engine Results Page (SERP) beyond just your organic and paid listings as Google prioritizes local experiences when consumers search for cars. With Local SEO, dealers can promote their dealership and inventory to local car shoppers at exactly the time they are searching for your business.   

New Car Customizer  

With more consumers shopping online for cars than ever before, dealers must ensure their website has the tools consumers need for a seamless shopping experience while displaying a modernized web design.  

Our new car customizer allows shoppers to find the vehicle they are searching for, even when dealers do not have the specific vehicle in inventory. 

These are just a few of the solutions we got to share with dealers at the show. Be sure to sign up for a demo today