Category: Digital Marketing Strategy

The 4 Ways Car Dealers Can Leverage their Brand, Traffic and Reputation to Drive Sales 

Posted on

Everyone in the auto industry knows that the past year presented several hurdles for auto dealers to jump over, one after another. Inventory was low, buyer behaviors and our industry were still rapidly shifting, and the world was dealing with some pretty big macro-economic challenges. 

In order to continue to drive profits and growth, even with all of the recent twists and turns, today’s successful dealers have learned that it’s time to leverage the brand you’ve already worked hard to build, the traffic you already have, and the reputation you’ve created in your community, state and possibly nationwide.  

How can you take a fresh approach to maximize what you’ve worked hard for not just over the last few years, but for as long as your business has been in business? By getting back to the foundational elements we’ve outlined in the 4 ways below to help you expand your business and drive more sales in the coming year. 

Build off your existing brand strength 

Many dealers think that in order to stand out to their ideal customer, especially in a heavily online digital world, they need to make or create a new brand – specifically when it comes to eCommerce.  

But they don’t… And you don’t have to!

The more that you can leverage the strength 

 of what you’ve been doing for years – 

the more you have a chance for success in connecting 

with your ideal customer and driving sales. 

Did you know, on average it takes 2 – 5 years to establish a business and branding according to Forbes, and the cost can be anywhere from $40,000 to $500,000 depending on your brand and the upfront costs you will have? And that’s just typically the sticker price in the first year.  

So instead of spending that money to build a “new” brand, why not build the brand you already have? 

Examples of this would be Disney + or Discovery +. Both kept the brand, kept the name, kept the recognition, kept the strength and offered an ecommerce product. There is strength in your brand – you’ve spent a lot of time and money on your brand – the key is to modernize it. 

Build off the traffic you drive from the whole experience 

Next let’s look at the traffic you already generate…  

Website Traffic: You already have a website, there is no need to scrap it and build an entirely new one. The key to modernizing it is to make it more robust!  

Things like UI and UX design for ease of use and user functionality, SEO optimization, CRM / database integrations and solutions, chat bots or AI assistant automations, and easy to search and find inventory with updated, comprehensive and transparent vehicle listings… And the list goes on!  

Start the year off right by taking a 360 degree look at how you can modernize and maximize your existing website and traffic. 

Local Traffic: You have spent ad dollars over the years to generate traffic to your business and to be recognized within your community. Whether you’ve been in business for just a short while, or for decades, it’s important to capitalize on that traffic as well.  

Chances are, you are most likely well known in your community and region as the “local” dealership. You’ve invested in and sponsored everything from print and web ads, radio spots, little league teams, fundraisers, and so on over the years within your community. And with that recognition you have, it can drive even more traffic.   

Optimize and build a modern strategy around your community traffic and look at how you are positioning yourself both in your showroom and service center as well as online as your community go-to. 

By building off the website and local traffic you’ve built since your dealership first opened its doors and first used your website to drive business, you’ve already paved the way for giving the consumer the whole experience.  

The Whole Experience: What do we mean by whole experience? We mean that even before car shoppers step foot in your dealership, they know what your brand stands for and they know what kind of experience they can expect to have by doing business with you. This not only will lead to higher consumer satisfaction, but also increased traffic and sales. 

In order to drive traffic and bridge a seamless experience both online and in-person, be sure to ask yourself the following questions and make sure you have a plan aligned within your dealership for each car shopper you connect with: 

– Did you make the online / ecommerce experience easy for them?  

– Were you transparent in your current offerings for new and/or used as well as sale and service specials or incentives?  

– Did you stay in front of them with personalized content based on what they showed you online they wanted and preferred?  

– Did you make it easy for them to find you, connect with you, and know what steps to take next? 

– Did you make it clear why they should do, or continue to do, business with you? 

– Once they showed up, did you show that based on data from their online research or interactions captured, you knew what their preferences were?  

– Do you offer them something they can’t get somewhere else, and is that differentiator clear to them?  

– Did you save them time and truly understand and shape their buying experience around what they wanted and preferred? 

– Do you make the experience you offer a notch above any competitors, so that they wanted to not only buy or service a car, but to only do business with you both now and in the future?  

As you see, it’s important to take another look at the traffic you’re already driving and build off of those foundational elements it in order to drive sales. Look for new ways to give potential and existing customers an experience online, as well as in person. And by optimizing and modernizing what you have worked hard to already build, you ensure a more seamless whole experience we know today’s car buyer is looking for.  

Build off the reputation you’ve worked hard to establish and protect 

Most dealerships not only work hard to establish a reputation, but also spend countless hours protecting it. And when you have a mapped out digital retailing and eCommerce strategy in play, it can help you build off that reputation and both protect and preserve it as well.  

With digital retailing tools you have the ability to stay in front of and alongside your ideal customer and existing customers. You can show and remind them why they should do business with you, or why they should still do business with you. You can show what makes your auto dealership stand apart to give better service and put their best interests first. You can show them why you have the reputation you are known for. 

By getting your operations in line and building a strategy from the top down on what your brand reputation stands for, you’ll have the ability to let that shine through online in your eCommerce marketing digital retailing efforts. When you do this, you’ve just leveraged a winning formula for building off of your hard earned and preserved reputation. 

Especially if that unified messaging and experience extends to when they first walk on your lot. The pre-existing or perceived reputation, combined with their online and in-person experience, builds and adds to your reputation, as well as your profits when they are the same. 

Build a brand between sales, service and operations  

By focusing on getting your dealership in-line from the top down, you’ll enable your sales – service – and operations to work in sync towards a unified goal. 

That goal should include what your brand stands for and how each department works alongside and with each other to drive sales and repeat business. This may seem obvious, but it often gets overlooked. There’s a big difference between only addressing it when reacting to a situation that could affect your brand negatively vs. being pro-active to build. 

When you connect all of the departments on over-arching goals, you’ll also have the opportunity to optimize your existing digital retailing and eCommerce abilities, online paperwork, test drives, and delivery. Everything that goes into a sale, gaining or retaining a customer, or winning back a previously defecting customer. When these dots are connected for everyone at the dealership, it ultimately helps your brand stand out as the one to use. 

Remember the more you offer, the more you educate, the more unified you are in your dealership experience and brand, the more you can make deals happen earlier in the car purchasing funnel.  

Your dealership should also decide what you can do beyond the purchase in order to drive loyalty. Truthfully look at how you differentiate yourself from your competitors in terms of what you do and offer, items such as warranty and service and your unique offerings. Make sure everyone at your dealership knows what those differentiators are and include them in your eCommerce strategy core messaging to help your brand stand out. 

You should also take the time to honestly think about and assess how your staff from each department are trained and informed / updated on your current marketing strategy and goals. By doing this on a regular basis, your in-store experience has a greater possibility of matching your online experience, and customer satisfaction and sales will benefit. 

If that doesn’t match, the customer is not likely going to be happy. And your brand will suffer, as discord and disconnect will be felt. You don’t want to lose the chance you worked hard for.  

A good place to start with your teams is with education and training on current and trending customer shopping behaviors and expectations, as well as ensuring the experience you gave online is the same experience a consumer receives in person as well, if not better.  

When you make sure your sales – service – and operations are all leveraging your brand, traffic and reputation in your online digital retailing and eCommerce marketing strategy, and map out how that bridges into your dealership, you’ll not only drive more quality leads, but you’ll close more deals. 

For the road forward 

In this transformed automotive industry world, Cox Automotive truly has the complete tech stack you need based on where your dealership and brand are both at and headed without the overwhelm. Whatever your goals, we can help you get there faster and to stay a step ahead and successful in today’s marketplace.  

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. Because in today’s times, a trusted partner like Cox Automotive can help your brand stand out to your ideal customers. 

Autotrader not only drives quality leads but delivers 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. 

All of us at Cox Automotive are here to not only here to help you succeed, but we’re here to help you for the drive forward, especially when it comes to developing your winning marketing strategy in the coming year. We invite you to connect with us to take a deeper look into ways to capture, connect and activate your data to make it more efficient and effective to drive both leads and business, to help you build upon what you have already worked hard to build. 

How to Generate More Positive Reviews

Posted on

As a dealer, you understand that selling cars is a people business. There’s an actual human being at the other end of every transaction. Every car you sell or service is connected to a person with an opinion. And in a day and age when everything gets shared on online, their opinions about your dealership and their experience are fair game. 

Unfortunately, far too many opinions that get shared online tend to skew negative. The squeaky wheels get the grease and the happy customers are less likely to share their views. But there is a way to generate more positive reviews and leverage positive opinions to your advantage. 

Prioritize Ratings and Reviews 

Online reviews have become a primary research tool for consumers. In fact, 88% of online shoppers incorporate reviews into their decision-making process. These reviews can be key to increasing traffic and dealer leads, but you have to build a steady stream of positive customer reviews first. 

If you don’t have a system in place for generating reviews and giving voice to satisfied customers, the unsatisfied customer reviews will probably paint an inaccurate picture of your dealership online.  

Make online reviews a priority. Take the time to research the right technology and technology partner to realize the benefits of this resource. Doing so can help you generate more positive reviews and turn those reviews into a viable auto dealer marketing tool to build your brand and boost sales. 

Make It Personal 

Consumers that had a negative experience with your dealership are more prone to leaving reviews. But if you ask your happy customers to leave a review, you may be surprised how many come through for you.  

The key to these requests is personalization. Your customers are much more likely to respond to a review generation request when you make it personal to them because they’re already receiving so much spam.  

An always-on, customizable, personalized review solicitation solution makes it easy for your customers to leave positive feedback. By sending a text (on of your customers’ preferred way to communicate) either from your phone or automatically, right after a sales or service transaction, you can increase the overall volume of positive customer reviews. 

Integrate Your SEO and Review Generation Services 

Did you know that 59% of shoppers believe reputation is the single most important factor when choosing a dealership? Having a coordinated digital strategy can unify your online presence, communicate the same coordinated messages across your digital channels, and build your brand reputation.  

When actual customers share reviews that reflect the same messaging as your automotive SEO, it reinforces your customer service commitment online and delivers valuable content that attracts additional shoppers.  

This type of coordinate car dealer SEO and Review Generation effort also involves monitoring all relevant digital properties and thoughtfully responding to all reviews in lockstep with auto SEO service best practices. It’s a smart way to turn every customer interaction into a powerful selling tool. 

Start with the Right Team

Just as there are real people at the other end of every dealership transaction, it takes real people to manage your dealership’s reputation. To implement a successful review generation strategy and generate more positive review, you have to have a dedicated team that knows the automotive industry.  

Take the time to find a team that can deliver real results by creating a customized review and review response strategy that is informed by proven best practices. And, make sure that team is made up of knowledgeable, industry-savvy marketers, not just review generation experts.  

Every customer has an opinion, and the overwhelming majority of those opinions are positive for most dealerships. If you can harness the power of those opinions by prioritizing review generation, making review solicitation personal, integrating your digital strategy, and partnering with the right team, you can generate more positive review and drive business.  

To learn more about harnessing the power of consumer opinions, check out Dealer.com Social and Reputation Management Services.  

Marketing in a Cookie-less Future

Posted on

Automotive internet marketing is changing. Third-party cookies—data used to display personalized ads and track internet users between websites—are going away for good. Advertisers will no longer be able to track and target shoppers the way they always have. They will have to rely on their own first-party data to deliver the personalized shopping experiences customers expect. So, what does that mean for your dealership?  

Data and Marketing Basics  

The more you know about your customers, the better you can serve them. If you know that a particular customer keeps looking at a particular vehicle online, you can take action to advertise specific makes and models to that customer. You may also be able to identify that customer’s current vehicle, price range for a new vehicle, propensity to buy, and more. All this data makes automotive digital marketing more effective. But as third-party cookies go away, you’ll know less about your customers, and your advertising has the potential to be less personalized and less effective.  

The Importance of First-Party Data 

If your dealership doesn’t have a way to track consumers outside of third-party cookies, your advertising audience is about to get smaller. Dealerships that have access to first-party data have a better chance of coming out on top in this new landscape. But what is first-party data exactly? First-party data—data that you have the right to collect and access—includes the following:  

  • – Data stored under your website
  • – Data stored in your CRM  
  • – Data stored in your DMS  
  • – Tier one data, including some OEM data  

Your Dealership’s Auto Advertising Plan  

Your dealership can approach auto advertising and take advantage of first-party data in one of three ways. You can: 1) manually provide advertisers with your first-party data, 2) purchase first-party data to create audiences, or 3) partner with an advertising provider that already has access to large amounts of first-party data.  

  • Manually Provide Data: This approach involves providing transaction records from your DMS, for example, to your automotive advertising agency to create specific audiences. You may also be able to provide this data to cable television companies to show ads tailored to your audience. 
  • Purchase First-Party Data: The approach involves purchasing consumer data from companies that aggregate different pools of first-party data so dealerships can target and personalize auto advertising.  
  • Partner with an Advertiser with Access to First-Party Data: If an advertiser is already part of an ecosystem of companies that collect data about consumers, your dealership automatically has access to more first-party data and can advertise more effectively to a wider audience. 

Advertising with Dealer.com   

When your dealership advertises with Dealer.com, you get access to exclusive first-party Cox Automotive data throughout the entire buyer’s journey. That includes first-party signals from three out of every four car shoppers. That is the biggest basket of first-party data available to dealerships today. This data allows you to track customers and households based on their browsing data from Kelley Blue Book, Autotrader, and Dealer.com websites to create targetable profiles that make your dealership’s advertising more effective. 

As third-party cookies go away, it’s time to meet with your advertising team to reevaluate your advertising approach. Whether leveraging your DMS and CRM data, purchasing data, or partnering with Dealer.com to leverage the largest pool of first-party data in the industry, create an action plan now that can help you personalize your customers’ experience and keep them coming to your dealership. 

To learn more about the importance of first-party data and how your dealership can gain an advertising advantage in the coming months, watch our detailed video all about marketing in the cookie-less future. 

What Consumers Want From a Digital Shopping Experience

Posted on

Why are some digital shopping experiences more successful than others? What motivates consumers to move through the digital shopping experience with one dealership and drop off with another? 

These are complicated questions with more than one answer, but in the end it all comes down to the consumer experience. What consumers want, consumers get, even if they have to shop at a different dealership.  

Pay attention to these key consumer interests when it comes to implementing your digital shopping experience. 

Complete More Steps Online 

Consumers don’t want to spend a lot of time at the dealership, no matter how they choose to buy their cars. One major difference between various digital shopping experiences involves the number of steps the consumer can complete online (and as a result, the amount of time spent at the dealership). 

As recently as 2018, consumers were spending approximately 3 hours at the dealership, just to get a deal done. Two years later, with more dealers incorporating elements of a digital shopping experience, that time decreased to an average of 2 hours and 37 minutes.  

For consumers who complete at least 50% of the car buying process online, time spend at the dealership went down even more dramatically to about 2 hours. Even more telling, consumer satisfaction increased as more dealers offered a digital buying experience and the amount of time spent at dealership decreased. 

Implement Steps Customers Want 

It’s not just the number of steps in your digital shopping experience that matter. The specific steps that you include within that experience can convince car buyer leads to do business with your dealership. 

The following steps are the basic building blocks of a digital shopping experience. Even if you already incorporate them as part of your digital shopping experience, it’s important to communicate and promote their availability to your prospective dealer leads. 

  • Personalized Payments: Most customers are payment shoppers. They want to know as much about their future car payment as possible. This key information will help them decide whether or not to continue down the path to purchase. Give your consumers the tools to create all aspects of their deal structure online. 
  • Incentives and Rebates: Every consumer wants to get a good deal on their new car purchase. They want to know that they’re getting every possible incentive and rebate available. Be upfront with your shoppers about what they can expect to receive and make incentives and rebates an integral part of the digital shopping experience. 
  • Trade Valuation: Consumers know that their trade-ins carry value. If they don’t think they can include their trade-in as part of the digital deal, they may shy away you’re your digital shopping experience. In fact, according to Cox Automotive data, 80% of all digital deals include a trade. It’s an important part of the car buying experience for the majority of consumers. 
  • Credit Application: If one of the main goals of the digital shopping experience is to promote convenience (and reduce time at the dealership), including a credit application is near the top of every customer’s digital shopping checklist. Offer an online credit application to give you a better idea of consumers’ credit worthiness and allow them to pre-qualify, even before they step foot in the dealership. 
  • Test Drive: What would the car buying experience be without a test drive. It’s the time when consumer meets car and matches are made. Including the ability to self-schedule a test drive as part of the digital car buying experience allows consumers to make their own appointments and take that all-important next step toward buying their next car. 

Transform Your Digital Shopping Experience 

Again, what motivates consumers is a complicated question, and these are just a few of the basic elements of a digital shopping experience. You may also consider including: 

  • Offsite test drives 
  • The option for home delivery 
  • The ability to view and buy vehicle protection products 
  • Virtual tours and test drives 
  • Remote deal signing 
  • Vehicle reservation 
  • Service scheduling 

Just remember, in general, consumers appreciate the opportunity to complete more steps online and spend less time at the dealership. It saves them time and differentiates your dealership’s digital shopping experience from the host of online competitors. 

To learn more about how your dealership can transform the digital buying experience, check out Dealer.com Manager of Performance Management B. Malaczewski’s recent webinar, all about differentiating the digital buying process. You can also learn more about delivering the kind of digital shopping experience your customers want at Dealer.com. 

4 Marketing Strategies for Overcoming Inventory Shortages

Posted on

Every dealership is dealing with inventory acquisition challenges. It’s an industry-wide issue that has had a profound impact on profitability. And while some dealers are choosing to “wait out” the inventory shortage, others are succeeding now.

Implement these four auto dealer marketing strategies to overcome inventory obstacles and supply chain challenges at your dealership.

  • Strategy 1: Evolve Campaign Types—Focus auto advertising on inventory acquisition. Promote that you’ll pay top dollar for used vehicles.
  • Strategy 2: Widen Your Geo-Target—As inventory shrinks, expand your audience beyond normal boundaries with messaging about buying used vehicles.
  • Strategy 3: Add Web Content—Use your dealership’s website to advertise acquisition efforts with home page banners, service page banners, and trade-in reminders.
  • Strategy 4: Dealership-Wide Plan—Ensure marketing, sales, and service are all in sync, connecting workflows across departments, to accomplish inventory acquisition goals.

The current inventory shortage is a major challenge, and it’s not going away anytime soon. With these four proven marketing strategies, you can outlast current supply chain challenges to keep profits high, even as inventory is low.

[elementor-template id=”69144″]

Digital Marketing in 2022

Posted on

Seismic shifts are reshaping the automotive digital-marketing and retailing landscapes. With consumer privacy and seamless user experiences now a highest-level priority, it’s critical for dealers to understand the data and insights available to them – and ensure they’re integrating those insights into their marketing efforts.

With Google and Apple in particular enacting far stricter consumer-data policies – and states proposing regulations as well – dealers must rely on partners that can put their first-party data to use and eliminate dependency on third-party cookies and other non-targeted technologies. Just like 20 years ago, when many dealers first launched websites, the magnitude of change around data and privacy today will require the same levels of focus.

How to Retain and Resell Current Customers

Posted on

Your customers’ relationship with your dealership shouldn’t end with the handoff of the keys to their new vehicle. Successful dealerships know how much value there is in maintaining customer relationships after the deal has closed.   

With strong strategies and advanced technology, you can maintain customer relationships that last a lifetime—bringing more value and efficiency to your business. Consider these best practices for retaining and reselling your customers.  

Track Customer Activity and Mine Behavioral Data  
Today’s most successful dealerships know that the key to retaining customers is proactively connecting with them, instead of waiting for the customer to reach out for information about a new vehicle. And while happy birthday and anniversary wishes are nice, they probably won’t cut it in the fierce competition for business today.  

Your dealership probably already has the customer data you need to implement a proactive outreach strategy that provides value to your customers. Leveraging your dealership’s data and technology can help you identify in-market opportunities, including existing customers that may be ready for a vehicle upgrade.  

Look for technology tools that integrate with your dealership website to aggregate data into insights. With VinSolutions, for example, your Dealer.com website data is integrated with your CRM to identify customers who are most likely to be ready to make another purchase.  

Segment Communications and Automate Marketing  
Just as consumers expect a personalized experience when shopping for a vehicle, your customers expect a personalized experience later in their ownership experience with your dealership. But delivering the type of personalization your customers expect can be difficult without the right auto digital marketing solution.   

Consider a multi-channel automated marketing solution, such as Automotive Marketing Platform powered by VinSolutions. This marketing tool enables you to deliver personalized marketing content by leveraging specific insights from customer behavior data.  

Using existing customer data from your CRM, an automated marketing tool segments customers who are most likely to buy, including customers who may be interested in trading in for a newer vehicle. For another value-add, Automotive Marketing Platform can leverage artificial intelligence to identify vehicles of interest and automatically send personalized offers that let customers start the deal process from anywhere on any device. 

By tracking customer online activity, mining CRM data, segmenting communications, and automating your marketing, you can leverage insights to create a car buying experience that builds brand loyalty and creates lifetime customers.  

[elementor-template id=”67251″]

Owning Every Marketing Moment

Posted on

How do you attract and engage customers when every shopper’s car-buying journey is unique?  

This guide, Owning Every Marketing Moment: The New Rules of Engagement, will show you best practices and technology tips to help you personalize your marketing and stay in step with today’s shoppers. You’ll learn how to: 

  • Build and maintain brand awareness 
  • Identify customer interests and buying intent 
  • Make personalized offers 
  • Leverage data to retain customers  
Get the eBook

Above and Beyond: The Data Behind Thriving Dealerships

Posted on

By Lori Wittman, SVP Dealer Software Solutions, Cox Automotive 

Challenges and difficulties breed innovation. It’s through adversity that some of our most inspiring discoveries are found. So, for businesses and organizations coming through a long period of adaptation—like the last eighteen months—I commend you.  

Simply surviving as an organization is an accomplishment. But you and I can probably agree, there are key differences between surviving and thriving. When I look at the data (and I am always looking at the data), most automotive dealerships fall into one of two categories. 

There are dealerships that survive hardships. And then there are dealerships that thrive. So called “thrivers” manage to become both more efficient and more profitable, while static dealerships either stay the same or became less efficient and less profitable.  

For me, understanding what led to these differences in performance is a personal mission. Our dealer partners rely on the experience, insights, and technology we provide to guide important business decisions. It’s on us to dig into the data and discover the difference between the dealers who embrace digital acceleration and those who double down on old habits. It turns out, the data goes deep. 

Our team at Cox Automotive has compiled a report called, “How to Thrive: Best Practices for an Accelerated Digital Landscape.” In it, we reveal insights from interviews and surveys of more than 450 franchise dealerships. The report uncovers the specific strategies employed by dealerships that thrive and how those dealers found success when the industry suddenly shifted to a digitally driven model.  

So why do these insights matter now?  Hindsight is a wonderful tool for discovering why going above and beyond in a crisis is beneficial to the customer experience. It reveals where we exceeded expectations and where we fell short.  

But, in this case, hindsight is only 2020. And midway through 2021, I’m more interested in looking forward. 

Once we are better able to establish a clear pattern that our dealer partners can learn from and follow, only then can we truly provide the insights that make a difference. By focusing on consumer experience and embracing digital capabilities, our entire industry levels up. And it does so in the following four, clear and specific ways: 

  1. Thrivers offer digital options across the experience.  
  1. Thrivers maximize their utilization of data.  
  1. Thrivers invest in their staff.  
  1. Thrivers adapt to customer desires in fixed ops. 

Thrivers Offer Digital Options Across the Shopping Experience 

Along with my colleagues at Cox Automotive, I’ve been shouting it from the rooftops for years: “The transition to digital car shopping and buying is coming!” I had no idea how quickly we would be proven right. So, while the recent jump in demand for online and digital retail in automotive wasn’t entirely unexpected, it was certainly accelerated. And frankly, it was long overdue.  

The way we live our lives has been changing since the onset of the internet. Car shoppers had already been preconditioned by other online retailers (think streaming entertainment, same-day shipping, online banking, etc.) to accept and expect a more digitally driven process. Buyers have always wanted to complete more of the process online. Now, with the tools available to dealers and an increase in trust from our buyers, consumers are more comfortable sharing personal financial data with dealers across a number of channels in order to make that happen. 

Thriving dealers didn’t view this rushed transition as a crisis for their businesses. Instead, they jumped at the opportunity. The “How to Thrive” report showed that a full 82% of thrivers agree that offering more digital options to customers is critical to the retail success of a dealership. With digital transformation as a priority, they shored up their systems to ensure they were offering flexible options throughout the shopping experience. They added digital buying solutions and communications channels to give their customers the ability to start and complete the shopping and buying process from anywhere.  

As it became apparent that major shifts would take place, top-performing dealerships began examining their digital retailing ecosystems and identifying gaps in their online shopping processes. In fact, 62% of thrivers improved processes to support selling a vehicle online, compared to only 31% of static dealerships. Customers of thrivers immediately experienced the benefits, taking advantage of the flexibility and convenience associated with seamless remote shopping. Dealers that adjusted also saw the benefits as they got faster at structuring deals, closing sales, and receiving funds. 

I recently had the chance to talk with Linda Crossman, Director of System Operations and Training at Byers Automotive Group, to discuss the findings of the “How to Thrive” report. In our conversation, Linda shared the details of her dealership’s experience improving its online processes amidst last year’s unique challenges. Specifically, Byers Automotive Group refined and even branded its online shopping and purchase process.  

“We actually understood pretty quickly that we needed to change the way we do business because that’s what our customers were requesting from us,” Linda said. “So, we came up with a process that we call ‘The Byers Express,’ which is four easy steps online that a customer can go in and choose their car, choose what kind of financing, and more.” 

Naturally, as more shoppers began completing more of the process online, dealerships encountered challenges associated with customer communications. Thriving dealers overcame these challenges by embracing an omnichannel communication approach, including text, video chat, and other communications that get tracked in the CRM. More than half (56%) of thrivers use a variety of communication options to align with shopper preferences, while only 32% of static dealers can say the same. Adding or increasing utilization of those channels made the car buying process more personal.  

I was so impressed with the way that Linda and Byers Automotive Group addressed the communications component of digital acceleration.  

“You have to offer up whatever way they feel comfortable in communicating with you,” Linda explained to me. “For some people, it’s going to be text messaging, for some people it’s going to be chat, for some people it’s going to be through email, and some people still like the traditional way of phone. So, we offer up every single one of those options for our customers so they can choose the way they want to communicate with us.”  

Thrivers Maximize Their Utilization of Data 

Dealers continue to tell me how valuable it is to have data continuity across their systems, whether it’s entering information into the digital retailing tool or having access to that information all the way through the signing ceremony. According to the “How to Thrive” report, 86% of dealers agree that having accurate and complete data is a priority at their dealership.  

The pandemic definitely proved the importance of keeping good data. When a dealership’s sales pipeline begins to dry up, as it can unexpectedly, dealership data can help identify new opportunities. Thriving dealerships leverage their data and their technology systems to proactively identify new sales and service opportunities.  

Specifically, thrivers engage in online activity tracking of consumer web and search history to understand customer needs and interests. This allows them to personalize communications, digital marketing, and the car buying experience for each individual customer.  

Dealerships that maximize their use of data naturally rely heavily on their CRMs. Using CRM data, as well as data from external web sources, thrivers market to customers on a one-to-one basis and communicate with them in a personalized manner. Specifically, they include information about a customer’s current car, potential interests, service history, and current monthly payment. By mining their CRMs extensively, dealers are able to craft tailored messaging that resonates with customers, resulting in quality leads and actual vehicle sales.   

Thrivers don’t just rely on CRM data to identify leads and close deals. They also excel at using cross-departmental data to spot opportunities. In particular, they share data between their sales and service departments, using service and past-purchase records to identify in-market consumers and predict needs.   

Byers Automotive Group is a great example of a dealership that used cross-departmental data to thrive. Specifically, Linda shared with me that at Byers, the data starts with whatever the first contact is with the customer. 

“That data is shared across every one of our platforms,” Linda said. “It’s instantly available in service. It’s in our CRM. It’s in our DMS. It goes over to the portal that we use for credit applications and financing. So once that information is captured, we have that shared across all of our platforms.” 

The advantages of using a more personalized, data-driven approach are clear. Dealerships reach the right audiences for their messages and consumers only receive information that is relevant to them. This builds customer trust, produces more qualified leads, and increases repeat and referral business.   

Thrivers Adapt to Customer Desires in Fixed Ops  

Fixed operations is such an important part of the dealership from a profitability perspective, and our study showed that thriving dealerships are really investing in improvements to their service departments right now. Because fixed ops revenues make up about half of dealership gross profits (according to NADA data from 2020), thriving dealerships have been quick to adapt to customer desires, which recently has meant improving their systems and processes to provide more flexible, transparent service experiences.  

Many of the service changes and improvements made by thriving dealerships could be classified as convenience solutions. Adoption rates of convenience solutions are much higher among thriving dealerships (58%) than they are among static ones (38%). Take this for example: some dealerships began sending quotes and accepting approvals by text. In order to provide a clear explanation of needed repairs and to reduce time on the phone with remote customers, many began including pictures and videos with their quotes. This shift had the dual benefit of building customer trust and improving shop efficiency.  

I loved discussing these findings with Linda because Byers Automotive Group has seen the benefit of making improvements firsthand. For example, the group has implemented multi-media messaging at a couple of stores, and their customers are loving it. I could sense the excitement as she told me about her dealership’s use of this exciting technology.  

“We’re sending customers pictures of their vehicle, so they can actually see the work needed,” she explained. “It’s not just us telling them. I can email or text it to them and they can respond back, even if they’re in the middle of a meeting, and say to go ahead and approve the repairs. We don’t have to wait like the old days, where we played phone tag back and forth and tried to get the work done through the shop. It’s been a really useful tool.”  

Some dealerships took convenience a step further by rolling out service pickup and delivery options. Recognizing that many vehicle owners were limiting their public contact, thriving dealerships offered service pickup and delivery options at customers’ homes and places of work. In fact, 65% of thrivers offer service pickup and delivery, while only 49% of static dealership offer the service.  

Of course, not all service-related changes were about increasing convenience. Thriving dealerships also worked to optimize their daily shop management. To avoid expensive gaps in their service schedules, thrivers leveraged data to identify and track opportunities for openings. They also simplified day-to-day tasks and reallocated job roles to minimize downtime and optimize the use of service bays. By maximizing their technicians’ time, they made impressive improvements to both shop efficiency and profitability.  

Thrivers Invest in Staff 

Technology and processes play a critical role in driving dealership success. But behind all the software is an even more critical asset: people. Thrivers work hard to keep up with the latest technologies, but they also understand the importance of adapting the way they manage their people. Thrivers invest heavily in their staff to keep them performing at a high level as the industry evolves.  

On its most basic level, this common thriver behavior includes cross-training employees and teaching them how to use new technologies. In fact, according to the “How to Thrive” study, almost half (48%) of thrivers provide opportunities for cross-training while only 27% of static dealerships do the same.  

Thriving dealerships, however, don’t limit their staff-related investments to skills training. They also prioritize employee satisfaction in order to keep morale high and to retain high performers. They hold career path discussions in order to identify areas where employees might be happier or make greater contributions. These dealers understand that when employees see the benefit of leadership’s direction, and they’re growing within their roles, they buy in to what the dealership is doing. This buy-in increases employee (and ultimately customer) satisfaction.  

Becoming a Thriver 

Change is always uncomfortable. Especially at first. The status quo is comfortable, but it doesn’t challenge us to grow. It doesn’t force us to face our shortcomings. It tells us that, “things are fine as they are.” And it catches up to all of us, eventually.  

Facing an uncomfortable truth can be, well, uncomfortable. But, it’s only the first step. And for the dealers I’ve met with, taking the next steps toward adaptation, growth, digital acceleration, and optimization are often less painful than anticipated.  

Linda concluded our conversation with a powerful piece of advice. “Don’t be afraid of change. Step up and move to the next level. It’s so important that we listen to our customers and move to do business the way they want to do business. Everyone will win.” 

I echo Linda’s call to embrace change and encourage you to do the same. Don’t get stuck on the sidelines watching your peers become more successful when you could be the one flourishing. Whatever the market conditions may be, it’s the experience you provide consumers that will drive satisfaction and keep them coming back.  

I invite you to download the full research report and to tune in to my new video series, Dealer Advantage with CBT News. On the latest episode, you can hear my entire conversation with Linda Crossman at Byers Automotive Group. 

[elementor-template id=”63315″]

4 Questions to Improve Your Dealership’s Digital Marketing

Posted on

As consumers spend more time and complete more activities online, the world of automotive retail is changing. Dealerships are adjusting their digital marketing strategies to incorporate new technologies, tools and tactics that attract today’s online car shoppers. And, as with anything new, dealers have questions.  

In this eBook, 4 Questions to Improve Your Dealership’s Digital Marketing, you’ll find answers to key questions that can drive your digital marketing strategy. You’ll discover:

  • How to define your marketing priorities for the digital-first era
  • How to identify the most productive, efficient ways of finding new leads
  • How to overcome challenges and implement your revamped digital marketing strategy

Lead the way into a new world of automotive marketing with innovative digital marketing solutions that attract customers and help you close more deals. A guide to evaluating your digital marketing strategy to attract customers and close more deals.