Category: Websites

Why Ease and Efficiency Matter in Website Innovation

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By Bob George, AVP Product Management for Dealer.com

More than ever before, consumers in the automotive industry expect a personalized and intuitive digital shopping experience. Whether in market for a new vehicle or service for their current ride, today’s shoppers are looking for ease and efficiency on their path to purchase. And this trend is transforming how dealers meet their customers: online.  

While the catalyst and rate of adoption in 2020 caught many off guard, industry insiders have anticipated this happen. This development has been years in the making and building momentum in other industries. Technology leaders like Apple have shown how award-winning design and intuitive user experiences make it easier for users to engage with their products.   

For leading digital marketing providers in automotive, these principles are applied as standard practice while developing new tools and services. Increasingly, consumers are choosing to shop online before stepping inside a dealership showroom. This shift is forcing dealers to rely more on their Digital Storefront (e.g. their website) to perform essential functions: attract, engage and transact. User experience data and insights are contributing to the production of digital tools that are easier to use, more appealing to try, and address current consumer pain points.   

A personalized experience is a key factor to the success of this effort. In a recent Dealer.com survey of 524 dealerships, all participants measured increases in website visitor engagement following 6 months of adding Experience Optimization, a website personalization tool that uses data and automation to deliver recommended vehicles and specials to shoppers in real-time based on their vehicle preferences. This dealership set also benefitted from a +216% increase in lead form submission rate.  

Here, we will review how dealers can benefit from recent technological advancements and meet consumers wherever they are in the shopping or ownership process.  

Enabling 1:1 Consumer Experience  

While being an early adopter of digital innovation may be helpful in other areas, this inclination isn’t necessary to understand the importance of the consumer experience. At a basic level, consumers want their path to purchase to be simple. This applies to purchases made in the dealership showroom, on the website, and somewhere in between.  

To get on the right track, a dealer’s digital marketing provider must have access to vast amounts of consumer data, pulling from multiple sources to build the most complete picture. The value of this data should not be underestimated, as it informs every touchpoint the dealer has with the consumer: from marketing, including email and text, to advertising, such as paid search, display and video, to the website experience, to Digital Retailing, and ultimately to your dealership.   

The successful provider must be able to harness data and insights to turn anonymous pixels into repeat customers who will drive lifetime value. At the end of the day, sales to repeat customers will keep the dealership running along.  

There are steps a dealer can take to understand the key moment that a consumer is going through, then build a tailored selling plan and proactively overcome any pain points. As mentioned above, data plays an important role throughout this process:  

  • Use buying signals to identify opportunities  
  • Automate a personalized offer  
  • Communicate by preferred channels  
  • Customize the digital retailing experience, working a deal online and/or offline  

Integrating New Digital Tools  

The array of options for reaching a consumer have changed dramatically from just 5 years ago, and they continue to evolve at a blistering pace year over year. So, too, have consumer habits changed, including where and how they get their information.   

A prime example of this is the growth of digital video advertising. Across industries, digital video budgets are expected to grow 1.8X from 2018 to 2022, reaching $50 billion in 2022. This includes advertising on Connected TV (CTV) – television that’s connected to the internet through a Smart TV, Apple TV, or similar streaming device, and completely separate from cable or satellite. In 2019, viewership of over-the-top (OTT) networks exceeded 170 million, which equates to more than half the US population.   

For dealers, access to Targeted Digital Television advertising is just around the corner: CTV and OTT advertising is in pilot now. This product expansion will allow video advertising to be served on TV devices across OTT networks, using household data and consumer buying signals to target shoppers on any device or network.  

Another addition to the dealer toolbox that is coming soon is the Personalized Landing Page, which is launching in parallel with VinSolutions’ all-new dealership CRM platform. The aim of this new experience is to help consumers start high level decision-making between buying a new vehicle and servicing their current one. Many readers will have personal experience of clicking on an email offer to access a dealership website, landing on either an inventory listing or just the homepage. Since we know consumers are looking for ease and efficiency, it is best to avoid having them re-enter search criteria or try to re-find the offer that was just presented to them. Using multiple data sources to gather consumer information, the shopper is brought to a personalized landing page which includes the same offer as shown via email.    

After landing on this personalized page, the consumer is set up for the Digital Retailing experience, moving into the nuts and bolts of the deal, with the potential to increase dealer profitability.    

Supporting Ownership Everywhere  

Understanding what matters most to consumers while they shop online is fundamental to the partnership between dealers and digital marketing providers. This shared knowledge, and the all-important consumer data and insights gathered from every corner of the industry, combine to drive the digital innovation that is required for growth.   

A shared primary goal for dealers and providers is to drive lifetime customer value by keeping focus across the purchase and ownership lifecycles. Starting from shopping to purchase, from routine and preventative service to fixed operations, and finally back around to buyer consideration, there are countless touchpoints with consumers.   

Dealers have the ability to get additional miles out of these consumer touchpoints by using Reputation Management tools. Customer reviews are an increasingly influential factor among car buyers, and dealers need an efficient, easy way to solicit and manage these natural endorsements. Dealers should be taking full advantage of reviews to reinforce their dealership reputation and appeal to new shoppers. Review Generation uses a high-converting SMS-based review request system to engage customers while the transaction is still top of mind, to create a constant stream of reputation-based reviews.  

In today’s market, it is critical to enable 1:1 consumer interaction to drive this lifetime value – and the only way to do so effectively is with enhanced digital technology that supports ease and efficiency for consumers.  

Visit Dealer.com Websites to learn more about the advantages of delivering a full-service, personalized digital storefront experience for your customers so you can meet them wherever they are in the shopping or ownership process.   

Breaking Down the Online and In-store Divide for Shoppers

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If you had a chance to tune in for the Cox Automotive Forward Focus session Breaking Down the Online and In-store Divide, then you would have heard Wayne Pastore, General Manager of Dealer.com, and Bob George, AVP Product Management for Dealer.com, discuss the changes that this year has brought to automotive digital retailing. While some aspects of the automotive industry began to slow down in March 2020, the need to connect the in-store and online buying experience was accelerated. Read on to learn how data and insights gathered during the consumer’s path to purchase can help you guide your customers through a more personalized and meaningful online buying experience. 

Retailing Everywhere 

The automotive shopping experience is evolving. While the end goal for the consumer remains the same – to buy a car that meets their needs and budget – the process by which they reach this decision is streamlining with better data and technology. In years past and till recently, a dealership website was used more for vehicle research, while the automobile leads were generated inside the dealership’s walls. Fast forward to present day, and new digital products and processes make it easier than ever for a shopper to purchase a vehicle without stepping inside a dealership showroom.  

Considering recent digital advancements, is there a way to bridge the online and in-store experiences that would benefit both the dealer and consumer? This brings us to Retailing Everywhere, a singular, multi-channel consumer retailing experience designed to drive profitable transactions and customer loyalty. Let’s look at the key components that make up this type of experience: 

  • Automated marketing and advertising 
  • Guided 1:1 consumer experience 
  • Advanced communication 
  • Deal connectivity across CRM and web 

When a consumer encounters a seamless digital experience, they stay on the website longer and go deeper into buying process. Keep reading to learn about innovations that support the Retailing Everywhere experience. 

Automated Marketing and Advertising 

Many consumers are spending less time on the road, for both professional and personal reasons. With more people staying home, what tools and tactics should you use to reach the right audience? If there is one thing most consumers are doing these days, and possibly more than a year ago, it is watching TV.  

Consumers are increasingly “cutting the cord” to cable programming in favor of Connected TV options, such as HULU and Netflix. This trend, combined with consistently positive performance in video advertising, has led to the expansion of our video advertising services on Connected TV channels. Placement is driven by the same data that powers Dealer.com display advertising, Facebook targeting, and other services. And since traditional TV does not offer the flexibility to target specific audiences, we can spend more effectively in this space. Robust reporting is available, so you know when and where your video ad is being shown, and to whom. 

Guided 1:1 Consumer Experience 

When a shopper lands on your Digital Storefront and begins to move through the site, either to view inventory or explore fixed ops deals from your automotive service marketing, the platform responds with a highly targeted, personalized experience. Our Experience Optimization product uses data from past shopping behavior to inform and customize experiences throughout the website. This includes slides, specials, banners, content. The goal is to introduce the most relevant offers and content to consumers on the first visit. 

Once the shopper has found the perfect vehicle, they will likely explore the digital retailing tools. Modeled after tax software, our brand-new Digital Retailing experience takes a complex process and breaks it down into small and simple steps. It’s a flexible, consumer-driven process, as shoppers can jump in and out of the pieces as needed to learn more about the deal. As a bonus, we’re finding people are using more of the tools and engaging more because it’s not a one-way street.  

Advanced communication 

The goal with shopper communication is to enable 1:1 conversation and offer a guided experience, and there are several ways to do this. Two examples include video chat and co-browse in Digital Retailing. Explore these services to see which ones would be the best fit for your Digital Storefront. 

Deal connectivity across CRM and Web 

Your dealership CRM plays an important role in moving the retail experience forward to a transaction. The reason is this platform provides visibility and understanding into consumer intent, and both of these inputs may be used by sales to deliver a personalized sales experience. 

With our latest offering, a deal can cross both your CRM and website, and it can originate in either space. Choose to review a deal in your CRM, and you’ll find a clean, simple view of the customer’s online deal activity that is accessed by a link. With CRM integration, leads fed directly into your CRM under one customer record update automatically every time the shopper changes their deal structure 

Driving interactions is essential in the Retailing Everywhere model. The technology you employ should support your activity instead of just replacing it, like talking across a table inside your showroom. The easier that information passes between the shopper and your dealership team, the better the shopping experience. Let our team help you to put the right message and interaction out to the consumer, regardless of where they are in the process.  

Dealer.com to discontinue support of Internet Explorer 11

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Microsoft has officially announced plans to end support for Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) next year. Although customers that use IE 11 to access Dealer.com websites make up just 1.1% of total traffic, we will be implementing a three-phase plan to discontinue IE 11 support, while notifying these customers about the impending changes and how to access your website using a different browser.

Three Phase Plan

Effective immediately, we will no longer develop, test, or fix issues specific to IE 11 on both our ControlCenter platform and our websites. We will also begin directing customers to update their browsers to access your website in the future and provide links to download either Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox. 

  • Phase 1: Now through early October, shoppers may access your website via IE 11 without disruption. If your dealership is using IE11, please ask your IT department to select and install a new browser.
  • Phase 2: During the month of October, shoppers using IE 11 to access your website will receive a message asking them to update their browser before allowing them to continue on to your website.
  • Phase 3: Then, in November, shoppers attempting to use IE 11 to access your website will be asked to update their browser prior to continuing. This will prevent users from having a broken website experience.

Benefits to Your Website

Discontinuing support of IE 11 will result in faster product development, faster website performance, and enhanced security for your Dealer.com website. In addition, modern web browsers offer many benefits to the end user, resulting in a better overall shopping experience for your customers. Here are some other benefits of this move:

  • Faster Development: IE 11 is the only browser that does not meet modern web standards. For each new Dealer.com website product, feature, and enhancement, our engineering team spends extra time coding and testing specifically for IE 11. While IE 11 traffic makes up just 1.1% of total usage, it takes around 20% of our entire development time.
  • Faster Performance: The extra IE 11 code takes up valuable backend website space. Reducing the overall code size will result in performance gains.
  • New Features: Since IE 11 doesn’t follow modern web standards, we are not able to adopt the full suite of standards for other browsers. These new web standards allow for more creative design elements and backend functionality. Removing IE11 support opens up new opportunities for our engineering teams.

If you have any questions about this change, please reach out to your Performance Manager or contact a member of our support team.

Five Questions Every Car Dealer Website Should Answer

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By Bob George  

Today, almost all roads lead to a dealer’s website, even (and sometimes especially) when a customer might prefer to come into the showroom. In fact, 83% of customers want to do at least one step of the car-buying journey online, according to the 2019 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study. 

Customers are bound to have a lot of questions, especially amid all the recent changes and phased reopening across the country. To give customers the information they need to move forward in their buying journey, every car dealer website should answer these questions.  

1. Is the dealership open, and if so, what safety precautions are being taken?  

The most helpful thing a dealership can do for shoppers is to provide accurate information and communicate frequently. This can be done in a few key places with highly visible website messaging, such as on slides, banners, and landing pages. Also include it in social media and email. Place this information prominently so customers looking to visit in person know their options. 

Quick and simple access to information is the best way to let customers know a dealership is open and eager to do business. 

2. Can I get my car serviced or repaired?   

Leverage service department marketing to let customers know what measures are being taken to ensure safety during service appointments. Outline it simply on the website, whether it is offering no-contact car services, a delivery and pickup option, videos showing the disinfection process, or variable service hours to reduce the number of technicians in the dealership at a given time. 

Dealership advertising campaigns promoting these new service processes can create added awareness as consumers explore their options for getting their cars serviced. 

3. What is the best way to reach a dealer if I don’t want to visit a dealership in person?  

Many customers may want to avoid visiting the dealership in person for a while, and virtual interactions are the next best thing to keeping dealership operations moving. Let customers know on the website that they can connect with staff virtually, and make shoppers feel as though you’re in the same room when you do connect virtually. Video chat enriches the digital shopping experience and gives dealers a direct and real-time opportunity to talk to customers. Video chats and other virtual communication channels also build trust with customers and keep deals moving quickly.  

4. How much of the car buying process can be done online?  

More customers are looking to digitally complete their car shopping process online. Clearly explaining the virtual car sales process on the website will help capture those customers, turning them into automobile leads. These digital retailing shoppers should be treated as much farther along in the buying process, especially if they are using online tools in lieu of an in-store visit. Consumers are investing time in the process online and should be rewarded for that with personalized, relevant follow-up communications. Leverage digital tools to help make the car-buying experience from home easier. 

5. Is the dealership offering home vehicle delivery, test drives, or other social distancing options?  

With shoppers still taking precautions, offering convenient, at-home options for them can lead to more potential buyers for a dealer. Simple messaging explaining new options and processes via landing pages, advertising, and website slides or banners go a long way. 

Consumers will inevitably have questions and want to call, email, or text the dealership for more information. Make sure the contact information needed to get those questions answered is clear and readily available. It’s important to nurture every lead and ensure your response is timely. 

This is a new experience for all of us, and we’re all navigating this together. Dedicate online real estate to explain what you’re doing to protect employees and customers.  

One silver lining of COVID-19 is that online shopping has provided an alternative location for business to take place. It also accelerated the adoption of technology that many consumers desired before the pandemic deemed it necessary. Now, more dealers are ready to take on the next era of auto retailing where their web experience is the customer gateway to their business.  

Are you looking for more, download our Marketing Playbook.

A version of this article originally appeared in WardsAuto.  

Digital Marketing for Your Re-emergence: Personalization and Specials Tools

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Webinar: Personalization and Specials Tools

Your website experience has become central to the success of your dealership. In Part 2 of this webinar series, Noah Lee dives into our Website Personalization and Specials tools, and shows you how deliver the best possible website experience for consumers flanked by your latest offers, home services messages, and compelling OEM incentives.

Digital Marketing for Your Re-emergence: Website UX Best Practices

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WEBINAR: Digital Marketing for Your Re-emergence: Website UX Best Practices

The challenges dealers have faced during the last few months have reshaped the market. As you think about restarting your operations, consider this question: what did COVID-19 teach us about consumers and their sales and service needs? What customer conveniences are likely to stick around, and what digital marketing skills will continue to be key drivers? Watch this webinar to learn about website best practices.

A New Focus On The “Online to In-Store” Consumer Experience

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Watch as Bob George, AVP of Product Management at Dealer.com, details how dealers can better bridge the online to in-store consumer shopping experience.

By Bob George

For the last few years, dealers have put significant focus into how best to bridge the online and in-store consumer experiences into a singular, cohesive shopping journey. Progressive dealers have embraced capabilities such as automotive digital retailing, personalization, reputation management, and service department marketing in an attempt to move as much of the in-store process online. These tools save consumers time at the dealership and build trust through transparency and shopper-centric online experiences. 

But what happens when the in-store experience is put on pause for the foreseeable future? 

As  consumers  hunker down in their homes, it’s imperative that dealers take a serious look at moving more and more of their shopping experience  online to generate automobile leads, allowing  consumers  to prepare for purchase from the safety of their own homes.  Whether valuing their trade- in, exploring the latest (and very aggressive) financing offers,  or understanding  delivery options for both service and vehicle purchase, the dealership website  represents the best reliable avenue for consumers to learn about their choices.  

Two  capabilities that enable dealers to answer consumers’ critical questions  online  are Digital Retailing and website personalization.  Personalizing the website with relevant and timely offers drive shoppers into the digital retailing experience. And digital retailing enables consumers to complete more of the shopping process online  and at home – something that will  become more important even when COVID-19 passes.  

Consumers are going to continue to seek to minimize time spent in the dealership at purchase. Businesses that enable a more seamless online to in-store (or online to delivery) process – and educate their customers via website content and advertising messaging – will be best positioned in the future.  

As dealerships navigate this uncertain time, they should focus on using their website to answer the following questions from consumers:  

  • Is the dealership open, and if so, are there modified hours?  This question is best answered with simple website messaging, including slides, banners, and landing pages. Quick and simple access to information is the best recipe here. 
  • If I need to get my car serviced, do I need to worry?  Simple messaging goes a long way here. We’ve seen some dealers offer vehicle delivery and pickup, some showing customers their disinfection process, and some doing variable service hours to reduce the number of techs in the dealership at any given time. Fixed ops advertising campaigns with content to support these new service processes create awareness as consumers search how best to get their car serviced. 
  • Do I qualify for special financing and payment deferrals?  Several manufacturers are offering very aggressive financing rates as well as payment deferrals. Getting these messages out requires a full-court digital marketing press – advertising including video campaigns, website personalization with up-to-date incentives, and robust digital retailing capabilities to showcase purchase power as well as payment relief OEMs and dealers are offering. 
  • How much of the purchase process can I complete online?  Digital retailing tools can help move more and more of the process online. However, it is imperative that dealers implementing these tools recognize that digital retailing  shoppers don’t leave traditional “leads.” Instead, these shoppers must be treated as much farther along in the car-buying process, especially if they are using the online tools to explicitly avoid an in-store visit. Consumers are investing time in the process online and should be rewarded for that investment with personalized, relevant follow-up communications. 
  • Is the dealership offering home vehicle delivery or other “social distancing” options?  Like the service process, simple messaging via landing pages, advertising, and website slides/banners goes a long way here. Consumers will inevitably have questions and want to call, email, or text the dealership for more info – so make sure the steps to get those questions answered are clear. 
  • And finally – is the dealership taking care of its employees?  We know that more and more consumers make purchase decisions based on a company’s social responsibility.  Expressing what a dealership is doing for the safety and well-being of their employees can go a long way in building lasting relationships with consumers. This is a new experience for all of us, and we’re all navigating this together – as people first and foremost. 

At Dealer.com we remain deeply committed to our partnership with our dealers.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know how we can help. 

Spotlight on Accessibility

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Dealer.com’s Head of User Experience answers your questions on this hot topic. 

With the number of ADA-related lawsuits on the rise, we’re empowering our clients—and the industry at large—to understand accessibility as it relates to your digital storefront.  

We’ve received a lot of very good questions from our network of dealers about website accessibility. Jeffrey Pierce, a veteran of Dealer.com and the Senior Director of User Experience, is leading the effort to raise awareness and understanding about this important topic. He sat down recently to answer some of the questions we’ve been fielding through our Performance Management and Support teams. 

1 in 5 Americans has a disability.

Q: Does my website need to be ADA compliant?  

A: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects persons with disabilities—almost 19% of the population—by ensuring that commercial and public entities—like dealerships—provide equal access and accommodation for individuals with a range of disabilities. As eCommerce continues to expand, dealer websites are now being classified in some jurisdictions as “places of public accommodation,” and are therefore subject to compliance regulations.  

Q: Why isn’t my site already ADA compliant? 

A: Website compliance is a two-fold process—requiring both platform accessibility and content accessibility. Although the Dealer.com hosted website platforms have undergone many ADA-specific updates creating the foundation for a more compliant user experience, there will always be a need for you to ensure your site’s content is ADA compliant.  

Q: Why do I have to pay for this? 

A: To help ensure a website is and remains compliant, it needs to be manually tested with assistive technology to ensure optimal end user experience, remediated by a team of developers, then retested and actively monitored over time as content is added and removed. Dealer.com’s Website Accessibility Solution, powered by AudioEye, provides all that and more, which is why there is a cost associated with the solution.  

Q: Am I guaranteed to be WCAG 2.0 AA compliant?  

A: Compliance is a journey, not a destination. Because websites are ever-changing, no site can ever be 100 percent compliant 100 percent of the time, However, AudioEye strives for conformance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to the greatest extent possible. Additionally, AudioEye stays current on evolving WCAG Success Criteria to help ensure their clients adhere to new standards.  

Q: If I have a Dealer.com website and I sign up for the service, how long will it take for my site to become compliant? 

A: The road to compliance starts from the day we activate the initial JavaScript, but achieving AudioEye’s Trusted Compliance status strongly depends on the complexity of the site, due diligence in manual testing, and remediation steps. AudioEye will strive to get a site to AudioEye Trusted Certification within approximately 120 days.  

Q: What happens if I delete pages or add new content – will my site still be compliant?  

A: After achieving AudioEye’s Trusted Certification, your site will be constantly monitored, scanned, and evaluated. Results are compiled on a weekly basis and analyzed; and any new accessibility concerns are addressed.  

Q: How does Dealer.com’s solution, powered by AudioEye differ from the competition. 

A: Other accessibility providers offer businesses one or more of the services needed to ensure compliance, however AudioEye uses all available tools for a more comprehensive strategy. These tools include: Assistive Tools for Consumers, Manual Accessibility Testing, Automated Accessibility Testing, and full-site remediation.  

Q: What happens if I receive a demand letter or lawsuit with AudioEye on my site? 

A: AudioEye will supply their Sustainable Testing and Remediation (STAR) Plan, which addresses the work that has been done on the site, and will continue to be done, to help ensure conformance to compliance. The AudioEye legal team will review all allegations and provide additional correspondence as needed.  

To learn more about Dealer.com’s Website Accessibility Solution, powered by AudioEye, contact your Dealer.com Sales Representative or your Performance Consultant, or click here for more information. 

Digital Retailing: Key Trends to Watch and Actions Dealers Can Take

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Dealer.com Digital Retailing

The car-buying experience is in need of change and the process length is just the beginning, according to the findings in the 2018 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study. In fact, less than half (46 percent) of vehicle buyers were satisfied with how long the process took at the dealerships, the study showed.

Fortunately, new innovations in digital retailing are changing the car-buying journey. Dealers can now shorten the process with a secure and integrated digital retailing experience through their website – one that offers consumers a simpler and more modern online to in-store experience. Additionally, emerging digital retailing tools help guide shoppers through every stage of the deal more efficiently and effectively than ever before. What’s more, new data is showing that this higher-quality consumer engagement correlates to more qualified leads, accelerated sales, and higher profits.

This innovation couldn’t come at a better time, given the market outlook in 2019. With volatility and continued margin compression predicted, dealership operational efficiencies are more important than ever. Fortunately, dealers can leverage digital retailing to create more business efficiency. Based on these trends and challenges, and my conversations with dealers across the country, here are three elements of digital retailing that I believe dealers should emphasize in the months ahead.

Make the Process easy for the customer, and you’ll reap the benefits.

Consumers spend more time than ever researching vehicles prior to stepping foot on a dealer’s lot. Some use up to 21 different touchpoints during their research, which can leave them unable to find the information they are most interested in – vehicle details, credit application, and trade-in valuation.The best digital retailing solutions are the ones that help consumers save time on their online research, leveraging the dealership for vital information and allowing dealers to insert themselves into the consumer’s process. Dealerships that provide information in a clear, all in one easy-to-use workflow generate more quality sales leads.Dealers have a distinct advantage in closing sales and increasing profits through digital retailing as they can offer consumers deal term information prior to them visiting the dealership, sell F&I products for higher revenue per car online, and utilize management tools that allow them to control the online deal structure so that it is consistent with in-store operations. However, dealers need to be wary of disruptors, specifically OEM companies, that have also started their own investments in the digital retailing space.

Personalize the journey for every car-shopper

Not every customer wants the same digital retailing experience. Dealers should let the customer determine how much of the process they want to complete online. The key is to personalize the experience for each customer.Fortunately, new advances in personalization and online deal communication make this much easier. With Dealer.com’s new website platform, dealers can merchandise inventory and specials tailored to each individual shopper, automatically, based their unique online shopping behavior. And with Cox Automotive Digital Retailing, consumers can input information about the type of car they’re looking for, their potential trade-in, their financing needs, and even share their contact information to create a more detailed sales profile. Every step is tailored and driven by the shopper. For dealers, this user-provided information does not just serve as just qualified leads. They are valuable bits of information that should be leveraged in future conversations at the dealership. The sales department does not have to ask these same questions again because they’re starting at a higher level of information with these automobile leads, and customers appreciate a more meaningful conversation and customized car-buying process.

Connect the data for one comprehensive view

So, how should dealers identify the best possible digital retailing solution for their business? More than 75 automotive companies offer some type of digital retailing tool. With all these solutions, there are 1.5 million vendor combinations a dealer can use. Of these offerings, dealers should seek out solutions with integrated technology.The Cox Automotive Digital Retailing solutions suite is comprehensive, so that dealerships don’t have to piece together programs from multiple vendors. Our tools integrate customer contact information from other Cox Automotive brands, including Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book. The goal should be for dealers to connect the data across all channels for one integrated view of a customer. We already established customers want a simpler process. Dealers can accommodate this wish by integrating all their digital retailing needs – and yours – in one system. When this happens, the customer and the dealer both win.

The time is now!

Digital retailing is generating a lot of buzz across the automotive space this year, with good reason. An effective digital retailing strategy can help you create the efficiency and profitability you’ll need to thrive in an ever-changing economy, all while delivering a personalized experience that today’s consumers increasingly demand. To learn more about key Digital Retailing trends in 2019, check out this webinar for additional insights and actions you can take this year.

What You Need to Know About Google My Business and Store Visit Tracking

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Google My Business (GMB) has long been one of Google’s key tools for business listings. A verified and well-managed GMB listing makes your dealership easier to find online, lets you engage with customers through messages and Q&A, helps support your advertising performance and can improve your search visibility.

Google My business

But in addition to these benefits, recently Google took a pretty big step forward in making GMB significantly more valuable. That’s because Google My Business can also enable  dealers to receive store visits reporting, which helps tie Google advertising directly to in-store visits. This combination represents a powerful marketing attribution tool to improve your presence online and measure the marketing impact to your dealerships.

But taking advantage of this opportunity requires a few steps, and comes with a few caveats. Here are the key things to know:

1. Store Visits is highly impactful, but you need a Verified GMB Account to be eligible for it.

Store Visits insights represents very powerful advertising attribution. It will help you make smarter advertising decisions, in addition to helping you continue to bridge the online to in-store consumer experience. That said, activating Store Visits depends entirely on your dealership actually having a verified GMB account. It’s well worth the effort to ensure your GMB account is set up properly. After verifying your GMB account, you’ll also need to let us know the account email that it’s verified under. We’ll link your GMB account to a Google advertising account.

2. Verifying your GMB account isn’t always simple, but there’s a lot of help available to guide you through it.

GMB account verification involves a few steps. For instance, as part of the process you’ll need to request that Google send you an old-fashioned post card as part containing a code that needs to be entered into an online portal. It can also be tricky to gain control of a GMB account even if your dealership already has one set up.But the process is worth it. For help, Dealer.com Managed Services teams are well versed in GMB and can walk you through each step, while also helping ensure you have an effective strategy around your GMB listing. This includes Managed Social to help you monitor and respond to Google Reviews and post content as well as Managed SEO which helps you create business descriptions within GMB, upload images and adjust business hours, and Managed Content & Creative to help ensure your current offers are updated. Even if you don’t work with Dealer.com Managed Services, Google also offers some convenient downloadable resources to help you. Here are our favorites:

3. Not every dealer will be immediately eligible for store visits.
Although you’ll become eligible for Store Visits with a verified GMB account, the verification process doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get this new functionality right away. Google is rolling it out currently, and is promising that most dealerships will be eligible for Store Visits “soon.”

As a Google SMB Premier Partner, Dealer.com works with Google to ensure you can take full advantage of the advertising, search and social opportunities Google offers. New Store Visits offers the potential to see the value of these opportunities in a powerful new way. It’s well worth the effort to verify your GMB account.

For more, connect with us directly or download our best practices guide to Google My Business.