Tag: Digital Retailing

Be Present: Leverage Digital When Consumer Behavior Changes

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By Mark Bernstein and Ben Gilbert

As shoppers follow public health guidelines and practice social distancing, local automotive businesses are experiencing a noticeable shift in consumer behavior.  More are turning to online search and news for answers to their questions and solutions to their needs, resulting in increased search volume and media consumption.  However, as people are putting their basic needs first, less automotive search and advertising-driven traffic will occur.  What steps should dealerships consider?

  • Adapt digital strategy and creative messaging.
  • Align personalized experiences with customer expectations.
  • Advertise to stay top of mind and reach local consumers.

Consumers are more locally focused than ever. They may be more hesitant to convert from shopper to buyer, but that doesn’t stop them from shopping.  Sharing the status of your dealership and new procedures can leave a lasting positive impression.  Being present will help your customers keep your dealership top of mind when they are ready to shift from shopper to buyer.

 The time is now to refocus your marketing needs. Where can you start?

Prioritize your marketing needs

“What’s the best use of my advertising budget?” You need to ensure you’re capturing your most qualified shoppers and helping customers obtain the information they need. With budgets in flux, it is important to adhere to your advertising hierarchy of needs to maximize performance. Fund strategies that will maximize your retargeting efforts, targeting in-market shopping audiences on Facebook, video messaging to the right audience and most importantly top converting keywords on Search.

Create relevant messaging to your customers

While every dealerships situation will be unique, it’s important to remain present for your qualified consumers. It’s imperative that all your digital touchpoints, from ads, posts, website and all communications are consistent and reflect the same message and offers. Does your current messaging reflect your dealership status or OEM revised incentives?Are there differentials you can broadcast to help shoppers identify you can meet their needs, both from new vehicle shopping and service?

Know your Customers 

The data on a dealer’s existing customer is one of the most valuable assets a dealership has, and now is the time to really leverage it.  Segment target customers into different audiences and target across the media universe with a clearly defined ROI goal.  These steps help dealers avoid spending advertising dollars on customers who are not in your market.  For customers now choosing to delay making a long-term investment like a new vehicle purchase, can they instead become new service customers?

Be measurable

It’s time to ask some hard questions about how exactly your media spend influences your customer base.  How are all your media channels – including traditional – impacting your business? Can you measure them all using the same methods to compare efficiency and ROI from each media type?  Excellent digital alternatives to print and TV exist now and are 100% measurable. This is not the time for broad media sources with ambiguous ROI. Do you have access to a multi-channel, diverse product to confidently move advertising funds into relevant digital properties?

Be Agile

We are in a rapidly changing situation with state, federal and OEM interventions. Shoppers are increasingly digitally focused across multiple media types.  To come out ahead, you need an unparalleled solution that enables you to try new channels and deliver the message of your unique differentiators – car delivery, service valet pickup, OEM Incentives, and more.

We are committed to our dealers.  Our A-team of performance managers, industry leaders, and digital marketing experts are ready to help you showcase your vehicles and dealership services to shoppers at all stages of the consumer journey.

Video Advertising: Connect Your Audience with Your Inventory

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“Help Me Sell More Cars” is Evolving 

From the industry’s earliest days, dealerships have had the same singular goal: sell more cars.

And, while increasing sales is probably still at the top of your priority list, the goal has shifted in recent years. Now, you want to sell more cars while maintaining or, better yet, reducing your advertising budget.

Enter digital video advertising. 

Digital Video Advertising is Underpriced

A good advertiser is always on the lookout for under-valued channels that meet the client’s needs, and digital video platforms do this while also being seamless and scalable to execute. Those channels deliver qualified leads because they meet shoppers where they are. Advertise to the right people, at the right time and in the right place.  You can buy an audience’s focused attention through digital channels for far less than is possible through established channels like television. Digital video advertising campaigns built using the Dealer.com platform are achieving $.02 and $.03 cost per 15-second video view, getting your brand and inventory in front of someone on a channel they’re already using. And you never pay for shoppers that watch less than 15 seconds.

Shopper Behavior is Changing 

Of course, an advertising channel is only as good as the audience that’s consuming it. You could have the best marketing message in the world, but if you advertise it on a channel that encourages skipping or grabbing snacks during commercial breaks, you’ll be hard-pressed to drive results. 

Fortunately, we know that shoppers are consuming video content on channels like YouTube and Facebook. In fact, they are using video to educate themselves at every step of the buyer journey. There are 4 million in-market auto videos viewed on YouTube every single day. Digital test drives now outnumber in-dealership test drives two to one. After all, watching 3-minute walkarounds on YouTube requires less time and energy than reading articles or visiting showrooms.  This combines with the fact that we can target better with in-market audience data based on past search history, so we know they will actually watch the ads.

A Content Shortage and the Dealer.com Solution

Okay, so you’re bought into digital video advertising as an undervalued channel with the power to reach quality audiences that actually see your videos. But where will you get all that video content?  

You guessed it—Dealer.com can help. 

We built an automated video solution that incorporates the vehicles and offers you want to showcase into existing video templates. You can even customize them with branded taglines and information. Then, from within the platform, you can launch your videos at scale across YouTube and Facebook. And if you decide you want something more personalized, we have premium custom packages that incorporate footage of your dealership, custom graphics, custom animations, and more.

The Time is Now

Like all advertising channels, digital video advertising may get more expensive as demand grows. Don’t miss your opportunity to get into digital video at the right time. With Video Advertising from Dealer.com, you can incorporate this exciting channel seamlessly into your existing advertising effort to improve results and increase sales. 

Click Here to learn more about Video Advertising.

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. 

Dealertrack and the Evolution of Digital Retailing

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Earlier this month, Cheryl Miller, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Dealertrack F&I and Titling Solutions, participated in a keynote panel at the Consumer Banking Association’s CBA Live 2019 conference. The topic was Digital Retailing Evolution: What’s NOW & What’s Next, and Cheryl shared her expertise on digital retailing in the automotive industry and how the technology is bringing lenders and dealers together.

Following are some of the subjects Cheryl addressed during the panel.

How has digital retailing evolved over the past year and where do you see it going over the next 2-3 years?

The trend is toward an end-to-end digital experience that gives car buyers the flexibility to do as much or as little of the deal online as they prefer. This opens up new worlds for dealers when it comes to buyer targeting throughout the customer lifecycle, including advertising, purchasing, servicing and financing.

For dealers and lenders alike, it’s driven by customer demand. The way consumers purchase things has changed, and customers want the car buying process to incorporate conveniences such as shopping online. Our research shows 83 percent of customers prefer to do at least one purchase step online outside of the dealership. Using a digital retailing solution can help deliver a better customer experience that’s in line with what buyers want.

This is not the only way dealers benefit from digital retailing. The traditional retail sales process takes 3 or more hours for the average dealership to complete. Completing steps of a deal online saves an average of 30 minutes. A more efficient process gets deals completed more quickly, which gives a dealership more time to serve more customers. Digital retailing solutions better connect the online to in-store shopping experience due to streamlined processes, less data re-entry and increased accuracy.

The market is growing, in large part due to demographics. By 2020, Millennials (consumers in their early twenties to late thirties) are forecast to represent 40% of car buyers. There are more than 75 million members of this tech-savvy generation, and they’re at the forefront of demand for digital retailing experiences. Eventually we expect to see the 100% digital deal where every facet is handled online. Most of today’s customers still prefer to finalize their purchase at the dealership, but each successive generation will be more comfortable with ordering a car online the way they order merchandise from Amazon.

How are dealers and lenders working together to succeed with digital retailing solutions?

Dealers see digital retailing as an opportunity to connect the online experience to the in-store experience, and ultimately as a way to increase revenue. Our 2018 Cox Automotive Lender Study revealed that 51% of dealers say it is important for lenders to offer digital contracting to complement their digital retailing workflow. Dealers select their lender pool based on rate competitiveness, turnaround time for credit application decisions, and the strength of their relationship with their finance partners. Being able to work with lenders via the same platform they use for other digital retailing functions strongly meets two of those criteria.

Dealers today suffer from margin compression, so they are constantly looking for ways to profitably structure their deals with their lender partners. Lenders should strive to bridge the gap so that dealers understand you are there as a partner and what you can bring to the table to assist on margin compression and the deal structure – at the right rate for profitability. We see that most dealers are looking for qualified customers who meet their lender requirements. Dealers are a critical part of the retail experience, often finding the best financing available with valuable incentives for their customers. We offer solutions to both dealers and lenders that are well positioned to offer consumers choices that lead to a frictionless car-buying experience.

Dealertrack and all our Cox Automotive solutions are fully committed to our vision to digitize the process to procure a vehicle “from contact to contract.” We understand dealers and lenders both play key roles in every vehicle sale that involves financing. A well-planned digital retailing solution gives both of them tools that work together seamlessly.

With 85% of all new cars sold needing to be financed, dealers and lenders do play well together. The dealer works with the lender and for them – as well as for the consumer. The dealer provides the lender an opportunity in the form of a sourced lead, the lender is retained, and they work together to sell cars, to the benefit of both organizations. Partnership here is instrumental between dealers and lenders.

Do lenders need to upgrade to digital retailing tools now or can they wait for the industry to mature?

The answer is “now.” The time for waiting is over because dealers are already engaged in some form of digital retailing – many dealers already use their website for leads, digital media/social strategies, and more. Digital retailing enables dealers to capture more opportunities. Thus, now is the time for lenders to act if you are trying to increase your partnerships with dealers and gain market share and grow originations.

The technology is in demand by dealers. Customers are demanding better service orientation and a solution more akin to other shopping experiences, like the way they buy coffee and shop for groceries and other household goods. It makes sense for lenders to put digital retailing tools in place now, even if there are certain functionalities and features that won’t be fully utilized until the industry matures further. Be ready for what is here now, and it will simply continue to grow. Be ready so you can win in the marketplace.

Is Your Dealership Maximizing Out-of-State Sales Opportunities?

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There was a time when dealerships didn’t think much about attracting out-of-state customers unless they happened to be located near a college town, military base or state line. The internet has changed all that.  

According to Cox Automotive 2018 Car Buyer Journey research, 60% of the time car buyers spend buying a vehicle consists of researching and shopping online. 

Car buyers can now peruse vehicle inventories all over the country from the comfort of their own homes. That means there’s always a chance that the next customer to walk through the door drove cross-country or booked a one-way flight from another state to get to you. 

When you take into account that half of all car buyers do not contact the dealership before they stop by for the first time, it’s important to be prepared for customers from anywhere. 

The flip side is that your dealership is no longer just competing with the auto dealers across the street and down the road. Now, every dealer in the country is a potential competitor. 

If you don’t feel quite ready to take on the myriad titling and registration laws, regulations, guidelines and processes that differ for every state, you’re not alone. It can feel overwhelming to keep up with your own state’s registration and title forms, fees and taxes, much less those from 49 other states. 

Fortunately, there are software solutions available to help. Dealertrack’s RegUSA is designed to handle dealerships’ out-of-state registration and titling needs for all 50 U.S. states, including calculating fees and taxes and generating the proper forms. All this while ensuring compliance with each state’s regulations. 

With an out-of-state registration and titling solution in place, your dealership can confidently market to potential buyers across the state line and across the nation. Knowing that you have the tools to handle registration and titling for all your customers, no matter where they live, opens up sales opportunities that you may have been overlooking in the past.  

Moving F&I Online

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Car buyer preferences are shifting toward more online research, and 83% of consumers today want to complete at least one automotive purchase activity online, according to the Cox Automotive 2017 Future of Digital Retail study.

As dealers move toward a digitized customer lifecycle that encompasses advertising, purchasing, servicing and financing, customers expect a seamless transition from online to in-store.

The F&I process is ripe for digitization. When customers have the option to begin to structure their deal online, their satisfaction increases, along with the dealership’s revenue and profits.

A recent Cox Automotive and PwC survey found that 63% of dealers saw the biggest ROI from digitizing their sales and F&I process.

Learn more about bringing F&I into the digital world in this F&I and Showroom article by Cheryl Miller, Vice President and General Manager of Dealertrack F&I Solutions.

Streamline Operations and Boost Satisfaction

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Think for a moment about the interactions your dealership has with your customers. How many people really want to spend more time buying or servicing a vehicle? They want to get in, get out, and get on with their lives. But the unfortunate reality is that most customers dread the in-dealership experience. And it has more to do with the day-to-day operations of your business than you might think.

 

The Frustration of Buying a Car

In the minds of consumers, visiting a dealership isn’t far from a trip to the DMV. That’s because in-dealership inefficiencies lead to customer downtime and a prolonged sales and services process. And when customers have to wait, customers get annoyed. In fact, 41% of customers label the amount of time it takes to complete a purchase as the single most frustrating aspect of buying a car. That’s a higher level of frustration than dealing with salespeople, negotiating a deal, getting a good trade-in offer, or applying for financing.

As you might expect, customer satisfaction and the amount of time a customer spends in the dealership are closely correlated. According to an AutoTrader.com study, average customer satisfaction scores are highest when a customer spends less than an hour in the dealership. And those scores begin to fall off dramatically at the 90-minute mark, with scores dipping below the average at the 2.5-hour mark. The study also reported that every dealership analyzed failed to meet this 90-minute customer-cycle objective, regardless of the operational or sales tactics employed.

 

The Divide Between Dealers and Customers

Yes, it takes time to buy a car. But it’s obvious that there’s a real disconnect between dealers and customers about just how much time is considered acceptable. Most customers come to the dealership already having researched everything about their car of choice for weeks, even months. They want to show up long enough to sign a financing agreement, pick up their keys, and drive off the lot. In their minds, there shouldn’t be a difference between buying a car and walking into any other store to purchase a product. If inventory is available, they want to be able to buy the car and be on their way.

Dealers, on the other hand, understand that the process is more complicated. And yet, many of those complications can still be avoided. When dealerships use non-linear sales processes that involve multiple, potentially deal-breaking decision points and multiple technology systems (that don’t always play well together), tasks get duplicated, processing time increases, and customers wait.

 

A Wholesale Shift in Operations

To improve operational efficiency and improve the customer experience, dealerships need to think about people, processes, and technology as one and the same. In other words, every means available to the dealership should be used to bring about the singularly-important goal of providing a better customer experience.

Dealership and customer expectations will more closely unite when dealerships:

  • Hire, train, and retain talent with the customer experience in mind.
  • Review and improve technology and processes with the customer experience in mind.
  • Inform and incentivize customers about new and improved operational capabilities and efficiencies built with the customer experience in mind.

This wholesale shift toward an improved customer experience can begin when the customer first begins researching vehicles. By moving part of the sales process online, including online trade-in tools, F&I education and offerings, and having qualified salespeople available via chat, more decisions can be made when the customer is most interested. This also cuts down on in-dealership wait time and improves transparency.

By streamlining processes, implementing technology that simplifies operations, and emphasizing a customer-centered culture (including fostering transparency and trust), dealerships can get closer to the ideal in-and-out car-shopping experience. And eventually, dealership by dealership, sales will increase and the negative perception of the car-buying process will begin to change in the minds of consumers.