Carology event helped dealers navigate ever-changing world of digital marketing
The automotive digital landscape keeps shifting drastically. But there’s no need to fear. There are tactics dealers and OEMs can use to stay ahead of the curve.
At TRADER Corporation’s second annual “Carology” event at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, experts debunked digital and broadcast marketing myths and offered deep insights as well as valuable tips to achieve success in the highly-competitive, ever-changing digital marketplace.
The task at hand is to make the car-buying process easier, more convenient, and seamless for consumers who are transitioning from the digital world to the dealership.
“We use technology to bring customers in, but we don’t deliver an experience that’s fundamentally different. We have this disconnect between how we’re trying to bring people to our stores and the experience they’re getting there. We need to understand that the tire-kicking is all done online and we have to align what we are doing there,” says Scot Eisenfelder, Founder & President, Empiritas.
Wasted time and energy
On average, consumers spend 30-40 hours researching a car online, but when they walk into a dealership they restart the process again. “They spend a week researching a car and what happens when they come into our store? We largely throw their work into the dustbin. We don’t respect their work. We should be encouraging them to bring all that homework into the store and pick up exactly where they left off,” says Eisenfelder.
Changing the sales tactic at the dealership might be all that’s needed. Instead of greeting a customer with “let me explain to you how we sell cars here” Eisenfelder suggests asking, “let me understand where you are in the shopping process and what you’d like to do next” as an alternative option to pick up the process where the customer left off online.
“Online is the channel — it is the catalyst for action from the consumer,” says Kevin Coombs, Director, Marketing Intelligence, autoTRADER.ca. “Dealers spend a lot of time on the physical maintenance of their lot — they clean the cars, wash them. So why don’t dealers treat their online listings the same way? Treating online listings like a second-class way to market your cars is actually going to hurt you. Consumers are spending all of their time online. This is where they are going to make their decision about whether or not they contact a dealer.”
According to Coombs, consumers want context and transparency online. “86 per cent of consumers want to see all components of the price — what went into how this car is priced? Consumers engage more with ads that have context and transparency. They spend 11 per cent more time looking at that ad. They engage with 50 per cent more of the elements. They’re 8 per cent more likely to call the dealer. And more importantly, they are 33 per cent more likely to come back and look at that car again,” says Coombs.
Clean up digital storefronts
Eisenfelder agrees more focus needs to be placed online. “Our websites too often are brochureware today. Think about it as our digital storefront. Our website really is the way most customers will come to us first. As our digital storefront, ten times as many people are going to walk through that website as they are going to walk through our door. What are they seeing? What’s the experience they’re having?,” he says. “Most of you are fanatics about what goes on within your store and how your store looks every day. But we aren’t fanatic about our digital storefronts in the same way. We need to think about having great digital stores to complement our physical stores.”
More work is needed to improve customer relationships, too. “We lost sight of the consumer. We really need to focus on improving the customer experience, first and foremost, because this is the second-biggest purchase they are going to make. We need to be more consultative. We need to be friendlier. We need to help them simplify that buying decision so they walk away feeling good about their experience. It’s time to adapt to their needs,” says Dave Winslow, Chief Strategy Officer, Universe Group.
Winslow says it’s as simple as making sure your sales, service, and parts team are friendly to customers. “Customer service is more critical in the digital age. Negative reviews are a few fingerprints away… it is essential you provide a positive customer experience within your dealership. It’s an open field of opportunity. You can use digital to differentiate your dealership and dominate the competition. You’re going to sell more cars and provide better customer experience and I can tell you quantitatively you will get better gross, too,” he adds.
Social media can help with promoting the authenticity of your brand and connecting with consumers. But Winslow warns, don’t try and sell a vehicle through social media — instead showcase the unique attributes of it and amplify the distinct characteristics of your dealership.
For instance, creating social media content by using real car buyers can grow your brand and business. “Rarely does anyone leave a dealership lot having purchased a used or new vehicle not feeling good about it. Imagine if you took a picture of someone getting into their car, getting ready to drive off the lot and shared that content through social media? That’s a great experience. They’re going to promote it to their friends. Some consumers might have 10, 100, or 1,000 friends on Facebook. One picture of them getting into a brand new Audi A6, driving off the lot with a big smile on their face at your dealership, can hit a 1,000 people. It can have a direct influence, promote your message, and it cost you nothing,” adds Winslow.
The time has come to embrace digital in a different way. “In a digital world we have to think about our traditional media differently — it plays a different role than it used to. Part of the reason why we haven’t gotten value in digital is we’re still doing traditional the same way… one of the things I should be doing with traditional is driving people to my digital store,” says Eisenfelder.
Aligning the instore and digital experience is key to driving sales and keeping consumers happy. “We’ve got to understand there isn’t a digital experience and a store experience. The two of them are coming together. How do we control our own destiny? It’s really a choice. Can we gather up that institutional energy to start thinking about the world differently? Most of our customers are spending their time doing things in a digital world and we have to keep embracing it,” says Eisenfelder.
Otherwise, those who don’t will be left behind.
