Engagement beats reach in digital marketing’s next act
Dealers will need to rethink how engagement is measured, and where customers are getting stuck.
The automotive industry’s latest evolutionary phase may appear de-evolutionary on the surface: digital marketing is melting back into its primary discipline. As dealers enter 2026, that shift is prompting a reset in how success is measured online.
“Digital marketing is just marketing now,” said Glenn Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital, a full-service digital marketing agency geared largely towards automotive dealers. “There’s no more illusions. Everybody uses the internet now.”
What is changing is not whether shoppers are online, but how they behave once they arrive — and how effectively dealership systems support that behaviour.
When traffic stops telling the whole story
For years, dealers and vendors have leaned on traffic volume as proof that marketing dollars were working. But visit counts alone do not explain how consumers interact once they land on a website.
“We get enamoured with the traffic that (is) sent to our website,” said Pasch. “But what we’re not seeing … is what people are really doing on the site.”
That blind spot becomes clearer when dealers look beyond visits and page views. “Probably only 3,000 are really clicking any sort of button on your website. So now you’re going, ‘Well, what are the other 80 per cent of the people doing?’”
Even among shoppers who try to engage, conversion expectations remain low. Pasch said dealers are often pleased with a website if it converts to form fill at one per cent or two per cent. “But really, 20 per cent started, said I need help, and we made it hard (for them).”
The concern is, what happens when consumers try to move forward? Pasch described a scenario in which about 75 per cent of shoppers are not yet ready to speak to someone at the dealership, but are still reviewing the company website’s videos, VDPs and inventory online.
“I’m more concerned with the 25 per cent who want to talk to me, and are starting that journey to talk to me and need my help because they’re clicking a button that says: ‘Value my trade, check availability, customize your payment.’ And we are making it so difficult to get down to talk to somebody,” said Pasch.
That friction can quietly push buyers elsewhere in hopes that “someone’s going to make it easier.”
Longer journeys are changing how success is measured.
One reason engagement has become harder to evaluate is because the buying journey itself has expanded. According to Erin Richmond, CEO of SMedia, the number of interactions that a customer has with online tools, information and research is “actually getting more complex.”
As shoppers move across platforms and devices, attribution becomes more challenging, forcing dealers to reconsider how they define success. For example, form submissions do not necessarily reflect meaningful progress.
“Our industry reliance on leads as a measure of success … and when I say leads, I’m talking about form leads … is really just a sign that we’ve failed the customer in terms of what information we’ve made available to them in their shopping journey and in their purchase decision — because it means that they had to reach out and ask before they made a decision,” said Richmond.
She noted that it does not matter that there was a lead or not before that piece of critical action happened. “If we’re not selling vehicles or getting those people in our service department, we’re not being successful.”
Richmond also cautioned dealers against rushing to adopt new technologies without careful evaluation. “I’d be hesitant to use the word ‘working’ when it comes to early adoption of AI tools,” she said. “You need to be really careful and cautious when you’re adopting these tools.”
Instead, Richmond suggests testing in increments, reviewing results, applying those learnings and moving forward. She pointed to video as an example, which she said continues to be one of the most effective ways for dealers to communicate their value.
“There’s no better way to showcase your dealership experience and your people than with a video,” said Richmond.
Early engagement and the shift to intent
Marketplace data shows that many shoppers are entering the buying process earlier than dealers often assume. Benoit Laforce, executive vice-president of media and new car solutions at AutoTrader, said consumers are spending more time researching and comparing options before narrowing their choices.
“(Based on our research) we ended up seeing that people were coming very, very early into their shopping process to research and compare,” he said, adding that “50 per cent of the respondents were mentioning that they are looking at us to research.”
Often, those searches are not tied to a specific vehicle, as Laforce noted about 35 per cent of the searches on AutoTrader start with a body style.
However, it’s also worth noting that changes in privacy and data access are also reshaping how advertisers reach consumers. As things shift more towards a first-party ecosystem, which is built around real-user intent, Laforce said context and intent are becoming the currencies for the advertiser.
That shift makes broad, one-size-fits-all campaigns less effective. It also underlines a need to adapt assets to consumer context.
Laforce said interactive tools are helping consumers stay engaged earlier in the process. “Immersive, interactive tools like 3D, AR, configurator, dynamic model page is really that winning approach,” he said. “(The) creator-led short-term storytelling is a big winner if you think about (the) younger generation.”
Overall, Laforce stressed that fundamentals still matter.
“The number one advice I would leave to dealers is be strong (on) the basics: respond to your client properly, have your car listed on time, have a site that is retail-ready all the time.”
The common thread: convenience and clarity
Across all three perspectives, a common theme emerged: consumers expect convenience, clarity and ease at every step.
“What we have to focus on in our marketing, moving forward, is convenience for the customer because we are a convenience economy,” said Pasch.
As advertising costs continue to rise, efficiency becomes more important. “It’s costing more and more and more to advertise,” he said. “So you’ve got to be really smart with your money.”
For 2026, the message for dealers is ultimately an encouraging one: engagement is already happening. The opportunity lies in understanding where consumers want to go next, and making it easier for them to get there.
