Customers have changed the way they shop for vehicles, and that has lead to dealerships across the country rethinking their marketing strategies to find potential buyers. In fact, the reality is that 86 percent of car shoppers research their purchase before they visit a car dealer. Today more than 60 percent of the car shopper’s journey happens entirely online.

As shoppers seamlessly move across traditional and digital channels and explore on a myriad of devices, many automotive dealers, like every other business, have been working hard to put in place new systems to keep track. Here are some tips and strategies, from the frontlines, that dealers can use to get ahead of these changing consumer habits and remain competitive.

Commit to Meeting Shoppers Where They Are

We can debate the value of social media, multiuser games, or personal assistants (like Alexa), but today many potential car buyers are using them. We should consider following their lead, especially in the early stages of these channels’ development, to see how they work and what value they might have. Being seen at the right time and in the right place has been a core strategy for dealer marketing for over 75 years. We all understand that if we’re not being seen as a solution in the moments and in the places where customers are looking we will more than likely lose the next sale to the competition.

Let’s take a look at where car shoppers go and what they’re doing.

We’ll begin with a look at the vehicle shopper quest, the places they first visit online, to find the right car at a fair price with all the features they need.

Visiting an aggregate site (32%)

Search engine (30%)

Local Dealer Website (24%)

Brand/Manufacturer website (14%)

You can see that approximately one-fourth of consumers will start their search at a local dealer website. This speaks to both the trust consumers have in their local dealers and the power of dealership brands in the marketplace. That being said, dealers have to have an eye to how they’re showing up in the large car shopping sites, like autotrader.com, cars.com, and carfax.com, and in search engines. Car dealers have to meet car shoppers with the information they need and provide very clear paths for potential buyers to follow to their dealership.

This “being everywhere” is critical because wherever a vehicle shopper begins they will spread out to gather more information to help them with their search.

While we would all like the first contact to be direct to our dealer website or dealership, the reality is that this initial connection may come through a third-party. Our goal, wherever we first meet, is to bring that potential buyer through to our website. Those dealers who impress the car buyer the most, those who stand out from the crowd, are the ones who are most likely to win that customer’s consideration – and hopefully their business. 

Get on the Phone

Not just the telephone…Get on people’s smartphones, tablets, personal assistants.  Consumers go everywhere and they are now connected in hundreds of new ways. More than 210 million American adults are using four different devices to go online to watch movies, read the news, stay connected with their friends, and search for their next personal car or truck.

In this new age of always-on, hyper-connectivity, we have to be available to potential buyers on all their devices. While it may seem daunting at first, this new environment creates amazing opportunities to put together a perfect digital journey for their customers. It also gives dealers the chance to create more personal, direct connections to their community. For a dealer’s digital marketing efforts, it is important to keep in mind the fluidity with which consumers shift between devices while searching for a car. In fact, almost half of all car shoppers reporting using multiple devices during their search.

There are some key things dealers should keep in mind as they’re looking to bring this next wave of vehicle buyers to their lot.

Deliver the Right Message at the Right Time in the Right Place

Deliver the Right Message at the Right Time in the Right Place

To be successful multi-device, multi-channel automotive digital marketing campaigns have to meet shoppers where they are in their journey. Marketing content and messages should be appropriate for both the channel and device. For example, a woman shopping for a car on a desktop computer may find it easier to watch videos, compare vehicles, or customize vehicle options. She may prefer find local inventory, contact the dealer, or book a test drive if she is on a mobile device.

Do keep in mind, however, that even when a shopper is ready to buy they may not bother to call. If they do decide to get in touch, it’s more likely to happen from a mobile device by clicking on your phone number or email address.

Dealers should expect their marketing teams to understand these device differences and challenge them to adjust advertising and content to deliver the most relevant messages at the right time in the right channel to the right people.

Make Sure Your Website is Built for Speed

While consumers desire to delay visiting your dealership may feel a little personal – it isn’t. Vehicle shoppers are moving more of their buying journey to the internet for some good reasons. The top three reasons are:

Convenience

Today, car shopper are able to gather all the information they want (from a large spectrum of sources) anytime and almost anywhere with ease.

Confidence

The decision to buy a car is a long and thoughtful one – and most of us would prefer to go through the process at our own pace. Online shopping, information gathering, financing and comparisons give customers the tools they need to buy with confidence.

Value

Car buyers spend a lot of time looking at the price of vehicles but it would be wrong to think they are looking for the lowest price. What shoppers really want is the best value – the best car, with the features they want, from a dealer they can trust, and a convenient buying experience. Make sure, especially if you’re asking for a higher price, your customers understand why.

A dealership website should offer pricing tools, financing calculators, and a clear overview of the customer’s buying experience so customers can figure out what they want to buy in a low-pressure environment. It is also helpful to include reviews and comments from other customers. These endorsements are worth their weight in gold.

For most shoppers, the three most valuable parts of a dealership’s website are:

Vehicle Detail Pages — 42 per cent of purchasers agree these are the most useful pages on a dealers website. Each VDP should include photos, vehicle highlights, odometer reading, and vehicle history reports. Everything a customer needs to make a decision about the car should be here at their fingertips.

Incentives Page — 20 per cent of customers found these pages the most valuable. Specials and incentives should be, as much as is possible, straightforward and easy to understand. Lay out the details, clearly, describe any rules, and avoid surprises.

Opening Hours and Location  — 19 per cent find this to be the most important page. This is an easy win. Sometimes people just need to find out where the dealership is and when it is open. These customers are ready to visit so don’t miss the chance to help them find your dealership.

Digital marketing for any business, include car dealerships, has never been simple and isn’t going to get any easier. The market continues to evolve, consumers keep changing behaviours and the competition is always looking to find an advantage. These tips, if followed, however, should help a car dealership find a path forward to maintain and grow their business today and far into the future.