Five New Ways to Turn Your Data into Dollars 

Digital solutions make the car-buying journey better. This isn’t just an opinion. It’s a fact supported by your customer’s buying behavior. And it’s supported by the overwhelming majority—87% in fact—of automotive retailers stating that digital retailing solutions have positively impacted at least one area of their business. 

When it comes right down to it, every stage of the buying journey needs to be supported by digital tools.

Digital marketing is the entry point for consumers for this new, personalized, digital retailing experience. Inside our learning series, Bridging the Gap, we explored the crucial role data plays in your digital marketing strategy. Now let’s take that a step further. 

Because when you put your first-party data insights to work, you have the power to turn those insights into actions that will drive results! 

Activate Your Data Now to Start Seeing Real Profit Potential

If you watch the Bridging the Gap series, you got a deep-dive into first-party data. (Be sure to watch the full video to learn how to create the most compelling and personalized experiences for your consumer.) The following digital dealership technology, that you most likely already have at your dealership, has the potential to unleash the first-party data at your fingertips to reduce manual steps, improve efficiency, and improve your sales. 

• Your CRM – With direct access to your customer’s behavior, your CRM can get the right message in front of the right people at the right time. When paired with an automated marketing platform, you can do this seamlessly. 
• Your Website – This property is a literal breadcrumb trail that uncovers what your customers really want. When you connect your website data with your CRM you boost the potential to learn more about your customer’s interests, needs, and buying potential. 
• Your Email Strategy – Don’t miss the chance to activate your data insights to create a tailored and more personalized experience in this channel. 

Combined with automation, your technology investment has the potential to significantly increase your returns.  

According to a recent study,
automated marketing tools
can provide 10x ROI.*

So, make the most of your investments by connecting and activating your marketing solutions and tools to turn your data into dollars. 

Five Key Marketing Capabilities that Drive Maximum Marketing Impact

Once you’ve got your first-party data insights aligned with your marketing strategy, it’s time to create a personalized communication strategy that will truly resonate with your shoppers. In order to do that, we’ve outlined five marketing capabilities that rely on first-party data insights: 

1. User Behavior Insights – Creating personalized content is the secret to connecting with your intended audience. As we’ve learned from Part One, if you send the wrong message to your clients, you not only miss your chance to communicate with a potential shopper, but you also waste time and advertising dollars. Instead, when you use the data insights from your CRM and Website to make smarter marketing and sales decisions, you can create personalized content.
2. Lead Management – As we’ve seen, 68% of shoppers polled would do all or most of the car buying process online. Don’t wait to activate the sales process before they come into your dealership. Instead, use integrated user behavior insights from your CRM integration to move customers deeper into the purchase funnel. 
3. Content Development – It’s very easy to overlook the content portion of your marketing strategy, but it would be a huge mistake. Sending out a “spray and pray” style message and hoping it reaches the right audience is costly, wasteful, and (frankly) annoying to your shoppers. Instead, create personalized and templated advertising and communications based on user behavior insights. It’s an easier lift for you, and more impactful for them. That’s a win-win! 
4. Service Marketing – A huge portion of your automotive dealership’s profitability lies within your service department. As people hold onto vehicles longer, grow your service business by focusing on customers who aren’t in-market. This creates trust and a good rapport with your customers to increase their chances of coming back to you when they need a new vehicle.
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Your customers want a more seamless and personalized shopping experience. Your salespeople want less busy work. The road forward is through AI and automation. With AI, your digital solutions can process huge volumes of data to create insights you can use, automatically reach out to shoppers, and activate salespeople to reach out to the right prospects. 

For the road forward

The overall buying process is becoming more fully automated, personalized, and honestly enjoyable. 81% of people polled reported that online activities made the buying experience better. The good news is that data insights, when properly activated and combined with the capabilities within your dealership, lead to higher profit potential.  

And it’s no secret, Autotrader provides you with qualified leads for people who want cars. We have the data that connects and activates your data, and we have the shoppers. We know what they want, and our goal is to match them with our dealer partners, driving quality leads that have the highest gross profit on average industry wide. We connect you with customers virtually, to move shoppers to you, so that you can focus on building and letting your brand shine. 

Cox Automotive has the most connected and comprehensive view of the automotive industry and offers unmatched data and insights into consumer behavior, automotive trends and operational best practices. Whatever your goals, we can help you get there faster to stay a step ahead and successful in today’s marketplace.

For more insights on activating these capabilities and a deeper dive on unlocking the profit potential in your marketing automation, watch the full video in Part Two: Bridging the Gap with Noah Lee here.