In the extremely competitive and always evolving automotive industry, we are all looking for ways to come out on top. We want to find the perfect strategies to give us the advantage over our competition, stay sharp with our knowledge, and know what’s to come. In an age where communication is mostly digital, sometimes the best way to find a solution is by physically surrounding ourselves with like-minded people who understand the industry and have been in the trenches, just like us.

While there are quite a few automotive industry conferences around the country, D2D has compiled a list of what we think are the top 5 Automotive Conferences and what you can expect from each.

1. NADA Show

Looking to learn about the latest tools, tactics and automotive industry trends? The NADA show is designed to help dealers succeed at retailing while covering every area of the industry. With more than 700,000 square feet of exhibits – industry leaders, manufacturers, exhibitors and other key players can sit in on franchise meetings and workshop session, shop the expo floor and network with other industry leaders from around the country.

2. DrivingSales Executive Summit

Designed for top Owners, Dealer Principals, and Directors, DrivingSales Executive Summit focuses on the latest innovations and trailblazing strategies in the automotive retailing business. This event covers​ progressive topics in all areas of dealership operations while world-renowned experts are selected to provide their insight across all areas of progressive dealership operations.

3. Digital Dealer

Carefully designed to share groundbreaking strategies, to many aspects of the automotive business, the Digital Dealer Conference pulls together the latest and greatest technologies in the ever-evolving digital world. Dealers can choose from more than 100 educational sessions led by top dealership executives, trainers and consultants. Attendees can also demo products and services from 130+ technology-focused providers.

If you’re looking for a first hand account and missed Digital Dealer 27 in Las Vegas, we’ve got you covered! Check out our recap!

4. Women in Automotive Conference

Are you a female in the automotive industry? If so, this is a must for you! Designed by passionate woman looking to further the discussions between women, the Women in Automotive Conference focuses on all aspects of the auto industry, addresses challenges and educates while moving the industry forward. It’s not too late to sign up the June 2020 conference!

5. NIADA Convention

Designed for independent Used Car dealers, the NIADA Convention brings unaffiliated dealers together to share their strategies and insight. With over 210 exhibitors offering the newest and state-of-the-art services and products to help stay at the top in today’s competitive market. Attendees can choose from 60 educational sessions with different tracks to serve your dealership’s needs. You can still sign up for this year’s convention starting June 15^th!

Not sure which shows are best for your dealership to attend? Contact us today and we can help you narrow it down based on your goals and who might be attending the conference. Of course, don’t forget to look out for D2D! We attend and have even spoken at some of these conferences, so there’s always a chance to see us.

Google Analytics is a fixture in every dealer’s arsenal of reporting. It allows you to monitor your web traffic in real time, keep track of your advertising portfolio’s performance, and optimize your website for conversions. With a seemingly infinite number of possible reports capable of being generated it can get overwhelming to track everything.   Here are the three most important Google Analytics reports you should keep up with to stay on top of your advertising.

All Traffic Report

All Traffic is the gold standard for most Google Analytics reporting, and is the perfect place to start your daily Google Analytics dive. It shows all the traffic to your website based on the time period you select to view and can be found by clicking All Traffic > Source/Medium. The traffic is segmented by source, and your paid traffic sources should be easily identifiable if your automotive marketing agency or vendor is using proper UTM code practices.

From the all traffic report you can monitor overall traffic for sudden changes in quality, bounce rate and volume. All of those metrics are easily visualized over time in the chart at the top of the report and in the table you will see below that. You can easily change which metrics are being shown in the chart via drop downs, apply custom segments to isolate traffic sources or any other measurable variable, and even drill down further with secondary dimensions if you desire. The possibilities are nearly endless, and the report can be easily adapted to your individual needs. The All Traffic report is a 10,000-foot view of your analytics picture, and a vital first step in staying on top of your data. If you’re questioning your Bounce Rates when looking at this report, it might be a good idea to head over to our blog regarding Bounce Rate myths or, just watch the video!

Geography Report

The next report you should be viewing daily is your Geography report. This report is under Audience > Geo > Location. Clicking that sequence will bring up a clickable world map in which you can drill down to a city level.

This geographic data is also segment-able the same way as the All Traffic report is so you can monitor the geographic locations of sessions from your advertising portfolio. This is helpful especially when targeting competitive dealerships.

The Geography report can also help you identify potential bot traffic and get a clearer picture of your overall web traffic. Bot traffic tends to cluster together from specific towns across the country. Are you a dealer in New Jersey and getting thousands of sessions from Ann Arbor, Michigan or Coffeyville, Kansas? Those are more than likely bots and crawlers generating sessions. Filtering those sessions out of your reports will clean up your data and paint a more accurate picture of your true traffic volume and quality. This is also a great place to determine the quality of your advertising traffic. Some vendors will deliver a high volume of traffic, but unfortunately, it will be from way out of the area signaling an issue with the quality of traffic generated.

Top Events Report

Most dealer websites have Google Analytics Event Codes embedded in key places on the site. These event codes send data to Google Analytics when a specific action is taken and record it in real time. These actions include but aren’t limited to click to call, form fills, VDP views, landing page visits and more. Your events are viewable in the Top Events report, found in Behavior > Events > Top Events.

Just like the Geography and All Traffic Reports, these events can be segmented by any dimension you choose. You can segment them by traffic source to find out which sources are providing the best conversions, geography to find out where your conversions are coming from, hour of the day to find out when your conversions are coming in and so on and so forth. Monitoring your events is an excellent way to measure effectiveness of optimizations made to campaigns and allows you to see the result of those tweaks in real time.

The All Traffic, Geography and Top Events reports are a great way to gain valuable insight into your daily Analytics reviews. Each report breaks down vital aspects of your data into easily digestible and actionable information. Staying on top of these three reports will give you invaluable insight into the inner workings of your campaigns, allow you to keep your data as clean as possible, and stay ahead of the curve in the pursuit of your advertising goals.

As an Automotive Digital Marketing company, we specialize in transparent Google Analytics reporting for car dealerships. If you’d like some help reviewing these reports, reach out and schedule a call. We’ll gladly go over them with you and show you some more insider tips and tricks to gain a deeper understanding of your analytics data. Contact us today!

There are many different important factors when it comes to automotive marketing. Customer value is an automotive marketing trend that should be discussed and focused on, and here’s why.

The internet and mobile devices have transformed a customer’s auto purchase journey. The internet has made it possible for customers to research brands: google search “Brand A”, “Brand A’s” manufacturer site, best SUV’s, etc. Mobile devices have made it possible for customers to research brands on the go! While on lunch break customers can easily compare vehicle prices on dealership lots. A customer’s path to purchase is filled with five distinctive stops along the way. In order to land more committed customers, a dealership needs to be there for each step.

The 5 distinctive stops are referred to as micro-moments. In this case they are: Which car choice is best? Is this the best for me? Can I afford this? Where should I make my purchase? Am I being offered the best deal?

Which car choice is best?

Did you know that 6 out of 10 car shoppers enter the automotive market unsure of which car to drive? According to a Think with Google article, there are over 100 Google searches, over a dozen videos watched and even more images viewed in only one car purchasing journey! In this micro-moment a customer is exploring all their options.

There is so much potential for a dealership to highlight their brand. Customers typically begin search paths between two manufacturer’s websites. Reviewing each site and eventually comparing the two. Being a part of the beginning of the car purchasing journey will increase a dealerships chances of becoming a part of the final consideration set when it comes time to buy. How can dealerships highlight their brands during those interactions? It’s simple, an example is creating a video that features a real-life view of a specific vehicle model. By doing this a dealership are helping the customer decide if it’s the best choice for their lifestyle. An example of following up in this moment could include sharing a blog post about budgeting and financing for a new car or sharing a social media post that promotes a sale your dealership is having. These are moments that can generate leads which turn into conversions.

Is this best for me?

A customer’s car purchase journey has moved to online. The average car shopper will only make two visits to dealerships, meaning they don’t need to even visit your dealership lot anymore for research! VIN specific marketing is proven to be effective in all journeys of purchases. Why shouldn’t the automotive industry piggyback on this marketing strategy?

VIN specific marketing is the reason why when someone is looking up a product on the internet to purchase afterwards it follows them around pretty much everywhere. The concept is that once a visitor searches a specific brand or in this case a model on your site, you can attach a VIN to them. For example, if a customer is interested in a Nissan Maxima, a dealership can use this information to encourage their purchase decision by occasionally showing them new or used models or a shared post on Facebook that relates to the corresponding model. Customers in this step need to be convinced that the vehicle they are interested in is the suitable for them. This is the moment where a dealership needs to get them excited about the vehicle! Knowing how to emphasize specific car features to the appropriate customer is crucial. If the customer is looking for a family vehicle a dealership should advertise large cars like SUV’s or minivans and highlight safety and comfort features.

Can I afford this?

Customers view purchasing a car as a long-time financial commitment. There are a few customers out there that purchase a car without considering the financial consequences. In this micro-moment a customer spends their time researching: “manufacturer to dealer cash”, “Brand B price”, “best car lease deals” etc. In these google searches if your dealership doesn’t show up there is chance that you lost a potential customer. The potential customer was lost because they couldn’t find the information they were looking for, not because they couldn’t afford the car. Therefore, every dealership should ask: Is my brand showing up? This is something you want to cover with your automotive advertising agency.

If your dealership has specials and incentives that are stronger than the competition, you should want the customers in the market for a new car to know that. More than half percent of customers are using their mobile devices when searching for deals in the automotive industry. Implementing mobile targeted marketing ensures that a dealership doesn’t lose out on leads that rely solely on their mobile device. Mobile targeted marketing could be as simple as designing a dealerships site to be mobile friendly. Creating mobile friendly content such as graphics and videos. Lastly, applying SEO optimized for mobile. These tactics will increase the chances of your dealership to convince a prospective customer that yes, they can afford the car they have been looking at with the help of your specials and incentives.

Where should I make my purchase?

After a customer has done their research on multiple dealership inventory, specials, and multiple vehicles and has finally decided on a car they love the next step is to contact a dealership. This is a crucial step for many customers. If they call a dealership and there’s no answer or the phone number on the dealerships site doesn’t work for whatever reason a customer moves on to the next. The Internet has made it possible for customers to contact a dealership through many other channels such as email or social media platforms. It’s essential that dealerships are on top of all the channels customers can contact them, making sure they respond and follow up.

Dealerships that fail to do this cause their potential customers to turn to another dealer that will provide them with the information he or she was looking for.

Am I being offered the best deal?

The final micro-moment takes place at the dealership. Despite that a customer may be on the lot almost ready to close the sale they are still doing their research. A customer will be searching lease money factors, lease offers for a different model or even a different dealership all together. In this moment a customer wants to be reassured that they are getting a fair deal. A dealerships salesman in this moment should make the customer comfortable with the deal they are about to make. The salesman should verbally explain the deal to the customer with patience until the customer is sure it’s a commitment they want to move forward with.

For more information on how to effectively be present in the 5 micro-moments of a customer’s auto purchase journey, give us a call today at 877-958-4524 or contact us today!

If Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction is correct, it looks like we’re in for an early spring (hallelujah!). That means warmer weather is right around the corner, which is amazing news for auto dealers. Automotive sales are strongly guided by weather and time of the year, and the same goes for your service department.

When it comes to marketing spend, a majority is usually put toward new and used vehicles sales rather than service. As an automotive marketing agency, we understand the importance of the sales aspect of your business, but the service side also brings in huge amounts of revenue that shouldn’t be overlooked. A strong service business can help customer retention while also bringing new customers to your dealership.

Now that we’re all thawing out from the colder winter months, here are some key opportunities your service department should be taking advantage of:

1. Warmer weather

The obvious point here when talking about Spring is the weather. Spring means warmer temperatures and longer days, which means more people are crawling out of hibernation and getting outside. If your customers are anything like me, my car tends to get neglected during the winter months. With all the snow and salt we deal with on the roads in the Northeast, our vehicles take quite a beating during the colder months. We didn’t get too much snow this year, but there still seemed to be a lot of salt! Once it starts getting warmer, I start thinking about replacing my wipers after all that winter gunk has built up, finally getting in to the dealership for an oil change (it’s just too cold in January!), getting my alignment checked after all those winter potholes I hit, and the list goes on and on.

As a service and parts manager, you should be thinking about how to get in front of people who have spring service needs – these could be your current customers, but you also want to focus on potential new customers who have yet to visit your service department. Start by compiling service offers directed toward these spring service needs by offering complimentary car washes, discounted oil changes and alignment checks. How do you get the message out there, you ask? I’ll get to that a little later.

2. Tax Returns

I’m sure you’ve seen the “tax time” auto ads usually focused on a dealership doubling your tax return to use on your vehicle purchase, but why not take advantage of these tax offers for your service department’s benefit? Come spring, people start receiving their tax returns and are finally able to spend money on those small service needs they’ve overlooked throughout the winter.

Why not put together a tax time coupon where you bundle a few of the post-winter maintenance offers together and offer a certain percentage off? We like to keep marketing consistent so if your sales department is advertising the tax time offer, carry that through to your service department.

3. Popular Car Buying Season but Not EVERYONE is Buying A New Car

Undoubtedly, auto dealers see an uptick in car sales once the warmer months start to creep in, but that doesn’t mean everyone is going to jump the gun and buy a new vehicle. Many will decide to wait until next year or at lease a few more months and chances are those people will need to do some sort of maintenance to their current vehicle.

Utilizing your customer database to pinpoint customers who have had their current vehicle for 3+ years and haven’t been in for a recent service are the first people your service department should be reaching out to. CRMs have an abundance of email templates and outreach methods to help you with this process and you should be utilizing these tools. Your CRM is not just for the sales department, your service advisors should also be versed on all its capabilities.

Get the word out

Now that you’ve established your marketing opportunities for this spring, let’s discuss the best tools to get your word out without breaking the bank:

1. Database marketing

As mentioned above, utilizing your CRM is the first tool you should consider when targeting potential customers with your spring service offers. These people already have a relationship with your dealership, whether it’s service or sales, and feel some sort of loyalty to you. Segment your database by targeting sales customers who have never serviced with you and service customers who haven’t been in for 6+ months. Sending these customers a spring service offer via email might help bring them into your doors, rather than into a competitor’s.

2. Conquest emails

A great way to reach individuals in your market area – who may not currently be a customer of yours – is with conquest emails. Targeting owners of vehicle makes your dealership can service, we send out your spring service offers as an email clickable with tracking links to your service page where they can then make an appointment. This method opens the door to potential customers you aren’t able to reach with database marketing.

3. Search retargeting

Once the warmer weather hits, many consumers are going to hop on Google and search phrases like “cheap oil change” and “car wash near me.” Search retargeting gives you the capability to target potential customers based on these search terms without the high cost of Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Once the campaign is triggered by the search term, the customer is served your display ad driving them to your site. This solution is much more cost effective than SEM and a perfect fit for a service department trying to get in front of the spring service shopper.

Utilizing the time of year to your advantage when marketing your service department will help keep you in front of potential customers and ahead of your competitors. At Digital to Dealer, we guide our clients toward the most effective solutions based on any given budget. If you would like to learn more about how Digital to Dealer can help with your spring marketing needs, give us a call at 877-958-4524 or contact us today!

The start of a new year means the automotive industry is eager to begin strong with new incentives and sales which can led to new opportunities. It is crucial for a dealership to know how to effectively relate these new year tactics to their customers. One of the best ways to do so is to implement innovative and effective email marketing strategies.

Does email marketing still even work? Yes, head to our previous blog to learn why it is worth it and valuable for advertising purposes! Email marketing has existed for over 40 years. Throughout those years the digital age has caused email marketing to evolve drastically due to the development of new platforms advertisers can reach their audience such as mobile, television and social media.

Despite all the different platforms dealerships can use to reach customers email has remained a popular and common medium. Email marketing has become more complex than ever after the digital age introduced HTML emails, the ability to personalize and target. This why dealerships email marketing strategies for 2020 should reflect the following: personal messaging, a defined target audience, open to collecting feedback, utilizing the appropriate platform for connecting.

1. The importance of personal messaging or “storytelling”

A recent Radicati report states by the end of 2019 the average worker receives 126 emails per day. So, if you think about it this way daily your customers’ inbox is full of personal, marketing, advertisement and sponsored emails. The average person responds to this amount of emails by neglecting all them, deleting them all or skimming through them and opening only the ones that they dem worthy of their time and attention. Here is the challenge everyone in the email marketing industry is trying to tactical: how do you capture the customers attention?

Personalization.

Telling stories, informing and educating your customers is how you can standout against your competitors. While your competitors are filling up your customers inbox with dozens of promotions and useless marketing operations you are sending captivating, clear and useful messages.

According to an article by eConsultancy, 74% of marketers have stated that targeted personalization increased their overall customer engagement rates. To effectively personalize messages to your customers you need to take count their demographics and behaviors.

2. Determining your target audience

The digital age has made it possible for us to collect data in an intelligent and functional way. The data collected from digital traces can be analyzed and interpreted to segment your target audience. As stated above two type of audience segmentation are demographics and behaviors. Demographics include age, income level, job type and geographic location. Behaviors include what people buy, how often they make a purchase and why they buy the product or service.

Collecting this data will inform you on the needs of your customers. This is an effective way to avoid spending money on emails that are going to be deleted. The data makes it easy to pinpoint the content customers want to be informed about. For instance, sending an email about car safety features to a customer that purchased a family vehicle. Instead of having to Google this information you are handing it to them! Or depending on the customer other content talking about environmentally friendly, smart and tech-forward vehicles will be just as effective. Emails that are segmented by target audience are proven to increase engagement and click-through rates.

3. Collecting Feedback

Being open to creating a dialogue between you and your customer is the best way to assess how your marketing strategies are doing. Emails are the channel between you and your customer. Within an email your customer gets a glimpse of your brand, image, promotion, sales and customer service processes. Interacting with your consumer allows you to build customer loyalty.

By reaching out to your customer you are showing them that you are attentive to their needs. Your customers won’t feel like they are just a means to an end. This is what stops them from going to one of your competitors when it’s time to get a new car. It is also help you see what exactly your weaknesses and strengths are. Your email marketing strategies should constantly be evolving. What better way to tweak your strategies than receiving direct feedback from your customers? Thinking about the long-term goals of email marketing collecting feedback back your customers will only positively impact your dealership.

4. Connecting with the appropriate platform

According to an online article by Statista mobile devices generate 47.60% of Internet traffic in the world and this percentage continues to increase. An effective email should be formatted for mobile. An article on Campaign Monitor states that if emails are not well formatted for mobile, more than 70% of recipients will delete it within three seconds!

The best way to avoid this is to take the time and test the email before scheduling it. This gives you the opportunity to view how the email looks on mobile. Email marketing in the automotive sector must be designed for mobile… An article on website Email Monday states that over 50% of emails today are opened on smartphones. Meaning the best way to get your customers to see and open your emails is to connect with them through a mobile device.

Successful automotive email marketing strategies are built on a foundation that reflect: personal messaging, a defined target audience, open to collecting feedback, utilizing the appropriate platform for connecting.

If you are looking to revamp with current email marketing strategies for 2020, contact us for more information on our D2D email campaigns with powerful calls to action!