The theme for NADA 2016 was “Connect”, and visitors to the Dealer.com and Dealertrack booth took that message to heart. The show was hopping with progressive dealers asking about new product integrations with Cox Automotive, new opportunities to bridge the online to in-store shopping experience, and new ways to connect and optimize their digital marketing presence.
These questions led to some of our most exciting conversations yet about the future of our industry, so we wanted to summarize and share them to keep the dialogue going:
Question #1: How can I let car shoppers shop by payment or apply for credit from my website?
The value of engaging shoppers with interactive trade, finance, and credit tools is increasingly clear. Shoppers seek transparent buying experiences, and dealers have the opportunity to earn their trust and speed their purchase decisions through financing tools on their sites. Dealer.com makes this possible through our Digital Retailing solution – a complete, integrated deal-making experience that allows shoppers to shop by payment, apply for credit, and even make deals directly with online customers through MakeMyDeal. You can configure these tools however best fits your strategy.
Question #2: What’s new with Dealer.com now that you’ve been acquired by Cox?
Now that Dealer.com is a part of Cox Automotive, we will be making strategic integrations that will connect our digital marketing platform with other best-in-class solutions like VAuto, VinSolutions, and others.
While it’s still relatively early in the game, we’re already seeing some of the potential of this connectivity. For instance, Dealer.com automotive advertising now has the capability to target shoppers researching trade-in information on Kelley Blue Book, and/or looking for a new or pre-owned car on Autotrader. This technology, called Audience Targeting, is a harbinger of things to come as part of Dealer.com’s integration with Cox Automotive.
Question #3: How can I deliver a better mobile website experience?
Across the Dealer.com network, there’s a 50/50 split between shoppers using desktop versus those using tablet or mobile devices to shop for cars. Just over a year ago the numbers were more like 60/40. And next year, mobile usage for car shopping will be even higher. That’s why we continue to upgrade our Seamless platform for mobile – adding functionality that combines the best elements of responsive design with new design flexibility and the power to easily analyze and configure your mobile site.
Question #4: What do I need to do to be visible on Google right now?
It seems like every few months, there’s news out of Google that the search giant is once again changing this algorithm or that paid search format to provide a better user experience. It can be intimidating to hear about these updates and not know what they might mean for your digital dealership.
We’re constantly analyzing this and the answer, more and more, comes down to long-term auto dealer seo content strategy combined with fully-funded automotive paid search advertising.
There are no shortcuts to either SEO or SEM success: Invest in a partnership in which you can automatically market your inventory through paid search, and create consistent, compliant, and compelling new content on your site that answers questions your local shoppers may have about your vehicles, your events, your brand(s), and your services.
The speed at which industry progression is happening is truly exciting. It’s upping every player’s game – whether you’re a vendor, a dealer, or a technology partner. The automotive digital age has found its stride, and Dealer.com is inspired every day to help create the technology and services that are transforming the business for the better.