Knowing who your customers are and what they’ve been looking at on your website and browsing behavior can be a huge competitive advantage for your dealership. But how do you get this data and act on it?
Let’s take a look at the types of data:
- First-party data – Information willingly provided by a customer, for example by completing a form. This also includes tracking data showing what the customer has been doing on your website as they browse vehicles, use calculators, etc.
- Second-party data – First-party data from a vendor partner, which can include media audience data and ecosystem data from a software vendor.
- Third-party data – Audience data sourced from other brands, typically for a fee and often relying on third-party cookies.
In recent years, marketing teams have been moving away from relying on third-party data to find, track, and reach consumers. Even with the recent news that Google will not be eliminating cookies, it’s still very important for retailers to ensure that their first-party and second-party data are reliable and easily accessible.
What Your Data Can Tell You
With the right view of your data, you can know the make and model a customer is interested in buying and whether they’re ready to buy – before they ever tell you.1 That gives your sales and marketing teams the opportunity to reach out at exactly the right time with personalized messaging and offers – and avoid wasting time with shoppers who just aren’t ready to buy.
The Importance of Partnerships
Dealer.com is an industry leader for showcasing inventory, gathering customer data, and using it for targeted marketing initiatives. Adding VinSolutions can super-charge your results using proprietary technology that incorporates first-party Cox Automotive behavioral data from Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, and Dealer.com.
Nearly a third of Dealer.com visitors also shop on Autotrader or Kelley Blue Book2, so having this data helps ensure you’re delivering engaging, personalized experiences to shoppers across all sites.
These insights give your dealership a competitive advantage by helping to predict the make and model each customer will purchase based on their online activity. That way, you’ll have a good idea of what they’re looking for, before you reach out.
Data and the Customer Lifecycle
This approach isn’t just for the initial sale. You can continue leveraging your dealership’s data and technology for proactive outreach to get customers into the service lane for maintenance and back to your dealership when they may be ready for an upgrade.
If you’re ready to find out more about how Dealer.com and VinSolutions work together to give your dealership a sales and marketing edge, request a demo and we’ll show you.
1VinSolutions Automotive Intelligence Data predictions from 30 days prior to purchase from September 2022- March 2023
2Cox Automotive Pixall (US dealers only, bots & suspicious visitors removed), January – August 2023