Drop the Hammer on 3rd Party Listings
Imagine you walk into your neighborhood hardware store – let’s call it Joe’s Hardware and Lumber. Joe’s has been around for decades – family owned, involved in local charity, and a brand that has a strong local reputation. You’ve got a remodel project going on and you’re in need of a new hammer. In the …
Why Can’t Your Classifieds Site Perform Like CarGurus?
Why Can’t Your Classifieds Site Perform Like CarGurus? To be clear: CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG) is not perfect. In fact, dealers have plenty of legitimate issues with the company (I’ll detail a couple here). But, when it matters, CarGurus more often than not delivers results for dealers. CarGurus, you see, easily passes the DISC Test (Does …
How Automotive Can Get More Personal with Machine Learning
Automotive dealerships are no longer competing with other dealerships to win customers in the digital world. The real competition is coming from sites outside automotive such as Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and Tinder, which have created new standards of personalization for shoppers. These destinations use machine learning to understand customers’ wants and needs and to provide …
Here’s Why Car Shoppers Love or Despise Dealerships
Dealerships build customer relationships one review at a time. About 80 percent of shoppers use online car reviews and car dealership reviews to inform their purchase[i]. But what motivates a customer to write a five-star review – the kind that attracts more customers? And why do customers write blistering reviews that send shoppers to your …
Does Your Automotive Marketplace Pass the Friction Test?
Let’s talk about friction. Friction doesn’t just play a critical role in physics. Removing friction from the automotive shopper’s journey is the key to automotive dealerships prospering in an industry fraught with challenge of running a modern dealership. Twenty years ago, an automotive retailer needed to be proficient with one-to-three traditional media outlets to promote …
I’m Tired of Hearing That Car Dealers are ‘So Behind the Rest of the World!’
I’m Tired of Hearing That Car Dealers are ‘So Behind the Rest of the World!’ It seems everywhere you turn in automotive you hear how behind dealers are compared to every other industry when it comes to technology, marketing and the customer experience. Frankly, I’m growing tired of this constant drumbeat; and not just because …
Cars.com Enhances Car Shopping Experience With Latest Feature, Salesperson Connect
CHICAGO, September 12th, 2017 – Cars.com is announcing its latest car shopping feature, Salesperson Connect, which helps connect dealership salespeople directly to in-market shoppers before visiting the dealer lot, creating a more personalized car shopping experience for consumers. DealerRater, a Cars.com company, launched DealerRater Connections earlier this year to help connect consumers directly with dealer salespeople through …
Simplifying Attribution to Propel Efficiencies and Profits
Despite changing consumer behavior patterns, many if not most dealers continue to evaluate third parties only on “hard lead” measures and discount others forms of influenced purchase behavior. Consumers want to be in control of their experience and they are reluctant to provide their contact information because they fear the repercussions of unwanted marketing and …
18.2 Reasons to Reconsider Google’s Zero Moment of Truth
For the past three years, Google’s Zero Moment of Truth has been a pillar of the automotive industry. Wedged into nearly ever conference workshop and lauded by trainers, vendors and dealers alike, the groundbreaking study shed light on the multi-faceted journey car shoppers take every day when purchasing vehicles. With tangible proof of the importance …