Mollie Monett
How Great Automotive Marketing Software for Dealerships Helps Warm Up Prospects
Consumers have always had high expectations when it comes to online shopping. Amazon, Netflix, and Zappos have conditioned shoppers to be reminded of unfinished shopping expenditures in follow up emails and retargeting campaigns. These e-commerce giants use the best technology, including Google and Facebook’s algorithms, to be successful in giving today’s consumers exactly what they want to see.
And we all know that car dealerships need to catch up to the big guys. Because in the digital space, dealers aren’t only competing with the dealership next door; they’re competing with every e-commerce website that is fighting for digital real estate and ad–ranking privileges to get in front of today’s consumers.
In order for car dealerships to live up to this legacy, they must be investing in the right automotive marketing software to help warm up prospects and bring in ready-to-buy leads to their BDCs and sales floors. What does this automotive marketing software look like to set up a dealership’s digital success? The pointers below should help your car dealership understand what to look for in a great automotive marketing software solution.
Marketing software designed for car dealerships
Car dealerships need to jump on the automation bandwagon, but it’s understandable why it has taken so long. With cutting-edge software out there that is not optimized for automotive, it’s hard for dealerships to take advantage of the technology without the infrastructure in place to support moving inventory, tiered incentives, and all the complexities of automotive. So when choosing an automated marketing software, look for one that can support this. Not only should the software automate the creation of ads, campaigns, and A/B tests, but it should also be focused on automotive to help dealers take advantage of inventory and incentives in their advertising. It also goes without saying that dealerships should be implementing automotive marketing software that integrates with their CRM so that the software can leverage the relationships and data to grow business.
Lead nurture that is fundamentally not “spray and pray”
Dealerships are notorious for blasting irrelevant emails about Presidents’ day sales and monthly incentives to their entire database, relying on the “spray and pray” method. This means that they’re putting the same message out to the masses in hopes for one or two interested shoppers to convert. But dealerships should be maximizing opportunities to warm up all prospects with targeted messages that are relevant to each consumer. Creating these smart lead nurture campaigns that send out different messages to different cohorts of prospects will bring a higher ROI for dealerships, so make sure you’re investing in the right marketing software that supports this. The campaigns should take into account sales/service customers, lease renewals, and brand/community messages based on different personas.
1:1 website engagement
We already know that consumers have high expectations, but we can also assume that they have low attention spans. This means that when shoppers come to your website they need two things: personalized, relevant, tailored messages and lightning-speed customer service. When thinking about your website engagement, it’s all about AI-driven strategies to drive the warmest prospects possible. When you have hyper-targeted messages based on the data from your customer’s browsing, you’re able to turn that shopper into a buyer much faster. Dealerships should also make sure they are implementing super fast chatbots to engage with shoppers at the speed of light. No one wants to wait around for answers anymore, so make sure your website is equipped to handle this.
Now that it’s 2022, automotive marketing software opportunities may seem abundant in the automotive space, one seemingly as advanced as the next. Prioritize finding the dealership software that nurtures your prospects, and utilizes relevant 1:1 targeting to ensure they receive an amazing shopping experience every time.