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Why are Car Shoppers are so Damn Invisible?

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#2
I've never seen a good solution. We've been playing quite a bit with tracking recurring visitors, building interest profiles, tracking them over the course of their discovery, etc - the only problem is that the only data I have is the data from my own websites, so it requires them to visit the same dealership's website twice in the vehicle purchase process to become a useful feature. It definitely happens more often that I expected, but it doesn't do anything for the on-the-site-today visitors we all want to know more about.

I've been looking for solutions high and low, but the reality is that car buyers are anonymous, not invisible - I can see them, quantify them and track them, I just can't identify them without a lead. Even if I give them some sort of coupon that identifies them, the information I get is historical information, not the in-the-moment information I really want.

In for a solution!
 
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#4
Chris Cachor said:
Not sure what you mean here, how is it historical? Do you mean from previous sessions?
Click to expand...

If I give you a coupon with the barcode 00001 so I can track you, I associate that barcode with all your website traversal.
Now you come into the store, I add your name to the database and I can connect your session, your page views, your coupon and your purchase/visit to the dealership. The downside is that this does nothing for me because it's all historical - I can use it for behavioural tracking and not much more. I want to identify you before you come in and I want to identify people that don't always show up.
 
#5
There really is no way to find out who that person is if they never show up to your dealership
There are ways in google analytics to get demographic data but that isnt always accurate.

If you really wanted to know and no exceptions were allowed, you could set it up so your visitors would have to log in via a social network platform (facebook/twitter), but I am afraid you may be shooting yourself in the foot if you do that
 
#7
Ha ha ha.... I have seen people do that though
Not saying its a good idea. I would strongly advise against it

You can create a visitor ID and track page views, demographic info, etc, but you wont be able to know exactly who they are
 
#8
For over 100 years dealers have had a faith-based ROI system when it comes to marketing. Smaller direct pieces (mailers for example) have been able to prove an exact value, but dealers are master advertisers. A master advertiser cannot put a direct ROI on one thing because their advertising realm is too vast. Word of mouth, repeat buying, the service department, a family member's employment, the brand carried, driving distance, passing the store daily, seeing the dealer's name on license plate frames.... combined with paid-for advertising on TV, the paper, billboards, digital, or the radio has proven to be an effective army of awareness.

I know it isn't en vogue to say you shouldn't try to track a ROI from your advertising dollar, but as complex as things are today it is almost insanity to put credence into it. I work for a company that is all about helping find ROI in digital advertising, but my own brain is saying advertising ROI might be more gut than Microsoft Excel.

So Joe, I think the army of advertising mixed with the ease of jumping from one URL to another makes it impossible for the average person to state exactly what drove them through today's buying process.
 
#9
JoePistell said:
If 85% of all car shoppers are on YOUR website prior to purchase, then why are they are so damn invisible?

Can anyone explain it?
Is anyone doing anything about it?
Have you seen anyone doing anything about it (i.e. Lingcars.com)?
Click to expand...

Explain it? Sure. Car salesmen for decades have been annoying the heck out of potential car buyers. To the point the general population has a predetermined opinion of people once they find out they sell cars for a living. I mean, heck, Truecar's whole thing is based on taking the hassle out of car buying.

Its going to take a whole lot of Tesla sales [snicker] before people start feeling more comfortable with letting dealers know they are out there and looking at your products.

Just so I am clear, you are asking... The question is.. How can you find out the specifics on a prospect (name/address/phone/email) that has visited your site?

I think that is kinda the million...billion dollar question that every internet marketer is trying to answer without ending up on the wrong end of a FTC phone call.

So for pre-sales, my ideas are fairly limited.

FB re-marketing. Incentivise people to like your page after they have visited your website. $250 off, free starbucks gift card, free car wash... whatever it takes to like it. Bonus is, they have to come in to get the gift. And only people who visited your site will get the RM ad.

There are things for post-sales to find out better how your customer got to you. Matchbacks.
In the 3rd party email world, I have done this for all sorts of F500 companies. Insurance, restaurants and car manufactures. Heck, it was what I had to do to become eligible for manufacture based ad reembursements (Oh those wondrous Ad Funds). 7 years later, still eligible. :) (you can also do phone and postal matchbacks pretty easy depending on the quality of your data provider)

I have also done similar matchbacks to track mobile PPC display ad effectiveness but that is really really walking the line of legality and I would not recommend other marketers do this. It can be expensive and the data isn't really worth it.

I am experimenting with a location based mobile marketing program(beta development still) where we will be able to track the mobile device of the person who is/has viewed your website and LET THE SALESPEOPLE KNOW the moment they step foot on the property. "Anonymous" of course.

The future is around the corner folks.
 
#10
Alex Snyder said:
...So Joe, I think the army of advertising mixed with the ease of jumping from one URL to another makes it impossible for the average person to state exactly what drove them through today's buying process.
Click to expand...

I asked a far simpler question: "If 85% of all car shoppers are on YOUR website prior to purchase, then why are they are so damn invisible?"

I find this simple statement to be incredibly powerful.
--It explains why so many dealers don't take photos of their new cars.
--It explains why many think the internet's job it to puke out leads.
--It explains why dealers think pop-ups are great.
--It explains why... you get it ;-)
 
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