TAKE POLL 3rd Party Leads - Do you TRUST them?

[Alexander Lau]

@Bill Simmons, eloquently spoken, "From what I see in our stores, they are not all created equal."

Like any product-based solution, test the quality of the leads.

Using tools where users actually provide their credentials (based upon intent / in-market buyers), is extremely important to note. That could be said of Cars.com, Edmunds, AutoTrader (not a fan -- have measured very weak results), etc.

If you're buying 3rd party leads from the likes of Relevate or Autobytel, etc., those leads might not be entirely based upon intent (who the hell knows where those are being grabbed or scraped -- using which technologies?). I'm not banging on these groups, as I've seen a bunch of great leads (measured through the funnel to acquisitions), but I've also seen some real stinkers (and a bunch of them). Low-quality, lack of intent to buy / out-of-market leads are not going to help a dealer's closing rate, whatsoever.

 

[ryan.gerardi]

This thread reappeared on my radar just now while doing some research and as I'm looking at it I'm thinking of how loaded the posing question is, "Do you trust 3rd party leads?" The thread was stemmed initially from this article by @Jeff Kershner which has a slightly different title that is NOT a loaded question, "Do you trust your 3rd party lead provider?"

In the article, Jeff introduces LeadID which if you follow the link in the article you will discover is now called Jornaya, due to a round of funding and name change in June 2016 apparently. In the article Jeff poses the question, "Do we need to improve the quality of 3rd Party Leads across our industry?"

Maybe a better way to phrase the question is, "How does each individual 3rd party lead provider ensure the integrity of the leads they provide?"

In the two years since all this was initiated, the conversation about 3rd party lead providers hasn't changed much, but the landscape has changed a bit. Autobytel acquired AutoUSA and Dealix (and dissolved their names). TrueCar has transformed and evolved into more of a prominent player, as has CarGurus. All major players, from Edmunds to Autobytel to Cars.com and AutoTrader, have enhanced their product lines beyond just being a "lead" provider. All of them are vying for credit or attribution.

Poll results of this thread suggest that 40% of those who answered the poll DO NOT trust their 3rd party lead provider. If you read this recent article by @Stauning he explains why dealers need and should partner with 3rd party lead providers:

Not every in-market customer comes to your website; and third-party leads are how top dealers ensure they are capturing the maximum number of opportunities at the lowest overall cost per lead.​

All said and done, I'm wondering if we can dig a bit deeper under the hood and find out:

• How each individual 3rd party lead provider verifies its leads
• How each provider fares in dealers' eyes about their lead quality

As stated on the Jornaya website:

How well can you know your consumers if you don’t know the journey they’ve been on?

Maybe the real understanding (information) dealers should have around each lead that appears in their CRM is the verified path the contact went through to the point of conversion, not just the fact that they came from a particular source?

 

[Chris Leslie]

It's all about context.