- Apr 7, 2009
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- Alex
Jeff - We've been on Edmunds a few months...so far we have had low volume and decent quality. They are at the point where I'm looking at opportunity cost. I would say they are borderline right now...
Edmunds as 3rd-Party Lead Provider -- Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?
- Thread starter john.quinn
- Start date
- May 1, 2005
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- Jeff
Alex, thanks for the update. Not to go off topic (putting my HookLogic hat on), are you getting all your Edmunds leads over to us to score and possibly DOUBLE incentivize? If not - let's consider this!! I've been able to take some underperforming lead providers (4-6% closing ratio and get them up into the mid teens using this method. Go figure.
Feel free to DM or call me is you want to move forward with that.
I'm off topic too, but I think I misunderstood what HookLogic does. I didn't know you could score / incentivize third party leads. Can you drop me an email with some more info?
Re: Edmunds.
This is our first month on, and so far, *extremely* low lead volume. Far fewer leads than I was expecting. We've sold one car from the six leads we've gotten so far this month. Too small of a sample size to draw any useful conclusions.
Unless the lead volume picks up quickly, I don't see how we can stay signed up for long.
This is our first month on, and so far, *extremely* low lead volume. Far fewer leads than I was expecting. We've sold one car from the six leads we've gotten so far this month. Too small of a sample size to draw any useful conclusions.
Unless the lead volume picks up quickly, I don't see how we can stay signed up for long.
- May 1, 2005
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- Jeff
Thanks for posting. I turned them down after they came in this past summer. Contrary to what they say, it seemed to me that autotrader must have decided to stop paying them to carry their vehicle stream so they made a money grab and tried charging dealers directly basing their rates on Autotrader which was also already too high for what you get. And then to add insult to injury, they used the Gestapo technique of exclusivity. I talked to a new rep again and they dropped their rate from $3500 to $2500 for us. Still seems like too much for me. While I see Edmunds as a legitimate source, I don't think it is as highly ranked as they describe. I see KBB ranked higher. Most vendors find way to inflate their rank just like we are all #1 in our respective markets.
Remember the days when we were told that internet advertising would make everything more affordable?
Remember the days when we were told that internet advertising would make everything more affordable?
I just had an Edmunds rep come in and tell me that when compared to Auto Trader, Cars.com and KBB they have more site traffic, more search queries, and more engaged shoppers.
I think Edmunds has some great reviews on cars and is a good research engine, but I do not see them as a high quality low funnel lead provider.
When I look at the search volume index through Google Trends, they are scraping the bottom.
All that being said, if they were half the cost of what they pitched, I would give them 90 days to prove themselves. However, as it stands they seem to be over promising and have a high potential of under delivering.
I think Edmunds has some great reviews on cars and is a good research engine, but I do not see them as a high quality low funnel lead provider.
When I look at the search volume index through Google Trends, they are scraping the bottom.
All that being said, if they were half the cost of what they pitched, I would give them 90 days to prove themselves. However, as it stands they seem to be over promising and have a high potential of under delivering.
Brian,
I dropped them and they paying less than half. I still believe that the internet makes everything more affordable.
- May 1, 2005
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- Jeff
As I talk to dealers, part of my job is to ask what 3rd Party Lead providers they are using and what's their average closing ratio for that lead source.
What I've been seeing from dealers participating in the Edmunds.com leads program here lately are low quantity but overall an above average lead to show and show to close (closing ratio). Spoke to a dealer last week what was showing a 30% closing ratio but was only receiving 12 leads a month. He went on to say how they are thinking about canceling.
"WHAT?" - why would you do that? The response was "We're not getting enough leads". SO WHAT!!
If I were getting 12 leads from a service and had a 50% lead to show rate and was then selling 70% of the people that showed up, why on earth would I cancel that service? Unless of course the cost per lead was out of whack.
Lets use a high average of $25.00 per lead for easy math.
12 leads at $25.00 = $300
50% show rate = (6) $50.00 a show
70% show to close = (4 sales) $75.00 cost per sale
(now unless you're selling each of these leads into the negative, let's agree the ROI is going to make sense)
Why would someone cancel a service that was yielding you a cost per sale of $75.00 JUST because they're only able to send you 12 leads a month?
If I had a friend that was referring me 12 customers a month and I was selling 70% of them - they would be my bests friend - forever.
I can understand wanting more leads but in the end it's all about QUALITY and NOT QUANTITY.
I tell ya, some of us dealers cancel services for some really ignorant reasons. The numbers can be black and white and plain as day in the positive and they still cancel. This may be separate thread in the near future
I'm in no way advocating for Emunds.com. What I'm saying is - IF you're looking for better than average leads/opportunities from consumers that are or are going to possibly be in the market for a car, you may want to give them an opportunity and then decide for yourself. Be sure you're willing and capable to give the service 3 months minimum, and 100% effort.
You may even want to roll their leads through a scoring service like Polk to help determine an different process around your higher scored leads from Edmunds (this applies to all leads services). After a few months of above average performance, then you may wan to consider purchasing a few leads outside of your AOI and see what you could do to conquest a few additional sales a month. I've been successful with this approach while incentivizing -- high scoring -- conquest leads to at least show up at my dealer and allow me the opportunity. Knowing that consumers are only visiting (less than) 2 dealers before making their purchase, I can back myself into a 50% closing ratio and usually determine my cost per sale before signing up.
What I've been seeing from dealers participating in the Edmunds.com leads program here lately are low quantity but overall an above average lead to show and show to close (closing ratio). Spoke to a dealer last week what was showing a 30% closing ratio but was only receiving 12 leads a month. He went on to say how they are thinking about canceling.
"WHAT?" - why would you do that? The response was "We're not getting enough leads". SO WHAT!!
If I were getting 12 leads from a service and had a 50% lead to show rate and was then selling 70% of the people that showed up, why on earth would I cancel that service? Unless of course the cost per lead was out of whack.
Lets use a high average of $25.00 per lead for easy math.
12 leads at $25.00 = $300
50% show rate = (6) $50.00 a show
70% show to close = (4 sales) $75.00 cost per sale
(now unless you're selling each of these leads into the negative, let's agree the ROI is going to make sense)
Why would someone cancel a service that was yielding you a cost per sale of $75.00 JUST because they're only able to send you 12 leads a month?
If I had a friend that was referring me 12 customers a month and I was selling 70% of them - they would be my bests friend - forever.
I can understand wanting more leads but in the end it's all about QUALITY and NOT QUANTITY.
I tell ya, some of us dealers cancel services for some really ignorant reasons. The numbers can be black and white and plain as day in the positive and they still cancel. This may be separate thread in the near future
I'm in no way advocating for Emunds.com. What I'm saying is - IF you're looking for better than average leads/opportunities from consumers that are or are going to possibly be in the market for a car, you may want to give them an opportunity and then decide for yourself. Be sure you're willing and capable to give the service 3 months minimum, and 100% effort.
You may even want to roll their leads through a scoring service like Polk to help determine an different process around your higher scored leads from Edmunds (this applies to all leads services). After a few months of above average performance, then you may wan to consider purchasing a few leads outside of your AOI and see what you could do to conquest a few additional sales a month. I've been successful with this approach while incentivizing -- high scoring -- conquest leads to at least show up at my dealer and allow me the opportunity. Knowing that consumers are only visiting (less than) 2 dealers before making their purchase, I can back myself into a 50% closing ratio and usually determine my cost per sale before signing up.