Mobile Shoppers are Serious. Here's How to Connect With Them.

By David Metter

If your dealership has a mobile website, you are probably aware that 30 to 50 percent of your total website traffic are mobile users. You also know these mobile users are performing actions with their smartphones that are aligned with serious shopping behavior. In a recent study, Edmunds.com found that mobile users on its website engage in these five relevant behaviors: they shop, they view inventory, they click on ads, they submit leads and their page views rival those of wired shoppers.

Your mobile marketing strategy should include ways to connect with and convert mobile users as they engage in these key shopping behaviors. An effective strategy goes beyond having a responsive website. Many marketing tactics that work well for customers using desktops and laptops don't work with your mobile customers. It all comes down to how mobile shoppers use their phones. 

1. Shopping

According to the Edmunds.com study, 79 percent of mobile users are shopping, defined as viewing at least one vehicle. On dealership websites, mobile shopping activities include researching and comparing prices, reading reviews and calculating payments. It's important to keep in mind that although the average American spends three hours on their smartphone every day, the window of time you have to connect with these users is smaller than it is with your wired customers. Does your mobile website provide information on pricing, rebates and other special offers? Are your payment calculators and review pages mobile optimized? The more activities mobile shoppers can do on your site, the more time they will spend there.

2. Viewing Inventory

Mobile visitors view approximately nine percent more inventory pages than their counterparts using desktops and laptops. Are your vehicle display pages (VDPs) mobile-optimized? Mobile users watch a lot of videos; can your inventory videos be viewed on smartphones? Every mobile VDP should include a clear call to action right next to the product details, and text should be large enough to be viewed on a smaller screen.

3. Clicking on Ads

Edmunds.com found that mobile users are 2.5 times more likely to click on ads than wired site visitors, and they perform key shopping activities on the sites they click through to. This high level of ad engagement presents an opportunity for dealerships to convert shoppers into leads into showroom visitors. Mobile ads should provide a specific reason for shoppers to click through, such as a special offer or immediate incentive to come in and take a test drive--especially if they are in the vicinity.

4. Submitting Leads

The Edmunds.com study reveals a rapid growth in mobile lead submissions and their data shows these mobile leads close at the same rate as, or even better than, traditional leads. Higher lead counts are attributed to mobile optimization of lead forms and the ability to submit leads via text or "click to call" buttons.

To increase mobile lead submissions, create messages that give mobile users a reason to click or text now. Examples might include a "no pressure price quote," "easy payment quotes," or a gift card (similar to mobile advertising incentives). When it comes to mobile leads, it's also very important to have a process in place where the leads get an instant response. If a mobile shopper doesn't get the information they're looking for from your mobile website--quickly--they will move on. Next!

5. Viewing Pages

Even though mobile users spent less time on Edmunds.com than wired shoppers, they viewed as many or more pages during that time. What this tells me is that mobile users are looking for the same information and their shopping process is similar to shoppers using desktop and laptop computers. The smaller screens make it easier and faster to see whether information is available. The takeaway here is to ensure all relevant information and calls to action on your mobile pages are "above the fold" so mobile users don't have to scroll down to find what they're looking for.

The age of mobile is no longer just around the corner; it's here, and 30 to 50 percent of your potential customers are using mobile devices to shop for their next vehicle. Make it easy for them to connect and engage with your dealership, and you can easily convert these serious shoppers into leads and sales.

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The Most Important Attribution KPIs For Auto Dealers

With every year that passes, we’ve seen consumers increase their research and online activity exponentially and it has become increasingly difficult to discover true attribution when analyzing exactly what drove a specific customer into a dealership.

Marketing today mandates an omni-channel approach. No longer can you simply rely on a website and traditional media. An effective marketing strategy should include such tools as a comprehensive SEO and social media strategy, pay per click ad campaign, presences on third party listing sites, display ads and email marketing, to name just a few.

Because consumers are visiting so many sites in their car-buying journey, I think it would be fair to say that attributing a customer’s visit or transaction to a single source would be misleading. A customer could easily bounce from a manufacturer’s page, to vehicle review sites, to a third party listing site, then go to a dealer’s website, and then perhaps leave there to read reviews on yet another site. Therefore, attributing a conversion to a single page, source or form could lead to erroneous information and budgetary decisions based on that incorrect data – this could then lead to campaigns that are not as effective as they should be.

Some of the most common automotive KPIs currently used include Click Thru Rates; Conversion Percent, Site Visits; VDP views; Dealership address and directions; pricing; and engagement rates on any social media pages. I realize that some dealers may not have the time or resources to track the customer’s entire journey. If this is the case, at least pay attention to the two KPIs that give you real and actionable data:

1.    Lead to Show Ratio

2. Show to Close Ratio

While these KPIs won’t map out the customer’s journey, what they will do is help you to determine what marketing efforts are producing a return on your investment – and which are not.

A typical beginning of the month has management analyzing marketing sources and measuring their effectiveness by close ratio – i.e.:  We spent this much money and sold this many cars for this much profit. While this typical action may help determine if your marketing is producing revenue, it won’t help to determine whether it could be producing MORE revenue.

If you received 100 leads from prospects touched by all of your marketing and sold 10 cars, you would find that you have a 10 percent closing ratio. Whether this number is good depends on the market density.

But what does it really tell you? And what happens when you add your show ratio into that equation? By taking that same number of leads and discovering how many of those leads actually came in, you can determine whether your marketing is effective – i.e.: did it do its most fundamental job – did it drive traffic into your store?

You can then use that number to discover the show to close ratio. The first answer (lead-to-show) shows marketing effectiveness. While the second illustrates organizational effectiveness. You may be getting a high volume of customers into your dealership but fail to close them once they are there. OR, there could be a process issue in how leads are being handled.

Take the time to add these KPIs when calculating your lead providers and you’ll be better able to judge their performance and make better budgetary decisions. 

Putting Showrooming In Perspective

As a husband and father to 5 daughters, the cartoon above is, at times, a pretty accurate description of my life. I’m sure all men in similar situations have found that couch or chair  they inevitably get placed in while the females in their lives try on shoes, clothes or whatever they may need.  In reality, I shop more than my wife and kids… they just don't go with me.  

But the real reason it caught my attention is that it is such a great illustration of a somewhat new “challenge” that has hit the retail world, and one that I work to help many dealers with – showrooming. I talk about showrooming and how it is affecting dealerships a lot – but sometimes the concept itself doesn’t sink in. Perhaps it’s because customers aren’t as direct as the lady in the cartoon. Maybe some dealers just don’t see customers using their smartphones to compare prices while still sitting right in the showroom, or out on the lot. But I guarantee you it is happening all the time. In fact, over 60 percent of customers visiting an auto dealer's lot will use their smartphones to simultaneously shop the competition. And two thirds of those will leave that dealership and visit another store within a day. This is showrooming

This cartoon perfectly illustrates the concept. No doubt you’ve comparison priced items at one point – whether that was a television, refrigerator, or even just a book. All of us want a good deal. Amazon makes it very easy with their app. All you have to do is scan a bar code and you’ll have the online price. There are other apps that will even show you the prices at multiple stores.

I have no doubt that some entrepreneur will someday create an app that will allow car shoppers to accomplish a similar result simply by using their phone to scan a VIN. Heck, we have already built our solution to incentivize a customer  and allow them to text our dealer while sitting in a competitive dealership.  

This is what’s happening in retail on a daily basis – and has been for a while now. Consumers are realizing that they can price shop a car dealership just as easily as can shop for anything else. And that’s why it’s important to find ways to keep that customer in your dealership. And, if you feel even more enterprising, find an effective way to lure the customer shopping your inventory while at your competitor, into YOUR showroom, and away from theirs.

70% of all vehicle purchases come from leads scored 7 or higher - Free Download

Last year Polk and HookLogic worked together on a pilot program with a dealer group to test the concept of combining Polk Lead Scoring with HookLogic’s incentive program. As part of the test, HookLogic passed copies of the email leads it received from the dealer group and gave them to Polk to be scored. Leads that scored 7 or higher were sent an email with a test drive incentive that could be redeemed when the shopper visited the dealership. The pilot test yielded the following results:

• Nearly twice as many people opened the email and printed the coupon vs. previous dealer group emails (23% for the pilot test)
• Polk became a finalist in the DPAC (Digital Publishing and Advertising Conference) Awards 2010 for Best Digital Direct Response Campaign

Polk_Lead_Scoring_HookLogic

Because Polk has a record of every vehicle transaction in the U.S. Polk can track all automotive purchases. Based on Polk Lead Scoring, Polk sees that about 70% of all vehicle purchases come from leads scored with a 7 or higher.

The question then becomes not which leads are most likely to close but WHERE will they close? At the dealer that received the lead or somewhere else?

Polk looks at specific information in the lead itself coupled with Polk’s proprietary database information associated with the lead (e.g. address, demographic and vehicle information). This combined information is used to determine the score. Each element in the model is weighted for its ability to predict likelihood to purchase a vehicle.

Last month a webinar was held where Polk walked attendees through the lead scoring process and how HookLogic is working with Polk to drive these shoppers into the showroom.

Those that attended the webinar already received a free copy of the presentation deck but if you are interested in receiving your free copy of it then fill out the form below and we will send you a link. Upon doing so you can also expect to receive invites to other upcoming webinars and events sponsored by or in partnership with HookLogic.

Mobile Path to Purchase 2014 with xAd and Telmetrics

Yearly study performed by xAd and Telmetrics - The mobile path to purchase continues to evolve with more and more consumers owning and relying on mobile devices. With this increase in mobile adoption, we see people turning to mobile as a necessary part of their everyday lives and purchase decisions. I was personally a bit surprised with some of the high percentages for auto. A substantial amount of mobile activity is happening at the start of the purchase funnel (even for auto) when consumers are just beginning to evaluate options. Understanding how consumers’ engage with mobile to make a purchase decision is now more important than ever for marketers.

Here are a few main finding from the study...

• Mobile now accounts for 51% of time spent online for key categories
• As consumers get more comfortable with mobile, satisfaction has increased
• Consumers are using mobile to shop and explore even when there is a computer nearby
• 35% of consumers used mobile exclusively to make a vehicle purchase decision

Mobile Path to Purchase 2014 - New Shopper Mindset

from

Jeff Kershner

Showrooming Becomes An Automotive Marketing Opportunity

*This article was written by Brian Pasch and was originally published on LinkedIn.

Mobile showrooming has become a part of the consumer shopping processes. Consumers can walk into any retail store and quickly compare prices and offers on their smartphone from online merchants and/or competing local stores. So, it should come as no surprise to automotive retailers that showrooming is occurring on the dealership's lot, service lanes, and showroom floor.

"If consumers check TV prices inside Best Buy for a $800 model they will be checking prices on vehicles that cost $40,000 - $50,000!" - David Metter

According to a 2014 Cars.com research report

"Mobile is a game changer, as shoppers actively seek out content on the lot. Fifty-one percent of auto shoppers used a mobile device to seek information related to price, payments and offers, while 29% checked inventory and 17% read vehicle or dealer reviews." - Mobile Device Use At The Dealership

My Interview With David Metter

I recently had the opportunity to interview David Metter, President of HookLogic, to discuss their new Mobile2Show product which enhances their current suite of solutions for the auto industry; Lead2Show, Web2Show, and TradeHook.

HookLogic has created a powerful set of tools to using mobile showrooming as anopportunity to conquest local auto dealers. Using geo-fencing technology, HookLogic can present offers directly on the mobile device of a shopper that is visiting a competing dealership. These offers are designed to encourage the consumer to leave the competing dealership and drive over to their place of business.

HookLogic's recent integration of mobile wallet technologies allows dealers to present offers and reminders to consumers when they are near the dealership as well.

Watch The Interview

Take a minute to understand the many opportunities that dealers have to enhance their mobile marketing strategy with Mobile2Show.

A Surprise Benefit of Gift Cards

As you watch the interview you will learn a very important fact regarding the HookLogic marketing strategy; their data capture quality is the highest in the industry. David stated that their company has a 99% match rate on consumer data as compared to less than 60% for normal lead forms!

With accurate data, HookLogic can show dealers if a consumer purchased a car from their dealership, a competing local franchise dealer, or a competing brand.

When consumers will out a gift card form, they provide accurate personal information to have the card delivered to their home.

Since the company has very accurate data, they have the ability to create customized and relevant offers to consumers via direct mail and email (Lead2Show), as well a dynamic offers on a dealership's website (Web2Show).

Their partnership with IHS/Polk can enhance existing leads in a dealership's CRM and third party leads which the dealer purchases. This results in very targeted offers to consumers who are in-market shopping for a vehicle.

On average, 32% of all consumer who complete a HookLogic offer will come to the dealership and 60% will purchase.

Dealers who want to increase consumer showroom visits are advised to watch the interview and then contact HookLogic to get started with a comprehensive strategy to increase showroom visits from your website, CRM, and mobile marketing opportunities.

Hear David at DMSC 2015

David Metter will be conducting a workshop at the 2015 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) on April 12th. His workshop is entitled "How Showrooming is Changing the Way Dealers Sell Cars." Progress automotive managers are invited to attend the conference which is being held in the Napa Valley, April 12-14th.

Brian Pasch Interviews David Metter of HookLogic [Video]

Don't miss our very own David Metter in his interview with Brian Pasch on CBT News and Auto Marketing Now – Episode 16

Magnets Pick Up a Bunch of Scrap - Be Careful!

Few (very few) dealers are using "Magnets" to help with their lead acquisition. But think about it... magnets pick up a bunch of bad, unusable, and cheap metal. But the valuable metals like gold, silver, and aluminum need to be hand picked. Internet Leads for your dealership are quite the same.

At HookLogic, we use intelligent data to weed through the (s)crap and pick out the customers that are the most likely to buy a car at your dealership, either with our Web2Show or our award-winning Lead2Show solution.

See why dealerships all over the country are using HookLogic.

Put some REAL “Logic” into your online marketing strategy.

Picking up scrap

HL-Logo-Moment-240x60

learn more

lead2show.com | 855-LEAD-2-SHOW

4 Super Effective ways to use HookLogic Web-to-Show, that you may have FORGOTTEN about.

  "I forgot it could do that." "I didn't know it could do that." "I never considered using it for that."

How many times have you said one of those statements while refreshing yourself on a product or service that you've been using for awhile?

Too often, we sign up for a product or service and after the "honeymoon phase" (first few weeks of giving it attention), they set it and forget it. You know what I'm talking about. Whether it's HookLogic, Online Chat, Trade-Hook, Walkaround Video or even a subset of features within your CRM, it's hard to be consistent at maximizing each to it’s fullest potential.

This article is to get you re-thinking about Web-to-Show and which features you may be forgetting about or not taking full advantage of.

Here are four ways to use Web-to-Show that you may have forgotten about.

1. Specials Pages

Incentivize the right customer at the right time to convert and take action. That's the premise of Web-to-Show. It's why we place Web-to-Show on the SRP and VDP, and why we recommend placing it on your New and Used car Specials as well.

Your new and used car specials pages are typically of top 5 most visited pages on your dealership website. But yet, when reviewing a clients website, Web-to-Show is missing from the Specials pages. If you don't have Web-to-Show on your Specials pages,  you're missing out on enormous opportunity.

2. New Car Landing Page

We find many dealers have a New Car Landing Page strategy. Either it be for SEO or Paid Search, todays platforms make it a easy to add landing pages to your dealership website.

There's no disagreeing that a shopper visiting your new car landing page(s) has a high probability of being in market. So why not take advantage of the opportunity by having an additional point of conversion (Web-to-Show) on your new car landing pages?

3. Paid Search

This ties directly into number two. But there’s a good chance you forgot about adding the triggered link feature to your paid search and landing page strategy. Triggered links allow you to quickly expand upon the flexibility and performance of Web-to-Show by not only giving you an additional layer of measurement but allowing you to change the offer based on your segmented campaign.

The potential of this, once unleashed, leads to endless possibilities.

4. Mobile

On average, over 25% of  a dealerships website traffic is now viewed on a mobile device. Latest studies are showing that a large percentage of mobile traffic are visitors by mobile device ONLY. Meaning they never visit your dealership website on a traditional desktop browser.

Traditionally, the shopper on your mobile website are in-market and quite low in the purchase funnel. There’s even a good possibility they’re on the showroom floor of a dealer down the street. When the iron is HOT - mobile Web-to-Show is ready to incentivize that highly in-market buyer right through your dealers showroom doors.

If you have a mobile adaptive or responsive dealership website, Web-to-Show will automatically determine which type of device your shopper is using and adjust accordingly.

If you’re a HookLogic AutoHook client with our Web-to-Show package and you have a responsive website, jump on your phone and check it out.

There you have it. FOUR Super effective ways to use HookLogic Web-to-Show, that you may have forgotten about.

It only takes a few minutes to review this list of 4 effective way of making sure you’re maximizing each and every opportunity to increase your dealerships website conversion, but more importantly your overall Lead-to-Show performance.

The Importance of Embracing Responsive Web Design

There is such a wide range of digital mediums available for consumers to connect with dealers - like personal computers, Macs, tablets and smartphones. Even "wearables" are in the near future (Google Glasses). Some people rely on PCs for performing work related matters while using tablets and smartphone to meet different requirements, like shopping.

The availability of these different touchpoint options have made responsive design an inevitable aspect and today, dealers have no other option but to customize their website and content layout, depending on the particular devices that the visitor is using at that given time.

Why do car dealers need to embrace responsive web design?

Nobody can undermine the importance of responsive design and car dealers are no exceptions. Various studies clearly show that more that 33% of vehicle purchases come from online-generated leads and the recent trends suggest that this figure is going to increase drastically in the immediate future.

When consumers shop for cars, they use different devices and in order to meet the requirements of the customers at every  touchpoint, car dealers need to consider being responsive to these different devices.

Still, many dealers undermine the fact that mobile has been increasing at a rapid pace and it's going to be tough to survive in this fiercely competitive marketplace if we keep underestimating the importance of responsive design.

Don't be one of those dealers that undermines the importance of the mobile experience.

Download our latest white-paper "Auto Responsive Design: Managing Content Touchpoints in the Mobile World"