Increase Inventory Acquisitions with Used Vehicle Market Data Insights

%%excerpt%% %%page%% Vehicle History and Automotive Intelligence Engine marketing capabilities.

The automotive marketing world has benefited from cookie-based information to help identify and reach consumers in the market for a vehicle. Now that cookies will be going away, marketers need to find alternate ways to find in-market consumers. Let’s explore. What are cookies? Created to personalize internet browsing experiences, cookies are small pieces of code placed within a user’s browser whenever someone visits a specific website. Cookies typically track the website’s name and a generated unique user ID. They can capture page clicks, viewed web pages, clicks within a website, and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as an address, name, and device IDs. How are cookies used in marketing? Cookie data helps automotive marketers enhance the user experience by better understanding consumer behaviors to deliver targeted, relevant messaging that moves the consumer through the buying funnel. For example, think about when a consumer researches RVs/travel trailers to see if their current vehicle can handle towing a camper or when they search for the best way to hook up a camper. A dealer could use this cookie data to send advertisements for trucks with a towing package that could potentially tow a trailer. Cookie support is ending, so now what? In 2020, Google announced it would end support for cookies in the Chrome browser by early 2022. This timeline was established to allow Google to address the needs of users, publishers, and advertisers to respond and look for workarounds. The revised timeline puts Google’s cookie retirement in 2023. Marketers have been using cookie data in advertising for years, so what are the options when cookie data goes away? Cookie alternatives Automotive marketers can tackle a cookie-less world by using other sources of consumer data insights. For instance, a third-party data aggregator, like Experian, has access to numerous sources, platforms, and websites. Beyond that, we have access to a vast range of specific consumer data insights, including vehicle ownership, registrations, vehicle history data, and lending data. We take all that information and help marketers segment audiences and predict what consumers will do next. (That’s more than the average cookie!) Sample audience segment information: Consumers in market Loan status In positive equity Driving a specific year/make/model 1000+ lifestyle events such as new baby, marriage, new home Geography, demographics, psychographics To take it to the next level, we can use predictive analytics to go beyond what cookie data could provide by predicting who is ready to purchase a vehicle. In our example above, a marketer used cookie data to find buyers who had shown interest in a tow package, but that’s where it ended. By combining audience segmentation with a predictive model, marketers can target and identify consumers in-market and most likely ready to purchase a vehicle with a tow package. In this way, the data-driven insights from a third-party data provider specializing in automotive insights can replace the cookie-driven approach and take it a significant step beyond. Other ways to reach consumers in a cookie-less world Automotive marketers can also use data-driven insights to further explore specific channels where consumers spend their time. Social media, for example, is an effective channel to reach consumers. Marketers can go beyond standard Facebook audiences by utilizing Experian audience segmentation and predictive analytics to highly target consumers on Facebook. So, if you can predict when a consumer will be in-market, and you know in what channel they spend most of their time, you can target them with specific messages about your dealership and your vehicles. With cookies becoming a tool of the past, knowing who is likely to be in-market, what message resonates with them, and the best channel to use allows marketers to move beyond cookie-based strategies effectively. So, let the cookie crumble! For a deeper dive into cookies, watch this recorded webinar from the 2021 Digital Marketing Strategies conference: As the Cookies Crumble, How Will Automotive Digital Marketing Respond? Presented by Experian's Amy Hughes, Sr. Director of Dealer Intelligence. Learn more about Experian’s Automotive Intelligence Engine and how audience segmentation and predictive analytics can drive more in-market buyers to your dealership.

Successful salespeople know that their busiest time is never when they are selling a lot of cars. They are way busier when they are not selling! The act of prospecting, following up, and consultatively selling is a time consuming and challenging process. Nevertheless, for salespeople, this pattern can lead to long term success in automotive sales. Until the inventory and chip shortage issues are resolved, you may find that you are busier than ever. You can no longer wait to greet shoppers as they walk into the show room and spend time chatting and test driving in hopes they will purchase a vehicle the same day. Floor traffic has been on a steady decline for a decade and with today’s vastly reduced inventory there is vastly reduced foot traffic. This does not mean that you should not or cannot sell cars. It means that your time should be filled with prospecting, following up on marketing leads and focusing on the dealership’s loyal customers. Focus on strategies that drive pre-orders In addition to prospecting activities, you will need to be extra resourceful during the sales process. For example, when the dealership does not have a specifically requested car on the lot, you should shift focus from the standard sign-and-drive approach to a focus on pre-ordering vehicles. Pre-orders can be attractive to customers because they give them the ability to create a new vehicle according to their color, options, and other preferences rather than settling for whatever the dealer has in stock (which right now is minimal at best). Experian’s Automotive Intelligence Engine™ (AIE), a fully customizable suite of marketing solutions can provide you and your dealership with the data insights necessary to find consumers who would be interested in your brand and models and who are in an equity position to facilitate a pre-order. Here are a few examples of how AIE helps dealers find likely pre-order consumers: Scenario: A Mercedes dealership would like to secure pre-orders and generate interest in vehicles for when inventory becomes available in 2022. Utilize AIE’s Market Insights to find lifestyle and demographic information to find consumers with a high buying propensity to purchase a luxury vehicle. Use AIE’s Audience Targeting to learn who of those consumers are in a positive equity position. Identify consumers who are likely to buy your models based on their prior purchasing history. Using marketing solutions to help find the right consumer now to create interest in the future could be the key to success in 2022. Focus on short term leases opportunities In today’s market, we also recommend dealers focus on targeting consumers who are nearing the term of their lease—because the end of a lease forces consumers to either turn in the vehicle or purchase it. In many cases, the customer can upgrade to a model with more features or a model in a different class—both of which may be compelling, even if the newer vehicle is an older model year than the trade in. This way, the dealer obtains the later model, lower mileage vehicle and the customer gets a model with the extra features they want or an entirely new class of vehicle. The Automotive Intelligence Engine can provide dealers with near term lease consumers in their area for all brands. For an in depth look at this topic, read our November blog “Using Data Insights to Focus on Near-Term Lease Sales Opportunities.” Learn more about Experian’s Automotive Intelligence Engine.