Tag: Auto Dealer Marketing

The deprecation of third-party cookies is one of the biggest changes to the automotive digital marketing landscape in recent years. Third-party cookies have long been used to track users across the web, which allows advertisers to target them with relevant ads. However, privacy concerns have led to the deprecation of third-party cookies in major browsers, such as Google Chrome and Safari. This change will have a significant impact on automotive marketers, as it will make it more difficult to track users and target them with ads. However, there are several things that auto marketers can do to prepare for the cookieless future. Here are some marketing tips when the cookie deprecates: Focus on first-party data. First-party data is data that you collect directly from your customers, such as email addresses, contact information, and purchase history. This data is more valuable than third-party data, as it is more accurate and reliable. You can use first-party data to create targeted ad campaigns and personalize your marketing messages. Work with a third-party aggregator. 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. Leverage Universal Identifiers. Universal Identifiers provide a shared identity to identity across the supply chain without syncing cookies. First-party data (such as CRM data) and offline data can be used to create Universal Identifiers. Use contextual targeting and audience modeling. Contextual targeting involves targeting ads based on the content that a user is viewing. Contextual targeting is a privacy-friendly way to target ads and it can be effective in reaching relevant audiences. Utilize Identity Graphs. An identity graph combines Personally Identifiable Information (PII) with non-PIIs like first-party cookies and publisher IDS. Identity graphs will allow cross-channel and cross-platform tracking and targeting. Experian’s Graph precisely connects digital identifiers such as MAIDS, IPs, cookies, universal IDs, and hashed emails to households providing marketers with a consolidated view of consumers’ digital IDs. The deprecation of third-party cookies will be a challenge for auto marketers, but it's also an opportunity to rethink marketing strategies and focus on building stronger relationships with customers. Here are some additional cookieless marketing tips: Start preparing now. Don't wait until the last minute to start preparing for the cookieless future. Start collecting first-party data from your customers now. Be transparent with your customers. Let your customers know what data you are collecting and how you are using it. Make sure that you have their consent to collect and use their data. Be creative with your marketing campaigns. There are several ways to reach your target audience without relying on cookies. Be creative with your marketing campaigns and experiment with different strategies. Sample audience segments include: 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. For example, an auto marketer may have used cookie data to find buyers who had shown interest in a hybrid sedan, but that’s where it ended. When combining audience segmentation with a predictive model, marketers can target and identify consumers in-market and most likely ready to purchase a specific model. 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. The cookieless future is coming, but marketers who are prepared will be able to succeed. By focusing on first-party data, contextual targeting, and partnerships, auto marketers can reach their target audiences and achieve marketing goals.  

Dealers are always looking for reasons to connect with consumers. From back-to-school or graduation specials to holiday offers, dealers leverage seasonal and routine aspects of daily life to connect with consumers. Tax season offers a unique annual opportunity to position your vehicles and dealership for purchase by a consumer expecting a tax refund. In many cases, even consumers not receiving a hefty tax refund will be receptive to the tax time message. With the right strategy, message, and audience, you can market to consumers who are a few thousand dollars richer! Consider a tax refund match program Even if you are not in a position to offer consumers extraordinary sales offers, you may be able to create some special dealership-level seasonal offers that take your tax refund message to the next level. For example, offering a Tax Refund match program that offers consumers a discount off a vehicle matching the tax refund applied as a down payment would surely make your dealership stand out! Target consumers with service incentives What about consumers who did not expect refunds or have already spent them? Perhaps offering service incentives such as offering free tax filing software with the purchase of a prepaid service plan would be appealing. Or simply incentivize consumers to receive a discount coupon book during tax season to lighten the burden tax season brings.Tax season often sets the stage for the spring and summer vehicle sales season. Setting the stage by offering service incentives and tax refund matching programs creates rapport with your consumers that you can build upon. Start developing more effective marketing strategies The Experian Marketing Engine (EME) gives dealers and agencies the ability to build effective marketing plans by providing comprehensive market analysis along with powerful audience list creation. Tax time is just one of many messages dealers can deploy utilizing EME's solutions. At Experian Automotive, we leverage our world-class data set to give our dealer and agency clients unparalleled information to market effectively. If you find this topic interesting, you should read one of our others blogs, How to Effectively Use Audiences for Traditional and Online Marketing. 

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.

While dealers wait out the chip shortage, many are looking for new revenue streams and creative ways to maintain profit levels. Dealers understand that used vehicles are more valuable than ever and that savvy consumers who are near their lease term can purchase their vehicle with a much higher book value than their negotiated residual and capitalize on that extra equity. At Experian Automotive, we help dealers analyze consumer and market data insights so they can develop marketing strategies that more effectively engage consumers. In today’s market, we 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—and many consumers realize they can purchase their equity rich vehicle and trade it in anywhere. Dealers desiring to conquest customers would benefit from using data insights to develop marketing strategies to help educate consumers of their options. So, how do dealers make sure their lease customers remain loyal to their dealership? One way is to target those customers that are near term and recommend a trade in. 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. Both parties are happy. What about third party lease buy outs? In response to the inventory shortage, many captive lenders are no longer permitting 3rd party lease buy outs. In other words, consumers are required to purchase their leased vehicle at an in-brand dealership. Initially, this would appear to bolster brand loyalty by making it more challenging to switch brands. However, educated consumers know they can simply purchase the vehicle and drive it to another dealership as a trade. We recommend automotive dealers educate consumers on their options through effective marketing strategies that offer options and more freedom in their car purchasing. Dealers looking for every sales opportunity are utilizing data sources such as Experian’s Automotive Intelligence Engine™ (AIE) to identify all consumers with leased vehicles for their brands. Because the OEM will not share lease customer information for neighboring stores, dealers must seek out this information on their own. Experian’s Automotive Intelligence Engine provides off lease consumer information for conquest brands as well as dealer brands. The OEM still expects each store to be successful and using data-driven insights to uncover opportunities in this tight market is one critical way dealers can stay competitive and increase brand loyalty. The chip shortage will eventually recede but until then dealers can use automotive data insights that can help them remain profitable. Learn more about Experian’s Automotive Intelligence Engine.