In Part 1 of this series, I detailed the existing dealership viewpoint when it comes to consumers and the obstacles dealers are facing as related to the massive influx of recall business. In this blog, I’ll share the…

The average U.S. household now belongs to more than 18 loyalty programs, for a total of more than 2 billion memberships. That’s an awful lot of loyal customers. But, all these programs and cards can have an unintended effect: customer loyalty fatigue.

Most consumers do still participate in their ‘favorite’ loyalty programs, and for many businesses, it’s a…

The market is calling Beepi, Vroom and the Carvanna’s of the world ‘Disruptors.’ I simply call them evolutionary companies that will assist in gaining consumer trust and confidence with the car buying experience -- and ultimately with dealerships.  

Today’s technology has made it a snap to buy most goods online and this has conditioned consumers to expect…

In an effort to gain exposure and effectively reach Facebook fans, one of the obstacles dealerships face in social media marketing is the continuous battle against Facebook’s algorithm. Facebook rolled out its ad platform attempting to monetize its platform and satisfy shareholders. As a result, businesses experienced an extreme decline in reach and were forced to either pay…

Today’s cars come with very sophisticated technology, including live navigation with traffic and obstacle reports, collision avoidance systems, cell phone integration and wireless connectivity. Automakers are now investigating how they can leverage this technology to communicate any vehicle issues to vehicle owners. The OnStar system already reports vehicle concerns. These…

What’s the most time-consuming part of making a sale? More often than not, it’s the paperwork: dragging the customer inside to input information…involving sales managers who are stuck in their offices desking deals...getting trade-in information down on paper to input into the appraisal tool, which is back in the office, and so on.

Sound familiar?  There…

One of the biggest issues facing dealerships in the sales process is compliance. There are a number of pitfalls dealers face. Many of these have to do with “transparency.” This basically means being certain the dealership personnel treat everyone the same -- especially when matching them up with the correct financing. Finance reserves are a hot topic right now between NADA…

News for the Week of 1.13 

Twitter Conversational Ads 

Twitter recently introduced conversational ads to make it easier for consumers to engage with and spread brand messages.  Giving advertisers an even more powerful way to spread their influence across social media,…

I believe that, as an automotive community, we intuitively know that we need to change. The sales to consumer model is outdated – our fault for not demanding of ourselves consistent improvement in the consumer experience arena. Consumers are demanding more and Wall Street has taken notice. Backed by hundreds of millions of dollars, companies are quickly rising that threaten…

Virtual Reality 

The car-shopping journey has become primarily virtual. Consumers now do most of their research online and learn about dealerships via the internet, and in turn, 70% of the buyer journey is complete before shoppers even…

Automotive Future 

Autotrader’s recent Car Buyer of the Future study shows only 17 out of 4,002 people prefer the current car-buying process, with the rest saying they want significant changes. This means the industry needs…

In the past, consumers were limited in their options when they had any sort of complaint or service issue with a particular business. Those options, however, have progressed and today’s consumers have moved on from phone calls and e-mails to air their complaints. They now turn to review sites and social media in an effort to get businesses to rectify a perceived…

In a study published this month by Google’s Automotive division titled, “The 5 Auto Shopping Moments Every Brand Must Own,” it’s crystal clear that dealers need to have a strong mobile strategy in order to stay in the game.

The study breaks the car buying…

How to Track Consumer Behavior and Leverage What You Learn

If your dealership is able to take advantage of the right tools, you can easily tell which consumers are in the car-buying market and what vehicles they’re searching for. This knowledge, however, means your employees’ approach is key in making sure they attract potential customers instead of scaring them off. …

The reason that consumers don’t trust us is simple… the messages we send them aren’t believable.

Point in case: Doug Demiro, a former manager of Porsche Cars North America, and now author of a popular column on automotive website Jalopnik, answered a…

Unless you’ve been in hibernation for the past few weeks, you’ve undoubtedly been barraged with news and opinions about the VW Recalls. Regardless of the intent of Volkswagen, it’s quite fascinating to observe the polarizing reactions by owners of the diesel engine carrying cars. No doubt the government regulators are going to compel Volkswagen to fix all of the…

Today’s consumers dictate the customer experiences they want and brands are listening. Think about Amazon. You can literally tweet your order to them and it will be at your house in 2 days. In some markets, they’ll deliver your order in an hour. Why has Amazon become the behemoth that it is today? Because it has leveraged technology to create the most efficient…

Today, most people have the perception that marketing is intrusive, right? Pop ups, banner ads, commercials, e-mail campaigns and junk mail are routinely considered annoying. Well, if this is what you think, you could be wrong. In fact, according to…

Smartphones and Tablets and Laptops, Oh My!

A Virtual Experience

A car shopping journey isn’t simple anymore, and consumers are using more devices and types of technology than ever to make their purchases. That means dealerships are striving to create the best cross-channel experiences for their consumers.

For consumers on car-buying journeys, devices and…

Personalizing Customer Experience with Intelligent Advertising

Get to Know Your Customer

Consumers put an endless amount of information online about themselves, often daily. However, several marketing strategies don’t use that information to their advantage. If online users are taking the time to educate brands about their behavior, likes, dislikes, wants, habits, etc., it…