Watch David Metter's #AAAS Keynote: Data Dashboards Got You Down?

Dealers have been facing a near-debilitating problem since the inception of the internet and digital tools became part of their everyday operations. It’s not news to anyone that there’s too much data out there. Dealers are constantly being told by every vendor walking through their door that everything matters. When everything matters, it’s hard to do anything confidently and efficiently. How can you possibly not get overwhelmed and confused?

Voted THE #1 most impactful presentation of the Automotive Analytics and Attribution Summit this past November, automotive industry expert, David Metter, shares unprecedented insights that simplify exactly what dealers should focus on in 2020.

Check out the inspiring keynote presentation that reveals the one metric that gives meaning to all other metrics. Enjoy!

The Top 5 Things Dealers Are Saying About AutoHook

At AutoHook, we believe the value of our solutions is most powerfully defined by the dealers that use them. We’ve been fortunate enough to have an arsenal of dealer testimonials we’ve collected across all brands over the last few years. Out of our current customer client base, we have a total of 150 real dealer testimonials.

Five common trends remain consistent after analyzing all the feedback we’ve received. So, we figured we’d share these top five trends and allow our dealers to do the talking for us when it comes to what AutoHook does for their stores…

1. AUTOHOOK LEADS CONVERT.

“I have been an AutoHook client since 2015 and I utilize their Web2Show and Lead2Show solutions at both my Kia and Buick GMC stores. Our AutoHook leads are by far my best lead source and practically close themselves, averaging around 25-35%. The biggest difficulty in the industry is getting someone to walk through your door – this is where AutoHook excels. With AutoHook’s solutions that are enhanced by Urban Science’s industry data, I am able to pull in customers from competitors’ backyards and gain market share where I otherwise would not be able to do so with ease. I look forward to continued results in the future and continuing my great relationship with my dedicated Client Services Specialist.”

-        John Speights | Digital Marketing Manager, Gay Family Auto Group

“We love AutoHook here at Gettel Nissan of Sarasota. Not only does it work well with the default settings, but we incorporate specific targeted offers to markets we see as high opportunity and bring those customers past our competition to come and see us. We also use Issue Rewards as a closing tool to help seal the deal. For 2018 thus far, we’ve seen a show rate of 55%. AutoHook continues to be a great way to convert people from our website into the showroom!”

-        Ashley Palasz | Internet Manger, Gettel Nissan of Sarasota

“Since beginning with AutoHook, our third-party lead conversion rate has increased dramatically. Our website conversions have also increased using their web overlay incentives. We’ve been very happy with the level of support we get from the team, and we’re looking forward to continuing our relationship and seeing more great enhancements come down the pipeline.”

-        Andrew DiFeo | Chairman, Hyundai National Dealer Council and General Manager, Hyundai of St. Augustine

2. AUTOHOOK INCREASES SHOWROOM VISITS.

“AutoHook has proven to convert our new inventory leads directly into showroom visits at a rate of 53.88%. The redemption process is seamless, and the interactive reporting allows for instant proactive follow-up. We’ve been able to attribute multiple sales to the AutoHook Lansing LMA Campaign and look forward to future results.”

-        Dan Dowker | Internet Business Manager, Shaheen Chevrolet

“I utilized AutoHook’s Web2Show at my previous dealership and liked it so much that I signed my Ford store up when I moved locations. There are many dealerships in our area, so the competition is always going to be high. We know the biggest struggle in the industry is getting a customer to visit your showroom, but this is where AutoHook far exceeds anyone else – we have the data to prove that a customer visited us because of Web2Show’s test drive incentive. We are excited to see what the future holds for David Stanley Ford and AutoHook!”

- Kenneth Starlin | Digital Marketing Director, David Stanley Ford of Midwest City

“Oxmoor Chrysler had a huge first quarter of 2018 and AutoHook played a pivotal role in our success by bringing customers into our showroom. Using Web2Show for our website traffic and Lead2Show for our 3rd party leads has proven to be a combo that really works well together. Things are going great and we look forward to continued success with AutoHook in the future.”

-        Shawna Johnson | Internet Sales Director, Oxmoor Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram

“We recently started AutoHook’s Web2Show solution to target specific models on our website. We had a customer come in this past weekend, take a test drive, and then purchased a new 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLC. We have been successful in using the solution for service promotions as well, promoting $25 for our Happy Hour service campaign from 3-5pm daily. We look forward to utilizing their geo-targeting and other customization options in the future.”

-        Amy Rothenberger | Director of Marketing and E-Commerce, Dream Automotive Group

“Fuccillo Chevrolet of Nelliston recently participated in the Albany LMA AutoHook Test Drive Campaign and after seeing the results, we decided to become a subscription-based client of AutoHook after the campaign concluded. Being able to attribute showroom visitors directly from AutoHook allows us to adjust our internal processes and handle the Web2Show leads accordingly. I'm excited to continue this and close more sales!”

-        Heidi Schmidt | BDC Manager, Fuccillo Chevrolet

"We have discovered that not only is the AutoHook technology an important part of our website strategy but is also very effective in our Event Marketing Campaigns, Microsite Campaigns and Permission Based Marketing. We use it to attract clients to our showrooms and to anchor appointments… perhaps, one of the best things we have done in a long line of eBusiness strategies over the past few years!"

-        Shawn kNIFFin | Marketing and Technology Director, Germain Motor Company

3. AUTOHOOK ATTRIBUTES THEIR SOLUTIONS DIRECTLY TO SALES.

“During a slow month, we decided to aggressively target specific models of opportunity on our website using AutoHook. Since then, we have seen considerable amounts of traffic from those custom offers and can attribute sales directly to those customers visiting us to test drive one of those specific models of opportunity. The best part about AutoHook is being able to tailor it to best suit my dealership’s needs on a real-time basis.”

-        Antoine Thomas | General Sales Manager, Gettel Toyota

“Here at Gettel Acura, AutoHook’s Web2Show solution is a tool we truly trust. Our team diligently follows up with these leads and we set appointments at a very high rate. Over the last four months, our show rate for these customers is roughly 60%. Not only do these leads generate traffic on our showroom floor, they are in-market shoppers looking to purchase a vehicle with us. We are able to attribute a consistent volume of sales to these leads on a monthly basis.”

-        Ray Kahn | Business Development Manager, Gettel Acura

4. AUTOHOOK PROVIDES US WITH ACTIONABLE DATA.

“I went over my first presentation of AutoHook’s Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA) today and to say that I am extremely excited and impressed would be an understatement. The breadth of data that is available via the Urban Science® DataHub™ is truly remarkable; TCA takes it to an entirely different level – especially considering this is my CRM data. From TCA, I was able to identify new areas of opportunities for our stores and I learned that a same-brand dealership located 35 minutes away was our top source of defections; without TCA, I would have never known this. I look forward to putting the extensive, invaluable data to great use moving forward and having a successful 2018.”

-        Michael Strasburger | Marketing Manager, Planet Automotive Group

“We are utilizing AutoHook's Web2Show, Lead2Show and Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA). We are just scratching the surface with TCA by deep diving into our lost opportunities. Once we have identified the lost opportunities in our own CRM data by model, zip code, lead source and individual salesperson, we can create targeted offers to drive customers into the showroom and gain back market share. There is no other suite of solutions available that can identify these problems and provide the resolution so seamlessly.”

-        Patrick Kyes | General Manager, Morrie’s Automotive Group

"We entered into our first meeting with AutoHook searching for answers. After reviewing our initial Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA), we left our meeting with a detailed game plan. From the moment we hung up the phone, we got to work implementing new strategies in areas we were able to determine specific weaknesses. We are extremely confident these changes will undoubtedly grow sales in 2018. We look forward to reviewing our analysis on a monthly basis in order to consistently stay ahead of the competition."

-        Joshua Clinton | General Manager, Gunther Kia of Fort Lauderdale

5. AUTOHOOK IMPROVES DEALERSHIP SALES OPERATIONS.

“The insights that AutoHook’s Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA) provides allows me to determine which lead sources are the most successful as well as validates my decisions to cut ties with underperforming lead sources. I can see areas of opportunity for individual models all the way down to a specific trim level. I can continue to evaluate my salespeople by looking at their individual performance and use that as a very effective training tool. TCA is a groundbreaking solution that I look forward to continuing to aid in the success of my dealerships.”

-        Jim Henne | General Manager, Performance Toyota Volvo

“After seeing our first run of AutoHook’s Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA), I am engaged and excited for more. This has allowed me to evaluate the performance of my third-party lead sources, identify the salespeople with the greatest opportunity to improve, as well as use the model performance to determine appropriate inventory levels. To top that off, I can use AutoHook incentive solutions to target specific areas of opportunity by lead source, model and geography to win back market share.”

-        Stephen Markham | General Manager, North Park Subaru at Dominion

Want to share your dealership’s success story? Email our dealer support team at DealerSupport@UrbanScience.com. For a limited time, dealers that submit a written testimonial will receive a $25 Amazon gift card or a $50 Amazon gift card for a video testimonial!

10 Key Takeaways from the DrivingSales Data Discussion of 2017

by David Metter

I recently had the honor of co-moderating a dealer panel discussion at the DrivingSales Executive Summit. Together with fellow attribution frontrunner, Steve White, CEO & Founder of Clarivoy, and our dealer experts, Shaun Kniffin, Marketing & Technology Director of Germain Automotive Group and Ben Robertaccio, Marketing Director of the quickly-rising Morrie’s Automotive Group, we we’re fortunate to have a jam-packed room on the last day of the conference. I guess the panel title (or the speaker lineup) evoked some attention…

For anyone that missed it, I’ve compiled a list below of the top ten takeaways from THE DATA DOESN’T LIE: Shocking Discoveries in Automotive Attribution.

1.    Sales Attribution > Traffic Attribution

As an industry, we need to entirely shift away from traffic attribution models and really zero-in on sales attribution – that’s where the good stuff is. Traffic attribution only gives you one slice of the pizza. It looks at the traffic that comes to your website and builds marketing strategies based on that alone. Roughly 75% of people that buy cars from you visit your website – so what are you doing to account for the other 25%? Traffic attribution doesn’t tie a sale to that site traffic, where sales attribution directly ties a car sold to the path that led to the sale. Furthermore, we have to factor in the reality that 71% of online users remain anonymous.

Ben Robertaccio, Marketing Director for Morrie’s Automotive Group says, “70% of people come into your dealership without first contacting you. Less than 10% contact you or convert through your website. If we don’t have data on the mass of our customer base, then we need to find better ways to understand them.”

2.    There are WAY too many KPIs to realistically keep track of.

Shaun Kniffin, Marketing & Technology Director for Germain Automotive Group shared their recent initiative to define the most important KPIs that exist within all the profit centers of a dealership. “Together we identified 127 KPIs as the key ones to follow. In digital marketing alone, we identified 27 critical KPIs. Our GMs all agree that between 4-16 of those 27 digital KPIs should be looked at on a daily basis.” But how many of them actually do it? Dealers are reported to death. They’re inundated with data and it’s often impossible to know where to start without enlisting the right help. 

3.    In a perfect world, EVERYONE’S data would reside in CRM.

It would be in the best interest of CRM companies to take into consideration what has made Salesforce so successful and apply that same business model to automotive. For just a minute, take yourself out of our industry. Put yourself in ANY other industry and ALL of the data resides within Salesforce. There are plugins within Salesforce that collectively make it better, more powerful, and virtually indispensable. Salesforce grew exponentially when they opened up those opportunities to make corporations that use Salesforce better. We don’t see that in automotive and that’s a very frustrating thing, and it should be more frustrating to you as a dealer because you are required to live and breathe within CRM every single day.

AutoHook’s data, Clarivoy’s data, everyone’s data should reside in CRM. If we know the behavioral traits specific to the customers in our CRM, our salespeople can simply look at their screen (just like you would in Salesforce) and immediately see every digital destination that customer has passed through. That’s what our salespeople need in order to have much more meaningful, efficient conversations with their customers. 

In a perfect world, there would be an independent 3rd party overseeing the validity of everyone’s data, as we know vendor reporting has the potential to be self-serving. But if we know we have clean, accurate data, then we as marketers can easily figure out how to help GMs make much better decisions with their budget. 

4. Google Analytics is a great tool…IF it’s set up correctly.   

Google Analytics has the potential to be a phenomenal tool, but it can also be complicated, involved and difficult to derive any real actionable insights from. How many GMs go into their GA dashboard every day? Not many. So how can we expect our managers to actually obtain any real value or insights from of GA alone?

Ben Robertaccio advises dealers to have their key goals and conversions set up properly in order to measure what’s actually happening - and that includes SRPs, VDPs, leads, chats, calls, texts, map views, etc. The best reports out there take GA data and feed in multiple other data sources to deliver a clear path towards correcting the flaws in your business.

A great tool is one that’s able to synthesize all the data and turn it into something dealers can actually use. Ben recommends AutoHook’s Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA) powered by Urban Science data. “TCA feeds in CRM data, new vehicle registration data, our sales data, and what our competitors are selling, and it’s able to show me data like I’ve never seen it before. If we didn’t have TCA, we would have continued to spend, spend, spend, when it reality it was our process that was broken, and TCA was able to make that clear.” 

5. There needs to be massive consolidation of analytics tools in the market space.

Because of the intertype competition amongst tiers and players within the automotive vertical, we need to get to the point where dealers can know (or at least have a solid benchmark) of how many cars each vendor will help them sell per month.

Shaun Kniffin reminds us of the ugly truth that, “This industry has more snake oil than any other industry,” and he’s right! Additionally, there aren’t any real standards or benchmarks to let dealers know how they are doing at any given point because of the fact that every dealer and every market is so different. We need to push for more open data sharing, partnerships, and standardization amongst vendors and at all industry levels.

Ben Robertaccio makes another great point when he says, “I see this operational divide across industries: operations vs. marketing. We see it in every industry. But what we need to do is foster an environment where I show you results, you show me results and we work together.”

6. 3rd party listing sites like Cars.com & Autotrader are NOT lead generators.

Leads aren’t everything. Clarivoy Founder & CEO, Steve White says, “Don’t ignore the cumulative effect of the journey that took place to produce that lead.” People don’t just go to Cars.com and submit their information – it’s not that simple. Autotrader, Cars.com, CarGurus all those sites are not lead sources. Their responsibility is to expose your inventory on a grand scale.

Shaun Kniffin happened to be the very first Cars.com customer in Columbus, OH back in 2001. He says, “I’ve never looked at Cars.com as a lead source. A lot of GMs don’t understand how many VDP views these sites generate for their stores each month - it’s more activity than your Search Engine Marketing could produce in an entire year. It’s our job as educators to bring them to the forefront and say let’s put this into perspective – how do you replace all these VDPs? And that’s all part of multitouch attribution. Exposing that inventory is the #1 job of Trader, Cars, Gurus, etc.”

7. Using Last Click Attribution is a lot like…

Clarivoy CEO & Founder, Steve White, made the incredible analogy of comparing attribution to a hangover. “It’s a lot like blaming a hangover on that last beer you had. But in reality, it wasn’t just that last beer, it was the cumulative effect of the 10 other drinks you had before that. So that’s what you have to think about from an attribution perspective. There is a cumulative effect to all of your different marketing touchpoints.” Making really big decisions based on last click is just not the smart thing to do.

8. Dealers suffer from A.D.D. 

Which of course stands for, “Another Damn Dashboard.” Every vendor has their own dashboard. The last possible thing today’s dealers want is another report or system to log into. These dashboards have become nothing more than complex conundrums of numbers and statistics that lack meaning and more than anything, lack the ability to execute.

Kniffin says when it comes to their vendors, “I just want to know if you’re involved in the sale. I just want to know are you part of my math, are you part of my chemistry? Are you going to help me attribute more sales? As marketers all we want to know is how can we make these numbers better? How are you who manages my paid search going to make your numbers better and help us optimize our spend?” 

9. Hold Your Vendors to a Higher Standard

Ben Robertaccio emphasizes, “We all need to hold our vendors and our partners to a higher standard to make sure they are feeding into our analytics appropriately and ensuring the data they provide us with is pure and valid. In a utopian world, all our vendors would work together openly and all agree on how to measure things.”

10.  Don’t rely on your customers (or your CRM) to help with attribution.

If dealers were to ask their customers what their click path consisted of before coming in for a test drive, most people wouldn’t have a clue. The digital journey that takes place leading up to a sale is just that – a journey. It’s something that happens organically, over time, across devices, both at home and on the go.

Kniffin adds, “Single source attribution in CRM – THAT’S frustrating! We’ve challenged every one of the CRM companies out there, and it’s a crowded space, but the truth is, single source attribution does not help us develop a strong marketing strategy, period. And how much of that is really subjective data?”

Ben Robertaccio shares Kniffin’s frustration and follows it up with a good point, "Pretty regularly I don’t remember what I had for dinner the night before so how am I going to remember what traffic source influenced my purchase?”

Thanks to our friends at DealerRefresh, you can check out this panel discussion live from #DSES2017. Click here to watch The Data Doesn’t Lie: Shocking Discoveries in Automotive Attribution on Facebook Live.

AutoHook & Clarivoy Join Forces for the Most Action-Packed Dealer Panel of 2017

THE DATA DOESN’T LIE: 

SHOCKING DISCOVERIES IN AUTOMOTIVE ATTRIBUTION

Co-Authored by David Metter of AutoHook powered by Urban Science, & Steve White of Clarivoy

An unprecedented occurrence has taken place as the automotive industry prepares for the upcoming DrivingSales Executive Summit, October 22nd - 24th, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Two vendors, two of the industry’s most recognized names in proving sales attribution, have combined forces with marketing leaders from the nation’s top dealer groups to deliver the most unbiased, action-packed panel discussion in auto conference history.  

Before we reveal why this atypical panel lineup is worth attending, we first want to inform you of what this session is NOT going to be. This is NOT a reiteration of the importance of attribution when it comes to eliminating marketing waste. This is NOT a theoretical account of big data’s potential impact on improving your daily sales operations. This is a collaborative, all boots on the ground ATTACK on the two topics that have been plaguing dealerships for far too long: big data and attribution.

AutoHook Co-Founder & President, David Metter, and Clarivoy CEO & Founder, Steve White, will be co-moderating a dealer panel that will leave attendees with a multi-dimensional, crystal clear picture of how successful dealers are already using big data and advanced attribution models to do the only thing that matters to them: sell more cars.

Attendees will get a first-hand account from Marketing Directors at the nation’s leading dealer groups about how they are taking action and selling cars using data they already have available combined with technology that they’ve already implemented.

Both AutoHook and Clarivoy have differentiated themselves in the industry for their unrivaled ability to define the path that resulted in a vehicle sale. However, these two companies go about solving attribution problems from two different angles and perspectives. But, what they both always agree on is that the dealer’s perspective is the one that matters most. Dealers are not, nor should they ever be expected to be data analysts or mathematicians. It should never be a dealership’s responsibility to scrutinize the 20 different vendor reports they receive in a typical month and find trends that point to success or failure in their marketing and sales operations. It should never be the dealer’s job to assign fractionalized credit to the multiple touchpoints that led to a sale.

Too often, dealerships are debilitated by the excessive amount of one-sided vendor reports that flood their inbox every month. What good is all this data if it doesn’t include an instruction manual that pinpoints exactly what’s working and what’s not?

If you use outdated attribution models, you’re essentially making marketing decisions based on 10% of what is actually happening. That is a HUGE marketing blind spot that can lead to tens of thousands of dollars wasted on sources that don’t convert.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if you could get a clear view of your sales and defection trends all in one place? Or quickly identify deficiencies in both your internal and external processes so that you can more efficiently assign responsibilities to your staff and get more ROI out of your third-party lead or traffic drivers?

What dealers have been lacking is a complete, 360° view of their sales operations, as well as the sales they lost to their biggest competitors. How can you improve the way you sell cars if you’re unaware of the leads in your CRM that have already purchased somewhere else? There is a reason for every lost sale, and that reason is exactly what you should use to take action and reclaim lost opportunities.

Attend this session and you will take away a lot more than the inspiration and motivation you need to take action. You will walk away with a game plan that you know has already proven to help individual dealers and dealer groups sell more cars and increase their market share. The topics of big data and attribution will transform from headaches, confusion, and irrelevant, obscure numbers into actionable steps to improve the way you operate today.

WHAT YOU’LL TAKE AWAY:

1. Learn the fastest methods of uncovering actionable sales and defection trends hidden within your data.
2. Define the sources responsible for your greatest opportunities and losses down to an individual salesperson, lead or traffic source, competing brand or dealer, and more.
3. Eliminate “Marketing Blind Spots” and grow your market share using the automotive industry’s latest and most accurate attribution models.

Do yourself a favor. DO NOT leave Las Vegas deprived of this vital and enlightening knowledge. DO NOT return to your dealership in the dark. Join AutoHook, Clarivoy, and their panel of top dealers, to finally get a clear and complete view of your market and how to outshine the competition. 

THE ACTION STARTS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24TH AT 9:50 AM SHARP AT THE BELLAGIO IN MONET ROOMS 3 & 4!

Do You Have the Power to Know What You’re Losing?

by David Metter

The number of automotive reports dealership managers receive in a typical month drastically differs from the number of reports that empower them to take immediate action based on sales data only hours old. It’s as if dealers in today’s world have to excavate through mountains of analytical ruins in hopes of uncovering a single data-driven insight that may or may not impact their sales goals. Not to mention the hurricanes and natural disasters that have further obstructed an industry in its ninth month of national decline.

Auto marketing leader, Brian Pasch recently compiled a list of all the individual reports General Managers running a franchise dealership could typically get each month. “For auto dealers, the count is over 20 reports! All separate. All with different metrics. Lots of data, not many actionable insights,” says Pasch.

The overarching problem with most reports is that they only show one perspective of a much more dimensional, much more compelling story. A lot of vendors and their unique reporting methods tend to be biased in how they present results. In other words, they focus on what they’re helping your dealership win - whether it’s more clicks, more website traffic, or more leads.

But what about all the other pieces needed to complete the story? What about all the sales opportunities you didn’t win? What about the customers in your CRM your salespeople didn’t close? What about the active leads in your system you’re wasting time, money and effort chasing when in reality, they’ve already purchased from somewhere else? Wouldn’t having that knowledge save a lot of wasted energy and marketing dollars? Wouldn’t it be helpful to know as of yesterday how many sales you lost, which competitors you lost them to, and the reason why you lost them?

Furthermore, dealers need systematic visibility into the true outcomes of in-store customer interactions. We can’t solely rely on CRM data as it can be subject to human error. So the question is, does a report exist that accurately depicts the end result of every living, breathing, human-to-human exchange that physically takes place in your showroom? Did those personal interactions result in a vehicle sold or was the opportunity lost?

AdWeek published the following statement addressing this same issue:

“Over the past 20 years, analytics for digital ad measurement have focused on digital results (including web traffic, ecommerce conversion and data collection). But even though we live in an Amazon world, 92% of commerce still happens in physical brick-and-mortar locations, so measuring digital impact is nowhere near sufficient.”

For every digital action, there should be an equal and opposite reaction. What I mean by that is that all aspects of your digital marketing should strictly be evaluated based on their effectiveness or ineffectiveness of increasing vehicle sales that occur in the showroom. What we need now more than ever is a way to accurately discern if the money we’re spending on our digital marketing AND our in-store processes results in a closed sale or an opportunity down the drain. Those are the numbers dealers need to zero-in on to know the absolute best way to spend their marketing budget moving forward.

But wait! The good news is that a report currently exists that is capable of all of these things and more. This particular report defines attribution in a way this industry has never seen before. I will openly admit, there are few aspects of this tool that others out there have the potential to imitate. However, their numbers are based on 90-day old data, not near real-time sales match data. They also don’t provide a 360-degree view of your lost sales tied to a specific salesperson, lead or traffic source, model, or top competing dealer or brand in your market (all in one single report). How do you put a price on THAT?

INTRODUCING: THE ALL-NEW SALES MATCH REPORT

AutoHook Releases Purchase Analysis Reports for Current Clients

As of May 2017, AutoHook released an all-new dealer sales match report, further solidifying their place in the industry as the true definition of automotive attribution. Current clients will now have a 360-degree view of their dealership’s sales, conquest, and defection trends based on data only hours old, as opposed to 90-day old registration data used in previous reporting.

REPORT ENHANCEMENTS

The Closest to Real-Time Data in Existence

This is no joke. Urban Science has the only Shared Sales Database that allows our clients to see sales effectiveness across multiple car brands in near-real time. Thus, we can report back on the numbers faster than the OEMs themselves, giving dealers:

• First-time visibility into sales and defection to other dealerships and brands.
• The knowledge required to take control of your dealership’s marketing and operations.
• Names of defectors to like-brand dealers as well as competitive brands.

AutoHook’s current dealer and OEM clients will have a significantly more actionable snapshot of their market conditions. Urban Science’s new vehicle sales matching data is now being directly pulled into AutoHook’s private offer and redemption platform for the generation of weekly reports. 

Your Total Lost Sales by Competitor

This is a big one! Prior to this release, dealers could only see how many total sales they lost to competitors. Now, you have complete visibility into competing dealerships in your market (by name) that you lost sales to. This is what is known as “actionable data.” If you are a Hyundai Dealer and you’re losing the most sales to Hometown Hyundai down the street, you can then work with AutoHook to deploy a targeted conquest incentive campaign to reduce pump-in sales. OEM clients receive even more in-depth reporting on the number of new to brand buyers AutoHook delivered to their stores.  

Customize Your Report View

Your AutoHook Client Service Specialist (CSS) can also generate a custom Purchase Analysis Report to show sales match data from any date range of your choice.

Weekly Updates

Each dealer’s Purchase Analysis Report will include their previous three full months of sales data in addition to their metrics through the current month to date. Reports are updated and reran each week, guaranteeing the most current metrics as well as sales lost to other brands or dealers in the market. Your CSS will review these reports with you on a one-on-one basis and offer recommendations as to how AutoHook can help you grow your market share and reclaim lost sales from competing stores.

REAL PURCHASE ANALYSIS REPORT EXAMPLE

An example of the new Purchase Analysis Report from an actual dealer is shown below. (The dealership’s name and competing dealer names have been changed to protect their privacy).

Starting Summer 2017, AutoHook Purchase Analysis Reports will be automatically sent out weekly to all dealer clients. In the mean time, please reach out to your CSS or DealerSupport@UrbanScience to access your sales report based on your AutoHook test drive incentive redemptions. Or please contact us with any questions. Enjoy!

What You Need to Know About DMPs

by David Metter

DMPs are a topic gaining escalating attention as we head into 2017. A dark cloud of big, irrelevant data still lingers above the automotive industry, just waiting to be analyzed. What are DMPs? For those of you that don’t know, the acronym stands for Data Management Platforms. Think of a DMP as a digital warehouse of data, designed to consolidate and organize consumer data from multiple sources all in one place so that it can be put to good use.

eMarketer addressed the need for advertisers to utilize DMPs back in 2013 – a near decade ago in digital time. “If data is digital marketing’s currency, then the DMP is its bank.” So, when it comes down to whether or not to use DMPs either at the dealer or manufacturer level, really dig deep and ask yourself… do you like money?

If the answer is yes, DMPs exist to give you insights that will help you make more and save more (money that is). DMPs consolidate past and real-time consumer purchase and behavioral data across ad exchanges, networks and devices. This allows for granular audience segmentation and targeting that goes far beyond standard demographics.

DMPs aren’t just a place to aggregate and store information. They help us find the most important data points that will actually help our business. And I don’t mean help down the line or months from now, but this very second. DMPs empower us to take action and deploy personalized campaigns with quantifiable conviction. These platforms are the secret to affirming what every advertiser claims they will do, which of course is to “place the right ad, in front of the right consumer, at the right time.” Sound familiar? Without DMPs, these empty promises would remain just that - empty and unproven.

DMPs are the ultimate source of budgetary efficiency for both digital and traditional spending. By illuminating a clean, 360-degree view of a consumer’s online and offline actions, DMPs pinpoint how far along car shoppers are in the buying process. They identify who in the market has already purchased a vehicle and if they bought it from a competitive dealership or brand. On the contrary, they show which consumers are just beginning their research journey, still months away from a buying decision.

Put simply, DMPs hold your campaigns accountable for their performance and help to guide your ongoing efforts to be more relevant, impactful, and efficient with where you spend your money and who you spend your money on. Specifically for the automotive sector, DMPs may be the solution to a lot of our sales attribution problems. Everyone wants to stake claim for a vehicle sold. A DMP may be just what we need to properly assign credit where credit’s due.

When asked about DMPs, Erik Lukas, Retail Operations Manager of Subaru of America said, “If there’s ever any hope of attributing all these touch points along the shopping journey, you’ve got to have some place where all the data rolls up and you can analyze it as one set.” Aside from attribution, another much-needed use for DMP-derived insights would be for one-to-one marketing and campaign personalization. Both are becoming increasingly necessary in order for a message to stand out and resonate with car shoppers.

According to MarTech Today, “A DMP offers a central location for marketers to access and manage data like mobile identifiers and cookie IDs to create targeting segments for their digital advertising campaigns.” This is a tremendous asset for automakers when it comes to eliminating waste. For example, if you are a luxury vehicle manufacturer, DMPs can help you only target individuals or households that you know have a net income of at least $200,000 per year.

In summary, the biggest uses for DMPs in the auto industry include:

• More accurate sales attribution
• More opportunities for personalization and one-to-one marketing
• Ideal audience targeting and segmentation

Data management platforms are about unification – unifying consumer data from one source to the next as their shopping journey becomes more and more complex. Big data fails to hold value unless it can be applied to better influence your most lucrative audience segment. Other industries have been using DMPs for years. Automotive has such a complex business model given our three-tier system and the fact that most transactions happen offline. Therefore, we need DMPs more than anyone.

The opportunities DMPs provide are limitless. But don’t get too wrapped up in all the ways you could use them to your advantage. Remember your one objective at the end of the day is to increase dealership revenue by selling more units and obtaining more ROs. Above all, SALES is the metric that matters and DMPs should be used primarily to generate more sales. Everything else is just noise.  

NOW OPEN: The Automotive App Store

The Open App Approach to Uniting an Industry

by David Metter

What makes the Apple brand indestructible? There are a million answers to this question, and all are valid. Is Apple’s technology more advanced than Google’s? Not necessarily. Are their smartphones more intelligent than all other smartphones? Probably not. But no one can dispute the fact that they are the simplest devices to navigate for the vast majority of the population. Apple products dominate the market because they’re easy to use, and they integrate flawlessly with one another through Apple’s iCloud.

When we take a step back from the entire culture Apple has created, and strip down every product they’ve reinvented, we start to see the roots of what made them so successful in the first place. We see The App Store, and through that we see unification. We see both integration and alliances. We see the reason people feel naked without their iPhones. The iPhone is so integral to its owner because it makes their lives easier and better. We feel helpless without them. The App Store puts the power in our hands to access tools that improve the way we function on a day-to-day basis. It puts the world at our fingertips, and so many of the best apps out there are free.

Take Waze for example. It is the largest community-based, interactive traffic and navigation app in existence. Its value comes entirely from its users and the information these users provide in real-time. The technology then works by aggregating and building upon its user data to calculate the most efficient route from point A to point B, saving drivers both time and money (again, in real-time). In so many ways (no pun intended), Waze created a more efficient rail system of data that benefits everyone on the road.

What if the automotive industry could create this same type of unified data railroad? What if we knocked down our walls and opened up our own Automotive App Store… free of charge? What if every vendor, dealer, and OEM had faster, more accurate data? What could we accomplish as a community rather than as competitors? CDK Global has already adopted this open app approach when they announced their new Partner Program in September, in efforts to create an ecosystem of approved vendors and applications that can be flawlessly integrated into a CDK dealer website. Could it be? Vendors actually working together to reap the benefits of the bigger picture?

I’ve been fortunate enough to be on both sites of the battle. During my time as CMO at MileOne Automotive, one of our biggest struggles was getting vendors to integrate and work properly together. However, our biggest strength was having the insight to see the unique benefits of two different companies and the means to bring them together in a way that benefitted us and helped us sell more cars. Now that I’m on the vendor side, I’ve seen a need for these types of partnerships to happen now more than ever.

In the short time AutoHook has been in business, we have solidified more partnerships and relationships than anyone else in the space. So, we’re putting our money where our mouth is for the benefit of the entire automotive industry. We know dealers suffer when vendors don’t work together. When dealers and OEMs suffer, vendors also suffer. So let’s change that, shall we?

AutoHook is doing our part to build one, solidified automotive railroad system by opening our API, and the sales validation data that comes with it, to all vendors – free of charge. In an industry where everyone charges to be connected, we want to be the player not to charge so that we can make stronger connections.

By adopting Apple’s open app approach, we can then simplify and unravel a very complicated subject. A subject that is perhaps the one absolute in an industry inundated with ambiguous topics like “big data” and “attribution.” Backed by near-real-time sales data from Urban Science, AutoHook has actually built an attribution engine that validates without a doubt that our solutions led directly to a sale. Sharing this type of knowledge is the one thing that could change this industry for the better. Having access to both accurate and up-to-date sales attribution data will make every decision this industry makes smarter, every solution more efficient, and every dollar we spend go further. Now THAT is something to get excited about.

*As featured in AutoSuccess Magazine | October 2016 edition. 

More Data More Problems: 3 Big Data Problems & How to Solve Them

by David Metter

“Just because it can be counted, doesn’t mean it counts,” said Tom O’Regan, CEO of Madison Logic in a recent IAB study. “As you rise up the scale of performance measurement tactics, you find the increasing convergence of both attribution and value.” These are incredibly wise words to live by. There are dozens of performance metrics that we’re capable of tracking. But just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.

We are deep inside the epicenter of the information age. With all this big data comes an overwhelming opportunity to derive knowledge and take action. Nothing, (not even money) is more powerful than knowledge. We have all this information literally at our fingertips, yet automotive marketers still struggle to validate which solutions delivered the highest ROI or led to a sale. Having this knowledge (and knowing what to do with it) will make everything we do moving forward make a lot more sense.

As technologies become smarter, more integrated, and more systematic, automotive marketers face three big data obstacles:

1. Access to accurate, useful data
2. Access to faster, more timely data
3.  The ability to turn big data insights into beneficial, executable actions

Let’s dive into each problem and how we can diminish these issues as we plan for 2017. 

Useful Data: 

First, you need to know what to look for. It’s not just about obtaining more and more data. It’s what we can to do with the knowledge we extract from the data that ultimately matters. So many advertisers still fail to acknowledge that there is life beyond the click. The number of clicks a campaign generated or the number of unique users it sent to your website is a microscopic fraction of the full picture, and frankly, it's an irrelevant metric.

In today’s world, clicks just don’t hold their weight. Clicks don’t prove conversion and clicks don’t move inventory. Furthermore, you could have the highest rate of website traffic in your market, but if your conversion rates are low, that “traffic” is just a number – which at the end of the day, means nothing.

Going into a new year, when you’re considering which technologies and vendors to work into your budget start with the ones that can prove they can consistently deliver the following:

• A high conversion rate with proof of lead exclusivity
• An incremental increase in showroom visits
• (And most importantly) An incremental increase in sales

Access to this type of data is the most beneficial, as it gives dealers the freedom to stop guessing and start knowing what works – and like I said before, nothing is more powerful than knowledge.

Ask the right questions upfront so you can better determine if a vendor and their data will be of use to you. Start with the following:

• At what rate do their solutions convert?
• What is their showroom visit rate?
• How do these rates compare to industry averages?
• What is their method of tracking sales?
• Can they link a vehicle sold to a specific user or campaign?

If they don’t have the validation stats to prove these things to you, they are not worth your time or money.

No-nonsense data tells you how many showroom visitors purchased (either from you or a competitor) and what specifically drove them in. It can tell you if your buyers are repeat, loyal customers or if they’re new to your brand. Did they visit your store but end up purchasing somewhere else? What brand did they buy and why? These are the types of questions legitimate reporting should be able to answer.

Faster Data:

IBM’s recent whitepaper, From Data to Insights to Opportunities, points out the clouded view of actionable data due to systems not communicating with each other. “Different platforms in different departments can’t talk to each other, so reporting is slowed. And it’s difficult to take proactive steps when your view of the total customer experience is a little blurry.”

The goal is to spend less time compiling data and more time using it to uncover new growth opportunities. Aim for a single, unified and cohesive structure when it comes to analytics and reporting. Ask vendors if they allow other solutions to integrate with their dashboards or APIs? The more people you can get working together towards a common goal, the better your chances become of achieving that goal. It’s the “two heads are better than one” approach. An industry-wide holistic viewpoint must be adopted for all parties to benefit from both faster and more comprehensive data models.

Also, choose to only work with the players that have near real-time reporting capabilities. With each day that passes after a purchase is made, that sales data becomes less and less valuable. What good are insights that remain unseen? The faster we can access sales data, the more we can do with it to extend our finite budgets.

Actionable Data: 

Integrated, cross-channel and cross-device attribution reporting is essential to following the consumer’s buying path. These capabilities illuminate trends in the purchase cycle and allow dealers to make more lucrative decisions with their ad dollars. Behavior across mobile, desktop, and online and offline channels all need to be considered to get a complete, accurate view of the attribution path.

Knowing which solutions are working for your dealership is the key to correcting all your big data problems. Use attribution data to build predictive models that identify trends or patterns in purchase behavior. Pragmatic data can tell you which vehicles to keep in stock, how many of each model, and in which colors. It can tell you how to better allocate every dollar so you can rest assured your money is being spent in the right places.

Remember that useful automotive data is largely derived from the two most important KPIs: conversions and sales. The focus of your reporting should include data that shows a complete attribution path from an advertising source to a sale.

The Marketer’s Guide to Cross-Channel Attribution states, “When organizations are able to measure marketing’s impact on the metrics that truly matter to the business, then and only then are they in a position to make confident decisions about future marketing investments. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

These roadblocks need to be obliterated in order to reverse the rate in which we’re inundated with useless, irrelevant information. The time has come where we’re capable of maximizing revenue across all marketing initiatives. It’s time to show big data who’s boss! If we work together, we can close gaps in communication and better track consumer actions throughout the purchase cycle for the benefit of all.

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Heading to Vegas for the #JDPowerAMR? Be sure to catch the Big Data problem-solving Panel, We’ve Got the Data! Now What? Moderated by David Metter, featuring digital marketing experts from Hyundai, Subaru, Google, AutoNation & more! Panel starts Wednesday, October 26th @ 11:25 AM (Breakout Room #2)

Part IV: The Naked Truth Exposed [EXECUTIVE EDITION] Big Data & Attribution

Big Data & Attribution…Who Has It & How Do We Get It?

by David Metter

There’s good news and bad news on this topic…but mostly good. The bad news is AutoHook’s panel of marketing experts had so many dealer-submitted issues to solve they didn’t have time to address data and attribution at Digital Dealer 21 (as this subject could take 50 minutes alone). The good news is I now have the opportunity to step in and shine my headlights upon the industry-wide struggle I’m most passionate about. This final piece of our Naked Truth Exposed series will represent the most momentous road block dealers face today: proving without a doubt the one source that led to a sale.

First, let me fill you in on a quick story about a guy named Dayn Riegel. Dayn is the eCommerce Director of Loganville Ford and he was AutoHook’s winner of our all expenses paid trip to DD21. Why would we invest so much money in a person we had never met? Because he asked the right question. In our nation-wide poll conducted over the spring and summer of 2016, Dayn submitted the following inquiry:

“The best marketing in the world can’t save a dealership from itself – it’s own greed, ineptitude or lack of drive…lack of willingness to succeed, and I don’t mean just talk about it, do something about it. So, my question is: With all the hype around SEO, SEM, PPC, Bing, etc., who is taking all the big data and marketing know-it-all and applying it? Exactly. Nobody really, truly is. Why not?”

Thank you Dayn for giving me the opportunity to take on this challenge. This question is the reason I do what I do, as I experienced the same problems during my time as CMO at MileOne Automotive. I know firsthand, one of the most common pain points for dealers exists in the gaps (or the disconnects in communication) that form when two vendors don’t properly work together. As competition rises in the digital space, and as more and more companies enter the game, these lapses in digital communication will only continue to grow - creating more cracks in our already distressed methods of attributing a sale to a single source.

During my time at MileOne, I was fortunate enough to have the resources, contacts, a great team, and insight to do something about this problem. One of our biggest strengths, and arguably the reason we had such a competitive edge was in our ability to see the unique advantages of two different vendors, and bring them together in a way that benefitted our needs. We quickly learned that combining the exclusive technologies of two (or even three) vendors made it easier for us to sell more cars. More importantly, we had the power to track the latter half of a specific customer’s buying process, which eventually led to the creation of AutoHook’s award-winning sales attribution engine.

People in general have a tendency to overcomplicate common sense concepts. But this isn’t rocket science. If you need green paint, you take some blue paint and some yellow paint and simply mix them together.

So how do we paint the automotive marketing landscape green? I can tell you since I’ve been on the other side (the vendor side) I’ve seen a need for these types of alliances to happen now more than ever. It’s monumental to think of how much we can accomplish if we open up our strengths to others to generate a mutual benefit. What I’m suggesting, is we need to change the focus from beating our competitors, to working in conjunction with competitors to accomplish a goal that guarantees success for all parties - and not just for vendors, but for dealers and OEMs as well.

As Dayn referenced, there is an undertone of greed throughout both dealer and vendor communities. Everyone wants to make more money. Everyone wants to be #1. Everyone wants to keep proprietary technology a secret. But let’s take a step back. Let me spell this out in the simplest way I possibly can. In order to solve the ambiguity that shadows big data and accurate attribution in our industry, we have to do one thing: change our mentality.

Here’s how. What if instead of keeping secrets, we shared knowledge and worked together? What if we connected the automotive universe and created one cohesive, more efficient railroad system? Wouldn’t this drastically reduce disconnects in our data and reporting? Right now, we are on the precipice of change. No one can argue that there is strength in numbers. We need to unite, rather than surround our solutions with egotistical walls, in order to reap the benefits of the bigger picture.

Going back to Dayn’s question of, “Who is taking all the big data and marketing know-it-all and applying it?” The answer is, WE ARE. AutoHook, powered by Urban Science has the fastest, most reliable sales attribution path data in the industry - 99.7% to be exact, and 95% of that data is updated daily. No one can compete with that! Furthermore, we know how to apply this data to prove our solutions directly led to a sale. So not only do we have the data and know what to do with it, but we’re willing to SHARE our AutoHook rail system and API technology with the entire industry…FOR FREE.

Imagine that, an open API that gives all automotive entities the power to finally attribute vehicle sales to a single campaign. What? Why? How can we do this? First of all, we know for a fact we have access to the most reliable and timely sales data from Urban Science. We also know that achieving accurate attribution is trifold.

First, the solution needs to execute. Second, it needs to be validated with performance reports that show concrete evidence of incremental sales and lift in conversion. This requires vendors to surpass irrelevant vanity metrics such as clicks, impressions, and site traffic. Is there any paid search company out there that can prove to a dealership that one of their search campaign clicks resulted in a sold vehicle? The answer, just as Dayn suggested, is absolutely not!

The third piece of our bulletproof attribution model is that it’s personalized and unique to each customer, further eliminating breakdowns in sales data. By assigning a unique code to every user, we can track all post-interaction behavior. How many people walked into your showroom as a direct result of our solution? Did they end up purchasing or not? What model did they purchase? Are they new to your brand? And what led them to your store?

What if the solution to this problem afflicting dealerships, OEMs, and vendors could be as simple as breaking down the walls that separate and limit us? What if we stopped nickel and diming dealers for every integration they request? The ideal solution for obtaining actionable data must be suited for omnichannel use, meaning available to all publishers and vendors across all types of media outlets, hence the concept of an open, free API.

My friends, this is the beginning of an era. This is how we provide the world with access to big data and the reporting needed to turn it into a story worth sharing. This is how our industry becomes more efficient, more streamlined, and more powerful. If we can patch the holes of automotive’s digital rail system, every vendor and dealership can finally validate the true ROI of their marketing investments.

Stay tuned for more to come on how AutoHook will be providing free API access to all.

If you missed part I, II, or III of our Naked Truth Exposed series, check them out below:

• Part I: Social & Video Marketing
• Part II: Paid Search, Retargeting & Budget Allocation
• Part III: Online Buying…Should we do it?