Auto Data Sources - Benefits and Pain Points

One thing has been abundantly evident from the interactions we've had with dealership marketing leaders:

Marketing reporting is everything but simple.

Marketers have faith in the effectiveness of their campaigns and the cash allocated to them in order to generate leads and appointments; yet, when it comes time to demonstrate the worth of those efforts, things may become complicated. The marketer is not to blame for this situation. When you need to extract data from anywhere from three to thirty different sources, aggregating marketing data may be a complex task in and of itself. Some marketers narrow their attention to just one aspect of the puzzle, such as calculating the proportion of website traffic that ultimately results in a purchase. However, one perspective can never represent the complete picture, and it in no way demonstrates the value of marketing investment. According to the statistics collected by Nielsen, just 54% of marketers are confident in their ability to measure ROI throughout all stages of the funnel. In order to address the question of why this procedure is so difficult, we must first investigate the key marketing data sources in and of themselves. Insights may be gained from each of them, but they also each provide unique obstacles.

Analytics Data Tools

Tools like Google Analytics, are valuable tools that may be used for reporting on websites. According to some estimates, more than fifty-five percent of websites utilize Google Analytics by themselves. Data on websites, demographics of audiences, and other information can be gleaned via analytics software. They reveal the sources of conversions, which may include certain forms, pages, or other elements. This is one of the most important advantages for dealership marketers who are seeking data on their marketing efforts. However, this information cannot be linked to a specific person or transaction because it is collected in an anonymous format. Depending on how you have Google Analytics set up, phone calls may or may not be included, or all calls may be included. You are now in possession of a list of conversions, but you are unable to pinpoint where all of your calls originated or which marketing initiatives led to the conversions that you now have. Beyond this, the possibilities presented by these instruments might be daunting. You have access to a large amount of data, but you must also devote time and effort to customizing your tool to meet your requirements. Additionally, not everyone has a use for all of the functionality that Google Analytics provides. Some marketers even view it as a potential cause of shame, saying something along the lines of "I really ought to know this better, but I don't..."

Website Data

The website provider constitutes yet another significant source of marketing data for merchants. This reporting may not usually give more information than Google Analytics does, but it does typically include statistics on website conversions and traffic. The degree of detail in this reporting can vary, however, and there is no guarantee that it will do so. Conversions are also not connected to actual persons by the suppliers of websites. It is unusual for the website reporting to be connected to a CRM, and the majority of sales attributing work is still done manually. Even if you are successful in obtaining a list of names for something like a form, you will still need to manually correlate those names to the data in your CRM. Every time you want to assess your return on investment (ROI), it does not sound like a delightful way to spend three days of work. We can all agree on that.

CRM Data

Why not go straight to the customer relationship management system if conversions are the name of the game? After all, this is the truth according to the sales source. The first restriction is that CRM reporting only takes into account the leads that are ultimately added to the CRM system. This may appear to be common sense, but when you consider that more than 11% of leads are not recorded, it is easy to understand how CRM data might get biased. In most cases, the attribution of sources is also quite restricted. The term "website" or the name of a chat provider is frequently included as the source of a lead. This does not tell you anything about the internet marketing activities that encourage someone to become a lead. There is still the delightfully laborious process of matching CRM data to other marketing data. We talked about this process before. Not only does entering data manually take up a lot of time, but it also increases the likelihood of making mistakes.

Our Thoughts

Data can be difficult as explained above, but it doesn’t have to be. By partnering with a 3rd party company, like us, and utilizing our unique data set, we can help eliminate your pain points and provide the insights you need in a concise way that will take the guesswork out. We know what your competitor’s customers currently drive, and when they are shopping in real-time, then, we help drive them to your site and showroom instead of your competitors! Take us for a spin, you won't regret it, reach out below and our team would be happy to get you started in the right direction!

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