Automotive Lead Generation – Part 2

For any business that sells a service or product to a target audience, strong lead generation is a large factor in its success. This is especially true for any car dealership or auto shop.

Successful lead generation is an important sales and marketing tool that helps businesses generate interest, credibility, trust, and visibility from a specific group of people. By focusing on automotive lead generation strategies, car dealerships can drive traffic from traditional and digital sources to their websites and physical stores.

While car dealerships typically take a traditional marketing approach to generate leads and retain loyal customers, there are so many more effective ways and opportunities to attract the attention of the people they want. Nowadays, with the adoption of technology, many car dealerships have begun implementing digital marketing strategies to learn about their audience, make real-time lead generation ideas, and streamline the customer experience.

A large part of strong automotive lead generation is understanding what strategies are the best for your target audience and how you can successfully implement them to gain customers and provide a great experience. Since customer behaviours and preferences constantly change and evolve, it can be difficult for car dealerships to understand which strategies are effective in their lead generation process.

Why live chat is essential to automotive lead generation

While 95% of purchases still occur at a dealership, the same percentage of shoppers start their purchasing journey with an online search. In fact, most car shoppers are still in the research phase when they first contact a sales or customer service representative at a car dealership.

Buying or leasing a new car is a big financial commitment and customers want to be thorough and sure of their investment. Many customers rely on social media reviews, car gurus, third-party websites, and your dealership’s online presence to understand the cars available in the market and decide which ones they want to look at.

During their research phase, your potential customers might have questions or concerns about a specific car make and model. They might be concerned about safety features, ask about package upgrades, and financing options. If customers are looking to buy a used car, they might also have questions about vehicle condition, mileage, price, and safety tests.

Live chat provides your car dealership’s leads and potential customers with a convenient way to get the answers they need. Otherwise, you risk losing them because they’ll likely go somewhere else for answers and not return to your brand’s presence.

When you implement an online live chat option on your dealership’s website, your leads can speak with a professional sales or customer service representative with expert knowledge that they can trust. Your sales or customer service representative can provide answers and conversations for any customer that needs extra support during their car purchasing journey.

Here are some specific benefits that make live chat your secret weapon in your car dealership’s automotive lead generation efforts:

• Enables quick communication with your leads

Customers don’t like to sit around and wait for answers. Live chat allows your car dealership to provide real-time communication with any leads and potential customers. Once customers understand that your team is responsive and values their time and concerns, they’re more likely to develop trust and a good impression of your brand.

• Make qualifying leads faster and easier

It’s normal for customers to have doubts and hesitations when buying a car. Live chat allows sales and customer service representatives to address these doubts and turn them into convincing selling points. You can also walk potential customers through the research phase to build rapport with them from the beginning. This enables you to foster a more intimate relationship with leads and create a personalized customer journey.

• Better upselling success

Live chat allows your dealership to gain a better understanding of which part of the customer journey your leads are in. You also have a better understanding of where your customers are and how they’re finding your website or other online presence. Once you have this knowledge, it allows your car dealership to implement strategies that are effective at generating qualified leads based on your audience. You can also suggest upgrades and more expensive packages in a way that still appeals to the needs and interests of your leads.

The importance of building your email list on Facebook and Instagram

Creating and updating an email list helps your sales and marketing team follow up with leads to nurture them into customers and ensure they continue to visit your dealership in the future. Facebook and Instagram are great online platforms that can help you build an email of qualified leads.

Here are some essential strategies to grow your email list on Facebook and Instagram for a successful email marketing campaign:

• Create a strong online presence

Your Facebook and Instagram profile should reflect your brand presence. Ensure you have an easily recognizable profile and cover image because it’s the first thing that customers see when they visit your page. Fill out the information on your profile, such as business location, hours, and contact information. Post consistently content that’s valuable and helps customers through the car buying journey.

• Create a call to action

Include opportunities for visitors to perform an action, such as fill out a form or visit your website. This is a fantastic way to encourage users to join a list and for your car dealership to collect personal information and email addresses of potential leads. Once you have their email addresses, you can start sending them newsletters or emails that provide valuable information.

Learn how to convert customers who request a quote from your dealership. These customers are likely past or almost past the research phase. They’re ready to start shopping in person and make a decision. Price can be a tricky topic with some customers, so your team should provide a professional, customized, and friendly experience.

When customers request a quote either in your physical dealership or while interacting with your dealership online, the process should be simple and quick. They should be able to get an estimate of how much their car will cost given the various upgrades and packages they want for a specific car’s make and model. A simple and convenient experience gives customers a good impression of your dealership and they’re less likely to leave or get frustrated during the process.

You should also take this opportunity to showcase all the features included in the price and try to upsell to the customer. It’s important to ensure the customer feels comfortable and confident with your team’s expertise but also with the experience you provide. A good customer experience makes it more likely for them to want to spend more on their vehicle.

Use your website car builder module to generate leads

Your car dealership’s website attracts many visitors each day. Some of these visitors are ready to contact your dealership to purchase a car, while some of them still need to be converted into customers. It’s important that your website is conversion-ready, so visitors are incentivized at many touchpoints to become qualified leads and customers.

A few ways you can generate leads using the car builder option are as follows:

• Make your car builder option responsive and mobile-friendly

A good UX and UI experience on your website is key to providing a smooth customer experience that draws visitors to your dealership’s website. Whether your leads want to use your car builder option from their phone, tablet, or computer, the experience should be the same. Use a site structure that automatically adjusts and displays the content properly on different devices to provide an easy car building experience.

• Ensure the call to action is clear

The goal is to convince visitors to contact your dealership and make an appointment. Ensure the messaging of your primary call to action is clearly displayed on the page, so visitors know how to inquire more information about their car and speak with a representative. In fact, the call to action should be one of the first things the visitor sees, even before the screen finishes loading and without having to scroll to the bottom of the page.

Secure auto leads with financing options

Financing options provide flexibility for car buyers to purchase their car while staying within their budget. Here are some ways you can secure leads with financing options:

• Make the application process simple

It should be simple for visitors to learn more about and apply for financing options. Ensure the process is clear and you’re not overwhelming the lead with too much information. Start with a simple contact box that asks the visitor for their basic information, such as phone number, email address, and preferred loan type.

• Provide option to speak with a live agent

You should provide every potential customer with the option to make an appointment with a sales representative to discuss financing options. This allows your sales team to speak with an expert about which financing options are best for them. It also allows your sales team to walk the customer through the entire financing application process.

Regardless of how you attract auto leads, it’s important to have a tool that allows you to easily track lead metrics and increase customer retention. taq provides an innovative dashboard that’s designed with the automotive lead generation needs of dealerships in mind. You can easily track where leads are and provide responsive support to nurture each qualified lead into a customer.