INCREASING used car sales through data-driven marketing on social media platforms is the most reliable way dealers can counteract the negative impact of WLTP regulations on their bottom line.
According to digital marketing specialists Marketing Delivery, new WLTP rules enforced from 1 September 2018 mean that many dealers are now facing supply issues for some model ranges.
Some rental fleets are even turning to the used car market to resolve vehicle supply issues.
Jeremy Evans, Managing Director of Marketing Delivery, said: “No other marketing initiative can deliver highly qualified leads so cost-effectively or so rapidly, making social media ideal for addressing the challenges associated with WLTP.
“It is now possible to not only remarket to customers through these social channels, but to run dedicated lead-generation advertising with the aim of quickly bringing higher volumes of more suitable prospects to the dealership.
“Targeting prospects and customers through Facebook advertising in particular can help to get the right used car in front of the right person at the right time.”
Given that one of the most common reasons for a lead not to progress to a purchase is that the cars available do not match the desired specification.
It’s crucial for dealers to make customers better aware of an evolving stock situation. However, providing customers with stock updates need not involve disruptive phone calls or emails from the sales team.
Marketing Delivery argues that by using smart digital tools like the Facebook Pixel, it is possible to target known prospects with stock remarketing adverts for used cars that most closely match their preferences, cross-checked from the CRM enquiry data.
Evans added: “Remarketing adverts on Facebook essentially act as a mini stock listing from the dealer’s website, but built into the social platform where the potential customer is more likely to linger.
“Prospects can flick through the available used cars without leaving Facebook, which is proven to maximise dwell time. On average, people spend more than 40 seconds looking at a dealer’s stock in this way, a very clear indicator of qualified purchase intent.”
Marketing Delivery has recently implemented interactive lead generation adverts on social media platforms that can secure interest from an even wider audience of likely prospects, where data can be pre-loaded from their profile.
Evans said: “New tools on Facebook now make it possible for a pre-populated enquiry to be sent direct to the dealer, broadening the pool of leads for sales staff to pursue.
“These should be highly qualified prospects, too, thanks to smart algorithms that can out-think any human-centred assessment. Digital platforms that can track people between website visits and across social media platforms can ultimately produce much more meaningful data about their purchase intent and stage in the buying cycle.”
Facebook is an increasingly important platform on which dealers should seek to influence car buyers. The age group consuming the most automotive content on the platform is 45 to 54 – one of the most relevant age groups for franchised dealerships.
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