Dealer.com Launches New Capabilities to Help Dealers Personalize Digital Marketing and Car-Buying Experience at NADA 2019

By MTS Staff Writer On Jan 21, 2019

Dealer.com, the premier digital marketing solution and partner for auto dealerships, will unveil new capabilities this month at the NADA Show. The new innovations will enable dealers to leverage cutting-edge data and technology to create a more personalized online shopping and buying experience, unlock digital marketing efficiency and cater to emerging consumer needs.

The new solutions being launched help dealers deliver a more complete and connected digital storefront, with personalized experiences that reach and engage customers at every step of the shopping process while providing improved flexibility, customization, and Managed Services options. The innovations include:

A redesigned Dealer.com website platform delivers personalized shopping and buying experiences tailored to consumer preferences and behaviors. Upgrades include new mobile-first homepage and Vehicle Deal Pages (VDPs) designs that use HomeNet Automotive high-resolution and 360-degree imagery to provide more engaging, customizable inventory content. Integrated with Cox Automotive Digital Retailing, next-generation VDPs provide accelerated deals and immersive inventory merchandising.

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New advertising enhancements that drive proven and measurable results by connecting inventory with likely buyers more efficiently across digital channels. Key improvements include integration with vAuto that ensures ads reflect optimally relevant inventory, pricing, and shopper data, and enhanced audience targeting on Facebook that applies Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader data to help target likely in-market buyers. The Dealer.com TotalConnect Advertising package brings dealers a more complete multichannel advertising solution than previously available.
Expanded and enhanced Managed Services offerings now provide dealers with more custom content services, including custom video capabilities, social reputation management, and custom fixed operations content and creative that allow dealers to enhance their overall digital marketing performance and attract customers across all lines of business.
Secure and integrated digital retailing fosters deal-making on any device and provides a streamlined online to in-store experience. Dealer.com websites integrate the most advanced digital retailing solution available, powered by Cox Automotive Digital Retailing tools, to drive shoppers down the path to purchase, increasing their engagement and creating stronger leads that accelerate dealer sales. Dealers using Cox Automotive Digital Retailing on their Dealer.com websites have a higher close rate and earn higher gross profits compared to traditional online leads.*¹

“With more of the car-buying process taking place online, customers expect a digital shopping experience tailored to their specific needs,” said Mike Rother, senior vice president and general manager for Dealer.com. “The new Dealer.com capabilities help dealerships build a customized digital marketing strategy that puts the right vehicles and right deals in front of the right customers to drive greater engagement, satisfaction and sales.”

Dealers can deliver the personalized, mobile digital shopping experience customers now demand. Ninety percent of consumers say they prefer a unique car-buying journey that allows them to shop and buy in a very personalized way, according to the Cox Automotive Future of Digital Retail Study², and the majority of all traffic to dealership websites (60 percent) now comes from mobile devices.³

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Redesigned Website Platform to Engage Shoppers

Dealer.com personalized websites are redesigned for the modern shopper. All-new mobile-first site designs differentiate dealerships and immersive VDPs turn browsing activities into buying behaviors. The streamlined design architecture includes homepage templates that focus on imagery, facet search, personalization and clean hero messages to make it easier for customers to find the vehicles and features they want. The updated Vehicle Deal Pages feature enhanced inventory merchandising and available integrations with Cox Automotive’s HomeNet Automotive 4K and SnapLot 360 technology, which enables high-resolution imagery and 360-degree spins of vehicle interiors and exteriors.

New Advertising Solutions to Target In-Market Buyers More Effectively

Dealer.com Advertising solutions help dealers reach more buyers and drive them to relevant inventory, deepening their engagement with the dealer’s digital storefront. Integrated ad campaigns use advanced data-targeting capabilities to connect likely in-market buyers across paid search, display, social and video channels, influencing consumer demand at every stage of today’s digitally-driven shopping process. An exclusive integration with vAuto allows dealers to automatically match the right car to the right buyer at the right price within their ad campaigns, generating more clicks and engagement for dealers at lower cost. New data and audience targeting integrations from partners Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book and improvements to the Compass strategy tool have also been implemented. These solutions, integrated within the Dealer.com TotalConnect Advertising package save time and increase efficiency for shoppers and dealers alike, creating a more intuitive experience for car shoppers, advertising and website alignment for dealers, and increased traffic and leads.

Enhanced Managed Services to Create Custom Content

Dealer.com is also expanding the offerings through its Managed Services team of digital marketing experts that provide cutting-edge strategy and execution to bring dealers the SEO, content and creative, and social media services needed to differentiate their dealership, drive more sales and book more services appointments. Managed Services has added content and creative capabilities to support fixed ops campaigns and the creation of custom videos to promote specials and incentive campaigns. Videos can now be embedded within landing pages on the client web site and become an asset to strengthen broader marketing efforts, including social media and search engine optimization.