5 Strategies That Are Helping Auto Dealers In Building The Right Digital Sales Funnel

When it comes to marketing, few things hurt as much as lost leads. While businesses from practically every sector are affected by lead losses, the problem is particularly acute in the automobile sector. Rather surprisingly, nearly 67% of auto dealerships do not have a proper sales process – while on average, 8 out of every 10 leads do not turn into sales. This, in turn, brings the importance of building the right sales funnel for auto dealers under the spotlight.

Purchasing an automobile is an important investment for buyers. It is a decision that people take after a lot of research and consideration. There are 300+ touchpoints between the initial phase of vehicle browsing and an actual visit to an auto dealership. Close to 80% of these touchpoints are digital, clearly underlining the role that digital marketing plays in this space. We will here look at some key strategies that help auto dealers in building the right digital sales funnel.

Understand The Key Steps In The Sales Funnel For Auto Dealers

Taking random marketing decisions without having a clear idea of what matters would be an exercise in futility. That’s precisely why automobile dealers need to understand the main steps in their sales funnels from the very outset. With the growing importance of digital marketing, this has become even more important. Although most people (95%+) still purchase cars from dealerships, the ‘car sale journey’ typically starts online.

The digital sales funnel for auto dealers starts with leads. From these leads, a certain percentage can actually be contacted by the sales team (not everyone provides a valid phone number/email id, after all). These are the ‘leads contacted’. Next up, these leads have to be nudged towards confirming appointments at the dealership. In this way, the number of ‘appointments set’ can be calculated.

Once again, not every lead who fixes an appointment actually turns up at the dealership. Those who do make up the next step – the ‘appointments shown’/’appointments displayed’. Out of this group of people, a certain percentage will decide to make a purchase (appointments sold). Finally, the total ‘digital lead conversion’ rate can be calculated by considering the total number of leads and the final conversion count.

Leverage The Social Media Platforms

In the present-day world of ‘likes’, ‘shares’ and ‘retweets’, everyone spends several hours everyday on social media platforms. Dealers can get in touch with a large volume of prospective leads – simply by having an active social media presence. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s inexpensive too.

To take advantage, dealerships need to have dedicated business pages or accounts on the different social media platforms. Patience is key here – since gaining page followers is not something that happens overnight. The marketing team has to publish posts regularly – sharing useful, interesting, actionable information. Everyone is looking to gain digital traction – and social media is a very powerful tool in this context.

Leverage the Social Media Platforms — Social Media Reviews

Pay Attention To Customer Reviews & Online Visibility

‘The best place to hide a dead body is the second page of Google SERP’ – the importance of this popular adage is immense for auto dealers. A recent study revealed that over 70% of potential customers look up vehicles on search engines first. No matter how good the quality of an auto dealership is, if it does not have good online visibility – it is destined to fail. Having a robust SEO strategy in place is absolutely vital.

People love to do business with dealerships that they can rely on. In the digital space, having favourable customer reviews & ratings on Google are instrumental in building the overall trust-factor about a particular business. The staff at the auto dealership have to be proactive about asking for reviews from customers. In the digital sales funnel, potential leads are likely to be influenced by what previous buyers have to say about a dealership service.

Use Email Marketing To Expand Your Business Reach

While email marketing is often looked upon as a slightly outdated strategy, its effectiveness in helping dealerships connect with prospective customers is huge. The onus is on the marketing team to gather and create email marketing lists that are properly targeted, and are likely to initiate follow-up actions.

The business website of an auto dealership can come in really handy, for collecting the email addresses of potential buyers. The email content strategy also has to be carefully handled. Emails with interesting subject lines and crisp, informative content are the ones that are likely to be successful. For giving a nudge to leads at regular intervals, dealers can consider setting up email campaigns as well.

The Importance Of Having A Responsive, Information – Rich Website Is Paramount

Over the last few years, mobile searches for automobile details/dealership services have grown exponentially. We live in a ‘mobile-first’ world, and auto dealer businesses simply must have a fully responsive website that has all relevant information, is updated regularly, and is easy for web visitors to follow.

As a rule of thumb, auto dealers need to make sure that potential clients can get all the details they need right from the website. More often than not, the website is the first point of interaction between a dealership and buyers – and it is the former’s responsibility to make the ‘purchasing journey’ as smooth as possible.

Right from product-specific details, to price ranges, comparative analyses and more – the dealership’s website should have all pertinent information (and the same should be regularly updated). The contact details and service timings should also be clearly displayed. There should be enough calls-to-action (CTA) – buttons, phone numbers, email addresses, etc. When leads are not confused about what they need to do next, they are less likely to drop off the funnel.

The value of the Indian automobile industry is expected to zoom past the INR 18 trillion mark by 2026. As the markets are growing, the level of competition is increasing as well – and auto dealerships simply cannot afford to let too many of their leads go to waste. With the help of the right digital sales funnel, dealers can transform a bigger chunk of their leads into actual buyers, boost revenue figures, optimize the performance of sales teams, and take their businesses to the next level.

Start building your digital sales funnel right away. Do not let leads and potential sales opportunities go down the drain!