Research Report: Analysis of 400+ Car Dealers Responding to Online Inquiries, from Automotive Digital Marketing.
PLADOOGLE, LLC recently published a study detailing how well America’s new car dealers respond to online inquiries from consumers; and how sufficiently they follow up over the first thirty days.
Online automotive consumer inquiries, or e-leads, have been around since the mid-1990s, though many new car dealers have been slow to maximize this important channel. While nearly all dealers continue to grow their spending in digital media, most have accomplished relatively little when it comes to maximizing the fruits of those digital dollars – namely effectively following up with e-leads, phone calls and online chat inquiries. What’s worse is that it’s not from a lack of spending on e-lead management. The same dealers who spend lavishly on digital marketing also tend not to skimp on manpower, training or tools when it comes to leveraging the online channel in an attempt to grow their dealership’s sales, revenue and market share.
“As we approach the unofficial twentieth anniversary of the automotive e-lead, we felt it was time to see how far internet sales follow-up had come in the last two decades,” stated Steve Stauning, Founder, PLADOOGLE, LLC. “And despite the millions spent on great tools and training, we continue to be surprised by the dismal state of follow-up processes in many dealerships.”