Picture the following scenario: you check your dealership’s monthly ad performance and notice an increase in clicks on one of your campaigns. Great news, right? Maybe. But what if it turned out that customers were clicking those ads after making a purchase, simply looking for your address? Suddenly the campaign is far less valuable; or at least different than expected.

We discovered this exact case when we began tracking the full customer journey of car shoppers. Ads were getting attention– but they weren’t getting valuable attention. By looking at ad data not in isolation, but in connection to sales data– by seeing not only that the ad was clicked but also when it was clicked, by whom, and what else that shopper did on the path to sale– it suddenly became clear that data is only useful when understood in context. And in this case, the context showed us that rather than indicating success, these ad clicks were showing a misdirection of money.

There’s a reason why 83% of Fortune 500 companies were Salesforce customers in 2018. That’s because Salesforce, and companies like it, have started connecting the entire customer journey so that every touchpoint along the path to sale is part of a connected whole, rather than a disjointed moment. And connecting the customer journey across means a more personalized, more seamless experience for customers, more useful data for companies, and ultimately better ROI.

As an objective for 2019, you should consider the hard but rewarding labor of connecting all your touchpoints and creating a data layer that gives you true insight and information. It starts with your customers, who will be our focus in this piece, but it should ultimately extend to every aspect of your business.

Data Layers are Mainly Hard Work & Some Technology

Before we go on let’s understand the concept of this data layer. While a data layer has some technical meanings having to do with analytics, it emerged as a buzzword about five years ago to refer to the infrastructure that tracks all the actions and activities, investments and adjustments, that take place in your business. A fully completed data layer operates in the background gathering information in a format that can ultimately be explored and understood by marketers and business operators.

Think of the layer as a traffic control point that every marketing activity, CRM event, and really all actions must pass through, technologically speaking, before going in or out. While it seems like creating a data layer should be built into the technologies we use, the truth is that even in the best enterprises around the world they’re a patchwork of different solutions. What they all have in common is a core data repository platform, often taking the form of a data or customer management platform. Suffice it to say that it requires a lot of effort to make sure all your data–from vendors and otherwise–are flowing through your layer. We can begin here by focusing on the customer piece.

Why Your Data Layer Matters More Than Ever in Today’s Customer Journey

Fifteen years ago, customers averaged two touchpoints on the path to sale. Now, they average almost six. For car shoppers, the average number of touchpoints is 24, 19 of them digital. That’s why it’s more important than ever to be able to connect these touchpoints to a data layer, and the first step is to understand what they are. See how customers are interacting with your Google ads, your Facebook posts, your videos, your VDPs, your conversion tools, your nurture emails, as well as over the phone and in person.

Understanding your customer journey means not only tracking how campaigns perform individually but also how they fit into the context of the customers’ path to sale. So if shoppers typically convert on a trade-in tool after viewing particular index pages, and those conversions tend to be qualified, that tells you those index pages are valuable. Or, if your VDPs get a lot of views from people who arrive through a Facebook Ad, but then those VDPs have a high bounce rate, that’s important information. And using our example above, knowing where ad clicks fit into the overall journey can tell you whether your ad dollars are well-spent, or if you just need to make your dealership address more prominent on your website. When you have a functioning data layer you’ll be able to gain these insights and act on them, and in some cases, you can even have your system react to the data accordingly in real-time.

Connected data means personalized experiences

Most importantly, connecting your customer profiles means you can personalize with greater success: when you have the data you need about what your customers are doing, you can guide them to their next step. For example, most websites are able to personalize to the degree that a shopper spending a lot of time on one of your VDPs is shown a special offer on that vehicle. But with truly connected systems, you can go much further. For example, if this shopper does convert on this special offer, you can offer them an opportunity to book a test drive right away.

Prompting a customer to engage a second time, when it’s a step that actually makes sense for where they are in their process is not intrusive– it’s helpful and time-saving. Another example: when your data and systems are actually connected, a shopper who has visited your showroom can be shown the correct retargeting ads and nurture emails after they go home. Someone who made a purchase and visits your website should be provided a different experience than other shoppers– there’s no reason to show an offer on a new vehicle, which unfortunately happens when profiles are disconnected. Getting messaging right across channels can be the difference between a customer who feels helped and moves forward, and one who feels bombarded with irrelevant information and heads to the competitor.

Maximizing ROI Due to Connected Data

Understanding the role of every marketing effort, and using that data to provide a better customer experience, lead to better ROI for a few reasons. First of all, marketing spend is used with better accuracy, distributed strategically among campaigns that actually pay off. Second, a better experience for customers, one that responds to and assists them every step of the way, encourages them to buy with you, and stay with you. 70% of customers look for companies with seamless, connected processes. And companies that actually engage customers successfully across their many touchpoints see an 89% customer retention rate. In today’s automotive market, when loyalty is such a struggle, this kind of personalized connection with customers powered by a data-based unified customer profile can make a huge difference.

Building a data-layer is the next step to digital marketing domination. A dealership that invests in this process can stay ahead of the personalization curve, and maximize its success.

Sources:

¹ https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/salesforce-statistics/

² https://www.v12data.com/blog/25-amazing-omnichannel-statistics-every-marketer-should-know/

³ https://oppmax.com/blog/digital-marketing-stats-every-auto-dealer-know/

⁴ https://www.salesforce.com/research/customer-expectations/