What you need to know about how online research puts car shoppers in control, from Santander Consumer USA.
Ah, the good old days.
A bygone era when a car shopper would:
- see a newspaper ad or TV commercial
- visit the dealership to troll your lot for the right model and color
- listen to the sales pitch (whether or not he/she wanted to)
- suffer through price and trade-in negotiations
- drive away with a new vehicle
Much of the process was under the control of the dealer and sales team.
Now, a lot happens before a prospect ever gets to your dealership – with that shopper taking advantage of at least some of the two-dozen available information categories, many beyond your control.
A recent study for Cars.com, The digital influence: How online research puts auto shoppers in control, lays out 14 pages of insights into the current consumer shopping experience online and offline. Less than a third of those sources are controlled by the dealership, including five advertising channels. Almost half of the information sources are online with nine of 11 largely beyond your control.