Your data is your most important sales resource
Closing a sale at your dealership is led by knowing your buyer, from preferences to budget, and more. Having those same data points for online shoppers is key to driving leads to your dealership.
Getting to know a potential car buyer in your dealership is easy. Talking, asking, listening, advising—it’s the car salesperson’s mantra.
Getting to know your online shoppers, though, can be an entirely different proposition.
- You can’t really talk to them one-on-one
- You can only ask limited questions
- Listening and advising isn’t as dynamic as a face-to-face conversation in a dealership
This may appear to paint a bleak picture for online lead generation and conversion, but it overlooks a simple yet powerful tool that also happens to be free of charge: Google Analytics.
Why you need Google Analytics
When you’re talking to a potential buyer in your dealership, you’re probing to understand their needs, so you can advise them on the right car to meet those needs.
Online, your website visitors also have needs, and Google Analytics can help you answer them.
Free to use, Google Analytics analyses your website traffic and provides you with in-depth data that can help you provide the kind of content and offers a potential buyer is interested in.
From simple data like where they’re located and how old they are, to deeper data like interests and lifestyle, Google Analytics can be the equivalent of a star salesperson and deal closer in one.
It’s that depth of information and data regarding your online leads that make Google Analytics a must-have, and essentially leaves your business blind online if you’re not using it.
Identify the type of analytics your dealership needs
While Google Analytics can offer a variety of key data points about your web traffic, it can also tell you how successful your other online campaigns are, like email campaigns and social media.
Using Google Analytics comes down to knowing what your goals are, and how to measure them to determine success.
- If your goal is to provide content you web visitor will read/watch, then knowing the types of search queries that bring traffic to your site is key.
- If your goal is to bring leads to your dealership, then having analytics that measure how many “Book an appointment” clicks were made is key.
- If your goal is to answer pre-sales questions, then knowing the traffic volume to your Frequently Asked Questions page is key.
Once you know your goals, understanding which part of Google Analytics you need to use becomes much easier.
To help you better understand the data you receive, Google Analytics makes it easy to create custom dashboards that can inform you of everything from social media effectiveness to ad campaign success.
Use analytics to build up leads and grow sales
Once you understand how to use Google Analytics based on your goals, you can start to use it more effectively for your overall business, especially when it comes to increasing your sales pipeline.
- Set up tracking URLs. Knowing where your traffic is coming from is key in understanding which campaigns are working best. You can set up tracking URLs—special links for specific campaigns—to see how many people clicked that link, and what action they took (booked an appointment, watched a video). Google offers a simple URL building tool to help you set up these links
- Measure goals effectively. By understanding what campaigns are working best, you can focus your attention more effectively. Using tracking URLs will show how many clicks you need to convert a prospect to a lead, for example, and your dashboards can help identify whether your online campaigns are working, or missing the target audience altogether.
- Deliver content based on audience needs. Leads don’t just come from advertising or email marketing campaigns. Content can drive awareness of promotions and exclusives, as well as answer consumer questions. Google Analytics can show you the type of content that gets the most engagement. Use Google Analytics to evaluate key metrics, so you can see what content matters to your audience and deliver more of it.
Google Analytics offers a host of solutions that can increase the effectiveness of your dealership’s online marketing.
Once you become familiar with the basics, you can then dive as deep as you want. Google offers free courses that can take you from analytics beginner to expert, and you can learn at your own pace.
Combining the knowledge you have of offline shoppers with the data that Google Analytics can provide will ensure your marketing strategies are more effective and deliver better results.