Car shopping (like most things) has gone mobile
Mobile, mobile, mobile. So much of our daily lives are consumed by mobile moments on our smartphones it’s hard to imagine how we ever performed many of the most common tasks without them: researching a new purchase, scheduling an appointment, finding a service professional, and countless others.
As consumers spend more time on their mobile devices, the advertising dollars are beginning to follow the eyeballs. BIA/Kelsey, an analyst research firm specializing in local advertising, published statistics on local advertising for the automotive sector. They project that digital media spending will represent 30 percent of total local advertising for the automotive vertical in 2019, up from 12 percent today.
So the world has gone mobile, and car shopping is no exception. In fact, 4 out of 5 car shoppers use smartphones in the purchase process and 25% of car shoppers use only their smartphones in the process.
However, what’s surprising is 70% of mobile-first car shoppers feel overwhelmed with information. They are 3X more likely to find it difficult to get the information they need to make their car-purchasing decisions. And 65% of these mobile-first consumers worry that they will make the wrong decision. So what do they do? They call.
Mobile is driving phone calls into auto dealers
Considered purchases – items that are infrequent, complex, or expensive – have a different path to purchase than other goods. The research process almost always starts online. However as the consumer gathers information, they approach an inflection point where the questions reach a critical mass. At this moment, they need answers that cannot be provided by websites, ratings, reviews, and other online sources. They choose to have a conversation with another person before proceeding on their journey.
Purchasing a car is a prime example of this behavior. Consumers begin the discovery process online, but then opt to call a dealer to ask questions, check inventory, discuss financing options, and schedule an appointment. In 2014, phone calls outpaced website form or email leads for car dealers by a 4-1 ratio.
Auto industry leaders are tracking and controlling phone calls to generate results
DialogTech Insights, the research group at DialogTech, published a research report earlier this month analyzing conversions from web forms and phone calls. The research showed that for DialogTech customers on average, phone calls represent nearly half of overall conversions. Half. And within the auto industry, some DialogTech customers are experiencing phone through rates (conversion rates from phone calls) 35% higher than the overall average.
And not only do phone calls outpace digital conversions, but those phone calls are driving higher vehicle sales. At Paragon Honda in New York, for example, they schedule in-store appointments on 70% of the phone calls they receive. So not only is it important to track (and get credit for) the leads that come in over the phone, but it’s also critical to make sure those calls get routed to the right person to turn them into revenue.