Cox Automotive commissioned a white paper with Perficient that reveals startling insights about automotive marketing measurement and the massive blind spots most dealers face when evaluating marketing effectiveness.
• Research shows car buyers engage with 62 touchpoints before purchase, yet most dealers only track first or last touch
• 92% of the customer journey remains invisible to dealers relying solely on CRM data for measurement
• Only one in three sales involves any type of lead contact throughout the entire shopping journey
• 48% of consumers start their car shopping journey on marketplace websites
• Cost per lead metrics often mislead dealers, as poorly performing stores frequently have the lowest cost per lead
• Technology now enables tracking across the full customer journey, connecting marketing activities to actual sales
• Dealers should shift from cost per lead measurement to ROI models that weight all customer engagements
• Close rate provides the most reliable comparison across stores, vendors, and salespeople
Dealers can access the white paper at b2b.autotrader.com or find it on the AutoTrader podcast page at b2b.autotrader.com/fortheroadforward in the resource tab.

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