In Cox Automotive’s 2024 Power of Data research study, four out of five dealers agree: Data can help them forecast trends, generate and capture demand, become more efficient, and maximize profits. And yet, only 26% of dealers are confident in insights provided by third-party vendors.
The recent surge of third-party tools that provide data and leverage AI-generated insights means dealers have seen results that are all over the place. Dealers face three major challenges:
- The technology providing insights does not have access to real-time customer data
- The data is inconsistent across multiple dealership systems and tools
- The data simply isn’t detailed enough
Given these concerns, it’s no surprise dealers have been hesitant to invest in solutions that can use this data to automate workflows and provide AI-driven insights. With the right partner, dealers can leverage granular data that is clean, consolidated, and ready to activate.
How dealers can ensure the quality of data
There are two key things to consider as you evaluate your data for use with AI and automation applications:
- Choose the right data source. Quality, real-time, consolidated data is foundational to the success of newer technology like marketing automation and AI, but not all data sets are created equal.
For example, the solutions offered by Cox Automotive are powered not only by the dealer’s first-party data, but also by consumer data from 82 million unique visitors of Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book and Dealer.com—insights spanning the full shopping and ownership journey.
The level of detail that comes with this behavioral data makes all the difference. It empowers sales managers to craft winning deals in real time and pinpoint the exact moment customers are ready to buy.
- Consider what you have technology doing vs. what you have people doing. Be realistic about what your technology does best and what your people do best. Look for solutions that can identify shoppers who are more likely to buy—even before they ever submit a lead. Trusting those insights and acting on them can give you a huge competitive advantage, especially if you level up your communications with generative AI.
But your people are still going to be best at 1-on-1 conversations. Don’t fall victim to the all-or-nothing mindset; you need your people and your technology to work together.
Key questions to evaluate data
- Where is the data coming from? Does it give a full picture of the consumer’s intentions?
- Is the data current and accurate? Is it available in real time or is it batched?
- How specific is the data? Is it gathered directly from a specific buyer, or is it based on “similar” shoppers?
How dealers can evaluate predictive insights
Predictive insights and machine learning aggregate data to help guide decision-making and improve business results. They power the recommendations you see on most retailing sites and are some of the most powerful AI tools available to the automotive retail industry today.
With the right data, tools, and partner, predictive insights can identify current, high-quality leads who are more likely to close than other lead types, helping the sales team prioritize their efforts.
Going one step further, these insights can provide a detailed picture of a shopper. They reveal even more about the consumer: what they are looking for in a car, their overall budget, their payment ranges, and their intended trade-in vehicle—intel that empowers sales managers to put together winning deals in real time and pinpoint the exact moment customers are ready to buy.
Key questions to evaluate predictive insights
- Are the insights delivered at the right time with real-time information?
- Are the predictive insights shopper-specific and actionable? Are they based on real actions from each unique shopper? Can the insights provide buying signals about the shopper?
- Are the insights incorporated into day-to-day dealer workflows? Are they easy to access by your staff within existing tools?
With access to consolidated, clean, ready-to-activate data delivered in real time, dealers can unlock powerful insights that reveal more about car buyers: the make and model they’re interested in, their monthly payment range, and even how ready they are to buy.
Only VinSolutions Predictive Insights empowers sales managers with exclusive insights that tell them exactly when a shopper is ready to buy.
