On the last episode of Auto Marketing Now, host Brian Pasch, founder of PCG Companies and auto marketing expert, took a closer look and digital security and proprietary access for Customer Data Platforms (CDP). In this edition, Pasch is joined by Sam Vukas, COO of Dealer eProcess, to discuss data unifying strategies for dealers using CDPs to improve their customer experience.
While CDPs are excellent tools for making a business faster and more profitable, they are equally as effective at reducing strains in the vehicle shopping experience for consumers. However, most Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is incompatible with the majority of data processing platforms. The reason this is an issue is that CRMs own one dataset, people who have visited, registered or shopped on a dealership’s website, while CDPs own another, customer profiles pulled from across the web. Trying to integrate one dataset into another without the right tools can lead to errors and lost records. Dealers should focus on systems that can properly share and unify data between a CRM and CDP, like the one developed by Dealer eProcess.
By marrying the two platforms, dealers have the ability to fill in missing gaps on their customer profiles and track the buyer journey once they leave the business. The benefits of unified data, however, extend beyond simple record-keeping. Retailers can also use CDPs to tailor their digital retailing (DR) experience to individual consumers.
Dealers can implement personalized greeting messages, customized offers, search engine results based on the user’s history and more. Once a consumer purchases a car from a dealer, CDPs can automatically update the website to push repair and maintenance services or even show trade-in values for their used vehicle on their next visit. With unified data, websites can automatically guide users to actionable items, reducing the amount of time they need to spend looking for the right products and increasing the chances of making a purchase.
In conclusion, dealers should begin their data activation journey by finding CDP systems that integrate with products they already use. Platforms which can unify data between CRM software and digital retail tools are ideal for automotive retail.
