On the surface, it would seem like the world of car buying is becoming increasingly digitized. Study after study confirms that today’s buyers want to spend as little time as possible in the showroom. They would rather do the bulk of their research online, using the dealer website as well as consumer reviews. Most buyers are reluctant to even give out their contact information to a lead capturing form.

Yet, this does not mean that the need for personal connection is a thing of the past. Far from it, actually. While consumers would rather do online research than come down to the dealership, most surveys indicate that there is still a strong desire for a personalized experience, and for a dealership that makes the buyer feel truly welcome—both online and off.

The question is, what can dealerships do to balance their digital focus with their personal touch?

Personalizing Your Dealership Website

There are several ways for a dealership website to offer a personalized experience.

–Through custom content. There should be sections of the dealership website to speak to each stage of the buyer’s journey. Remember that some website visitors will just want information about your latest inventory. Others may be ready to schedule a test drive. And still others will be more interested in service and maintenance issues. Your dealership website should speak to all of these needs.
–Through custom delivery. At the same time, your dealership should be using website analytics, retargeting, and other advanced digital tools to ensure that the right people are seeing the right content. For instance, retargeting can help you to locate frequent website visitors, and direct them to content that moves them further down the sales path.
–Through conversion tools. Finally, your dealership website should provide tools that aid in the conversion process—for example, trade-in calculators, appointment setting apps, and more.

Beyond the Website

In addition to your dealership website, there are other channels for personalization. One is Facebook. Here, your content can provide helpfulness and authority, answering consumer questions, providing real value, and showing buyers that your job is to help them, first and foremost. Facebook Ads offers some great tools for personalization, as well, including some of the retargeting options we mentioned above.

And of course, eventually, buyers will come to the showroom, if only to take their test drive and sign on the dotted line. Don’t neglect this opportunity to build on the connections you’ve already made through your website, and to carry out those values of trustworthiness and helpfulness.

Personalization is key to the process, and even in the world of digital marketing there is much you can do to truly connect. To learn more, we invite you to contact the digital marketing professionals at Get My Auto today!