The automotive industry must also quickly adapt to this new environment, or risk serious losses in business. IHS Markit forecasts U.S. automotive sales to be down by at least 15.3% year over year by the end of 2020. In some states, dealerships have been forced to close their showrooms because of shelter-in-place orders, but can keep their service departments open. Others claim the entirety of the dealership, both showroom and services, are essential services due to consumers’ needs for transport to jobs and care. Dealerships are already offering steep discounts in the form of incentives passed along by the auto manufacturers themselves. Traffic has reflected this downturn with a drop of 50.8% in foot traffic for major automaker’s dealerships.
Sources: IHS Markit March 25, 2020; Foot Traffic by Category, InMarket InSights (2/1/2020 – 3/30/2020)
Targeting Strategies
- Audience Targeting – Existing customers – users who used your dealership for service, Auto Intenders, Essential Service commuters, New Movers, Young Families
- Location targeting – Target by radius and current location down to the block level to reach stay at home auto-intenders
- Loyalty targeting – Based on frequency of visits and engagement with your dealerships and brand as well as competitive dealerships and Auto OEM brands
- Predictive targeting – Target based on past history including visitation, digital behaviors and purchase data
- Contextual targeting – Target App Users of Auto OEM Apps, KBB, Edmunds and digital properties
Channel Strategies
- Consider reallocating media spend based on changing consumer behavior and reduced consumer movement caused by stay-at-home orders.
- Decrease Budgets on: Out of Home (OOH)
- Increase Budgets on: InHome Digital (online/mobile/apps), Radio and TV including streaming services, direct mail and email
Content Strategies - Product/Services offerings
- Push to Paperless – Promote online portals for both sales & services
- Promote “No Contact Sales & Service Options” – pickup/drop off service
- Leverage & Highlight Automaker Deals including no risk purchasing for Your Customers
- Spotlight attractive Financing and/or Payment Relief
- Promote Dealers’ Parts & Service
Messaging
- Highlight no contact sales and service options and no risk buying. For those that remain fully open, it’s critical to message your response to the crisis in a strategic manner; for those that keep only service departments open, leveraging data and insights from your customers will help you through this period.
- Engage recent visitors and current customers to highlight and promote special financing terms to ensure those in need are aware of this helpful and timely option.
Download the Covid-19 Automotive Playbook Below!
For more information and strategies specific to your brand, please contact your InMarket representative, or contact us today and we’ll get back to you promptly.