First data study focused on marketing ROI for auto dealerships finds that many dealers invest to the point of diminishing returns

Outsell announced today that along with partners RXA and Vistadash it has completed the first data study focused completely on Marketing Return on Investment (ROMI) for U.S. auto dealerships.

Conducted in September and October 2018, the study spanned 300 dealerships, and looked at data on 420,000 customers, 3.5M customer interactions, and $72M in media spend. Outsell, RXA and Vistadash sought to measure whether auto dealers were allocating marketing spend across channels for optimal return. The study’s key finding: Half of dealers surveyed were overspending on at least one marketing channel – meaning they had invested to or past the point of diminishing returns.

Dealers struggle with measuring ROMI, and especially to attribute specific campaigns to a sale when there are always multiple touches. Outsell, RXA and Vistadash developed a methodology that enables them to calculate ROMI using the dealer’s Google Analytics and DMS data plus their self-reported media spend. This multi-touch attribution model optimizes gross profit by not wasting any money, not leaving any opportunities on the table, and finding the sweet spot for each place a dealer puts its money. 300 dealers provided these details for study analysis.

In addition to finding that half of dealers were overspending, the study found:

• Dealership size has an impact on ROMI, with smaller dealers seeing solid returns from paid media and referrals whereas larger dealers have the scale to see better performance from display and email.
• When it comes to conquest marketing, dealers need to go big or go home – if you can’t do it at scale, you shouldn’t do it at all as you’ll never achieve positive ROMI.
• About half of dealers are underspending on social media marketing.
• One out of every three dealers is overspending on Search-Engine Marketing (SEM). Most of that overspend is in branded search – paying for clicks for your dealership name. While this tactic works well for smaller dealers, it’s unnecessary for large stores who are already well known and get good results from organic search.
• While dealers have often believed they need to spend more on marketing in a large market, the study found that market size does not impact ROMI.
• Often, dealers could optimize their investments simply by shifting budget around – they don’t necessarily need to invest more.

“As John Wanamaker famously said, ‘Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half,’” said Mike Wethington, Founder and CEO of Outsell. “We set out to try to measure that, to set benchmarks for the industry and eventually to help any dealer calculate their own marketing ROI. The methodology we developed for this study could be applied at the dealer level to help them better understand how they can shift their marketing budget around for better returns.”

“Multi-touch attribution is a problem that’s been vexing auto marketers since the introduction of the Model T,” said Brian Pasch, founder of PCG Companies and a well-known advisor to auto dealers. “Outsell, RXA and Vistadash have cracked the code with this methodology – this data provides valuable insights that every auto marketer should take a look at.”

James Kurtenbach, Marketing Director at Schomp Automotive, was one of four representatives to the Dealer Advisory Board for the Outsell research project. Kurtenbach had the opportunity to dive into the data for one of the company’s dealerships, Schomp BMW. “This data is gold for an auto marketer,” said Kurtenbach. “We were able to see where our marketing dollars are going the furthest, and where we need to reconsider investments. By re-allocating a portion of our existing spend – and not even adding any spend – we were able to generate a 17 percent increase in gross profit.”

To learn more about the study, please contact marketing@outsell.com.

About RXA
RXA is a cloud-based software company that offers machine learning and artificial intelligence applications to help you make smarter, faster decisions. Learn more at https://rxa.io/.

About Vistadash
Vistadash is the automotive industry’s premier marketing intelligence tool, giving automotive dealers the ability to consolidate and simplify reporting, as well as measure the quality of their online and offline marketing campaigns based on engagement. Its clear, user-friendly interface displays all the latest data trends at a glance, allowing users to quickly and easily analyze information and encourage smarter marketing decisions. For more information, please visit www.vistadash.com.

Learn more about Outsell at NADA 2019.

Latest AI-driven marketing automation features help drive higher direct-to-dealer sales

Outsell announced today that it closed out Q3 with stellar financial results, with double-digit growth in direct sales.

“Q3 was an outstanding quarter for Outsell,” said Mike Wethington, Founder and CEO of Outsell. “Our main focus was completing a major upgrade to our marketing automation platform, Outsell 5.1, which launched this week, and helps further democratize the use of analytics and AI among automotive dealers.”

Highlights from the quarter:

• Outsell’s revenue continued to grow quarter-over-quarter, with direct sales revenue growing by double digits.
• Year-to-date, direct sales revenue is 43 percent higher than the same period last year.
• A big effort to deliver its latest technology platform, Outsell 5.1, at this week’s DrivingSales Executive Summit, that took place Oct 21-23 in Las Vegas. With this launch, Outsell is the first to auto-generate individualized customer incentives proven to drive store visits and sales.
• Outsell and partner DSplus were named the winners of the 2018 WebAwardAutomobile Standard of Excellence Award for our 2018 Toyota CH-R Launch Campaign.
• Outsell and DSplus were also named finalists for the Digiday Technology Awardsin the category Best Marketing Automation platform. Overall, Outsell and DSplus have won seven awards so far this year for the co-created Toyota CH-R launch campaign.

Dealers can also now create and send on-demand micro campaigns and craft multi-channel conquest campaigns in minutes

From the DrivingSales Executive Summit, taking place Oct 21-23 in Las Vegas, Outsell announced significant enhancements to its AI-driven marketing automation platform for the automotive industry.

The first vendor to bring AI-driven solutions to auto dealers, Outsell has added key new features intended to help boost incremental sales and service bookings, including:

• A new integration with AutoHook that enables marketers to, for the first time, automatically incorporate customized test-drive incentives into campaigns;
• On-demand campaigns that enable marketers to quickly create and send custom messages and offers to micro audiences; and
• Continued data processing and storage enhancement improvements that make Outsell’s proprietary recommendation engines run faster than ever before.

“Today’s economic environment demands that dealers improve and measure the impact of digital marketing programs, and adjust their approaches to optimize marketing ROI,” said Mike Wethington, Founder and CEO of Outsell. “These new enhancements to the Outsell platform are all designed to help dealers make sure they are getting the most bang for every marketing buck by individualizing every customer interaction across every channel.”

Outsell leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to help automotive dealers improve marketing relevancy and targeting. Its AI brain tracks the behavior of individual consumers (both customers and prospects), forming a predictive model of their future behavior, and fueling Outsell capabilities such as buyer detection for identifying in-market shoppers and Inventory Mover for matching prospects with specific inventory.

Outsell will demonstrate its latest platform at the DrivingSales Executive Summit, taking place Oct 21-23 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  In addition, Outsell’s Jon Petron, Vice President of Advanced Services at Outsell, together with Paul Schnell from Wilsonville Toyota and Subaru will present on “Sleepers: How to Maximize the Hidden Value of your Database” on Tues., Oct 23 at 9.50am PT.

Outsell and Agency Partner DSplus Win WebAward & Finalist for Digiday

Outsell announced today with agency partner DSplus, that it was named the winner of the 2018 WebAward Automobile Standard of Excellence Award for the 2018 Toyota CH-R Launch Campaign. Outsell’s technology platform behind the Toyota CH-R campaign was also named a finalist for the Digiday Technology Awards in the category Best Marketing Automation platform. This is the seventh award this year that Outsell and DSplus have won for the co-created Toyota CH-R launch campaign.

“Thank you Digiday and Web Marketing Association for the recognition and I want to also congratulate the teams at Outsell and DSplus,” said Michael Wethington, President and CEO, Outsell. “The CH-R campaign proves that individualized communications can make a measurable impact on sales and overall customer engagement. Toyota knew it had to amp up its marketing to rise above the noise and this campaign clearly demonstrates that timely and relevant digital marketing can effectively attract customers and have an impact on the bottom line.”

The 2018 Toyota CH-R Launch Campaign
DSplus and Outsell devised a multi-step, individualized cross-tier marketing campaign that was central to the launch, and provided dealers with templates and directions, which meant very little work for the dealers. For several months prior to the launch, each dealer sent teaser emails regarding CH-R in order to gather behavioral data and measure interest in the new 2018 model. The subsequent launch campaign consisted of three main elements. First, a targeted initial trigger email to spread awareness and send traffic to a second element – a custom Toyota CH-R microsite. Next, consumers were encouraged to schedule a test drive and browse local dealers’ inventory via the exclusive microsite. The third launch element was a targeted follow-up drip email to consumers who engaged in the initial email and microsite. Each email was individualized to the consumer’s past behavior and stated interests.

The overall goals were to drum up excitement, create new dialog with interested consumers and close the deal on a new Toyota CH-R. The results were impressive: more than 200,000 consumers interacted with the CH-R launch emails and microsite, moving thousands of CH-Rs off the lot for participating dealers, resulting in close to a million in sales. To view examples of the award-winning campaign emails and microsite, visit 2018 Toyota CH-R Launch Campaign.

Outsell provided the technology behind the campaign, a marketing automation platform driven by artificial intelligence that increases customer engagement and drives more revenue by transforming how dealers engage with customers and prospects throughout their individual lifecycles.

About WebAward and Web Marketing Association
The Web Marketing Association was founded in 1997 to help set a high standard for Internet marketing and development of the best websites on the World Wide Web. The Web Marketing Association is the producer of the WebAward Competition. Now in its 17th year, the WebAward program is the longest running annual website award competition dedicated to naming the best Web sites in 96 industries while setting the standard of excellence for all website development.

About Digiday
The Digiday Technology Awards, formerly the Digiday Signal Awards, recognize the technology bringing transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness to the media and marketing processes for brands, agencies and publishers. The Digiday Awards programs are dedicated to recognizing innovation, creativity and excellence in the fields of publishing, content marketing, advertising, advertising technology and video. The awards programs are considered to be one of the most influential in the industry.

About DSplus
DSplus connects brands, retailers and customers to help sell more cars. Using sharp insights and spot-on analysis, we put the right offers in front of the right people at the right time, so dealerships can turn shoppers into buyers – and buyers into loyalists. With our team of steadfast, hands-on account managers, award-winning creative whizzes and ultra-analytical social strategists, DSplus is ready to work with any Toyota and Lexus dealership to start driving sales. Check out our website or contact us at support@dsplus.com to learn more.

 

Live discussion with senior digital marketing execs from Dream Motor Group and Titus Automotive Group

Outsell announced today that it will co-host a webinar with Automotive News on August 9, 2018 about marketing strategies that apply to single-point dealers and multiple stores. The live webinar, titled “Dealership Marketing Strategies: Group vs. Single Store,” features experienced speakers Amy Rothenberger, Director of Marketing & Business Development at Dream Motor Group, Courtney Titus Barr, Digital Marketing Manager at Bruce Titus Automotive Group, and Jess Johnson, Senior Dealer Success Representative at Outsell.

Single-point dealers and groups alike are looking for more modern-day techniques to market smarter and use marketing automation driven by Artificial Intelligence to create more individualized customer engagement and efficient marketing plans. AI-driven marketing automation delivers 1:1 marketing that consumers expect today and allows dealers to create lasting relationships with customers while leaving the heavy lifting to marketing automation.

This webcast will provide dealer attendees with examples of real-world tactics and an overview of the solutions they used that resulted in marketing success as well as the relevant challenges they faced throughout the process. Attendees will also learn more from an expert point of view on:

• Expert points of view on developing a modern marketing organization
• Real-life stories about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to analyzing marketing efforts
• Practical advice on how to capture the most value from dealership marketing investments

Who:
Amy Rothenberger, Director of Marketing & Business Development at Dream Motor Group, Courtney Titus Barr, Digital Marketing Manager at Bruce Titus Automotive Group and Jess Johnson, Senior Dealer Success Representative at Outsell. Moderated by Hannah Lutz, F&I Editor at Automotive News.

What:
“Dealership Marketing Strategies: Group vs. Single Store”

Where:
Online webcast at registration link

When:
Thursday, August 9, 2018 at 2:00 pm ET

 

Outsell Sees Significant Growth in Q2

Outsell announced today that auto dealers’ pressing need to improve and measure the impact of digital marketing programs helped it drive significant growth in new dealer group business, and expansions with existing customers.

Financially, Q2 was another solid quarter for Outsell, with bookings ahead of plan. Direct revenue growth for the first half of 2018 grew 43 percent over the same period last year, and the average deal size during the first half of 2018 was 36 percent higher than it was for 2017.

“Dealers are very receptive to our message of providing automated, individualized customer engagement,” said Mike Wethington, Founder and CEO of Outsell. “Dealers continue to tell us that while many vendors are talking about Artificial Intelligence, Outsell is the only one delivering, with marketing solutions that are grounded in AI yet easy to use. We are masking the complexity of AI to put the technology within reach for dealers.”

During Q2, Outsell also won six prestigious awards related to its work:

• Gold Stevie® Award in the 16^th Annual American Business Awards® in the category Marketing Campaign of the Year – Automotive Vehicles.
• Digiday Content Marketing Award in the category Most Original Email Campaign.
• 2018 Communicator Award Distinction in the categories Campaign-Business to Consumer for Integrated Campaign and Campaign-Promotional for Integrated Campaign.
• Gold 2018 Summit Creative Awards in the category Integrated Consumer Campaign.
• Interactive Media Best in Class Award from the Interactive Media Council in the Automobile category.
• Web Marketing Association’s 2018 Internet Advertising Competition Award for Outstanding Achievement in Internet Advertising in the category Best Automobile Integrated Advertising Campaign.

Features AutoHook powered by Urban Science, Dolan Auto Group, and Fenton Family Dealerships

Outsell announced today that it will co-host a webinar with Automotive News on June 26, 2018 about how auto dealers can optimally target cross-channel communications by leveraging artificial intelligence to improve marketing effectiveness and drive more business. Titled, “You Don’t Need Super Powers to be Effective with Email Marketing,” the webinar features speakers David Metter, Co-Founder & President, AutoHook powered by Urban Science; Lucas Neiderer, Senior Marketing Manager, Dolan Auto Group; George Thompson, Director of Operations, Fenton Family Dealerships; and Jon Petron, Vice President of Advanced Services at Outsell.

Consumer expectations are increasing at the speed of light. How can dealers possibly get ahead if they are not listening to their consumers and connecting with them in ways that they expect today?

Join these industry experts as they explore how optimally targeting communications, refining your content, and putting the focus on data are paramount to every dealer’s success in 2018, especially with email marketing. More sophisticated marketers are segmenting their campaigns – just as they did with direct mail in the past – while the savviest dealers target consumers utilizing artificial intelligence to deliver individualized content automatically.

Attendees will learn how to:

• Develop an effective email marketing approach
• Improve their processes for reengaging prospects and unsold leads
• Prevent customer defection by refining email retention strategies
• Go beyond email with cross-channel communications

Who:
David Metter, Co-Founder & President, AutoHook powered by Urban Science; Lucas Neiderer, Senior Marketing Manager, Dolan Auto Group; George Thompson, Director of Operations, Fenton Family Dealerships; and Jon Petron, Vice President of Advanced Services at Outsell

What:
“You Don’t Need Super Powers to be Effective with Email Marketing”

Where:
Online at: https://onlinexperiences.com/scripts/Server.nxp?LASCmd=AI:4;F:QS!10100&ShowKey=52620&AffiliateData=%5boutsell%5d

When:
June 26, 2018 at 2:00 pm ET

Integrated digital marketing campaign created for Toyota Wins Gold Stevie®, Digiday, and Communicator Awards

Outsell announced today with agency partner DSplus, that it was named the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the 16^th Annual American Business Awards®, received a Digiday Content Marketing Award and a 2018 Communicator Award.

Award Highlights for the 2018 Toyota CH-R Launch Campaign co-created by Outsell and DSplus:

• Gold Stevie® Award in the 16^th Annual American Business Awards® in the category Marketing Campaign of the Year – Automotive Vehicles.
• Digiday Content Marketing Award in the category Most Original Email Campaign.
• 2018 Communicator Award Distinction in the categories Campaign-Business to Consumer for Integrated Campaign and Campaign-Promotional for Integrated Campaign.

“I want to thank the judging committees for recognizing the work once again produced by Outsell and DSplus. Over the past several years, we have developed effective integrated marketing campaigns to help Toyota launch new models including the Camry and Highlander and now the CH-R,” said Michael Wethington, President and CEO, Outsell. “This well-executed campaign is another great example of how dealers are benefiting from modern-day integrated programs that improve customer interaction and test drives which ultimately leads to a surge in sales.”

The 2018 Toyota CH-R Launch Campaign

In 2017, the all-new 2018 Toyota CH-R was about to launch and DSplus and Outsell were tasked to create awareness, encourage test drives and drive sales for 200+ participating Toyota dealerships across North America. For several months prior to the launch, each dealer sent teaser emails regarding CH-R in order to gather behavioral data and measure interest in the new 2018 model. The subsequent launch campaign consisted of three main elements. First, a targeted initial trigger email to spread awareness and send traffic to a second element – a custom Toyota CH-R microsite. Consumers were encouraged to schedule a test drive and browse local dealers’ inventory via the exclusive microsite. The third launch element was a targeted follow-up drip email to consumers who engaged in the initial email and microsite.

The overall goals were to drum up excitement, create new dialog with interested consumers and close the deal on a new Toyota CH-R. The results were impressive: more than 200,000 consumers interacted with the CH-R launch emails and microsite, moving thousands of CH-Rs off the lot for participating dealers, resulting in close to a million in sales. To view examples of the award-winning campaign emails and microsite, visit 2018 Toyota CH-R Launch Campaign. Outsell provided the technology behind the campaign, a marketing automation platform driven by artificial intelligence that increases customer engagement and drives more revenue by transforming how dealers engage with customers and prospects throughout their individual lifecycles.

“The nominations submitted for The 2018 American Business Awards were outstanding. The competition was intense, and those recognized as Stevie Award winners should be immensely proud of this accomplishment,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.

“I like how this campaign focused on strong creative and a micro targeted approach to auto sales. Also, good sales metrics tied back to the campaign,” read feedback from a Stevie ABA judge that evaluated the Outsell and DSplus 2018 Toyota CH-R Launch Campaign nomination.

The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.’s premier business awards program. More than 3,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories. Stevie winners will be presented with their awards on June 11^th in New York City. Earlier this year, Outsell and DSplus’s 2018 Toyota CH-R 2018 Launch Campaign received a Bronze Stevie® Award at the 12th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service for Outbound Marketing Program of the Year. Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2018 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

The Digiday Content Marketing Awards recognize content that connects brands to audiences across various channels including mobile, social, video and others. Winners were announced at the awards gala on May 9 at Sony Hall in New York City. To view the complete list of 2018 Content Marketing Award winners, please visit https://digiday.com/awards/286819/.

The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program recognizing big ideas in marketing and communications sanctioned and judged by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, an invitation-only group consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms. Founded over two decades ago, The Communicator Awards receives over 6,000 entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world.  A list of the 2018 Distinction winners is available at https://www.communicatorawards.com/winners/

About DSplus

DSplus connects brands, retailers and customers to help sell more cars. Using sharp insights and spot-on analysis, we put the right offers in front of the right people at the right time, so dealerships can turn shoppers into buyers – and buyers into loyalists. With our team of steadfast, hands-on account managers, award-winning creative whizzes and ultra-analytical social strategists, DSplus is ready to work with any Toyota and Lexus dealership to start driving sales. Check out our website or contact us at supprt@dsplus.com to learn more.

Outsell is the AI Marketing Platform for the Auto Industry

Outsell announced today that high demand for AI features helped fuel swift growth for the company in Q1 2018. Direct-to-dealer sales were particularly strong, thanks in part to the recent introduction of Outsell’s newest platform, Outsell 5.0.

Launched at the NADA conference in February, Outsell 5.0 is enhanced with even more artificial intelligence capabilities, providing automotive dealers with unprecedented insight into buying behavior and the ability to take targeted content to the next level, with automated, multi-channel communications that are individualized to each person’s exact preferences.

Other highlights from Q1:

• The NADA show was Outsell’s most successful to date in terms of booth traffic and customer/prospect engagement, with hundreds of dealers visiting the booth during the event. On the first day of NADA 2018, Outsell exceeded its traffic for the entire 2017 show.
• During NADA, Outsell won an Automotive Website Award (AWA) in the category of Marketing Automation.
• Outsell also won several other awards during the quarter including a Bronze Stevie Award for the 2018 Toyota CH-R launch campaign, helping to cement Outsell as the industry leader in AI-driven Marketing Automation.

“Outsell 5.0 fulfills our brand promise of being the best AI-driven marketing platform for the automotive industry,” said Mike Wethington, Founder and CEO of Outsell. “The feedback from dealers and automotive industry leaders was consistent; everyone loved its intuitive user experience, new features and capabilities. We’ll build on that success with more AI features throughout 2018 and beyond.”

Session features expert Brian Pasch of PCG Companies and Paul Schnell of Wilsonville Toyota & Wilsonville Subaru

Outsell announced today that its Vice President of Marketing Valerie Vallancourt has been invited to speak at Digital Dealer 24, moderating a panel titled, “Finding Your Next Customer: It’s All In the Data.” Panelists are Brian Pasch, Founder at PCG Companies and Paul Schnell, Digital Marketing Director at Wilsonville Toyota and Wilsonville Subaru, the largest Subaru store in the U.S.

Consumer data is rich with insight. Dealers can leverage the data in their CRM and DMS systems by applying simple artificial intelligence, data mining and other techniques. This session covers how to retain more customers, increase conversions, improve engagement and find your next customer by better understanding a dealer’s in-house data.

Session attendees will:

• Learn data techniques to better analyze and understand their in-house data.
• Gain a checklist of items to bring to their next marketing meeting to address how to best leverage in-house data and improve marketing communications at the dealership.
• Learn directly from a dealer about how they used new methods to analyze their own customer data and achieve results.

Who:
Valerie Vallancourt, Vice President of Marketing at Outsell; Brian Pasch, Founder at PCG Companies; and Paul Schnell, Digital Marketing Director at Wilsonville Toyota and Wilsonville Subaru

What:
“Finding Your Next Customer: It’s All In the Data”

Where:
Digital Dealer 24 in Orlando, Fla.

When:
Thursday, April 12, 2018 from 11:10 AM to 12:00 PM