- 70% of dealers surveyed agree lags in real-time customer/lead
and vehicle data make data-driven insights less useful.
- 54% of dealers have experienced conflicting data across
multiple sources.
- Only 26% of dealers are confident in third-party insights.
ATLANTA, July 30,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today's automotive dealers know
there is power in data, but they struggle to extract actionable
insights from it, according to Cox Automotive's 2024 Power of
Data study. Capturing feedback and perspective from franchise
dealers and their management, the study reveals dealers are facing
challenges putting data to use. However, the study also
reveals that the dealers using their data most heavily see a higher
positive impact on business results.
"We wanted to better understand how dealers use and value data
to identify areas it can be optimized," stated Chase Abbott, VP of Sales at Cox Automotive. "We
found that seven out of 10 dealers say lags in data make their
insights less useful, and more than half experience conflicting
data across multiple sources.
"That diminishes dealers' confidence and often means they are
less likely to use data effectively and may miss opportunities to
improve efficiency and the overall customer experience. However,
with challenge comes opportunity, and an omnichannel approach
proves to be the best strategy dealers can take to truly capitalize
on the power of data," Abbott said.
Key takeaways from the study include:
- While 83% of dealerships have access to data insights from a
dashboard or reporting tool, less than one-third are satisfied with
the insights they get from vendors.
- 54% of dealers have experienced conflicting data across
multiple sources, making it difficult to determine which data is
accurate.
- 69% of dealers are likely to stop using a vendor if they cannot
provide reliable access to customer or lead data.
- 66% of dealerships are concerned about ensuring data privacy
and compliance when adopting new tools, and 44% have held off
adopting new data solutions or tools due to fears about data
privacy issues or non-compliance.
Qualitative feedback during the study surfaced best practices
among heavy data users. Dealers can combat data lag by implementing
tools that update in real time and keep every department—marketing,
sales, fixed ops and the back office—in sync with shoppers at every
step.
Dealers can also eliminate the guess work and restore confidence
with AI-powered automation to determine the data that should drive
action. Predictive insights can help dealers overcome
third-party data quality concerns. An audit of their vendors can
help dealer staff prioritize which shoppers to follow up with next.
This audit should include how many shoppers are covered by their
data set, how frequently data is updated, and how quickly it gets
translated into insights in dealership systems.
"As dealers explore using data for their current and future
needs, AI has proven to and will continue to have a profound impact
on dealer and buyer connections. AI can pull data and
insights together to provide a new level of intelligence and
analytics the industry hasn't seen before. Data is worth doing
right. With high quality, accurate, and secure data delivered in
real time, dealers can unlock powerful insights that improve
customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and profits," Abbott
concluded.
To learn more, download Cox Automotive's new eBook, The
Three Biggest Data Challenges in Automotive Retail, at
https://www.coxautoinc.com/retail/power-of-data/.
About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive is the world's
largest automotive services and technology provider. Fueled by the
largest breadth of first-party data fed by 2.3 billion online
interactions a year, Cox Automotive tailors leading solutions for
car shoppers, auto manufacturers, dealers, lenders and fleets.
The company has 29,000+ employees on five continents and a
portfolio of industry-leading brands that include Autotrader®,
Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, vAuto®, Dealertrack®, NextGear
Capital™, CentralDispatch® and FleetNet America®. Cox Automotive is
a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned,
Atlanta-based company with
$22 billion in annual revenue.
Visit coxautoinc.com or connect via
@CoxAutomotive on X, CoxAutoInc on Facebook
or Cox-Automotive-Inc on LinkedIn.
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SOURCE Cox Automotive Inc.