Dealers have been moving their digital spend, and Google AdWords now accounts for almost 50% of most digital budgets. Despite their massive investments, we found that most dealers are not confident that their AdWords is properly set up for a maximum return.

In the PCG Google AdWords Research Report, we surveyed over 500 dealers to assess the underlying issues regarding Google AdWords budgets and campaigns for automotive dealers. This week on Auto Marketing Now, join Brian Pasch for part one of his discussion on our findings.

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The research report determined that while 94% of dealers deem AdWords as a necessary investment, most are weary of their AdWords agencies. Dealerships are continuously flipping agencies, hoping to find that silver bullet. This absence of trust stems from a lack of transparency and knowledge regarding their mandated investments as well as their report data.

The lack of transparency is a ripple effect, stemming from OEM requirements. OEMs are demanding more and more from dealers, and are dictating how they spend their budget. OEM digital managers are taking up to 50% of gross profits from approved AdWords agencies, and dealerships are expected to blindly invest to meet these demands. OEM contracts with AdWords agencies must become more transparent.

OEM mandated spending has far surpassed OEM mandated education. Dealers should no longer be asked to spend more without understanding how to properly read the reports and inspect their own results.

Another issue we found during our research is that very few dealers are leveraging Google AdWords for Fixed Operations. Fixed Ops is the most profitable aspect of your dealership, and your marketing investments must reflect this value for optimal results.

One of our most prominent findings was that dealers weren’t given enough information regarding their reports. AdWords agencies often focus on the last-click contribution model, which can be very misleading. A last-click attribution model means that the last thing a shopper clicks on before submitting a lead or converting in any way gets the credit for that conversion. This model fails to recognize the other influencers of that conversion.

Your assisted conversions can be provided by your AdWords agency, or viewed in your reports by looking at your multi-channel sales funnels. This means that you can analyze all influencers of your conversions and determine which investments are creating the greatest returns. From here, you can increase or decrease your spending according to your results. It is very important to accredited all influencers that drive consumers to your website and showroom.

The reports given to dealers each month focus on the quantity of traffic, rather than the quality of those clicks. AdWords agencies are providing dealerships with confusing reports, and are not taking the time to explain the investment results.

So far we have found a lack of transparency between OEM’s and dealerships, a lack of trust between AdWords agencies and dealerships, and missed opportunities in Fixed Operations. To learn more, visit www.pcgresearch.com and tune into Auto Marketing Now next week for part two of the Google AdWords Research Report.

About the Author

PCG Digital Marketing is an award winning digital agency headquartered in Eatontown, NJ. We help our clients get found online through innovative search, social and online advertising campaigns.