Dealers who are considering adding LotLinx to your inventory syndication strategy may be asking,”How effective is LotLinx in generating leads?”  So, I decided to provide an actual client example to show you how you can measure the impact of LotLinx on website activity, leads, and phone calls.

In the graphic above, I have displayed a section of Google Analytics reporting called “Multi-Channel Sales Funnels (MCSF) – Assisted Conversions.”  I wanted to see which traffic sources triggered a goal to submit a lead form for a vehicle “E-Price.” For this client it was easy because Dealer.com websites set up Google Analytics goals automatically when you purchase their website platform.

So, in a 60 day time period, LotLinx traffic generated 144 lead submissions using the Dealer.com website e-price form.  In the same time period you can see that Autotrader.com referrals generated 27 e-price leads on the dealer’s website and Cars.com referral traffic generated 18 e-price leads on the dealer’s website.

Adding Offsite Lead Submissions

The total leads generated by Autotrader.com and Cars.com has to be supplemented with the lead forms that were completed on their own websites, and sent to the dealer via their CRM. LotLinx drives direct traffic to the dealer’s website so there is no supplemental data.

When you add lead forms submitted on third party sites, the total leads over 60 days looks like this:

  • LotLinx 144 leads
  • Autotrader.com 108 leads 
  • Cars.com 55 leads 

I share this data because some dealers wanted to make sure that LotLinx will generate measurable leads, and this data shows how you can see those leads in Google Analytics. Also, keep in mind that every market is different and third party platforms perform differently in the United States.

Be Careful About Comparing Performance

Since dealers can opt for different marketing packages ($$$) on third party websites, do not look at these numbers to compare relative  performance. Just understand that your data can be measured, using Google Analytics and dynamic phone tracking, to compare relative performance based on your monetary investment.

The lead data above does not include any phone calls that are generated from LotLinx traffic to the dealer’s website. To see LotLinx phone call activity you will need to have dynamic call tracking in place, which can be obtained from companies like Century Interactive, Response Tap, or CallRevu.

You can obtain the total number of phone calls generated by Autotrader.com and Cars.com website from your monthly vendor reports. These are only the phone calls made using a tracking number on the Autotrader.com or Cars.com VDP.

Determining Your Total Measurable Leads

The total measurable leads generated from third party classified sites or LotLinx can be calculated by the addition of these four numbers:

  1. Leads sent by third party websites to your CRM
  2. Leads submitted on your own website by referral traffic from third party websites (MCSF)
  3. Calls generated from from phone numbers on third party websites
  4. Calls generated by referral traffic from third party websites using dynamic call tracking

If you don’t have Google Analytics set up properly or you are not using dynamic phone numbers for referral traffic, you are not collecting all the measurable data to produce a more accurate ROI for your marketing investments.

If your website provider captures the referring URL when a lead form is submitted, and sends that data to your CRM, you can see leads that are submitted by LotLinx referrals without Google Analytics MCSF.  VinSolutions’s VinLens, for example, can be configured to append leads with referring URL data.

Driving Consumers To Your Exclusive Vehicle Pages

The LotLinx marketing model is different from third party classified websites. It should not be viewed as an apples-to-apples comparison. LotLinx solves many of the complaints that dealers have voiced in regards to calculating the ROI of their inventory syndication marketing dollars.

LotLinx provides measurable traffic, leads, and phone calls. LotLinx is a performance based inventory syndication solution where dealers only get charged only if qualified traffic comes to their website Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP).

LotLinx does not JUST generate qualified traffic to your VDPs.  It generates leads.

If you are ready to test LotLinx in your market, call 732-450-8200 for more information. Drive more qualified traffic to your website inventory; it’s like Adwords on steroids!

About the Author

Brian Pasch is the founder of PCG companies. PCG provides customized marketing and training solutions for businesses that are committed to dominate their local market.