The Benefits of DMS Retargeting

DMS retargeting, also known CRM or database retargeting, offers many benefits to dealerships by retargeting the customers in your DMS and tracking their online activity. It relies on the data and previous customer interactions already stored in your DMS¹ to deliver display ads tailored to customers’ unique interests and purchase behavior.

Because your DMS houses sales and email data, your dealership can target audience segments based on known characteristics such as past purchase history, loyalty, and upcoming service needs.

Below are some of the top benefits DMS retargeting offers dealerships:

1. Personalized messaging and ad content: Dealerships can serve display ads to customers and tailor messaging to reflect a customer’s specific history and interactions with your dealership. DMS data helps provide your dealership with additional customer data that you can use to target customers’ specific needs across sales and service.
2. Save ad spend: DMS retargeting helps unify cross-channel messaging to prevent irrelevant messaging.
   For example, if a customer just purchased a new battery from your dealership, he or she will NOT receive a display ad for battery savings because that customer’s recent purchase information is stored in your DMS. Your dealership can save ad spend by delivering the battery advertisement to another customer who is looking for a new battery.
3. Increase ad relevance: Website retargeting is helpful, but DMS targeting takes things to the next level. With website retargeting, dealers can miss important user data that only a DMS can provide such as service visits or service frequency, recent parts purchases, declined services, lease expiration data, and more.
4. Retarget on Facebook: Using audience segments/a customer list from your DMS, you can retarget these customers on Facebook to add an extra touchpoint between your dealership and a customer. This helps re-engage or remind customers of their auto needs as they browse Facebook.
5. Create better lookalike audiences on Facebook: Facebook is widely known as one of the top channels for successfully targeting auto consumers. It allows dealerships to create lookalike audiences from a customer file of your DMS, or of specific segment(s). Facebook then uses these target lists from your DMS to find consumers that are similar to the customer types you are trying to capture. This helps attract more qualified leads because the consumers share many characteristics with your existing customers.
   
6. Re-engage in-market consumers: The process of retargeting offers dealerships with the ability to target consumers based on a ‘lookback window’ or timeframe. This means, you can target consumers that visited one of your webpages within the last 30-days, 45-days, and so on. Retargeting based on a specific timeframe can help remind or re-engage consumers before they defect to a competitor.

Segment and target your database to reach customers with the highest likelihood of converting:

• Lease expiration: No matter what, these consumers have to come to your dealership to either renew their lease or to lease a new vehicle. Consider targeting this segment to help grow vehicle sales or grow recurring revenue via new leases.
• Warranty: Warranty customers are another great segment to target. Their maintenance is cost-free, so they are more likely to come in and complete an RO. You can also use this opportunity to up-sell parts or other services that the customer may need when they come in for service.
• Declined service: Declined services often are required for the safety of the vehicle and the customer. By using messaging that explains the importance of the declined service (safety, wear and tear on vehicle), you can help customers understand the value of completing their declined service.
• Recall: Much like the declined service segment, recalls can also compromise the safety of the vehicle and the customer. Better yet, recall repairs are no-cost to the consumer. This provides multiple incentives for the customer to come in and repair their vehicle, helping dealerships grow ROs.
• Loyal: Your dealership’s loyal customers are a great source of recurring revenue. They come in for service regularly, and they are more inclined to complete other services such as a recall or declined service.
  
  

To learn more about how you can use DMS retargeting to grow your business, check out this article: What is DMS or CRM Retargeting?

1 Richman, Jonah; HuffPost 2017: CRM Retargeting: How it Works and Everything You Need to Know Before Using It