What if your website was like a real salesperson? What if it could ask “where ya from?
If it could, it would do a much better job selling your cars. Like a real salesperson, it would listen to that information and make a smarter, more relevant, more helpful pitch to the customer — instead of repeating the same thing to everybody, whether they care or not.
That technology is a thing now.
With Dealer Inspire’s Personalizer, and its built-in geofencing technology, your website can now automatically adapt to individual users’ shopping behavior, interests, and current location. Your site doesn’t have to ask “what are ya looking for?” and “where are ya?”, because it already knows, and it will instantly make a pitch tailored to that individual shopper.
The power of customizing offers and content to each online shopper based on where they are and what they want is infinite, and to date, largely untapped. Dealer Inspire is currently the only automotive website provider to feature personalization with built-in geofencing technology, and it gives you the potential to position your dealership as the uniquely best choice for shoppers in each area, or even each specific building, in your market.
IMAGINE WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH GEOFENCING
Imagine you could target shoppers on your competitor’s showroom floor — shoppers that know which car they want, are ready to buy (from your competition), but want to check the internet one more time to see if there’s a better deal in the area. 67% of showroom floor shoppers do just this — cross-shop for better deals on their smartphone while inside the dealership.
Imagine that, while the salespeople at your competing dealership have been talking to this customer all afternoon, your website can instantly adapt itself to make a better offer than them. With geofencing, you can speak directly to these showroom cross-shoppers by having the homepage adapt itself to undercut your competitor.
Draw a geofence around a competing dealership
Which displays a special offer for those cross-shoppers
This is a pretty simple, blunt example** using only one variable (location) to clearly illustrate the power of the technology, but there are infinite ways to use it in more nuanced, personalized ways. Using additional personalization rules, you could tailor this message much more specifically to the individual shopper, customizing the homepage offer for what model they are looking for (based on shopping history rule sets), and how likely they are to buy soon (based on Datium shopping behavior rule sets). This additional information would inform what you would offer — whether it be a different amount, an exclusive perk or service, or simply one of your dealership’s Unique Selling Propositions that set you apart from your competitor.
Let’s try out a few other ways you can use geofence marketing, beyond conquesting competitors:
Push Model Offers By Area
In each neighborhood of your market, there is an average demographic more likely to buy a certain type of model than another. College kids on the nearby campus are more likely to convert on used compact car offers, while the family-oriented neighborhood near your dealership is more likely to convert on new SUV leases. If there’s any rural/farming areas, lumberyards, or construction companies near your market, your inventory pages could display banners for truck specials. Essentially, geofencing can adapt your site to push the models you want to move, to the people most likely to buy them.
Get More Sales From Outside Your Market
Geofencing enables you to deliver messaging to shoppers outside your market and persuade them to do business with your dealership instead of the one around the corner. For example, if you’re out in the suburbs of Chicago, but would like to generate more sales from city dwellers, you can have your homepage display a message about your online purchasing experience complete with at-home test drives and delivery. By putting your customer experience up front for people who may only be visiting your website to compare the price they got from their local dealer, you could end up winning that shopper over and creating a new customer for your dealership.
Make Community-Based Offers
With all that’s going on in the world today, it’s more important than ever to show your support for those in your community who need it most, such as people who work in Hospitals or Schools. You can create geofences around all of the educational institutions and medical facilities in your area, so that when someone within those buildings visits your website you can proudly let them know that if their vehicle needs service or routine maintenance performed, you are more than happy to pick it up from home or work, perform the service, and then drop it back off when it’s done. Not only will you be helping these folks with an immediate need, but you’ll also be providing a convenience to these customers that will build lasting brand loyalty.
The possibilities for what you can do with geofence marketing are endless. Leverage your USPs, unique aspects of your community, your competition’s weaknesses, and your creativity to personalize your website for shoppers. And, if you need any help coming up with ideas, you can always reach out to us!
LEARN HOW TO GEOFENCE IN 2 MINUTES
Learning how to create a virtual perimeter that pin-point targets customers — down to the exact latitude and longitude coordinates of your competitor’s showroom floor — sounds like you and your team need to learn how to build and launch satellites first, but it’s actually as easy as drawing a circle (or a square!).  Check out this #DIHOWDOI to see how it’s done!
GOOD GEOFENCES MAKE GOOD MARKETING
Marketing that is pin-point personalized is going to convert far greater compared to one-size-fits-all marketing, because you’ll actually be speaking and selling to that person’s interests, situation, and stage in the buying cycle — instead of letting one message wash over a majority audience that it won’t directly apply to. Geofencing is a powerful variable within personalization that helps you deliver relevant context marketing to car buyers. All it takes is a Dealer Inspire website and a few minutes deciding who you want to target, and what you want to offer them.
If you have any personalization or geofencing strategy questions or ideas, drop a comment below! We’re really excited to see the different, awesome ways you all can leverage geofencing to your dealership’s advantage.
**Be mindful of your OEM’s compliance rules before creating conquest offers
