2020 brought both a surge in online car shopping and an inventory crisis to the automotive industry. With consumers scouring the internet for their exact new model or a rare deal on a used car that meets their needs, automotive marketing has adapted to capture these in-market shoppers. One extremely effective way to meet customers where they’re shopping is by adding Automotive Inventory Ads on Facebook to your advertising strategy.
Automotive Inventory Ads enable you to push new and used inventory to your previous website visitors and demographic target audiences. With auto shoppers looking to make quick decisions on great deals, now is the perfect time to add this powerful ad format to your campaigns.
The Shift in Consumer Behavior
According to Google, 92% of auto purchasers already perform their research online, and we’re now seeing the full vehicle buying journey, through purchase and delivery, follow that same path.
Before 2020, many shoppers would first find a car online and then go into the physical dealership to evaluate it and test drive it before making their purchase. Now, customers want that process to be closer to home. It’s why many auto dealerships have seen an influx in requests for “at home test drives” and even “digital test drives.” As a result of this changing behavior, auto dealerships need to connect with their local markets with up-to-date promotions and vehicle availability.
That’s where Automotive Inventory Ads come in.
The Power of Inventory Ads
Automotive Inventory Ads are a versatile and effective way to push your existing inventory before the eyes of qualified customers. These ads take your images and descriptions from your inventory listings and create dynamic Facebook ads for these specific vehicles you have in stock. Automotive Inventory Ads optimize your inventory to show potential customers the exact cars they’ve already viewed or expressed interest in. Using machine learning, they also target new audiences that represent a best-fit demographic for an available vehicle. You can use them to reach people across multiple devices on the Facebook network, no matter where they first visited or engaged with your website.
By adding this type of ad to your current campaign strategy, you can focus on selling both used and new cars in your inventory. At Netsertive, we’ve seen great success for our automotive customers when we’ve implemented Automotive Inventory Ads. Here’s how they fit into our multi-channel, localized campaign approach:
- Facebook's Automotive Inventory Ads leverage Netsertive's Dynamic Inventory Catalogs to match in-market shoppers with real-time inventory availability online.
- The feed surfaces VIN-specific details, price, and pictures to match vehicles, down to the specific makes and models that shoppers show intent to purchase.
- Netsertive’s Platform integration with Facebook provides auto dealers with instant access to Automotive Inventory Ads, making it simple to incorporate this powerful ad format into your marketing mix.
Automotive Inventory Ads: The Results We’ve Seen
Russ Darrow Auto Group was searching for a new way to attract and convert in-market car buyers online. They challenged Netsertive with adding Automotive Inventory Ads to their advertising strategy to engage with potential customers in a way that cut through clutter and emphasized the cars that were immediately available for purchase in their inventory.
Netsertive implemented a series of Automotive Inventory Ads on the Facebook network to retarget previous website visitors and target prospective customers online. These ads became an integral part of Russ Darrow’s multi-channel campaign strategy.
By serving personalized inventory ad recommendations to both new prospects and previous website visitors, we saw the incredible impact of Machine Learning at play with a 176% increase in leads and 49% decrease in cost per lead.
Add Automotive Inventory Ads to Your Advertising Strategy with Netsertive
Interested in implementing Automotive Inventory Ads for your dealership or auto group? Reach out to us today for a free consultation.
Coleen Kinen-Ferguson
Coleen Kinen-Ferguson is the Inbound Marketing Manager at Netsertive. When she's not busy writing blogs, drafting content strategies, or collaborating with the marketing team, you'll probably find her at the gym practicing aerial acrobatics.
