The Number One Key Performance Indicator for Dealership Websites

Every business has metrics they can use to determine the success of their marketing campaigns. Auto dealerships are no different; key performance indicators (KPIs) for auto dealership websites are especially important because of the prominence of online advertising in the automotive industry today. Dealers looking to make sure their online advertising is as successful as possible need to identify their KPIs and then tweak their campaigns to ensure these indicators are showing the proper results.

Why KPIs Are So Vital To Advertising
Key performance indicators that pertain to online advertising are becoming more important for car dealerships because of the rise in the popularity of online advertising. Using tactics like social media networks, email marketing, and search engine optimization, dealerships can market to a larger audience and persuade potential customers to buy even when the dealership is not traditionally open for business.

KPIs are important for an online advertising effort because of the informational value to dealerships engaging in web marketing. The Houston Chronicle reports that KPIs give business owners a snapshot of their company that allows them to understand whether or not the strategic actions they have been taking have been successful. For auto dealerships, a key concern when it comes to their websites is making sure that the KPIs are properly identified and that they understand how to interpret them.

KPIs For Auto Dealership Websites
Dealers that are new to online advertising may be confused about where to start when it comes to identifying their KPIs. Some of the most common KPIs for auto dealership websites include:

• Vehicle Detail Page (VDP) views: an increased number of vehicle detail page views means that more prospects are getting exposed to the vehicles that a dealership is selling.
• Site traffic: page traffic has been traditionally held as an important metric for the success of advertising, but thanks to modern reporting, dealerships can now get much more specific information about their traffic.
• Time spent on site: it is great for your dealership to be getting visitors, but if they are leaving your page right away it is not conducive to establishing a good conversion rate. Traffic is good – high quality engaged traffic is much better.

Other areas where dealers might consider tracking KPIs include the number of dealership visits that directly resulted from advertising campaigns, or the number of unique pages that a visitor to the dealership site views. Phone traffic is another possible KPI that some dealers are interested in measuring.

How To Measure Your KPIs
Even after you identify KPIs, you still need to track them to determine the success of your advertising campaigns. The best way for auto dealerships to track KPIs is through comprehensive software platforms that give them statistics about all the important areas of their advertising. Not only should these statistics be thorough and in-depth, they also need to be updated in real-time so that companies can get immediate results about their advertising.

There are plenty of marketers and advertising specialists online to advise those in the auto industry, but only you can determine which KPIs are best for your specific needs. Dealerships that have the right kind of KPI measurements and the ability to tweak their activity as a result of these KPIs have a much better shot at driving up their sales thanks to online marketing.

So what is the number one KPI for the automotive website? Don’t take it from us, instead here is what Jason Craine the Dealer Principal @MillsMotors had to say at Dealer Talk this past March in Toronto. Increase VDP Views, and you’ll increase sales. We agree. Monitoring and increasing VDP views is our number one recommended KPI.

If you have any questions about key performance indicators or any other part of your online marketing activities, please feel free to contact Speed Shift Media. We are always happy to provide a free audit of your current process.