“Cost of acquisition” should not just be a popular discussion point on Shark Tank. It should be top of mind for dealer principals in the automotive retail sector, where the challenge is not simply how to generate leads but equally important having complete visibility and insight into where the leads came from.

How to convert them, that’s a different challenge, altogether.

Knowing where your leads derive from and what prompted them to check out your website, or show up in your showroom, matters more than ever. While consumer behavior continues to shift across digital and physical touchpoints, many dealers are left navigating blind spots in understanding what truly drives sales. What’s frustrating in that regard for principals is that OEMs often underestimate the scale of dealership investments in marketing communications and lead nurturing.

As a result, the gap between effort and results can lead to inefficiencies, misaligned expectations, and missed opportunities for both parties. The solution lies in embracing data analytics and customer attribution — not just as marketing tools, but as operational essentials that drive profitability, improve customer experience, and build stronger OEM-dealer alignment.

The lead conversion challenge

Customers shopping for a vehicle today rarely follow a linear path. From online searches and third-party platforms to dealership websites, OEM advertising, emails, and showroom visits, the customer journey is fragmented and seemingly unpredictable. Yet, the pressure to convert those touchpoint opportunities into confirmed sales is greater than ever, especially in a market where margins are tight, and inventory remains in flux.

Too often, dealerships rely on last-click data, gut feel, or isolated campaign reports to gauge what’s working. Meanwhile, OEMs focus on centralized marketing metrics, disregarding the considerable effort dealers invest locally to generate and convert leads. This disconnect leaves the dealer unable to gauge the relationship between investment and outcome and creates a critical knowledge gap — one that costs money, time, and momentum.

Why data analytics matters

Data analytics empowers dealerships to understand, prioritize, and improve lead performance at every stage. By integrating CRM, DMS, website traffic, and advertising platforms, dealers can track the entire lead lifecycle, from the initial interaction through test drive, negotiation, and final sale. Tech solutions like Customer Data Platforms (CDP) make it possible for dealers to bring all of those data sources together so they can actually speak to each other. This data unification enables not only the creation of full shopper profiles that track the shopper journey from A-Z,

This end-to-end visibility enables dealers to identify conversion bottlenecks, uncover high-performing lead sources, and tailor follow-up strategies based on real customer behavior. Furthermore, predictive models offered by CDPs allow dealers to score and prioritize leads more effectively, focusing sales teams on prospects most likely to convert.

Analytics doesn’t just deliver better performance; it builds a stronger foundation for dealership decision-making and resource allocation.

The case for attribution

Attribution is where data becomes insight. By accurately assigning value to the various touchpoints a customer encounters, attribution models help dealerships understand what’s truly influencing their buyers, and where to invest their marketing budget for maximum return.

Relying solely on last-click attribution paints a dangerously narrow picture, often overlooking the early-stage touchpoints that sparked awareness and intent. Multi-touch attribution, in contrast, offers a more holistic view of the buyer journey. Whether it’s first-touch, linear, time-decay, or data-driven models, the result is a clearer understanding of how multiple interactions work together to drive a sale.

This clarity has operational consequences. Dealers can stop overinvesting in low-impact channels, fine-tune their messaging by channel and stage, and improve the effectiveness of their marketing strategy with confidence. Importantly, it also strengthens the case for smarter co-op utilization and greater respect from OEMs for dealer-led marketing activity.

Automotive OEMs often limit dealers’ ability to invest in valuable attribution technology by enforcing rigid co-op marketing programs, prioritize compliance over effectiveness, and even redirect traffic to the OEM influenced channels ultimately complicating the dealer’s ability to leverage valuable attribution data. Generally, dealers are required to use pre-approved vendors and templated campaigns, with little room for local customization or performance tracking. OEMs typically focus on activity-based reporting, i.e., impressions, clicks, and spending, rather than outcomes like lead quality or sales conversion. Additionally, OEM-owned digital platforms often restrict access to meaningful customer data, making it difficult for dealers to connect the dots between marketing investment and real results. Poor visibility undermines dealers’ efforts to align spending with meaningful results.

Respecting dealer investment

Dealers routinely invest significant resources, both financially and operationally, into building awareness, generating leads, and converting interest into revenue.

Attribution helps address this imbalance by making dealer initiatives visible, trackable, and strategically actionable. For OEMs, this transparency should be prioritized as an opportunity to strengthen collaboration, align shared goals, and deliver more effective retail campaigns.

Respecting dealer investment isn’t just about fairness. It’s about performance. When both sides work from the same data foundation, outcomes improve for the brand, the dealer, and most importantly, the customer.

Insight in action

Consider a dealership group that adopted an attribution-first approach to lead management. By moving beyond traditional metrics and investing in data integration, the dealer will be able to uncover which campaigns and channels truly influence buyer behavior. This empowers the dealer to shift spending away from low-performing strategies, boost lead-to-sale conversion rates, and lower the overall cost per acquisition.

The bottom line: what’s really holding dealers back from better lead conversion?

Dealers know their customers — many have years of experience reading the market and understanding what drives traffic. But in today’s landscape, experience alone isn’t enough. With marketing dollars flowing and leads coming in, the real question is: are those leads truly converting as effectively as they could?

Many dealers believe they have a clear sense of what’s working, but without precise attribution and advanced analytics, much of that confidence is built on assumption. Here’s what’s holding them back:

  1. Systems don’t talk to each other

CRM, DMS, CDP, website, marketing tools, if they’re not integrated, you’re missing the full picture. You can’t fix what you can’t see.

  1. No one has time to dig into the data

Your team is focused on selling, not analyzing. Fair enough. But without someone looking at the numbers, you’re planning and making decisions without using the data intel, thus leaving money on the table.

  1. Month-end mindset

Everyone’s chasing targets. That means short-term thinking wins over long-term strategy – even if it’s costing you in the long run.

  1. OEM co-op rules limit you

You’re told what to run, how to run it, and what counts. But is it driving sales? Most co-op programs don’t measure true ROI, they measure box-ticking.

  1. You don’t know what you’re missing

You might feel your marketing is “working well enough.” But without proper attribution, you have no idea what’s driving results, or, conversely, what’s draining your budget.

  1. Leads fall through the cracks

Even great leads go nowhere if follow-up is slow or inconsistent. How well is your team handling leads? Do you know?

A strategic imperative

For automotive retailers, understanding what drives leads, and how to convert them, isn’t optional. It’s a strategic imperative but it isn’t about fancy dashboards. Dealers deserve full visibility of their performance; it’s all about knowing what works so they can do more of it – and stop wasting money on what doesn’t. Dealers who embrace this will see stronger ROI, higher closing rates, and have leverage in OEM conversations.

The future of automotive sales will be shaped by those who combine data with action – and insight with partnership. Attribution isn’t just about giving credit. It’s about unlocking performance, empowering decisions, and creating the conditions for shared growth.

In a recent report published by Fullpath, 60% of dealers shared that their data is only being used somewhat effectively to improve customer shopping experiences. In fact, 46% of dealers reported that their top challenges in the modern world of automotive retail are obtaining real-time customer insights and preferences, and accessing the necessary technology to do so. These challenges are stopping dealers from making the most of their data to optimize their marketing and their customer experiences.

This is where customer data platforms (CDP) come into play.  By unifying data sources and providing tools to leverage their data effectively, CDPs become an essential partner in understanding what’s working, identifying areas for improvement, and delivering a more personalized customer experience—leading to increased sales and long-term loyalty.

AI-first automotive-centric CDP providers like Fullpath take it a step further by creating a comprehensive data activation ecosystem. It not only offers the data visibility and attribution dealers need but also provides AI-powered marketing tools that help to improve ROI on your marketing spend. These solutions leverage your data along with AI to automatically build audiences and segments pulled from your data, generate marketing copy and creatives, optimize budget spend to support effective campaigns cross-platform, and engage the entire CRM at scale with personalized messaging to drive more showroom visits and purchases, getting more value out of every lead over time. Fullpath then delivers clear metrics on the performance on the different marketing channels, so dealers can see exactly what’s working and where their money is going.

After all, marketing is no longer just about visibility. It’s about accountability. And in the modern dealership, that starts with data. Attribution is your edge. Use it – or lose out to those who do.

Jon Karasek is vice president of innovation at Mach10 Automotive. Having recently held the position of Regional Director of Digital Strategy and Innovation for one of the industry’s largest independent auto auction group, Jon’s skills range from mechanical/technical certifications to wholesale and retail sales. Jon was recognized for leadership accomplishments when honored with the 2021 Auto Remarketing 40 Under 40 Award. He is an accomplished auctioneer with over 20 years of experience in the automotive industry. Jon graduated from the Worldwide College of Auctioneering and then excelled as the GM of one of Southern California’s premier wholesale auto auctions.