Dashboard Dealership Enterprises has redesigned its business analytic reporting suite for increased functionality using input from dealer clients.
Executive Eye 3.0, the latest version of Dashboard’s flagship product, offers a variety of graphic display options designed to help dealers easily navigate the program.
New visual enhancements include updated colorful themes, more white space and increased organization.
"Reporting has always been clunky, time consuming; often it’s difficult for dealers to understand how numbers translate into actionable data," Dashboard Dealership Enterprises chief executive officer Josh Blick said in a news release. "Executive Eye 3.0 is a groundbreaking tool that completely changes the paradigm of how a business analytic reporting tool can be used. Instead of spending time compiling reports, managers instantly have actionable data at their fingertips."
In beta testing, Executive Eye 3.0 exhibited a 30 percent increase in dealership usage compared to an average usage of 2.0, according to Dashboard.
The suite’s direct messaging capabilities allow dealers to communicate directly with Dashboard's customer support and other users. The messaging tool’s reports, alerts and comments can all be shared without the need to compose emails outside of Executive Eye.
Additionally, Executive Eye’s Consolidated Doc report allows dealers to instantly combine documents from individual stores into a single report.
Dealers interested in performance comparison can also view key performance indicators from each of their stores side-by-side.
Executive Eye 3.0 is mobile-friendly across all platforms and devices. A mobile application download is not needed to access the software on a mobile device.
Avis Car Rental has come out with a new skill for Amazon Alexa, giving consumers a new way to book their next car rental in today’s evolving digital age.
Avis’ integration with Amazon Alexa will allow customers to both book and manage car rental reservations via Amazon voice-controlled artificial intelligent personal devices like Amazon Echo. This will be available by the end of August.
The company claims it that is the first car rental brand to offer the innovation.
Avis is set to showcase its skill for Alexa-enabled devices at the Global Business Travel Association Convention this week.
“We are constantly looking for ways to make the customer’s experience more magical,” Avis Budget Group chief innovation officer Arthur Orduña said in a news release. “We have our mobile app, which allows renters to manage their entire experience from their smartphone at approximately 175 locations globally, and now with Alexa integration, we will provide them with yet another way to engage with us seamlessly thanks to transformative digital technology.”
Avis’ new skill for Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices lets customers book a rental reservation, review reservations and request e-receipts of past rentals.
Customers can make voice commands such as “I need a car at La Guardia Airport at 9:00 a.m. this Friday.” And Amazon’s voice platform will manage the booking process through secure integration with Avis.
The new skill is also designed to utilize travelers’ preferences which are stored in their Avis Preferred profile.
Preferences include preferred cars and options such as SiriusXM, GPS devices and coverages.
In related tech news from the company, the Avis mobile app has been recently fitted with new features that include a wider variety of vehicle options, fuel and parking options, courtesy bus tracking, rental receipts and the “Find My Car” tool.
The “Find My Car” feature works with connected cars and shows consumers the exact location of their rental car located at all times.
The Avis mobile app is currently available at about 150 locations globally, according to the company.
Through a new partnership with automotiveMastermind, Volkswagen dealerships can now use both the company’s behavioral analytics and marketing automation in efforts to increase store sales and customer retention rates.
"Volkswagen has long established itself as producing high-quality, exciting cars and this is the perfect opportunity to integrate predictive analytics into their sales process," automotiveMastermind vice president of sales and marketing Andrew Gillman said in a news release.
"Through the use of behavioral prediction and analytics, VW will be able to offer their dealerships the ability to increase sales and customer retention with measurable results," he said.
automotiveMastermind’s proprietary technology takes thousands of data points from dealer management systems and mixes it with Big Data such as social media profiles, financial records, product and consumer lifecycle information and socio-demographics.
Once combined, the data is distilled down to one simple number from zero to 100. The number represents the Behavior Prediction Score, a ranking that reveals to dealers which customers are likely to buy.
"Our technology helps dealers find and retain customers by giving their sales team easy access to know which customers are ready to buy and the exact reasons why," said automotiveMastermind chief executive officer and co-founder Marco Schnabl. “We deliver superior customer service that underpins our commitment to our dealer, resulting in a true partnership."
Additionally, Mastermind partners such as Volkswagen also benefit from customer-specific talking points and highly personalized marketing campaigns the company provides.
Black Book now serves as the trade appraisal engine for eAutoAppraise, an online trade-in solution fitted with vehicle shopping features designed to lead dealers to more successful sales transactions.
All eAutoAppraise dealers can now provide customizable value ranges on specifically tailored vehicle questions powered Black Book values.
Ranges are narrowed down following a series of questions answered by the customer about the details of their vehicle trade.
"We're excited to partner with eAutoAppraise, a superior online appraisal engine that offers dealers a chance to close more deals quicker, and make strong profit margins," Black Book senior vice president of sales Jared Kalfus said in a news release. "An accurate valuation on a trade is a key component to the car-shopping experience, and customers that come equipped with a more narrow number in mind have a better experience at the dealership."
Additionally, eAutoAppraise’s office suite also offers dealers values, special offer banners and direct mapping to specific dealerships for geo-targeting.
"Our mission is to provide dealers with the best leads possible for increased sales, and to serve as the catalyst for simple vehicle sales transactions," Barry Brodsky, managing partner of eAutoAppraise, said in the release.
"The vehicle trade appraisal component is extremely crucial to any new vehicle transaction, and with Black Book powering our valuation process we're confident that we can offer up an experience that will increase customer satisfaction online and at the dealership," he said.
RMS Automotive recently announced that it has partnered with vAuto to make the evaluation and acquisition of manufacturers’ premium off-lease and off-program vehicles a speedier process for dealers.
Open sale inventory listed on manufacturers’ digital sales platforms powered by RMS Automotive is now integrated into vAuto’s Stockwave tool.
The integration can save dealers time sourcing high-quality used vehicles and allows manufacturers to increase exposure of their inventory via Stockwave’s buyer base, according to RMS.
“Our partnership with vAuto is another example of how RMS Automotive leverages its connectivity to other Cox Automotive brands to drive more informed decision-making for our clients,” RMS president Nick Peluso said in a news release. “This initiative provides dealers unequalled access to pre-auction inventory and helps manufacturers accelerate transactions by channeling the right vehicles to the right dealers at the right time.”
BMW Financial Services is one of the first commercial consignors to incorporate their wholesale inventory into Stockwave.
Using customized search streams on BMWGroupDirect.com, dealers can view pre-auction inventory in addition to rank vehicle types by cost, availability and other factors.
“The collaboration with RMS Automotive is part of the Stockwave promise – that we make the task of acquiring wholesale inventory more efficient and profitable for dealers,” Randy Kobat, who is senior vice president of Inventory Software Solutions for Cox Automotive’s Retail Solutions Group, said in the release. “The first step, of course, is having all wholesale inventory in one place. Our partnership with RMS Automotive brings us another step closer to this important goal.”
Stockwave’s inventory stream totals nearly 300,000 auction vehicles. Additionally, the company said its team is currently working to integrate wholesale inventory from other OEM-related sources.
Car Keys Express has expanded the company’s international footprint further with the opening of its first European office, which will be in London.
“This year, we pushed well beyond our core markets in the U.S. and, with the successful move into Canada, London is a natural first step to introducing our service to the overseas market,” Car Keys Express vice president of sales and marketing Michael Bliss said in a news release.
“It's clear there’s demand for our services worldwide. We were approached by a number of European businesses, at a variety of industry events, commenting on their need for a service like ours,” Bliss said.
Car Keys Express’ initial rollout of service within its new market will begin in early 2018; logistical planning for the London office is in progress.
“While there are slight differences in the automotive security technologies used in Europe, it’s all basically the same,” said Mark Lanwehr, owner and founder of Car Keys Express. “Our engineers specialize in understanding these subtle differences, making us a perfect fit for expansion in the UK and beyond.”
Additionally, Car Keys Express said it will also form a European research and development division.
Currently, the company offers services in 48 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces, covering over 1,700 cities.
To generate more high-quality conversions for car dealers, LotLinx has expanded its VS product suite with two new CX solutions designed to enhance and customize the customer experience, the company announced on Thursday.
The new products include CX – Photo AI and CX – Amplified Mobile Pages. Both have been equipped to extend VIN-specific consumer engagement and stimulate more profitable digital advertising campaigns, according to LotLinx.
“The auto industry is constantly evolving, particularly with the shift from traditional ad spend to digital campaigns and outreach,” LotLinx founder Len Short said in a news release. “With these new consumer-oriented products, we’re taking a ‘dealer-first’ approach with solutions specifically designed for dealers who are faced with increased days-on-lot metrics. This is an exciting step forward for our company.”
CX – Photo AI can boost underperforming ads with optimized stock photos using artificial intelligence, and CX – Amplified Mobile Pages offers dealers mobile-friendly VIN landing pages optimized to drive high-value conversions.
“Because today’s online car shoppers are 90 percent more likely to view an ad that contains an image, and will wait just 3 seconds for a page to load before abandoning, the logical next step for LotLinx was to release the consumer experience-oriented CX suite,” the digital advertising technology company said.
Photo AI was created to both formulate more relevant and visually appealing ads for viewers and detect when ads are running without an image, according to LotLinx.
“As global consumers rely more on smartphones for their shopping, AMP delivers faster, conversion-enhancing pages, allowing dealers to make the most out of mobile,” the company added.
Additionally, LotLinx recently expanded its VIN-specific solutions for Facebook to include VS – Lead-Enabled Retargeting and launched the LotLinx TURN platform earlier this year.
Here’s another way store managers can measure how impactful — both from reach and cost perspectives — their online presence is.
Dealers using Google Analytics are now able to accurately attribute the value of third-party sites such as Cars.com, according to the initial findings from a trial use of Clarivoy’s Multi-Touch Attribution solution.
In an April trial with Cars.com, officials highlighted more than 100 Cars.com dealer customers upgraded their Google Analytics platform with Clarivoy’s Multi-Touch Attribution solution. The Clarivoy solution is designed to help dealers understand how all their digital marketing investment efforts — not just the last click or interaction — influence the car buying journey.
The company indicated the initial use of Clarivoy’s solution revealed that Google Analytics misses the cost-effective conversion value of sites such as Cars.com. For instance, on average, dealers who implemented the multi-touch attribution solution saw conversions on their sites attributed to Cars.com increase by 37 percent with a 20 percent decrease in cost after two months in the trial.
Clarivoy pointed out that the results were even more dramatic when dealers considered the conversions that occurred directly on Cars.com. The addition of Cars.com data — Cars.com leads, vehicle description pages (VDPs), and trackable walk-ins — to this multi-touch attribution model allowed one dealer to identify 11,390 conversion events that happened on the Cars.com site in addition to the original 103 reported by Google Analytics.
According to Clarivoy chief executive officer Steve White, dealers typically rely on Google Analytics to help them understand the impact of their advertising. However, White insisted the true value of a third-party auto site doesn’t show up in Google Analytics as it is by default set up to give all of the credit to the last click.
“Typically, what we see is a lot of third-party websites do not get the credit they deserve because in most cases the last engagement that occurs with the dealer’s website is either branded search, organic or direct traffic,” White said. “As a result, sites such as Cars.com become invisible to Google Analytics when trying to evaluate performance.
“Dealers needed a solution that helps them see the actual impact a partner like Cars.com really brings and the ability to compare that to their other marketing channels in one dashboard,” he continued.
Cars.com chief revenue officer John Clavadetscher reacted to the trial findings, too.
“Time and time again, we see dealer customers overspending on paid search, because they are only measuring marketing impact based on the last click,” Clavadetscher said.
“By understanding the full customer journey leading up to the last click, dealers are able to better understand the influence that Cars.com has on the path to purchase and make more informed decisions about how to allocate their marketing spend,” he went on to say.
When shopping online, many customers view a dealer’s VDPs or submit an inquiry right on the Cars.com website, and this data is never reflected in Google Analytics. Clarivoy’s native integration can offer several benefits including:
• Clarivoy’s Attribution Channels classify data more logically and accurately specifically for dealers
• Dealers can apply cost data from all digital marketing investments to evaluate the true cost per engagement and cost per lead using Clarivoy's proprietary multi-touch attribution model
• Insight into Cars.com conversion activity, including VDPs, lead submissions and Lot Insights data
“The biggest differentiator of our solution for dealers is our independent, unbiased approach for analyzing and reporting data. We don’t have a stake in the game,” White said.
Clarivoy’s Multi-Touch Sales Attribution platform can focus on user-level attribution, allowing dealers to transparently view a consumer’s full purchase path, sorting and ranking the influence of each channel’s contribution — paid search, display ads, TV, email, third-party websites, organic search, social and brand website — to understand what is really driving sales.
For a copy of the Clarivoy/Cars.com case study, go to this website.
Already having forged bonds with industry participants such as Black Book, First Investors Financial Services, Fletcher Jones Auto Group and Westlake Financial Services, AutoGravity announced a relationship with another significant industry player looking to leverage its advanced mobile technology to help vehicle shoppers secure financing.
VW Credit (VCI) on Thursday announced that it has committed to make an equity investment in AutoGravity, pending customary regulatory approvals. With this strategic investment, VCI is supporting its goal to create a digital experience that enhances the customer financing process. AutoGravity is a FinTech pioneer facilitating car shopping and financing with the power of the smartphone.
In addition to this investment, a news release indicated VW Credit has worked with AutoGravity to bring Volkswagen and Audi financing directly to car buyers across the United States. Through this project, VW Credit has launched the Volkswagen Credit smartphone app, powered by proprietary AutoGravity technology and available for iOS and Android.
Finance options from Volkswagen Credit are now available on the AutoGravity platform, extending the range of options available to more than 400,000 consumers who have downloaded AutoGravity. Volkswagen dealers now can benefit from a new source of potential car buyers.
“Customers are becoming more demanding of mobile technology and the world of auto financing is no exception,” said Horst Meima, president and chief executive officer at VW Credit. “We are ready to become a leader in shaping this part of the industry and believe that AutoGravity can help get us there.”
Thursday’s announcement involving VW Credit continues quite a journey for AutoGravity, whose dealer network passed 1,400 stores and users above 250,000 since launching just last year.
“Mobile technology is a game changer for consumers, dealers and lenders. We have pioneered a digital experience that saves time and improves satisfaction for all parties through a device we are intimately familiar with — the smartphone,” AutoGravity CEO Andy Hinrichs said.
“AutoGravity has experienced substantial growth since our first app hit the marketplace in the summer of 2016. This investment will help us accelerate in the face of rapidly growing consumer and industry demand,” continued Hinrichs, who added VW Credit has positioned itself to realize the full potential of AutoGravity technology through investment and partnership.
Dealer Marketing Services, the makers of ProMax Unlimited, recently released Recall Check, a new feature for the platform that tracks open recalls.
Recall Check was designed to monitor a dealer’s entire inventory for open recalls.
“Recall Check gives our dealer customers a foolproof way to track all pertinent recall information and use it to generate service business and protect their dealership from liability,” ProMax chief executive officer John Palmer said in a news release.
Recall Check is powered by the provider of automotive recall news and data Recall Masters, which draws on a comprehensive OEM database.
“As the automotive market evolves, Recall Masters is continually evolving our systems and database to provide the most valuable information possible to promote sound dealership business initiatives and consumer safety,” Recall Masters chief executive officer Christopher Miller said.
“The integration with ProMax’s Recall Check feature allows their customers to easily access unique recall data and information through the existing ProMax workflow. ProMax dealers can focus on efficiently managing recalls and attending to the needs of consumers through a familiar, proven platform. The partnership with ProMax is one more step in the right direction to ensure consumer safety and to mitigate the risk of automotive-related injuries.”
The new solution uses an automatic nightly process and checks for recalls anytime a trade is booked in or a vehicle is delivered.
“Recall Check is a tool that can be leveraged in a number of ways,” added ProMax chief operations officer Shane Born. “The automatic monitoring ensures that all recall information is available; dealers can craft different strategies based on their local laws and individual prerogatives. Savvy dealers can use Recall Check to better evaluate trades, book in inventory, or funnel customers to their service lane in some instances. There are also options to print recall disclosure forms on sold vehicles. It has everything a dealer needs. There are a lot of possibilities.”
Additionally, all recall information obtained by Recall Check is tracked across several reports dealerships can access at their leisure.
