Shift Magazine - February 2020 - 14

MACHINE

INTELLIGENCE
Auto marketing's sharp new tool
BY JACK KEEBLER

t never sleeps. It doesn't need lunch. And it's among the
doesn't replace dealership staff but rather adds muscle to efforts
sharpest marketing tools in a dealer's arsenal.
by existing staff with personalized sales and service messaging.
Armed with artificial intelligence, a dealership can laser
More than 1,500 dealers subscribe monthly to Outsell's service.
in on the right consumers at the right time, based on how
REVITALIZING LEADS
shoppers click - or don't - and hit them with different kinds
"We work with the reps at the stores and in conjunction with their
of crafted messages that are written, sent, responded to and
marketing efforts to pursue unsold leads," said Valerie Vallancourt,
tracked by computers and marketing software.
Outsell's vice president of marketing. "We then send [the dealMarketing backed by AI can reach out with emails, on social
ers] the alerts directly. We engage with all their
media and via direct mail to activate previous
consumers through CRM and DMS (customer
buyers, fill dealership service bays and fire up
relationship management and dealership mannew prospects.
agement system software). And that revitalizes
Retailers find it cost-effective and profitable
those previous leads."
to use AI's targeted marketing and massive
Vallancourt describes the secret sauce as
number-crunching capability vs. grunt tac"AI-driven marketing software, like Amazon or
tics, such as hiring more staff, or scattershot
Netflix."
media, such as TV, print or paid search.
Not all dealers, however, are jumping in, she
In a 2019 study by Cox Automotive, 68 persaid. "People are resistant to change," she
cent of consumers indicated that they didn't
said. "But there are innovators in this space.
mind dealers using personalization technolAnd those are the ones winning. For some
ogy "if it improves the overall vehicle-buying
dealers, it's meant that after utilizing AI-driven
experience."
marketing automation for three-plus years,
In fact, 76 percent of consumers expect
Valerie Vallancourt,
each consumer in a dealer's owner base can
their dealer to know something about them
VP of marketing, Outsell
become over 65 percent more valuable, transbefore they walk onto the showroom floor,
lating to greater than $1 million in gross profit annually."
Cox said. Despite that, Cox also found that only half of dealers
Vallancourt says her firm is in contact at least every month
knew "a lot" about automation and AI.
with dealer staff or the dealer group's marketing department.
Enter the third-party vendors. One on the leading edge of
The contact includes detailed reporting about consumers'
dealership AI is Outsell, a Minneapolis-based marketing firm. It

People are
resistant to change.
But there are
innovators
in this space.
And those are the
ones winning.

shift * february 2020

Shift Magazine - February 2020

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