Traditional marketers in the auto industry typically focus only on a last-click model.
This means that a lot of value in ads and user attribution can go unmeasured. Not only is it important to note the missing attribution, but what is less discussed and more critical is the value lost when using a cookies-based world to measure across devices. With cookies, mobile attribution is a black hole which can be problematic in a world dominated by mobile use. Regardless of the attribution model used, if you cannot report on cross-device behavior, your ROI will be wrong.
So how do you measure cross-device when a person’s online action is not the last touch before the car purchase? At Facebook, we are working on a way for dealerships to tie their car sales and service appointments back to their Facebook ads, no matter what device is used.
Facebook recently launched a product called Offline Conversions, which is a measurement tool that provides insight into customers who have seen an ad online and then taken an action offline. With offline conversions, dealerships can connect their database systems (such as CRM or POS systems) to their Facebook advertising account to better understand offline events that are not captured by the Facebook Pixel or SDK. Or they can upload their sales data manually like you would for a manual custom audience upload. By connecting offline information to Facebook in a privacy-safe setting, a dealership can unlock the following:
Measurement of metal moved, not clicks received: Gain access to reporting that shows the number of people who have seen your ads and bought a vehicle (or service) in ads reporting and Facebook analytics.
Targeting for the people who matter to you: Create custom audiences based on offline events (such as car purchasers), and reach similar audiences to your best offline customers using lookalike audiences.
There are no eligibility restrictions for offline conversions measurement, and it is not limited to a single objective, placement or creative format. It can also measure across all devices your campaigns are running on, thus accurately measuring the full ROI of your digital ads on Facebook to metal moved off the lot.
Offline conversions has already shown value to many dealerships who only measured on last click or thought that just clicks on an ad painted the right picture. Facebook success stories such as TurnKey Marketing has seen a 3X+ return on ad spend with dealerships that use offline conversions, and now those dealerships no longer consider digital attribution on Facebook unattainable.
TurnKey Marketing is a Southern California marketing and advertising agency that has a strong focus on automotive dealerships. While they are very effective and active users of the Facebook platform, there wasn’t a way for TurnKey or other advertisers to precisely measure the return on investment from Facebook ads to offline sales. TurnKey Marketing wanted to measure the precise number of offline sales each Facebook ad achieved for its clients to help assure them they were getting a measurable return on investment. To better understand the effectiveness of the various ad campaigns and their return on ad spend, TurnKey Marketing used offline conversions.
Using Business Manager, TurnKey Marketing assigned an offline conversion event to track the dealerships’ ad accounts. As their campaigns ran, each dealership uploaded offline event data, such as lists of purchasers, to see how those offline events connected to people who saw their ads. The agency worked with the different dealerships to use their CRM systems and retarget lost prospects and missed opportunities. TurnKey Marketing used each region’s market share reports to create custom ads based on consumer sales by zip codes.
The results with using offline conversions led to positive ROI for all dealerships. In the month of November 2017, Moss Bros Auto Group was able to attribute 77 vehicles sold and 717 closed repair orders to their Facebook campaigns, resulting in a 3x return on ad spend. Huntington Beach Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM achieved 31 vehicles sold and 102 closed repair orders with a 2x return on ad spend. Galpin Motors attributed 221 vehicles sold and 1,027 closed repair orders resulting in a 3x return on ad spend.
These are a few examples of dealerships who took advantage of Facebook’s offline conversions through TurnKey Marketing, who has now made offline conversions a part of their always on Facebook strategy. Susan Anderson from Moss Bros Auto said that “Facebook has given us an effective way to retarget customers in market to buy a new vehicle. In addition, we are able to use data matching to measure success. Digital advertising is no longer a guessing game. We have real sales attribution.”
When it comes to tracking how your Facebook ads move metal, the answer is offline conversions. Your ads drive more value than clicks, and it’s time you measured it to prove your dealership’s worth within the digital landscape.
Source: TurnKey Marketing Case Study: https://www.facebook.com/business/success/turnkey-marketing