A Guide to Customer Data Collection for Car Dealership Businesses

With careful planning, a car dealership can be a lucrative business model. In fact, experts report that the average turnover of a car dealership is about $74 million per year. That said, making big bucks takes effort. One thing you can do to improve your profits? Get to know your customers. When you know who you’re selling to, you can better tailor your products and services. Gathering customer data and analyzing it is one way to get to know your target audience. Read on to learn how car dealerships can leverage customer data collection.

Understand the benefits of customer data collection for car dealerships

Customer data collection requires time, effort, and financial investment. For example, if you invest in a customer relationship management tool or similar softwares, you’ll have to pay money. You may be wondering if it’s worth all the effort. Rest assured, data collection can benefit your business in many ways. You can better understand customer behavior, improve decision-making, finetune your marketing efforts, and target potential customers more effectively. All of this contributes to increased turnover and greater profits.

Know what types of data are worth collecting

Not all data is created equal. The type of data that’s relevant depends on the business type. As a car dealership, the data you focus on may be different from what you’d collect if you ran a marketing agency or a gym. For car dealerships, historic customer data, specifically vehicle purchasing background, is one key point. Visitor demographics, including age, salary, and gender, are likewise useful data. Finally, you want to consider the cost of ownership for cars. This data will allow you to better match the right customer with the right vehicle.

Understand the local laws surrounding data collection

Every country has its own laws regulating the collection, storage, and transmission of customer data. For example, most countries have laws in place that ban you from passing on any customer data you’ve collected to third parties. Osano provides a starter guide to data privacy laws that are worth consulting. In the U.S., you want to refer to the American Data Privacy Protection Act. The Federal Trade Commission also has guidelines for protecting consumer data, like implementing sufficient security measures to protect data.

Try a customer data platform to organize and analyze data

Customer data can be collected in various ways, from surveys to focus groups. Once you get that data, you want to organize it, making it easier to analyze. A customer data platform, CDP, is the answer. This gives you a unified view of your customers, giving you deeper insights into who they are and how to target them. Look for a CDP that can build customer profiles based on the data you collect and that offers real-time analytics. Explore your options related to CDP – customer data platform.

Organize data to share with essential employees and consultants

Once you get your data, you still need to organize it—for example, by creating client profiles. This is especially important if you want your data to be meaningful to employees and consultants. For example, you might hire a car dealership marketing agency like Shawn Ryder Digital to help boost your business. They can use customer data you’ve collected to craft marketing campaigns that are tailored specifically to your ideal customer.

Running a car dealership can be a fun and lucrative way to earn a living. The right customer research can take your business to the next level. For example, with customer data, a marketing agency can better tailor your ads. The above guide has some tips and tools, like a CDP, to help you make the most of customer data collection.

Visit the blog for more resources to help your car dealership thrive.