Have you ever worked really hard on a goal, and someone else gets all the credit? You’re not alone, your marketing channels feel the same way!

More often than not, a few different campaigns lead to a consumer’s conversion. But Google only gives credit to the last campaign they clicked on before the goal was completed.

This week on Auto Marketing Now, Brian Pasch shows dealers how to get the “bigger picture” on how consumers shop.

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A conversion is when a consumer completes a desired action or goal such as a dealership walk-in, a drive in for an oil change, a lead form completion, etc. But conversions don’t have to be leads.

A conversion can be the completion of any goal such as viewing a video or visiting a special offer page. Let’s say that a shopper clicks on a Google AdWords campaign, then sees your ad on Facebook and clicks on it as well. From here, they fill out a lead form.

Last click contribution ignores all of the goal completions that lead to the conversion. Therefore, only the Facebook advertisement would get credit, even though the Google AdWords campaign assisted this conversion. All aspects of your marketing must be tracked in order to optimize your marketing budget and determine what is, and isn’t working.

Many dealers fail to track phone calls, which is quite easy using dynamic number insertions. Dynamic number insertion must be used for all of your controlled traffic, including Facebook, twitter, email, etc. You cannot accurately analyze your assisted conversions if you are not tracking all conversions that your marketing dollars generate, even phone calls.

Chat and SMS platforms must also be set to trigger a goal or event in Google Analytics so that you can see when they assist a conversion.

As for fixed operations, you cannot see how many online appointments are triggered from your marketing dollars. The scheduler is a black hole for auto dealers because iFrame applications are website pages inside of your website. Therefore, this platform acts as a marketing blind spot.

To solve these issues and give credit to the multiple touch points along the shopper journey you must set multi-channel funnels. Here’s how to view your assisted conversions in Google Analytics:

First log in, then click on conversions. Scroll down on the page and click on “assisted conversions.” The default channels will appear, yet these are not very helpful. To add custom channels, click on “channel groupings.” Then click on “Copy MCK Channel Grouping Template” as shown below.

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You will see that you must first name it, then define the new channels appropriately. For example, name it CarGurus. Then to define the rules select source, contains, and then enter CarGurus.com as shown below. This will show you all instances in which CarGurus was a part of the shopper’s path to purchase.

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Without analyzing assisted conversions, you are cutting out a large amount of data. This data gives insights on which budget allocations should be increased, or decreased.

Last click attribution will blind you in your marketing decisions. It is important to understand which campaigns are helping you in your engagement with consumers, and which aren’t.

Your marketing platforms work hard to get you the conversions you long for, so don’t you think it’s time we start giving them credit?

For more on Automotive Digital Marketing, be sure to tune into Auto Marketing Now for the latest industry strategies.

About the Author

PCG Digital Marketing is an award winning digital agency headquartered in Eatontown, NJ. We help our clients get found online through innovative search, social and online advertising campaigns.