With the acceleration of digital adoption in recent years, we’ve found that 89% of car buyers are making purchase decisions based on the vehicles they find online. Your dealership is getting left behind if it doesn’t capitalize on the latest technologies to help online customers connect with your current inventory of vehicles.
Google’s VEHICLE LISTING ADS (VLA’S) are Max Connect’s latest digital product offering, boasting a high return on investment by attracting more qualified leads. VLA’s are a performance focused online ad format which enables auto advertisers to promote their entire inventory of used vehicles to in-market customers. Though they are only available for used vehicle offerings at the moment, Google has told us that they will be available for new vehicle inventory at a later date.
How Do VLA’s Work?
VLA’s appear at the top of user search feeds when they enter key words that are relevant to one or more of your current vehicles. For example, if a customer searches for a 2015 Ford Focus, the top of their search results page will be populated with several content-rich vehicle ads that each include an image of the vehicle along with details like make, model, and price. After clicking on one of the ads, the customer will be directed to the Vehicle Detail Page (VDP) where they can learn more about the car and continue their journey to purchase.
Why Are VLA’s so Effective?
VLA’s are dynamically linked to your inventory of vehicles, which means that your dealership only advertises vehicles that are concurrent with available offerings. This is critical for dealerships that are wanting to maximize every marketing dollar. With low microchip supply causing inventory shortages and high demand in the automotive industry, it has never been more important to only advertise for available vehicle offerings. Compared to traditional forms of advertising, VLA’s solve the problem of circulating marketing material for “sold out” offerings. As soon as a vehicle is sold, VLA’s for that vehicle discontinue circulation online.
The Benefits of VLA’s
Max Connect is determined to place your VLA’s in front of the highest-converting customers by ensuring that your listings are optimized to match customer searches. A few key benefits of deploying VLA’s with Max Connect’s assistance include:
1. More Qualified Leads: Match high-converting customers with relevant vehicle offerings by using key information and visuals to initiate interest.
2. Increased Exposure: VLA’s fit well into an omnichannel campaign and allow your dealership to garner increased exposure and higher conversions.
3. Automated Targeting: Based on key word searches, customers are automatically matched with vehicle offerings that they are likely to review.
Max Connect has already launched many VLA Campaigns, with 4 of our Automotive clients achieving the following results in just 10 days:
Combined with the digital expertise of Max Connect, VLA's are the next step for your dealership's continued growth. Let us help your dealership harness the power of VLA's and outperform your competitors.
Get started today by contacting our Head of Automotive at rr@maxconnect.com or learn more by getting our one pager here.