Automotive Marketing Strategy in 2022 | Insider

Nicolas Algoedt

Dec 12, 2017

Nicolas Algoedt

Dec 12, 2017

The automotive industry slowdown over the last few years can be attributed to a variety of factors – shifts in consumer behaviors, including a preference for greener options, the rise of ride-hailing services, and the pandemic are examples. But there is still hope for the industry, with research showing that by 2030, the global automotive industry is expected to grow to around nine trillion dollars. 

A survey by McKinsey indicates that people around the world are ready to buy cars again, with consumers’ intent to purchase back to their pre-pandemic levels. The survey also found that people are less inclined to interact with sellers at car dealerships, and increasingly consider online buying as a viable option. With a personalized automotive marketing strategy, brands can build relationships that encourage trust and loyalty, driving the customer towards a purchase.

In the digital era, the purchase journeys of automotive customers begin online, with prospective buyers carrying out intensive research to compare models, prices, and features. Interestingly, studies reveal that the average customer spends 33% of this research time on their mobile device.

The always-connected customer presents many opportunities for automotive brands to market and make their pitch. In this blog, we outline the top automotive marketing strategies to help you tackle some of the biggest challenges faced by automotive marketers, and reveal  ways to optimize your digital channels to improve the  metric that makes all the difference. 

Table of Contents
  1. The Challenges

  2. The Metric to Watch

  3. Insider’s Strategies to Drive Lead Collection

  4. What’s after-lead collection?

The Challenges

1. Consensual data collection without cookies 

The end of cookies is pending. Now is the time for brands to be transparent about data collection,showing customers why they would benefit from sharing their information with you. Insider runs on first-party data and invites personalization for its clients’ website traffic, meaning you get all the benefits of cookies, and with the consent of users who crave personalized experiences as they browse online.

2. Appeasing the omnichannel customer

A customer sentiment survey by CarGurus found that before the pandemic, 32% of car buyers were open to buying online. Now, that number has increased to 61%. As customers carry out their research online, automotive brands can make use of tools like chatbots, trigger notifications, and other digital experiences to keep their products top of mind  and bridge the gap between the offline and the online experience.

3. A seamless experience from website to dealer

A challenge unique to the automotive industry is the disconnect between headquarters and dealerships. The brands’ websites are privy to useful customer information that can help dealers offer truly personalized service when a customer walks into their showroom. Creating unified customer profiles that gather data from various channels to paint a detailed picture of the person can give salespeople the ability to engage meaningfully with customers, driving them towards a purchase.

The Metric to Watch

There has been a shift in buying behavior, with digital channels often being the first step in a customer’s journey towards purchasing a vehicle. Even as consumers are becoming more open to digital experiences, there is still a preference for the final decision to be made offline, at a dealership, with a thorough in-store experience.

However, CarGuru’s sentiment study showed that 66% of potential buyers prefer contactless services to book appointments, at-home test drives, and delivery of their purchased vehicle. Therefore, the key metric that marketers need to keep their eyes on is lead collection.

Read on for our top automotive marketing strategies to catapult your lead collection and some inspiring use cases from our partners who have cracked the code of growth through personalized digital experiences.

Insider’s Strategies to Drive Lead Collection

1. Upgrading the mobile experience with InStory

Mobile devices make it possible for users to interact with brands in a multitude of ways, and one of the most popular formats is Stories. These are full-screen, vertical photos, images, and text displayed on your website to highlight information in an easily digestible manner, conveying exciting offers, and leading customers to pages with detailed information and form fill-ups.

Here is how Lexus Al-Futtaim witnessed a surge in lead collection by 104% using Insider’s InStory. 

2. Segmentation

There are probably as many types of car buyers as there are cars themselves. People visiting your website and accessing your digital channels each have their own interests and preferences; it’s no longer enough to simply offer the same marketing message to everybody. With Insider’s advanced segmentation, it’s possible to categorize people according to criteria that you decide, and approach marketing with nuance and relevant messaging that is apt for each segment.

Toyota employed Insider’s visitor segmentation on their website, displaying fully customized home pages for each segment, and was able to improve redirects to their car model detail pages by 54%.

3. Exit-intent overlays

Exit-intent technology is incredibly effective in getting the attention of users just before they leave the website or mobile app. Delivering a convincing message at this crucial point, asking for customers to share their contact information for your sales team to get back to them, can be a successful way to collect lead generation, as many of Insider’s automotive partners have discovered.

In one scenario, Insider’s exit-intent technology achieved 120% uplift in form fills for test drives for the French carmaker, Peugot.

What’s after-lead collection?

Use the segmented customer data available from Insider’s platform to equip your salespeople with the right kind of customer information to help them make that sale! 

Get in touch with us to learn how Insider can help you establish an effective lead collection strategy. 


Nicolas is VP of Marketing EMEA at Insider. Passionate about new technologies and e-commerce, Nicolas has held various position at leading e-commerce and tech companies including Groupon, Microsoft and Bwin.