Studies show that nearly 90% of customers abandon shopping carts and don’t complete their purchases. This phenomenon isn’t exclusive to traditional eCommerce; it also occurs in car dealerships, both in the context of online parts sales and more broadly when potential customers express interest in a vehicle, request a quote, or begin the financing process, but do not follow through with a purchase or dealership visit.

While it might seem like these are lost sales, that’s not necessarily the case. A customer who has expressed interest but has not completed a purchase or who has left items in their online cart is not always a lost opportunity. In fact, setting up an email strategy to re-engage these customers can be an effective way to reclaim potential sales.

As more and more customers turn to the internet to research and shop for vehicles and parts, it’s easy for a dealership to lose potential sales to competitors. That’s why follow-up email campaigns and abandoned cart recovery strategies are an essential part of the sales cycle for modern dealerships. 

The question is, how do you set up a successful email campaign strategy to re-engage customers who have shown interest but have not yet made a purchase, or who have left items in their online cart?

Get Their Email

You can’t have an effective email campaign without anyone to email. Make sure the customer’s email address is saved automatically when they add parts to their online shopping cart, request a quote for a vehicle, or submit their contact information elsewhere on your site.

Often, you can request their email along with their billing address when they’re purchasing parts or requesting a quote. Just remember that most customers, especially first-time visitors, do not want to be forced to create an account. Most online shoppers will abandon their purchase if they need an account in order to continue. Give them options to “check out as a guest” or “save information for later.”

When you do ask for their email, ensure them that they will not be bothered by constant spam. Their email will only be used for order-related information or follow-ups on their expressed interest unless they choose to subscribe to a regular newsletter. You want to come across as a company they can trust. Constant emailing will automatically put you in their spam folder.

Act Fast

The majority of visitors to your website do intend to buy. Whether they’re adding parts to an online cart or expressing interest in a vehicle, most end up making a purchase elsewhere within 24 hours if they don’t complete the purchase on your site. This means you need to act fast. Timing matters. 

If they abandon their cart, send the first email in less than an hour. Studies have shown that abandoned cart recovery emails of this nature get a 45% open rate. Close to 11% of customers will make a final purchase. Not only does quick timing help decrease bounce rates, but it also represents great customer service.

Start Simple

You don’t need to worry about the more sophisticated details immediately. It’s best to start simple and test the waters before jumping into complicated, personalized, and automated emails. Even a simple email reminder can still be effective, whether it’s reminding a customer about the parts in their online cart or the vehicle they expressed interest in, and it’s better than having no communication at all.

Once you’ve got a simple template established, you can start using it to test and refine your strategy. From here, you can start looking for trends among your abandoned cart customers. You can fine-tune different types of abandoned cart emails to better serve their interests.

Set Up Your Campaign 

A standard three-part email campaign is a good building block. When setting up your email campaign, it’s important to adhere to a simple structure that you can refine through audience targeting. 

The first email should be sent that same day. List the parts they left in their online cart or the vehicle they expressed interest in, and ask if they need help completing the transaction. Do they need technical help? Are they confused? Do they have any questions about the parts or vehicle?

Encourage them to contact customer support for clarification. Make sure to include useful information, like a link back to their cart or the vehicle listing, your parts department’s or sales team’s contact information, and details relating to the part. 

The second email should be sent about 24 hours after the first one. Gently remind the customer that you are “holding” their items or that the vehicle they were interested in. Again, keep the information relevant, include contact details, and encourage communication.

During the second or third email, you can also remind the customer of any sales offers running at the time. For example, if your site offers free shipping on any order over $50 and your customer’s cart surpasses that, remind a customer that their order qualifies for free shipping. Or, if there are any special promotions or financing deals available for the vehicle they’re interested in, make sure to mention those.

The third email should be sent between five and seven days after the second email. This email is a “last chance” to claim their items or to take advantage of any special offers related to the vehicle they’re interested in. You can give a follow-up offer like a discount on large orders or free shipping (if not already offered), but you don’t want your customers to expect a discount before buying. This might be something you save for your most loyal customers.

This is the step in the process where you can experiment with your messaging. Determine what call to action resonates best with your customers. Identify good email subject lines and email copy that improves customer experience.

Track Your Metrics

It’s not enough to send out these emails and hope for the best. It’s essential to measure and track your results. Realize that some strategies will work better than others for certain customers, whether they’re abandoning carts or expressing interest without following through.  

Experiment with the timing of when emails are sent out. Maybe you’ll find that a third email within five days works better than seven days. Does it help if you include images? Does it help if you change the email subject line? How about offering a small discount in the second email and a larger one in the third?

Don’t be afraid to test different strategies based on this information. How many soft bounces occurred? Did certain email copy increase opens of specific campaigns? How large or small was your email list? Understanding your email marketing metrics will help you craft better campaigns in the future.

Don’t Lose Sales on Full Shopping Carts

Capturing customers that are ready to buy doesn’t have to be a challenge. Whether they’ve filled an online shopping cart with parts or expressed interest in a vehicle, with the right strategy in place, you can recover abandoned cart customers, turn them into repeat buyers, and boost your parts sales. 

Capturing their business is only half of the battle. Keeping them happy is the other half. How can you ensure that your customer satisfaction rate is at its peak performance? Get our free checklist to increase CSI scores in the dealership and streamline your customer service. 

Marketing your dealership is fast-paced. You don’t have time, money, or effort to continually learn the latest marketing trends and put them into action.

We often forget to stop and listen to what our customers are truly saying because we’re too strapped for time.

Here are some tools other car dealerships use to track their customers’ wants and needs.

We know that what works for the dealership down the street won’t always work for you, so here are 7 ways to listen to your customers.

You decide which might be right for your dealership.

1. Set Google Alerts for trending topics and industry stats

Knowing what your shoppers think is huge, of course, but ideally, you’ll know what they want BEFORE they have to tell you.

That means taking a proactive approach. Watch out for upcoming industry trends and keep up-to-date on the latest technology.

One HUGE trend you don’t want to miss: Buying parts online.

If you’re listening to customers at the service and parts counters, you’ll see that they want to buy OEM parts and accessories online.

• • eCommerce for parts & accessories is predicted to hit $22 BILLION by the end of the year. (Source: Hedges & Company)

These stats prove people are searching for AND buying parts online. Your dealership customers increasingly want to buy parts OEM online without going to the aftermarket.

The problem is that most dealership websites don’t have the option to buy the part online, or it’s a poor experience to find the right part you need.

That’s where RevolutionParts comes in!

We deliver great shopping experiences for your customers. We also make selling online easy and profitable for the parts department.

Just fulfill orders and collect payment from searching and ready-to-buy shoppers!

2. Install behavior-tracking software on your website

This might sound intimidating, but it’s actually an easy and fun way to visually see what your customers care about on your website.

Software like HotJar and other heatmap-tracking options are a fantastic way to see what your customers care about.

These tools can see where customers are clicking, where they’re getting stuck, and which parts of the page interest them the most.

Even without written feedback, this can provide valuable feedback on how to move things around and help direct shoppers toward making a purchase.

We won’t spend a lot of time comparing the options, but here are a few you can try:

• HotJar
• Inspectlet
• FullStory

Typically, you’ll just have to paste a snippet of code into your site.

RevolutionParts let you add code to the site header/footers, so it’s an easy add for your auto parts web store!

3. Allow website testimonials and product reviews

Why not provide a place for shoppers to leave their feedback? If you can allow customer feedback on your very own website, do it!

Customers will feel like their feedback is valued, you get to hear their thoughts, and other shoppers will see you as more reputable.

This is where RevolutionParts clients really have it easy!

Web Stores with RevolutionParts have a testimonial feature that’s as easy as clicking “on.” Then voila – shoppers can share their experience!

We also have a partnership with Yotpo, the #1 review software on the market. With the integration, shoppers can leave product reviews.

It’s GREAT for accessories, especially since these reviews can convince other shoppers to buy.

4. Send out a customer satisfaction survey

Sometimes, you just have to ask.

Send out a feedback survey! To encourage shoppers to participate, you can offer an incentive.

The incentive doesn’t have to cost you much, either. Participants can be entered into a monthly drawing or receive a discount on their next order.

When you write the feedback survey, keep the questions simple. It’s always better to offer multiple-choice or drop-down menu options.

Open-ended text boxes are more work, so shoppers are less likely to answer.

Again, you have a lot of choices. Here’s somewhere to start:

• BirdEye
• Qualtrics
• Wootric

5. Check dealership review sites

You probably already know this one, like the back of your hand. We’re going to include it anyway, just for the completionists’ sake.

It’s worth it to keep an eye on as many review sites as possible.

Shoppers aren’t going to take the time to leave their reviews everywhere — they’ll probably take the “one and done” approach.

Some of your options:

• DealerRater
• Car Dealer Check
• Cars.com
• Edmunds
• Kelley Blue Book

6. Check your social media page

This is just one place online where customers come right to you! Are you checking for new comments and direct messages on a regular basis?

You’re thinking, how can I manage another channel when I’m already pressed for time? We get it; you have a LOT on your plate.

So it makes sense if you can’t check Facebook, Twitter, and others as often as you’d like to.

But it’s such an important feedback tool!

Many shoppers use social media to get in touch with the businesses they interact with since it’s more of a public, casual forum compared to a direct email.

With a tool like Hootsuite, you can connect all your accounts to one place, so it’s easier to stay on track with everything.

7. Check social media tags or mentions

Instead of commenting on your page, some people will complain on their own page. Sometimes they’ll tag your dealership, but other times they won’t.

It can take a little more digging to find comments like these, but since they’re left on the customer’s personal page, you may find that they’re more honest about the experience.

Most social media platforms will have a search option. Simply search the name of your dealership and see what comes up.

You can also try searching abbreviations or short versions of your name since not all customers will want to type out the full dealership title.

Bottom Line

The fast-paced nature of marketing your dealership doesn’t have to mean missing out on understanding your customers’ needs.

By leveraging tools like Google Alerts, behavior-tracking software, customer testimonials, satisfaction surveys, dealership review sites, and social media, you can stay attuned to your customers’ wants and needs.

Remember, each dealership is unique, and what works for one may not work for another.

Therefore, choosing the tools and strategies that best align with your dealership’s goals and customer base is crucial.

The key to successful marketing is not just speaking but listening.

By tuning into your customers, you can create marketing strategies that truly resonate with them and drive your dealership’s growth.

So, take a moment to listen – your customers are speaking, and what they have to say could transform your dealership.

Ready to dive into some more marketing tactics? Download our Marketing Toolkit below to discover how to improve marketing in your parts department.

Building brand authority for a dealership means establishing your dealership as a trusted, reliable, and knowledgeable source within the automotive industry. It involves creating a strong and recognizable brand identity reflecting your values, expertise, and commitment to exceptional service and products. 

By building brand authority, your dealership can earn credibility and trust from existing and potential customers, leading to increased customer loyalty, more referrals, and, ultimately, higher sales and revenue. That being said, establishing brand authority online is easier said than done. An excellent place to start is in the parts department.

The parts department can help build value for your customers and strengthen your brand identity by directly engaging with customers online and participating in thought leadership tactics.

How Can The Parts Department Help? 

Every department at the dealership can contribute to its brand identity, but the parts department is often the last in mind. The immediate strategy is often to leverage the sales department to engage consumers with the dealership.  While new vehicle sales are an important tactic for driving consumer engagement, it’s not the only one available to your dealership. 

Your parts department is a strong source of information that can help build your dealership’s credibility and trustworthiness. Plus, it is often the first point of contact for many customers. 

With the right tactics in place, your parts department can actually be a top source of customer engagement.  

Tactics for Building Brand Authority

When building your dealership’s brand image, what words do you want your customers to associate with you? Professional and dependable, or maybe fun and exciting? 

Whatever your brand image may be, you can leverage a lot of power when establishing it through your parts department. You can leverage the parts department in many ways to help build your brand’s online presence. However, you should keep these top three methods in mind.  

Create Engaging Original Content

Part of establishing a strong brand authority is credibility. What makes your dealership better than others? What makes an industry leader? Why should people invest their time, money, and trust in your dealership? 

To build credibility among your customers, you need to give them something that reinforces a sense of trust and value. This is where content creation comes into play. Creating original, engaging content can help you establish your credibility among your customers. It gets them interested in what you have to offer and nurtures them into repeat buyers.

Communicate With Customers Often 

Brand authority encompasses more than just getting your name out there. It also includes establishing quality relationships with your customer base. Up to 54% of parts sales at the dealership come from return buyers. Fostering customer loyalty is crucial to growing your dealership’s parts business. 

A strong customer comms strategy is the best way to foster customer loyalty and build brand authority simultaneously. It’s not enough to serve them content they might be interested in. You also need to streamline their buying process as much as possible. This is where customer communication strategies really come into play. 

What types of customer comms should your parts department use?

• Email Campaigns: Send regular emails to customers to let them know what’s happening in your dealership. It could be upcoming sales events, customer discounts, or even holiday messages.

• SMS Comms: Use SMS comms to set up appointments, reminders, follow-ups, and check-ups for customers and keep them on track for parts orders and maintenance services.

• Direct Feedback: Get feedback directly from your customers through online reviews, surveys, and testimonials to better understand how your customers feel.

Don’t Forget The Power of Your Local Network

Sometimes the best thing your parts department can do is get a shining endorsement from other local businesses. Whether that’s the mechanic shop on the corner or even a sister dealership, consumers trust businesses that are endorsed by other businesses, especially on the local level. 

Use your parts department to diversify your network within your local area. Get feedback from wholesale customers and share their stories on your website, in emails, and on social media platforms.

You can build a compelling, powerful story that resonates with all your customer types. Plus, it acts as a good business for other small businesses in your local area. It’s a win-win.   

Make Your Parts Department Your Brand Anchor

Your parts department can become a powerful tool in establishing your dealership’s online brand presence. By creating original content, communicating with customers often, and utilizing your local network to build credibility, you can leverage your parts department’s marketing potential to help drive revenue and increase return business. 

Ready to take the next step toward turning your parts department into the number one revenue stream at the dealership? Take a look at our popular eBook, “Convince Your Boss to Sell Parts Online,” for top tips to convince your GM about the power of auto parts eCommerce.

High-quality digital marketing strategies are essential as more dealerships take their business online, especially when selling parts online. One fundamental strategy that is often overlooked in the parts department is content marketing, which has become a powerful tool for businesses to engage with customers and stimulate growth. 

This strategic approach, which involves creating and promoting valuable content, has skyrocketed in popularity due to its ability to foster customer engagement and lead generation. Incorporating content marketing into your parts department’s marketing strategy can be highly beneficial for the dealership by helping boost brand awareness, increase revenue, and improve lead generation.

Discover how content marketing for the parts department can unlock your dealership’s online potential and propel you toward success in today’s highly competitive market.

What is Content Marketing for Parts?

Content marketing for the parts department is a marketing approach in which dealerships can promote the sale of automotive parts and accessories through the distribution of valuable and engaging content. Creating consumable content has become one of the best ways to establish trust with consumers, drive customer engagement, and ultimately make more sales. 

Content marketing has become popular over the years, specifically for the wide range of content types that can be created to promote products and services.  The parts department can educate and inform customers about their products, services, and industry trends by utilizing various content marketing tactics.

Top Content Marketing Tactics

Content marketing covers a lot of different things. When you think of content marketing, you might think of blog posts, news articles, press releases, etc. However, content marketing can include videos, social media posts, webinars, podcasts, and much more. Using a variety of content types and tactics can help you reach as large a user base as possible. 

So what content marketing approaches should your dealership take?

Best Practices for Ramping up Content Marketing

Leveraging content marketing at the dealership takes work, testing, and patience. It doesn’t just immediately produce results overnight. However, there are a few best practices you can refer to when ramping up your content marketing strategy. 

Get More Out of Your Marketing

Content marketing is a powerful and versatile tool that can significantly benefit your dealership’s parts department. You can establish a strong online presence and drive meaningful engagement with your target audience by leveraging various content marketing tactics, such as thought leadership content, social media content, video content, SEO, and content advertising. 

As you navigate the digital landscape, remember to align your content with your brand, test different content types, and utilize your network to spread the word. By implementing these best practices, your dealership can harness the full potential of content marketing to improve brand visibility, foster customer relationships, and ultimately increase revenue. 

Looking for other ways to expand your online presence and use digital marketing more effectively? Download our Parts eCommerce Marketing Toolkit to bring digital marketing to your parts department.

It might seem reasonable to assume that online marketing is only good for expanding nationally. While it’s true that the digital age makes the world a little smaller, online marketing can be just as effective in growing your business locally. 

The average dealership relies heavily on its local market. While many dealerships are trying to find ways to expand their parts business from coast to coast, they don’t want to completely abandon their local customers either. However, digital marketing can be just as effective in growing your local business, depending on how you use it. 

So how can digital marketing techniques typically used for rapidly expanding businesses be applied to the corner dealer looking to grab more of their local customers? 

Here are five tactics you can use to grow your local parts business.

Use Local Segmentation For Your Ads

When advertising online, no matter what platform you use, segmenting your audience based on location is key to growing your local customer base. Look at your segmentation options, whether you’re running shopping, social media, or video ads on streaming services. If you can segment your audience based on location or, even better, zip code, you serve highly targeted ads to those customers and only those customers. 

If your dealership is in Massachusetts, you won’t have to set up an ad campaign with blanket coverage for someone in California. This also helps you ensure that you’re only paying for customers that are actually going to convert, given their proximity to your dealership. 

Then–Retarget Those Ads

Ad retargeting is one of the most effective marketing tactics online. Ad retargeting is exactly what it sounds like. You take ads you’ve already run and retarget them to get in front of certain people. If you advertise across multiple digital channels, this can help you set up a healthy marketing mix.

The great thing is you can set up these retargeting ads to capture local customers.

Here are a few ways you can set up retargeting ads:

• Retarget to users who didn’t engage with your ad. 
• Retarget to users that clicked your ad but didn’t convert. 
• Retarget to users that have items in their cart but have not purchased.

Ad retargeting with these approaches in mind gives you a few benefits. One, it helps you turn more leads into customers. Two, it helps reinforce your brand to online customers without additional work (redesigning ads or resetting campaigns). Three, it helps you determine what messaging resonates with certain types of customers and what doesn’t. It’s a great market research tool.

When developing your ad retargeting strategy, there are a few key things to keep in mind.

#1 – Break down your target audiences into different stages (i.e., abandoned cart audiences, engagement but no conversion audiences, etc.).

#2 – Test your ad campaigns before you run them. If your messaging isn’t strong enough from the beginning, odds are you’re going to have more trouble retargeting ads down the line. 

#3 – Optimize your ads with the right CTA, ad budget, localization scope, and campaign length.

Brush Up Your SEO For “Near Me” Search

Another way to capture the attention of your local market is to optimize your website for the “near me” searches. You’ve probably seen this tactic used before.

A customer goes online and searches for the closest business to them. They type in “find a repair shop near me,” and in a millisecond, the search engine pulls up a list of businesses and sorts them by location. That person will then click on the business that’s closest to their area, and BAM! They’ve now got a lead. 

Your dealership can capitalize on this commonly used practice. Implementing local SEO strategies can help your parts department get onto that list. 

What strategies are best for your parts department to use for this approach?

Build Your Social Media Community

While social media can connect people from opposite ends of the globe in an instant, it can also be a great tool for growing your local customer base. Social media communities are some of the best ways to interact with your local market and grow your parts business in the process. It’s a great way to build brand awareness and get insights into your customers’ needs.

So how can you best use social media marketing to gain more local parts buyers?

Get The Most Out of Your Marketing 

Online marketing is not only beneficial for national expansion but also for growing your local parts business. You can effectively target your local audience by using local segmentation for ads, retargeting those ads, optimizing your website for “near me” searches, claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing, and utilizing local backlinks. 

Furthermore, social media can be a powerful tool to engage with your community and connect with local shops, auto experts, and enthusiasts. Employing these strategies will help you create a strong digital presence, boost your local SEO, and ultimately drive growth in your local parts business.

Interested in more information on digital marketing tactics to grow your national audience? Download our free Parts eCommerce Marketing Toolkit.

The automotive industry is experiencing a paradigm shift as digital retailing becomes integral to the customer journey. Selling car parts online has become more common in recent years. As a result, dealerships have a chance to improve their customer experience and increase their business in their online stores. Using the latest digital tactics when selling auto parts online is crucial to staying relevant and generating revenue.

How can automotive dealerships revolutionize their online customer experience? By focusing on simple user experience, utilizing digital marketing tools, and creating strong campaigns to grow and maintain their customer base.

Dive Into Digital Retailing with Mike Rich and Ted Ings

Attention to Detail Enhances the Customer Experience

Consumers have come to expect seamless, intuitive, and user-friendly experiences when shopping online. To meet these expectations, dealerships must prioritize simplicity and ease of use in their auto parts eCommerce websites.

Investing in a high-quality user experience (UX) is essential to stay relevant and acquiring new parts buyers. There are many competitors in the market, so it is important to stand out.

Paying attention to detail can significantly elevate the customer experience. By focusing on several key aspects, your parts department can create an engaging shopping environment that fosters customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Here are some essential elements of a simple user experience:

Responsive and Interactive Design: More than half of consumers purchasing parts today do so through mobile. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and adapts to different devices and screen sizes. User research also indicates that online consumers spend more time on websites with high interactivity and streamlined visual design.

High-Quality Product Images and Descriptions: Presenting customers with high-resolution images and comprehensive product descriptions can significantly impact their shopping experience. Accurate and up-to-date information helps customers feel more confident in their purchase decisions, increasing the likelihood of conversions. For example, a customer will be more likely to purchase a part if the listing provides a clear, quality image of what they are buying versus a schematic image—even if the first part costs a bit more.

Clear Navigation and Easy Search: Providing an intuitive user interface and a robust search function is crucial for helping customers find the products they’re looking for quickly and efficiently. Including features like VIN-based search and filtering options can streamline browsing and boost customer satisfaction.

Personalized Recommendations: By suggesting related parts or materials needed for installation, businesses can further enhance the customer experience. Offering bundled items or kits simplifies the buyer’s shopping experience and increases the retailer’s profits through upselling opportunities.

Streamlined Purchasing: Ensuring a smooth and secure checkout experience is paramount for retaining customers and promoting repeat business. Attention to detail in this area, such as offering multiple payment options and clear shipping information, can make the purchasing process hassle-free and encourage future transactions.

By focusing on these details, digital retailers can create a more enjoyable and efficient shopping experience for their customers, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates, increased customer retention, and a stronger online presence.

Harness Digital Marketing Tools to Drive Online Buyers

Let’s face it; traditional marketing methods no longer pack the same punch. However, digital marketing tools drive traffic and boost sales on your auto parts website. 

Leverage the power of SEO, PPC advertising, and social media marketing to increase your online visibility. This will draw in more potential customers.

SEO Implementation: Optimize your website and product listings with relevant keywords and high-quality content to improve your search engine rankings. This can help to drive organic traffic and increase auto parts sales.

PPC: Invest in targeted advertising campaigns on platforms like Google Ads to capture high-intent shoppers searching for auto parts online. Search ads are one of the highest drivers of organic site traffic across all industries.

Social Media: Engage with your audience on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Utilize paid social advertisements to reach potential customers who are interested in automotive content. These digital channels will help you establish your online presence on a national scale.

Using a combination of these elements can help you establish a strong digital marketing strategy.

Use Email Campaigns To Encourage Return Buyers

Email marketing campaigns are some of the most effective types of campaigns out there. Parts sellers looking to grow their customer base can use email marketing to create a strong brand identity online and communicate with buyers at every stage in their buying journey. Effective email marketing campaigns are critical for growing your customer base and maintaining long-term relationships.

Here are some strategies for creating strong email campaigns to drive parts sales and build customer loyalty:

Promotions and Discounts: Offer exclusive deals to new and returning customers. These can include things like free shipping, sales event discounts, and bundle deals. If you sell parts across multiple sales channels, you can offer promotions and discounts specific to each of them.

Cool Content: Digital media is an ocean of information, so cash in on it with original content. Produce high-quality blog posts, videos, infographics, and other types of engaging content. This will help to establish your dealership as an authority in the automotive industry.

Abandoned Cart Emails: Re-engage with previous website visitors who did not complete their purchases. Send reminder emails or discounts upon final purchase to get them to buy faster.

Reviews and Testimonials: Encourage customers to leave reviews on your website and social media channels. A high customer satisfaction rate will help you foster trust and credibility. Testimonials from customers can be a powerful tool to build your brand.

Email marketing is a powerful customer retention tool, so use it wisely.

The Right Digital Tools Can Set You Up For Success

Providing the best customer experience online is a necessity for dealerships selling auto parts online. Dealerships can drive growth and success in the competitive online market by focusing on a simple user experience. Leveraging digital marketing tools and creating strong campaigns will help attract and retain a loyal customer base. Embrace the digital revolution and transform the way you connect with your customers today.

Interested in learning more about marketing your online parts store? Download our free Parts eCommerce Marketing Toolkit.

As we begin 2023, the lasting effects of supply chain shortages, lowered new car sales, and the rising cost of steady parts and materials are still being felt. Experts tell us that these challenges will continue well into the year. 

Many dealerships today are experiencing stagnant revenue growth. While 2023 is expected to be filled with challenges, there are plenty of opportunities to help your dealership generate more revenue and scale its business. 

Here are the top five opportunities your dealership can take advantage of in 2023 to improve its sales growth.

Invest in Quality Digital Marketing 

Digital marketing is a must-have to succeed online. If your dealership has no online marketing presence, your customers won’t know you exist. To build the right marketing strategy, you must look at what digital tools and resources will work best for your department’s needs. 

Standard marketing tools like email marketing, pay-per-click ads, and SEO implementation are all great starting points for the dealership. However, to truly have an effective marketing strategy, you need to have the right messaging that you can implement across all of these tools. 

Going into 2023, dealerships should streamline their messaging to be more than just priced-focused. Focus on the dealership’s value across all departments, from easy online shopping to convenient delivery. Vehicle sales are important, and you want a solid marketing plan to sell more. 

Don’t forget about fixed ops! The parts department is a great place to grow revenue and increase your absorption rate, but if you don’t market your parts department effectively, you’ll miss out on revenue. Unfortunately, 23% of dealerships are not marketing their parts department, meaning they are not reaching many potential customers. Fortunately, dealers using RevolutionParts have access to a team of parts marketing specialists to help drive more traffic and conversions for their parts web store.

Modernize the Customer Experience

It’s no secret; online shopping is the number one way to buy among many of today’s consumers. If your dealership wants to keep up with modern shopping habits, you must adapt to the online retail model–for the whole dealership. This is the year to empower customers to shop exactly how they want.

Start by taking a multi-channel approach. Sell cars, parts, and accessories in-store and online. You should also allow customers to schedule a service online. People are shopping online now more than ever, and many consumers would rather do the bulk of their vehicle shopping from the comfort of their homes. Others prefer to do some (or even all) of the buying experience at the dealership. You should offer both options to create a seamless shopping experience.

Finally, continue this online approach into the service lane. Make it easy for your customers to schedule services appointment online. Plus, by providing an option for customers to make their own appointments online, you can free up your service staff as they will spend less time on the phone.

Sell Parts on Multiple Selling Channels 

New car sales are waning, and forward-thinking dealers are turning to other profit generators in the dealership. Drivers are keeping their vehicles longer. This means more of them are coming into your parts and service departments rather than purchasing a new vehicle.

Parts sales, in particular, felt a significant impact during the pandemic. Dealers felt a sharp decrease in their conventional parts business, losing close to $6 billion in parts sales. However, online sales weren’t decreasing in the same way but were instead increasing. RevolutionParts customers saw a 27% increase in parts sales by selling online in 2020. 

Selling parts online is the new way to generate more revenue at the dealership. Selling at your parts counter alone isn’t enough to meet the demand for auto parts. To turn auto parts sales into a strong source of revenue, you need to be selling across multiple channels. 

Selling online doesn’t just mean selling your parts on your dealership website. You should be selling on multiple channels, including your dealership’s website, a designated web store, online marketplaces (i.e., Amazon and eBay), or a combination of all three. The more places you have available to sell through, the better. Meet your customers where they’re already shopping. 

Use Crowd-Sourced Services 

Retailers across all industries are taking advantage of crowd-sourcing services. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash offer cost-effective and convenient delivery services that can fulfill same-day orders to millions of consumers. Automotive retailers are beginning to use these services to deliver auto parts to local buyers. 

Close to 112 million people in the U.S. reported using a delivery service app at least once in 2020. The use of these services is expected to continue to grow. With most consumers moving toward this kind of shopping model, automotive retailers will have to quickly pivot toward this buying experience to meet the demands of their local consumer base. 

Another great way to use crowd-sourcing services is to use them in tandem with the service lane. Dealers can use services like Lyft and Uber to schedule rides for customers with cars being serviced. When they drop off their car, order a ride to get them to their destination and return later. They’ll be thankful for the convenience.

Improve Shipping Practices

For dealerships taking steps to grow their parts customer base beyond their local market, shipping auto parts can be the biggest hurdle to get over. Between the cost of materials, the cost of shipping carriers added insurance, and delayed delivery times, it can be a nightmare keeping track of all the moving parts to get products shipped out. 

Dealers should simplify the shipping process as much as possible. With the right tools from RevolutionParts, dealers can print their own labels, use their own branded packaging, ensure that the right parts are shipped to the right customers, and ensure their packages are protected.

Get Ready for New Opportunities in 2023

Ready to start the new year off right? Get your eCommerce strategy in the water now and grow your dealership’s business. Gearing up for 2023 but want more insight? Download the 2022 consumer report to learn more about online parts buyers so you can include these insights in your dealership’s 2023 strategy!

Success! A customer visited your parts website, liked what they saw, and made a purchase. You’ll soon fulfill their order, package it, and ship it out. All that’s left is to hope they’re happy enough to shop with you the next time they need to buy.

But will they even remember you or your brand? By adding a little flare to your packaging, you can remind customers about your parts website when their ordered part arrives on their doorstep.

Does it actually work, though? Look at some of these stats surrounding how important your packaging is:

• 72% of Americans claim that product packaging influences their buying decisions. (IPSOS)

• 30% of businesses report an increase in revenue after updating their packaging. (Packaging of the World)

• Sellers who use premier or branded packing see 30% of their customers return to make another purchase. (Dotcom Distribution)

Introduce Your Brand

Isn’t the entire end goal about helping customers remember your brand? The straightforward and professional approach to this is to do just that—show off your parts website.

#1. Business cards – Do you have business cards for your parts website? This is one of the easiest things you can do to show your customer that there’s a person behind the computer screen. It also makes it easy for them to contact you in case they have questions or concerns and, as a result, helps you build trust with your customers. You can even write something personal like “thank you!” or “Questions? Call me!” on the back of the card.

#2. Professional packing slip – It’s standard to include a packing slip with your shipments, and 63% of people want one. Instead of a plain version with barebones order details, you can create a version with your logo in the corner. By the way, shipping is really easy to do if you have shipping management software like the USPS shipping feature on the RevolutionParts platform. It gives your parts website some authority as a professional parts seller.

Slip in a Little Gift

What’s more exciting than free things? Your customers will remember the thrill of excitement when they realize they’d gotten a little freebie. Of course, this can add cost to your sale, so you must be careful about implementing your strategy.

#3. A coupon – How about a promo code for a discount on their next order? We all know that customers like saving money, and 37% of people say they would like to see a coupon included in their package. Including a discount encourages them to shop with you again next time. Click here to get some coupon ideas!

#4. Something small – Perhaps you want to try tossing something small, like a pen or bumper sticker, into each shipment. You can order these things in bulk for fairly cheap but can remind customers about their purchase. They may just think about your parts website every time they use that pen! It’s a fantastic way to stay at the forefront of their mind.

#5. Something special – You can reward customers with something a little more substantial for high-value orders. How about a T-shirt or license plate frame? This can also encourage a word-of-mouth promotion if your customer wears that T-shirt around… which can be a powerful way to let others know that you’re online and ready to sell them the parts they need.

WOW Them With The Packaging

How about making an impression before they even open the box? Even though the customer has already completed a purchase with you, the arrival of their package cements the deal and leaves a final impression on them.

#6. Professional shipping label – Similar to a nice-looking packing slip, you can also make your label stand out. It doesn’t have to be anything extreme. Something as straightforward as your logo can add a nice touch. Again, this is easy to set up when you have shipping management software like ShipStation or ShipRush.

#7. Slap on a sticker – Spice up that plain brown box with a splash of color. You can order stickers with your logo for fairly cheap. They’re fast to apply, so you don’t need to worry about adding time to your shipping process, but they’re an easy and effective way to stand out. Check out Uline.com to see some options.

#8. Colored tape – How often have you ordered from Amazon.com? If you’ve noticed, they get fancy with the tape and don’t just use a standard packaging tape. It’s their way of instantly standing out from other types of packaging. While you don’t need to go as far as custom-branded tape, there are plenty of places to buy colored tape (again, like Uline), at least. Tape your packages with your brand colors, or change it up to match the season. (Like red/white/blue for the 4th of July and red/green for Christmas).

#9. Custom-designed box – Although it can be a pricier option, you can order custom-branded boxes to make your shipment instantly recognizable. You can always use custom boxes for high-order shipments but stick to standard packaging when a customer is only spending a few dollars.

Add a Touch of Personality

#10. “Thank you!” – A handwritten note adds a special touch to your packaging. Customers see you as a human being who took the time to write out a note. Whether you write it on a business card, on the packing slip, or straight on the box itself, a quick “thanks!” can bring a smile to your customer’s face.

#11. A short note – How about adding an additional slip of paper with a special thank you to your customer? This doesn’t have to be handwritten, and you don’t have to create a new one each time. Type it up once, print out a stack, and add one to the box along with the packing slip. Just write a few sentences thanking the customer for choosing you, inviting them to contact you with questions or give some feedback about their experience.

Bottom Line

Customer loyalty and repeat customers can hugely influence your business’s success, so this is an easy way to remind customers that it was YOU who sold them that part. It was YOU who gave them a smooth and enjoyable customer experience.

Of course, many of these options involve a little cost, whether money or time. But loyal and repeat customers can become the core of your customer base and a reliable source for sales.

You can also make a profit by shipping OEM parts. Download our free guide How to Profit Off of Shipping OEM Parts to learn how!

Marketing can be a challenge, but it’s crucial to the success of any business. Not only do you need marketing to maximize success, but you need to be using the right marketing. 

While most dealers implement marketing to drive business to their dealership, having separate marketing specifically for the parts department is not widely adopted. These reasons can include common myths about marketing in the parts department. However, not having a marketing strategy that is specifically trained for your parts department could mean leaving money on the table.  

That is why we’re here to BUST these myths and reveal why they are simply just not true. We’ll also show you how, with the right marketing, you can give your parts department a revenue boost. 

Here are 4 common myths about parts marketing that we want to clear up.

Top 4 Parts Marketing Myths

Hiring the Right Marketing Team

When dealerships are strapped to handle their marketing internally, they look to third-party marketing agencies for assistance. Sometimes it can be very useful to have an outside agency handle your marketing for you. However, not all marketing agencies are equipped to deal with auto parts marketing specifically. 

It’s not a matter of hiring a marketing agency, it’s a matter of hiring the right marketing agency. An agency that has some experience in auto parts marketing is always preferable to one that does not. You also don’t have to pay the max for a good marketing agency. 

When looking for a third-party agency, it’s important to keep these things in mind:

• Do they specialize in auto parts specifically?
• How available will the team be?
• What services are included in the marketing fee?
• How often will I see reports?
• What is their average ROAS? ROMS?

The right agency can provide you with marketing services that specialize in parts marketing techniques.

Bottom Line

Right now, most parts departments are not using parts-specific marketing, and a whopping 15% of dealers surveyed don’t use any type of marketing in their parts department. 

For those who are using marketers who specialize in auto parts, the investment pays off. The average dealer partnered with RevolutionParts’ Marketing Services sees an average return on ad spend of 8.75X and an average return on marketing spend of 10X. 

Marketing is also a common theme among our most successful dealers. Just take a look at Justin Akin at All Star DCJR. With just a few pivots in their marketing strategy, they were able to generate up to $4.1 million in total parts sales! 

Read Justin’s story to find out how they did it. 

The marketing strategies you have in place today play a major factor in the success of your parts web store.

Most dealerships choose to hire an outside marketing agency, so a parts marketing expert can handle the advertisements while your parts team focuses on selling parts and accessories. Still, even with someone else handling all of your auto parts marketing, you and your team will still run across some digital marketing terms and tools that you need to be familiar with.

If you’re confused by the jargon of digital marketing, then this article is for you. We’ll break down the most frequently asked questions we hear from dealers about digital marketing.

1. What Are Google Ads?

Google Ads is Google’s advertising service, where advertisers can create and run ad campaigns. These ads will appear in Google search results, so your advertisements will appear to shoppers using Google to search for the auto parts they need.

These ads are Pay Per Click (PPC), meaning that you only pay for an advertisement when someone clicks on it.

2. What Is the Difference Between Ads and SEO?

Google Ads is a platform for paid ads. You must set a budget and pay for an ad whenever a customer clicks on it. These ads can be changed at any time, and your agency will likely update the ads every now and then to keep them fresh.

On the other hand, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a type of free advertising. A page optimized for search engines is more likely to appear on the first page of Google search results.

Once optimized, unique content is written and placed on your site, it will continue to attract customers without any additional cost.

A lot of factors play into your website’s SEO rank, but the one you have the most control over is unique content (auto part descriptions and blog articles).

3. Where Should You Place Your Investments: SEO or Ads?

We recommend it! Both of these ad types contribute to sales. The more marketing channels you can add to reach potential customers, the better.

From the stats we’ve seen through the RevolutionParts platform, investing in both can make a big difference.

According to our numbers,

• 43% of parts website traffic comes from paid search ads (Ads)
• 37% of parts website traffic comes from organic search (SEO)

In short, the majority of your parts web store traffic will come from some kind of marketing. You must have some form of digital marketing tools in place!

4. What Is a Good Budget for Google Ads?

SThe more you invest, the better your agency will be able to perform. Successful ads can vary so much by brand, part, location, price, and other factors, so there’s usually a testing period to find the best setup.

A large budget will give your agency the flexibility it needs to test and optimize your ads and increase the return on your investment (your ROI). Plus, a higher budget means they can run more ads and show them more often!

That’s why we recommend starting your budget somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500 and then gradually increasing it as you see positive results. 

Now, you are probably thinking, “$1,000/month for marketing sounds like a lot!”

Some dealers hesitate to invest a lot of money in digital marketing. After all, $1,000/month is probably more than your monthly eCommerce subscription costs.

Remember, the more you invest, the bigger your return rate can be! RevolutionParts’ Marketing Services average about 8.75% Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). So a $1,000 investment could give you a $6,900 return in sales. Sure, not all of that is profit, but since our eCommerce platform has low overhead and rarely requires an extra employee to handle, you can still come out ahead.

Important: That’s just sales coming directly from your PPC ads! You’ll get more from organic traffic or repeat shoppers who have bookmarked your site.

As far as marketing goes, it’s a good deal. Even when you add everything up (marketing spend, a marketing services subscription, and an eCommerce software subscription), the overhead for selling parts online is much lower than hiring a wholesale rep or outside sales rep to promote your wholesale business!

5. How Much Does Hiring a Parts Marketing Agency Cost?

Not all marketing agencies operate the same way, and they certainly vary in price. Some agencies charge up to $30k for their services and deliver little value, while other agencies charge $2k and deliver a lot of value for your dealership. Additionally, some agencies charge a monthly flat rate while others charge a percentage of your sales. It really depends on the agency that you’re looking at. 

Important: Remember that you must pay for marketing services in addition to an advertising budget. The ad budget you set is not your payment to the agency. It’s the amount they will use to invest in advertising on your behalf.

Just because an agency offers everything under the sun doesn’t make it the ideal choice, especially if they’re driving little value for your dealership. You need to look at the amount of value they can provide you. How much assistance can they give you with ads, emails, and SEO? If they don’t have the answers to these questions, they’re probably not the right fit. 

Budget is another important factor in deciding whether or not you should sign up with a third-party marketing agency. If your dealership only plans to set a $600 ad budget, that’s probably not enough to effectively cover the costs and drive value across all the marketing channels offered.

Good marketing agencies tend to offer these types of services:

• Google Ads (shopping campaigns and search campaigns)
• Bing Ads
• Content for SEO (parts descriptions, blog articles, and more)
• Email marketing
• Social media marketing

When you’re looking for a third-party marketing agency, make sure you understand exactly what you’re paying for!

Some agencies will charge you a small percentage of your sales. This kind of partnership pricing is almost always a safe bet since the agency only earns money when you do. It’s in their best interest to give you the highest return on investment possible!

That said, watch out for agencies that take too big of a cut. Something around 3%-5% is reasonable, but anything higher can start cutting into your profit margin and make it difficult to come out ahead.

6. What Does Good Ad Performance Look Like?

The truth is, the performance of your ads can vary a lot depending on your brand. Just because an agency says their average customer sees a 10X return doesn’t mean you will, too. Don’t base your decision on a single number—get more information first!

Instead of just looking at that number, it’s better to ask, “What’s the average ROI for dealers selling my brand?” (Click here for other questions to ask an agency before hiring them). It’s also best to get proof of those numbers, too. Ask if the agency has any case studies they can share with you. At the very least, you should always see a positive return on your ad spend! 

The entire point of a marketing agency is to help improve your profits. If you realize you’re consistently losing money on advertising, you might want to rethink your strategy. Either look for a new agency or talk with your existing agency to see what can be done to improve those numbers.

7. How Can My Parts Department Stand Out From Competing Dealerships?

It’s true that the parts eCommerce market is more competitive today than it was five years ago, but the size of the market keeps growing, too! There are still lots of opportunities for parts websites to stand out from their competitors and take their share of the profits.

Each dealer’s strategy differs based on budget, goals, campaign type, dealer location, pricing, shipping costs, etc. The amount of variety makes it easier to find a unique parts marketing strategy and helps your dealership stand out from the others.

Let’s look at an example. 

If you only have $500 a month to spend, you might start by targeting the immediate states nearby where shipping rates are cheaper for your dealership. You might also exclude your ad from showing during certain hours of the day based on your time zone (so your ads aren’t appearing at 2 AM). You can limit the parts you advertise to ones you know are faster moving. You may even offer a promotion in your ads to set yourself apart. 

These are just a few examples of the different options out there—and those are only related to Google Ads! It all varies, and no two strategies should be the same. The more specifics you can set for your ads, the better you can capture your customers’ attention. 

RELATED: 11 Questions to Ask a Marketing Agency Before You Hire Them

 When you’re working with an agency, it’s in your best interest to make sure you understand what’s going on and what you’re paying for. If you get confused about something, talk to your auto parts marketing agency! Communication is key to a strong partnership, so they should be willing to consult with you about your marketing.

If you are ready to get started with marketing but not quite ready to hire an agency team, download the RevolutionParts Parts eCommerce Marketing Toolkit.