Knowledge expands as automotive dealer website, web analytics and CRM data integrate.

On behalf of dealers, manufacturers needs to place pressure of ecommerce tech vendors to more closely support third party analytics integration and customization across dealer technologies. An automotive manufacturer that gives the stamp of approval” to any website solution provider needs to push vendors to abandon the virtual service model in favor of an hybrid model involving on-site services. Account managers must to be less a sales instrument and more of an educational instrument, and an empowerment instrument. Automotive website solution providers must ease up energies used imposing and up-selling proprietary web analytics and web marketing solutions in favor enabling dealer adoption of more community supported, open, robust, flexible, yada yada yada, third party web analytics solution as Google Analytics because, as it stands, automotive vendor products and support services do not consider automotive digital marketers and web analysts part of a significant end user segment.

 In light of the material presented during recent Toyota E-Business Series focusing on Google Analytics (GA) calling for an embrace of web analytics and KPI reporting as central to ecommerce and digital marketing management strategies, I must voice my frustration with proprietary web solution providers whose products are closed off to full third party web analytics integration and customization, maximizing the benefits of those feature that a true web analyst would require when measuring the impact that onsite and offsite content and marketing efforts have on conversion rates and ROI/ ROAS. Many automotive website venders do not directly support 3rd party analytics integrations to best meet the shifting ecommerce knowledge reporting needs of dealers. Powerful GA features such as goal tracking, event tracking, and ecommerce reporting can yield critical metrics to assist in digital-dealer with data-driven decision-making.

Automotive dealers who want to take full advantage of these features find more challenge than accommodation. As a result, Google Analytics reporting over contemporary automotive web environments remains superficial and basic. Basic metrics alone offer little contextual, substantial value for intelligent decision making for digital marketing and content strategies.

Ideally, a full Website/CRM/ Web Analytics integration would exist.  Recommendations made by ebusiness adoption consultants however essential, are not entirely possible to execute under the existing conditions inherent across automotive retail technologists.  Automotive retailers and consumers are increasingly digitally- driven so a complete integration of [Ecommerce Store / Web Environment] <– –>  [(Analytics Environment <-- -->  CRM/ DMS Environment)] makes sense.  But I’m not sure if there is a vendor who today facilitates  integration. Cooperation between CRM providers and Web Solution providers has to happen to pull it off and it is the responsibility of automotive manufactures  to initiate and facilitate that conversation.