How New Car Buyers Use Third-Party Auto Sites

The early promise to OEMs of third-party auto sites (TPSes) was highly tailored integrated marketing that tied together media placements, demand data, and leads. When they worked, these 360-degree marketing relationships were a win for brand teams, interactive marketers, and lead managers. But today, consumer behavior on TPSes poses challenges that are felt distinctly in individual marketing groups. TPS visitors seek the best brand but want to comparison shop to find it. They use the same content on TPS sites as they do on automaker sites, searching their way to different TPSes at different stages of the shopping process. And they use TPS price quotes to double-check the quotes they get from automakers or purely because it's convenient. With 36% of new vehicle buyers online visiting TPSes, automakers have no choice but to face these challenges. To do so, marketing teams must not look at TPSes as an entire category but instead collaborate with other functional groups to identify the priorities for each relationship and share insights to solve these knotty tactical problems.