Between your CRM, DMS, inventory, service, and other data software, managing all that information can be a hefty task. Our CEO and founder Jon Berna was all too familiar with this problem when he worked for a dealer group back in 2008. He knew that there had to be an easier way to go about collecting and utilizing all of the information coming in and out of these dealerships. After a few years and a little help from some friends very well versed in data analysis and automation, they came up with the solution to the problem. This is how Driven Data was born.
The Issue
Customer information from leads is stored in a CRM. Sales and service data is stored in a DMS. Inventory is managed in yet another system. Finally, your website and marketing tools are each on their own disconnected platforms, much less the tools to track customer online behavior. All these data management tools are vital if a dealership wants to know how they did last month. Unfortunately, each one of these platforms belong to different companies. This means that in order to access and analyze all of the different types of data, you must know the login credentials to each program, have a different window open on your computer for every report, know your way around each platform, and have the expertise in each to extract the relevant data to tell your dealership’s full story. This is not only time consuming, but not necessarily the most user friendly. When your main goal is to sell and service cars, managing your data can go on the backburner. Oh, and heaven forbid you have more than one dealership you are monitoring and have to repeat this process every day, multiple times a day.
How It Started
Jon knew that there was a way to automate the process of collecting all this data and to have it live in one environment. After figuring out how to do this, the level of efficiency was undeniable. There was finally a solution to connect all these platforms in a way that not only made it easier to monitor the information but allowed all of the data to communicate cohesively. Jon now had visibility into the multiple dealerships he was responsible for and could see exactly how each store was performing with data updated every single day. Jon started Driven Data to be able to bring this type of ease to dealers everywhere because there was not− and still is not− another tool that performs at this level in the automotive industry.
How It Expanded
After seeing the level of insight that Driven Data provided dealerships, the transition into automotive marketing was a natural one. Driven Data realized that the marketing that most dealerships were producing was not connected to their store at all. Dealerships were working with agencies that had no idea how many leads that dealership had that month, where the leads came from, what their closing rates were, etc. It was apparent through the campaigns that the challenges that dealerships were thinking about were not being thought about by the agencies.
Dealers needed a marketing partner that could act on their behalf based off how a dealership did last month. Driven Data entered the automotive marketing industry by delivering intelligent audiences to Facebook and Google for agencies to target with their marketing. Finally, they brought dealers advertising campaigns that were hyper personalized to their store and to their customers. When dealerships were able to connect all their first-party data in one environment and integrate their marketing in addition to this, their marketing reached new levels that were previously unattainable.
How It’s Going
Today, Driven Data works with both dealers and agencies to improve automotive marketing and bring data front and center. The level of complete visibility into the performance of a dealership helps dealers know where they can improve with their staff and processes, and it helps the agencies to know what issues are important to their clients. Our analytics dashboard allows all the data to be viewed in one environment that is easy to use and can be viewed in the palm of your hand on a phone or tablet. When you have the metrics that matter available to you, it provides confidence backed by data and takes out the guess work when it comes to making the hard to call decisions that dealerships often face. Our clients have the assurance in knowing that their data is secure and updated each morning.
On average, Driven Data dealerships possess about 36 million data points. That’s 36 million individual pieces of information, from a customer’s name to the amount of equity they had in their last trade. Collecting all of this information is vital if you want to have effective marketing that is personalized and resonates with the customers you are trying to reach. If you are not sure if all of your dealership’s data is being used, or if you want to improve marketing for your clients, schedule a demo with us and let us show you just how easy it is to work with Driven Data.