INDIANAPOLIS -

Technology company Driven Data has launched its next-generation automotive industry marketing platform, stating that it uses “prescriptive marketing” to help dealers “unlock the power of their existing operational data to inform marketing decisions.”

The company says its platform powers advanced features such as its budget optimization engine. The engine optimizes daily spending based on a predictive algorithm, which determines how quickly cars will sell at various budget levels, Driven Data said. That allows dealers to optimize inventory turn at the lowest ad spend, according to the company.

Driven Data founder and chief executive officer Jon Berna mentioned a statistic from the 2019 NADA Midyear Report showing that the automotive industry spends an average of $628 to sell each new car, which he said is an all-time high.

“With costs rising across the board, dealers need a more robust solution to this problem,” Berna said in a news release. “Driven Data was purpose-built to provide just that.”

He continued, “Dealerships generally see that 17% of their sales in a given month come from prior customers.  This new capability can grow that number substantially while saving time and money.”

The company said the product automatically connects dealerships’ first-party data from their CRM and DMS into paid search and paid social. That helps dealerships increase loyalty by reaching their prior customers and suppressing recent for new customer acquisition, Driven Data said.

Alex Motevosian of Kirin Automotive said Driven Data’s diagnostic engine helps users see “operational efficiency and inefficiency at the speed of retail,” which he said helps dealers make decisions in real-time, and with fast results in days.

Motevosian also said the platform can automatically generate custom audiences in Facebook and Google Ads based on dealer data. He said the platform’s universal architecture and data standardization methods allow it to drop first-party, custom audiences into Facebook and Ads automatically.  

“If you had 200,000 total customers in your CRM and DMS, it would cost around $250,000 to reach each customer once with direct mail,” Berna said, noting that with Driven Data, the cost would be less than $1,750 in modern mediums such as Google Ads and Facebook.  

Driven Data said it uses dealership data and implements advanced machine learning to generate custom first-party audiences based on customers predicted to be in the market for a new car, shopping for a used car, or may need service soon.

Driven Data uses a proprietary ad platform and collects a dealership’s data and marketing collateral to allow the dealership to automatically develop and publish specific, customized ads on Facebook, Instagram, Google, and additional future platforms.  

Driven Data chief technology officer Ryan Moore said that results in more engaging ads that will reach customers where they already are.

“We integrate with all core dealership systems and leverage these insights directly into the marketing,” Moore said, adding that “has never been done to this extent.”

Moore continued, “This allows for true ad personalization in the customer’s journey to a purchase or service visit.”

“Driven Data allows dealers to take an in-depth dive into their data that their CRM and DMS do not have the ability to provide,” Kenon Johnson of the Stanley Automotive Group, which operates 12 dealerships in Texas and include the brands of Ford, Lincoln, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Fiat, Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep..

Johnson continued, “They are knowledgeable and have tapped into data to provide insights that have not been readily available. The team at Driven Data are truly professionals that understand the importance of what dealers need to evaluate all aspects of their business."

The platform’s advanced features include:

 — Data and insights for access advanced reporting on important metrics for each department, which the company says results in a “truly connected” strategy.

— Prescriptive social and search marketing to optimize each campaign, which the company says can increase engagement and conversion at every stage by using operational and customer data from your CRM, DMS and inventory.

— Digital asset management to host images and videos and connect them to marketing.

— Universal benchmarks to see how your performance measures up against the best dealerships on each metric.

— Reconditioning information to show internal maintenance items such as tires, brakes, and alignments with their values directly inside ads.

— Maintenance-free landing pages, which the company says provide a strong customer experience with flexible rules for accurate payments and vehicle information.

— Forecasting, which predicts sales six months in the future using variables such as seasonality, weighted trends, and digital behaviors.

— Budget optimization engine to help optimize ad spend based on all dealership data in the system, and the company predicts how long each vehicle will take to sell.

— Diagnostics engine to resolve concerns and get your process back on track through monitoring areas such as web, CRM, inventory, DMS and paid search.

— Incentives and rebates to “leverage” lease and loan payments on every vehicle in ads automatically.