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I am not sure the folks at Edmunds.com would want you to remember,
but most dealers still recall back in October the advertisement Edmunds
launched on YouTube, entitled “Absurdity of Haggling” which, with no
disguise, belittled car dealers by showing a grocery clerk trying to gouge
shoppers on items such as bread and squash. Dealers quickly recognized
this and tagged it in social and conventional industry media, and, after
briefly trying to defend the campaign,in the end the Edmunds apologized
for offending dealers and took it down.
I was surprised to not see an industry press discussion of, quite
possibly, how little regard the Edmunds organization had for dealers in
general by conceiving the ad to begin with, and, indeed how little they
think of a dealer’s intelligence level, that is, how they thought they
could get away with such an ad campaign to begin with, without dealer
outcry – in an attempt to generate consumer vehicle leads that, in turn,
they sell to their dealer clientele.
In any event, if there was even a question as to the disregard Edmunds
holdsagainst the “dealer’s collective wisdom,” it is put to rest with
their latest dealer campaign, offering “FREE”two way texting capability
for their dealers, “CarCode” with their “Sometimes the best things in life
are Free” offering.
Now, a two way SMS texting platform is not very expensive to offer and
maintain, especially the very limited system that Edmunds is advertising
to dealers. In full disclosure, I am the mobile advertising specialist
for a company that provides this mobile service, and we, like many other
legitimatemobile focused vendors in the industry, provide a way more
feature filled offering, for only a few hundred dollars a month, “all you
can eat” price. But, providing this service does cost something (Edmunds
recently bought a technology provider company to get the underlying
platform rights to offer this service), both on a set-up and continuing
basis, and Edmunds is not charging anything (and recently advertising this
“free” offering in very expensive trade media) so doesn’t that make any
reasonable business savvy dealer ask “why?”
How many of you out there still think you can get “something for nothing”
from a major industry third party lead provider? (Remember when a few
used to dip into your DMS to provide you “free” inventory listings…we all
know how that ended up…then they sold your own customer generated leads
back to you… or your competitors.)
The motives for offering this free service became clearer to me after I
read the disclaimer language that comes with every customer lead text “opt
in” message, see the screenshot below –
Keep in mind, that language, outlined in yellow, has nothing to do with
any Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) legal disclaimer, but rather,
has everything to do with Edmunds alerting your Web site texting prospect,
at opt in, that the text communication between them and the dealer (their
vehicle of interest, the dialogue, even the opt in itself for a two way
text communication and their cell phone number information), is available
for Edmunds and its service providers to use and solicit as they see fit.
Okay, I don’t have to connect that many more dots do I?
Edmunds makes their primary revenue on consumer vehicle leads. As a
dealer integrating their new texting platform, in going to your Web site
and hitting the “Text” button and subsequently opting in (that is, the
consumer lead that you just paid for as your own Web traffic), just gave
Edmunds the legal right to their information, their vehicle of interest,
their cell phonenumber, and their “opt in” to be contacted by text (from
Edmunds). So, as Edmunds, I just noticed your prospect texted your store
on a new Ford Focus, I’m in the business of sellingthird party leads, why
don’t I send out a solicitation to that prospect directing them to any
dealer’s Ford Focus inventory (that is, if the dealer pays me for the
privilege)… better yet, why don’t I find a way to monetize that
information and sell that prospect and lead information back to you, the
dealer… You see what I mean, this “FREE” texting platform provided by
Edmunds, may end up costing you plenty, if you let them provide it.
Not to say that Edmunds will use the information in this way or even
intends to, but it sure does look like they covered themselves andthey
clearly have the legal right to take your Web site prospect information in
this way, and use it to their advantage. The prospect has “opted in” to
conduct a text communication with you, the dealer, and in the process, has
given away these information rights to Edmunds.
Again, really, how many major industry vendors look to give
you “something for nothing”?
I’m willing to bet that once dealers see through these conditions, and
their eyes are opened, they will be willing to pay a few hundred dollars a
month for a more robusttexting platform where they control, completely,
the prospect information and vehicle of interest, and not have to force
the prospect to turn this information over or even disclose this
information to any company whose primary income is derived from being a
third party lead provider, in order to initiate a text conversation with
you. It just makes sense, you spend a lot of money to get your own Web
traffic, why would you force your prospects to give all access and
information on themselves to a third party lead provider, just to text
with you? Just to forgo the negligible expense of owning your own texting
prospect information.
As a dealer, do you want to own that prospect information,
or give up to large third-party vendor for a negligible cost
savings?
Article Source
http://automotivemobilesolutions.com/edmunds-com-belittles-a-dealers-intelligence-for-the-second-time-around-only-worse/
Check it out, and let me know what you think!
