Since lockdowns were put in place across the globe to tackle the spread of the Coronavirus, car factories were forced to close their doors and the closure of dealerships caused the sales of new cars to plummet. Unfortunately, much like with most industries, the car industry has taken a major financial hit as a result of the pandemic. Most major motoring and motorsport events have been cancelled and every car firm has suffered financially.
Dealing with change
Emil Frey is Europe’s largest car dealer with headquarters in Zurich. It sells top brands at more than 55 locations and, as of early 2020, through its own online marketplace emilfrey.ch.
However, with potential buyers forced to stay at home because of the pandemic, the Swiss car dealer turned to Facebook automotive inventory ads to increase eCommerce sales, which in turn reduced its acquisition cost by 44%.
As a result of the lockdown restrictions, Emil Frey had to find new ways to sell the cars it had in stock which led to a change in tactics. It moved away from the traditional car dealership model of selling and towards an eCommerce one.
Adapting to uncertainty
It launched a “Black Friday is now” campaign which offered Black Friday-style discounts to their audience. In order to do this, they used a combination of photo and video ads that gave the Facebook algorithm plenty to work with. In addition to this, they also tested a variety of different promotional messages that were tailored to their target audiences.
The car dealership company used Facebook’s automotive inventory ads to allow carmakers and dealers to upload their entire vehicle inventory along with relevant details such as the makes, models and years of the vehicles. From this, they were then able to show the most compelling inventory and features to audiences that were the most likely to respond to them.
Emil Frey chose to show their audience cars that were based on the models they had previously viewed on its website. These ads displayed real-time availability and prices, which further increased the relevance of the ads to the people buying the cars. After checking the website stock, customers could then make their decision and carry out their online sales which could be delivered directly to their homes.
The Results
These automotive inventory ads helped Emil Frey to discover a new and efficient way of selling cars online. The ads ran during the Black Friday marketing period in 2020 and achieved:
- 51% increase in initiated sales generated by the Facebook campaign
- 44% decrease in cost per sale initiated
If you would like advice on using Facebook ads to increase the sales of your business, get in touch now and arrange a FREE consultation with a member of our team. If you have enjoyed this blog, why not check out more just like it here. This blog was originally taken from Facebook.
