• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, January 8, 2018

Despite a rollercoaster ride in 2017, auto dealerships can expect 2018 automotive sales will still be at healthy level.

But Kevin LeSage, Dealer.com senior product manager of OEM and enterprise analytics Kevin LeSage, cautions that “the onus will be on the dealer more than ever to identify and influence those quality vs. quantity car shoppers to purchase a vehicle through attribution.”

2017 was a bumpy ride between the drop in record-setting 2016 sales figures to the uptick in demand from hurricane-ravaged states.

The latest car shopping trends from Dealer.com, which operates 62% of U.S. franchise dealership websites, underscore what a year it’s been, and what’s to come in 2018.

• Presidents Day was the most popular holiday and most popular day of the year for vehicle shopping with four of the top five shopping days falling during the week of Presidents Day Weekend.

• Friday, March 24, was in the top five due to Friday being the most popular day of the week for shopping and March being the most popular month.

• Texas and Florida, hit by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, were two of the top five states for car shopping. The state with the least? Wyoming.

“The automotive industry should continue to hone in on its digital marketing ROI through attribution,” says LeSage. “As we’re in a post-peak sales period, dealerships should be looking to attract quality over quantity—car shoppers with a higher intent to purchase a vehicle—when it comes to lead generation in the sales funnel. Attribution uses data to decipher and predict shoppers’ purchasing intent and how to use that information to maximize ROI.

“Furthermore, dealers should be casting a wider net to identify the quality car shopper through a “multi-touch attribution” model. It’s a strategy that tracks a series of digital touchpoints as shoppers’ work their way toward a purchase and assigns the touchpoints a value. This lets dealers see what campaigns are resonating most with their customers and allows them to adjust accordingly.”