Why Deeplinking is the Right Model for Consumers and Dealers

Many consumers look to the automotive industry as one that is “us versus them”. They see it as confrontation; if it is good for dealers, it’s not good for consumers in their opinion. There are times when this is the case, but the art of Deeplinking by automotive inventory marketing firm LotLinx is the exception. With Deeplinking, everyone wins.

Here’s how the idea works. Most third-party websites that serve up dealers’ inventory do so for one of two reasons. Either they’re trying to collect leads (form submissions) to sell to dealers, manufacturers, or other third parties, or they’re trying to drive traffic for the sake of selling ad space. In both of these situations, the consumer is not being served properly, nor is the dealer who possesses the inventory itself.

In the first case, the addition of the middleman makes the potential for the transaction lower than it would be if the interaction was direct. These third party sites often sell the leads to multiple sources. Just because a visitor submits a lead form about a particular vehicle doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be contacted by the dealership that actually has the vehicle on the lot. It can be sold to finance companies, other dealerships, or the manufacturers who may or may not distribute the lead to the right dealership.

In the second case, the idea is to get people to click on other ads. By looking at vehicles on their site, they’re not hoping to connect consumers with the dealers that have the vehicles of interest. They simply want visitors to click to other sites, often forcing them to start their searches all over again.

Deeplinking is a concept whereby visitors to the third party sites that click on a particular vehicle are taken directly to the vehicle details page on the dealership’s own website. If they like the vehicle and decide to fill out a lead submission form, they’re giving their information to the dealership that has the vehicle itself and to nobody else. The leads aren’t sold. They aren’t distributed. They go directly to the dealership. The transaction can then occur with interactions between the two interested parties. There is no middleman involved with Deeplinking.

There is already a stigma that keeps dealers and car buyers separated. LotLinx breaks this down and allows for smoother interactions right from the start before the car shopper makes it out to the lot.