UpShift Digital Articles

If you're that dealer that is still trying to come up with a return on the investment for your Facebook page, I will again say, you're measuring the wrong thing, however there may be good news in the research. According to an article from Auto Remarketing this morning, Facebook is sending traffic, unique traffic to a dealer's website.

Dataium conducted research to find what type of traffic was actually traveling between Facebook and the dealer site. Although only 0.45 percent of dealer site vehicle shoppers are coming from Facebook, a small percentage, 94 percent of those FB referrals…

Digital Air Strike, perhaps one of the worst named digital social marketing companies, is keeping their name after absorbing (merging, buying, being bought - you pick) ResponseLogix earlier this year, according to an article today in Auto Remarketing. The ResponseLogix company, also partially owned by Adam Simms,  owner of Toyota of Sunnyvale will become a product under the Digital Air Strike umbrella, along with newly named Social Logix and Reputation Logix.

ResponseLogix sales national sales team will now be selling both the ResponseLogix suite of response and follow up products along with the Digital Air Strike product line.

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Social media is becoming more and more about instance answers than it is just about a niche form of communication and although most dealers have yet to figure that out yet, major manufactures, like Ford Motor Company, have. When your dealership is thinking about how busy everyone is there, and how they would like to shortcut everything done, your consume is just like that. The horrible automated phone service that keeps 50% of your calls under a minute, or the flashy website you spent thousands on that takes 5 clicks to just look at a car, is pushing users…

Information shows that AutoTrader declared on Wednesday that they passed a major "milestone" with the Trade-In Marketplace (TIM) product of more than 3 million instant trade-in offers generated.
My response to that article this morning was, how does a product still exist that every dealer I have spoken to that ever tried (and mostly cancelled) TIM hated the product with a passion.

UpShift Digital applauds the initial purpose behind Trade-In Marketplace, as its goal was to give dealers ways to increase used car inventory - and the concept initial hit the streets in a time when that…

As a good follow up to my thoughts last week on the importance of pricing and how that should be something we've really all moved beyond, I wanted to talk about what supports your pricing structure. Trust - do you have it, how have you earned it, and what are you doing to separate yourself from everyone else in the market place. In a great article in Auto Remarketing today, they state, and we at UpShift Digital agree, if price is your only component, you're in a "race to the bottm"

If you're in a metro market, and…

A great article came out in DrivingSales.com this morning that I felt needed to be commented on and then blogged about to make sure more dealers and car related people had the opportunity to get the information and think about the importance of understanding what an informed customer means to the dealership.

Ever since my first days of Cars.com, when dealers didn't want anyone to know what an invoice price was, or thought that a customer would pick up the phone if they didn't price the pre-owned inventory, car dealers have worried that the Internet is removing their…

I know what you're thinking - here comes UpShift Digital with yet another Social media tool for me to use in my dealer advertising and I still haven't figured out Twitter. First, you're right, we are sharing another tool and second - why the hell haven't you figured out Twitter yet?

So what is Instagram? It is a free photo sharing ap, originally inspired by the Polaroid camera functionality, that allows iPhone users to take, edit and share photos across multiple social networks (including Facebook and Twitter - see it all comes together now). People dig it -…

Friday the folks at DealerTrack announced that they have integrated their AAX and eCarList products into one inventory management and merchandizing tool and announced the launch of a mobile application.

The integration will allow dealers to appraise, price and merchandize vehicles with live retail and historical data.

The mobile ap, which also features an iPad and iPhone option, will allow a dealer to watch finance and consumer credit activities.

DealerTrack bought eCarList last July, when AutoTrader chose VinSolutions over the Dallas based company.

To read more:

http://bit.ly/AwQ4wg

ResponseLogix, the lead response management software, and Dominion Dealer Solutions, the CRM tool formerly known as AutoBase, announced a technology partnership to syncronize functionality. Interesting that AutoBase was previously a CRM system that caused some of the most challenges to ResponseLogix integration system.

The features of the partnership include a view of the lead history, including price quotes, ResponseLogix follow up emails, test drive requests and "reactivations," the ResponseLogix feature that shows leads that have re-engaged the customer through the follow up process known as SmartFollow.

This seems like a big win for Dominion Dealer Solutions, as…

TrueCar announced Wednesday that they would be changing their billing practices in the state of Virginia away from the illegal per sale model to a subscription fee. Wonder if they plan to make the same move in Texas, Maryland and Louisiana where that practice is also illegal. From my days of launching cars.com's NewLeadsPlus in Texas, and other pay per lead generating products in those other states, UpShift Digital is well aware of the laws and the penalties. Interesting that TrueCar and Scott Painter didn't feel those laws related to him. Working the Texas lawmakers, we learned that it's…