Cox Automotive Inc., an industry-leading digital marketing, financial, retail and wholesale solutions provider for the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide, has announced the launch of a new audience extension product designed to help OEM's and regional associations boost the performance of their social media advertising. The social media audience extension product utilizes anonymous web site behavior data from Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book's KBB.com – the industry's two most utilized third-party automotive shopping sites — and in turn allows advertisers to use this data to deliver highly targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram.

Unlike other automotive shopping targets that use old data in an attempt to predict future shopping behavior, Cox Automotive's social media audience extension program analyzes real-time browsing behavior to create highly-targeted and unique advertising audiences for its clients.  

According to the 2017 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study produced in connection with IHS, nearly three-quarters of all car shoppers visit Autotrader or KBB.com before making a purchase, giving the program access to a vast majority of the total automotive marketplace. Cox Automotive collects and analyzes the shopping activity on its sites and intelligently segments car buyers by behaviors and preferences, including specific make, model, competitive or segment intender audiences.  Advertisers can then target these segments on Facebook and Instagram with their own specific message, utilizing the multiple creative options and campaign objectives Facebook and Instagram offer.

"Today's customers increasingly rely on online research before purchasing, and it's critical that our industry reaches them where they are and at the right moment," said Adam Pavkov, Director, Product Operations - Social Media, at Cox Automotive. "This program gives advertisers the tools they need to get the right messages in front of shoppers when it matters most."

Facebook's 2016 Annual Report states they have 230 million Facebook users in North America. Facebook reported users check  their feed on average 14 times per day, the product leverages Facebook's enormous audience of engaged users. Advertisers can further segment Cox Automotive in-market shopper audiences by location, demographic and interest-based targets to deliver effective and efficient campaigns.

Honda Motor Company was an early adopter of the product.

"We're always looking for new ways to use data to make advertising more efficient and effective," said Dan Rodriguez, Manager of Auto Remarketing Certified Pre-Owned at American Honda Motor Co. "This product has helped us more accurately identify in-market shoppers and narrowly target our messaging, and we're excited by the results."

An independent study conducted by Oracle Data Cloud from June-August 2016 to measure the quality of an advertising audience by quantifying its propensity to purchase a vehicle found that of the 6.9 million households analyzed, in-market shoppers in the Cox Automotive audience segments were 400 percent to 540 percent more likely to purchase a vehicle than the equivalent automotive audiences powered by other companies inside Facebook.

The industry's initial response to the program has been overwhelmingly positive, with users like Southeast Toyota Distributers seeing dramatic improvement in their marketing efficiency and performance.

Compared to Facebook or Instagram campaigns using data provided by other companies, advertisers using Cox Automotive's data reported on average 64 percent higher click-thru rates, 497 percent higher conversion rates with a 57 percent lower cost per conversion. For campaigns targeting conquest and segment audiences, Cox Automotive's data resulted in 39 percent higher click-thru rates, 175 percent higher conversion rates and 22 percent lower cost per conversion. Additionally, campaigns targeting audiences modeled after retention shoppers outperformed competitor–based campaigns with a 310 percent higher click-thru rate and a 72 percent lower cost per click.

"Cox Automotive's social media audience extension product has really helped us make the most of our advertising spend," said Jenny Reed, VP Media Director at 22squared, the agency which supports Southeast Toyota. "We're being more efficient by getting the right messaging in front of the right shoppers at the right time – and Southeast Toyota is getting the engagement and back-end metrics they're looking for."