At Szott Auto Group, every marketing dollar has to prove its worth.
The details: About two years ago, dealer principal Todd Szott decided his group’s digital strategy needed more discipline.
He was seeing too many vendors, too many reports, and not enough proof that any of it was actually driving sales.
That realization set off a full reset, because the group began tracking every effort, trusting the data, and cutting what didn’t convert.
Szott’s timeline: For a five-store operation in Michigan representing Ford, Toyota, and CDJR, this shift took time.
Szott’s team had been spending across dozens of channels, including SEM, third-party listings, and social media, without a clear link between what they invested and what actually sold.
And because of that, the first step was to find a way to connect the dots.
Here’s how: Szott turned to Clarivoy’s attribution platform, which helped his team trace each customer’s digital journey from the first click to the final sale. For the first time, they could see which partners and campaigns were actually influencing buyer behavior.
“We have really worked the last year or maybe two years with attributing our actual sales to the digital footprint that led up to that sale,” Szott told Daily Dealer Live hosts Sam D’Arc and Uli de’ Martino..
Even better, once the dots were connected, Szott’s group was able to start the decluttering process.
What they’re saying: “We’ve canceled many vendors and tried others that have been more successful. AutoTrader is still effective for us. CarGurus is working for us,” he said.
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“We found out paying for Edmunds in this market wasn't really doing anything…we were still getting those customers anyway, so yeah, that kind of information [is what] you get from that data attribution.”
To go a step further: Szott adopted a customer data platform through Fullpath that connects CRM, DMS, and website data into one system.
This integration gives his team a full view of how shoppers move through the funnel, making it easier to target effectively and fine-tune spend on SEO and SEM.
Bottom line: Szott’s rebuild shows what happens when a dealer takes the guesswork out of marketing. Because just by having clear data, his team now has fewer distractions and a renewed focus on ROI, including what every dollar’s purpose is.
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