Michael McDonald, assistant head coach of marketing at Jeff Wyler Automotive Family, emphasizes the importance of best practices when implementing a customer data platform (CDP).
Choosing the right partner: One of the first steps for the auto group was selecting a CDP partner that aligned with their business needs. About a year and a half ago, Jeff Wyler Automotive chose to partner with Orbee because of its flexibility.
“There are other providers out there in the space—but the reason we went with Orbee was flexibility. If we want to change who we’re using as an advertising provider, or for email services, or for a texting platform, we can do that,” McDonald explained in a conversation with Daily Dealer Live hosts Sam D’Arc and Uli De’ Martino.
With 23 stores, the group needed a solution capable of customizing and adapting to diverse data needs across locations, McDonald added.
The heavy lift: McDonald stressed that adopting a CDP isn’t a quick win.
“We got into it and immediately realized this is a long project. The first major lift is getting all of the data together from different sources—unified, cleansed, and enhanced—before you can ever activate upon it,” he said.
For a large dealer group spread across multiple regions, the ability to unify data is critical for branding and messaging consistency.
Multiple-level needs: A strong CDP should be able to support both enterprise-wide initiatives and individual store initiatives, such as cleaning the data to run a more accurate equity money campaign (as in the case of Jeff Wyler Automotive Family).
Knowing the limitations: One ongoing challenge is integrating with CRM systems. McDonald noted that while their CRM partner is improving, limitations remain.
“CRMs are largely static and siloed. They rely on manual input from salespeople and BDC reps, and they’re disconnected from your website,” he explained.
Key gaps include the inability to:
Prevent duplicate records without manual intervention
Track anonymous sessions
Ingest first-party behavioral data
Looking ahead: According to McDonald, the next breakthrough will come when operations can not only access clean data but also feed insights back from the CDP into other systems.
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