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Dealership Marketing

Increase High-Intent Leads By Tracking Form Abandonment

Learn how to increase high-intent car shopper leads for your dealership by tracking form abandonment on your dealership website.

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In the current state of the retail automotive industry, with its supply chain shortages and a softening of the market, it's more important than ever for car dealers to capitalize on all opportunities when car shoppers show intent to buy.

Often, when we see the car market decline we also see dealers consider whether or not they should roll back on their advertising and marketing to save a few dollars. 

I can appreciate why they would feel that way, especially when many providers make it difficult to quantify the returns in a simple and tactical way.

That's why at FlexDealer, we're on a mission to help dealers outshine and outsell their competition by providing the clearest, most straightforward, and most effective marketing strategies that capture the attention of in-market car shoppers.

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One of the many ways we achieve this is by tracking form abandonment on our client partner websites. Form abandonment is a common problem that many car dealerships face when trying to generate leads. It occurs when a customer starts filling out a form on a dealership website, such as a contact form or a financing application, but then leaves the page without submitting it. Understanding and tracking form abandonment can provide valuable insights into areas of friction in the customer journey and help dealerships increase the number of high-intent car shopper leads.

How GA4 (Google Analytics) Can Help

One effective way to track form abandonment is using Google Analytics because it allows dealerships to track both the number of visitors to a particular page and the number of visitors who abandoned a form. However, tracking form abandonment isn't set up by default in GA4, so our team at FlexDealer makes it a priority when onboarding new dealer partners.

Once we can see which forms are abandoned regularly and where in the process potential customers are dropping out, we can use that information in two ways:

  1. Analyze the user experience to understand why customers might leave the form and make valuable on-site changes to combat form abandonment.
  2. Leverage the abandonment data with creative retargeting ads designed to pull those shoppers back to the dealer's website.

For example, if visitors continually abandon your financing application, it might be because the form needs to be shorter or more straightforward. In this case, simplifying the form and reducing the number of fields may lead to a decrease in form abandonment and an increase in conversions.

Third Party Tracking Software

Another effective way to track form abandonment is using a tool like Hotjar. This heat mapping tool allows dealerships to see where visitors click and scroll on their website. This information can be used to identify areas of friction, such as forms that need to be shorter or more precise or pages that don't do a good enough job of pushing people to fill out forms. Once these areas are identified, dealerships can make changes to improve the user experience and increase conversions.

Retargeting Customers Who Abandon Forms

Customers abandon website forms for various reasons, but we're intrigued by why they started filling them out in the first place. It takes a specific low-funnel level of intent to want to fill out the form. These customers are further down the funnel than most.

Retargeting campaigns are a powerful way to increase form submissions and leads. This type of campaign allows a dealership to target visitors who have abandoned a form with specific advertising. They can remind potential customers of their interest in a car and encourage them to return to the dealership website to complete the form. These types of retargeting campaigns are regarded as being exceptionally successful across a wide range of industries - when they are done right, of course.

Let's Boost Your High-Intent Leads

In conclusion, tracking form abandonment is an effective way for car dealerships to increase the number of high-intent car shopper leads. By identifying areas of friction in the customer journey, dealerships can make changes to improve the user experience and increase conversions. In addition, tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar can provide valuable data for form optimization, and retargeting ad campaigns can be a powerful way to remind potential customers of their interest in a car and bring them back to the website to complete that form. 

Partnering with  FlexDealer can provide additional resources and expertise to improve your lead-generation efforts. Let's connect so you can get more high-quality leads for less!

 


Michael Cirillo      

Michael Cirillo      

Michael Cirillo is the CEO of FlexDealer.com, a leading provider of innovative inventory and marketing solutions for the retail auto industry. He is also the host of the top-rated Dealer Playbook podcast and an acclaimed author and speaker. With his passion for creative thinking and a growth mindset, Michael helps dealerships develop and achieve their digital goals.

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