Rusnak Auto Group partnered with PureCars to drive more customers to their service bays using data-driven digital campaigns across search, social, display and more. The results speak for themselves, with the campaigns successfully driving over 2,000 ROs in 5 weeks.

THE SITUATION

Marketing Director, Quincy Armstrong, has been with Rusnak Auto Group since 2013, and partnering with PureCars on digital advertising since 2018. In that time, Armstrong and his team have worked closely with PureCars on data-driven marketing that aligns with Rusnak’s sales goals to drive incremental growth in revenue and market share.

When Rusnak was forced to suspend sales operations across all of its stores due to shelter in place orders, Armstrong knew they had to do everything they could to keep customers coming through their service bays while their showroom were closed.

“When the pandemic hit and sales departments were very limited in LA, we had to get the word out fast to our customer base that our service departments are open, that we’re offering pick-up and delivery, and that we have special offers if your vehicle needs service.” Armstrong said. “Email inboxes were being flooded with marketing messages, so we decided that we needed an extra push with paid social.”

With social engagement at an all time high, especially on Facebook, PureCars recommended the group spend up on social with a service-focused campaign. The biggest challenge with ramping up paid social was how cumbersome the campaigns were for Armstrong and his team to execute.

“Creating paid social campaigns is cumbersome. Building creative, uploading lists, configuring targeting, getting creative approved through Facebook and Instagram takes more time than we have as a small in-house marketing team,” Armstrong said.

After years of success partnering on efficient, data-driven search and display campaigns, Armstrong had a hunch that they could get even better results by adding paid social to the marketing mix with PureCars; and they were quickly proven right. The combination of smart ad buys on Facebook and clever use of CRM data paid off in a big way for Rusnak Auto Group.

THE SOLUTION

Together, Rusnak  and PureCars adjusted the strategy to reduce paid search spend, focusing on high-converting campaigns with brand, regional and crisis-specific messaging (e.g. We’re open for Service, Sales to essential workers, etc.). They also increased spending in paid social with a targeted focus on Fixed Ops; their goal being to keep their service departments over 50% capacity through late March and April.

For paid social, the Rusnak marketing team provided the creative and PureCars built the campaigns, leveraging CRM data to target past customers due for service or inactive for 9+ months. From there, the team used lookalike audiences to expand their reach while still maintaining critical OEM compliance standards.

“Support and performance is the big differentiator for PureCars.” Armstrong said. “With paid search and social, your first point of contact makes all the difference. It’s vital to have someone responsive that can communicate with both dealership and marketing professionals in a manner that they understand, and most importantly someone that grinds and is always looking for ways to improve campaigns and new ideas to try.”

“With luxury brands, the standards are very high for creative, and compliance rules are strict. The PureCars team has the background and resources to produce OEM-compliant ads and this is critical when it comes to efficiency and maximizing co-op funds,” Armstrong said.

THE RESULTS

Working closely together, PureCars and Rusnak successfully executed highly effective ad campaigns that drove a high volume of business in a short period of time, at the lowest possible cost.

“With many vendors, you would probably see the same reports year after year,” Armstrong said. “We know in something as dynamic as digital advertising, that’s not going to cut it. The PureCars team, I would say, is relentless in finding new reports, always looking for new ways to present the data and really looking for what dealers want, which is attribution. They want to know that their money is working and driving sales.”

A detailed analysis revealed that during the 5 weeks from late March through April, the digital campaigns drove more than 2,000 repair orders (ROs), making up 59% of the group’s total ROs during that time. Even better, many of those sales were from past customers re-engaged through social ads.

With the average dollar per RO well above $200 for luxury brands, increasing spend in the social campaigns, coupled with historically low CPMs, drove a high ROI and sustained profitability for Rusnak Auto Group while its showroom doors were closed.

“Our primary goal in late March and April was to keep our service departments over 50% capacity, and the PureCars campaigns helped achieve this,” Armstrong said. “Some of our dealerships far exceeded this with over 70% capacity.”

These results are a testament to the trust and true partnership between Rusnak Automotive Group and PureCars; the openness to try something new, and agility in implementation, enabled the group to exceed their goals despite unprecedented challenges from Coronavirus.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR RUSNAK AUTOMOTIVE GROUP?

Rusnak Auto Group has been in business for over 50 years and they’re ready for 50 more. PureCars is proud to partner with Armstrong and his team to continue driving successful outcomes for the group.

Armstrong and his team communicate daily with PureCars, constantly adjusting campaigns and finding new, innovative ways to grow sales and market share for the group.

“In addition to support and performance, PureCars is really relentless when it comes to technology and updating their platforms to improve reporting. With some vendors, you’d see the same reports year after year. PureCars always has something new. They’re working on attribution measurements that matter to dealers. And most importantly, they listen to feedback from their clients.”

Between Armstrong’s intelligent, agile marketing team and PureCars’ relentless product innovation and data-first approach, Rusnak Auto Group is well positioned for future success; no matter what curveball comes their way next.