While tariff uncertainty is still in the minds of dealership operators, most of our clients closed out March with strong sales, primarily because the last 10 days were above trend. According to the Active Shopper Network^®, April seems to be above trend as well.

As we head into May, we are seeing a higher than average number of Active Shoppers^® in the United States. The increase in Active Shoppers^® is representative of a “pull-ahead” in the market. We’ve seen this before. It’s usually a surge in demand that feels like a sugar high, followed by a drop in demand where things bottom out.

Savvy marketers can leverage the Active Shopper Network’s precise data to create unfair competitive advantages during the surge, while also focusing their limited advertising investment on people that are actually shopping during the drop in demand. This strategy has proven to show outsized returns in peaks and valleys of demand, especially when the drops are caused by economic uncertainty.

Dealers can supplement their current sales strategy by focusing more on consumers who are actively shopping instead of investing in general brand awareness. I have seen dealership ad campaigns promoting sales before prices rise, but many OEMs have indicated that they will hold prices steady for the next few months, at least for the time being.

If the initial pricing scare is over, then I would suggest that dealers dial in the accuracy of their marketing investments and ensure they are using their valuable ad dollars on consumers actually shopping for a car. Currently, dealers spend thousands of dollars loading all their inventory into Meta dynamic inventory ads or Google VLAs and are hoping that the in-market shopper sees a vehicle they like.

Dealers can direct their ad dollars specifically to Active Shoppers^® by utilizing the audience building capabilities of the Active Shopper Network^® (ASN). By focusing ad dollars to engage Active Shoppers^®, dealers can reduce waste and increase advertising effectiveness.

To reiterate, thousands of automotive dealers use Google or Meta’s “in-market” shopper audiences. Ironically, they have no way of knowing how these audiences are created, but they still trust these companies to target customers effectively.

Here is a stunning fact: more than 70% of the consumers in these “shopper” audiences ARE NOT actively shopping for vehicles.

We tested these generic auto shopper audiences and here is what we found:

According to the Active Shopper Network^®, only 26.1% of consumers within the top-performing audiences (“in-market” lists from Meta, Amazon, and Google) were actually shopping for a vehicle. Many others were below 15%.

Until interest rates are lowered and the impact of tariffs better understood, there will be a cloud over automotive retail sales. If OEMs keep costs fixed, you know what will happen next: they will reduce incentives and cut down on sub-vented rates.

While digital advertising budgets can range from $5,000 a month to over $50,000 a month, all dealers can benefit from testing a more focused advertising strategy. Taking 25% of the current digital advertising budget and moving advertising messages in front of Active Shoppers® will generate a noticeable change in sales opportunities.

Creating marketing activation audiences (email, direct mail, social, and Google) from the Active Shopper Network^® allows dealers to:

1. Know when their existing customers are out shopping and present them with advertising messages before they defect. Dealers should know that most existing customers will never submit a lead on their website when they defect to another dealer or brand.
2. Target Active Shoppers^® for their OEM brand before they arrive on their dealership website. Retargeting campaigns are effective, but they only work when a shopper visits the dealer’s website. Dealers who need to increase their market share can’t wait for the “up bus” to come to them or hope that their VLAs are seen by consumers.

Dealers have had no choice but to trust walled-garden advertising platforms, because they did not have any better options. However, when dealers understand the power of the Active Shopper Network^®, they can better allocate their marketing budgets to focus on real shoppers and not wishful thinking.

I encourage dealers to reach out and contact our sales team to learn more about the audiences which can be created and activated to reach your sales and service goals. Tariffs are just another challenge in a long list of headwinds dealers have faced. Today, dealers who partner with Client Command^® have new opportunities to increase marketing reach and sales effectiveness.