Monthly Archives: May 2018

Manufacturers reveal confidence in TLA’s GDPR-compliant leads

With GDPR now in place, can car manufacturers continue to trust the third-party data they receive from lead generation companies?

In short, the answer is a ‘yes’ from The Lead Agency. This trust building hasn’t happened overnight. We’ve served the UK automotive industry since 2002 and currently work with the majority of the country’s manufacturers on their lead generation campaigns.

We took a proactive approach to GDPR, starting our preparation early and working closely with our clients over the last year. We have left no stone unturned to ensure our customer acquisition service provides both quality leads and peace of mind to our clients.

“The Lead Agency team are a trusted partner to our business,” said Jess Douce, marketing manager for Jaguar Land Rover’s UK new car sales team, looking after retail, fleet and business, AUV and aftersales. “They’re not only great to work with but they believe in doing things the right way.”

“They provide the highest-quality GDPR-compliant client portal that I have used, which help us to send more leads to our retailers,” she added.

“Remarkable” approach to GDPR

Last week we received a glowing endorsement from ASE Global for our “remarkable” preparation for GDPR, with the automotive specialist commenting that “the work undertaken by The Lead Agency goes far beyond what the new legislation requires.”

We’re proud of that feedback and it’s even more pleasing to hear our clients echo the sentiment.

“The Lead Agency team are a long serving partner of Hyundai,” said the manufacturer’s senior manager for CRM and insight Danielle Hollis. “They provide good quality GDPR compliant enquiries at scale, which means we sell more cars which helps us achieve our targets.”

In the coming weeks, we’ll reveal our thoughts on the future of lead generation in a post-GDPR world and our advice for making it a viable part of your marketing strategy.

In the meantime, you can read more about our GDPR preparation and advice for other organisations in our recent article in Car Dealer Magazine.

ASE Global endorses The Lead Agency for its approach to GDPR in automotive lead generation

ASE Global, the automotive accountancy and business services company, has provided a strong and positive endorsement to The Lead Agency for its commitment to GDPR compliance.

The auditors described our approach as “remarkable” following a GDPR Readiness Assessment that reviewed our core compliance documents and relevant activity – including our data mapping, privacy statement and technology.

Kevin Symm, data protection and compliance officer for ASE, said: “We have been working with hundreds of businesses in the automotive space, ranging from household names with 10,000s of staff down to small companies.

“We’ve seen the full range of practices – good and bad – that those businesses have in place but in no one business have we seen as many good practices as at The Lead Agency,” he added.

ASE has been providing audit and accountancy services in the automotive industry for more than 40 years, working in more than 50 countries, with brands such as Audi, BMW, Volkswagen and Ford. Its GDPR team, which was established following the announcement of the new regulation, has provided GDPR assistance to in excess of 700 retailers and a number of national and international manufacturers in the last 12 months.

‘Impressive’

In its official assessment of The Lead Agency’s approach, ASE said: “There is a clear ‘top-down’ commitment to compliance which drives all associated activities. Internal focus has been on compliance. However, this has been conducted with an eye on the customer, to keep them informed and up to date in as transparent a manner as possible.”

We have gone to great lengths to prepare fully for the new legislation; from what ASE described as “comprehensively undertaken” data mapping to an “excellent” privacy statement. In addition, we have built our proprietary Client Portal, which provides a complete audit trail of every consumer’s journey from beginning to end.

Commenting on our preparation, Kevin said: “The levels The Lead Agency has gone to and the things it has implemented – such as the client portal, policies, procedures and documentation – go as far as anything we’ve seen for how companies can minimise the potential for something to go wrong and then maximise how quickly any potential issues can be discovered and acted upon. It really is impressive.”

‘Commitment’

“What’s particularly impressive,” said Kevin, “is that the work undertaken by The Lead Agency goes far beyond what the new legislation requires. The company is in a very good place.”

“The right attitude is evident from the top-down at The Lead Agency. It’s clear that there is a real and determined commitment to GDPR and how it can be used to make the business better.”

The report concludes: “Internally, The Lead Agency’s policies are sound, staff are appropriately trained and there is commitment to ensure compliance does not suffer over time. Externally, customers can provide their personal data to the business confident that the processing it is subject to will be compliant.”

For more information on The Lead Agency’s automotive lead generation services, contact the team today.

The Lead Agency’s Anton Hanley interviewed in LCR Business Post

Following our involvement in the International Business Festival’s launch campaign as a Next Level Business, our founder Anton Hanley has been interviewed by Liverpool City Region’s Business Post.

Anton discusses the early days of The Lead Agency right through to the current day as well as his hopes for the festival, which takes place in Liverpool next month.

You read Anton’s interview by picking up a copy of the latest LCR Business Post in and around the city or by downloading the full interview.

Life at The Lead Agency: meet developer Liam Moorcroft

Ever wondered what life is like inside one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies?

Developer Liam Moorcroft joined The Lead Agency in November last year and has made a great start within the business.   Here, Liam explains what drew him to TLA and what excites him about his role in the Engagement team.

What appealed to you about joining TLA?

They offer career progression, which is important to me. There was the potential for opportunities that I’ve never had before and, when I came into meet the team, it was clear that they were willing to help me progress. It was also about being able to gain a position in a bigger company.

And finally, there’s the office. When I came in for the interview, I was blown away by the vast views of Liverpool. I knew immediately I wanted to work here.

What can you tell us about your role?

The development team is split into two teams, the engagement team and the platform team. My team, the engagement team, create all the websites and front-facing sites that customers interact with.

My role varies day-to-day due to new features or add-ons that stakeholders may have asked for. Every few weeks we carry out work to maintain the websites to ensure they’re as user-friendly as possible.

What aspects of your role are you most passionate about?

I think discovering new technology is really important to me and it’s what I enjoy most within my role. As a developer, you can’t stand still- you have to keep up to date with new technology as it is always changing. The team I work with are great and make the projects that we work on even more enjoyable.

What can you tell us about your work that would be of interest to developers who are ready for a new challenge?

I think the technology is the big one – if you’re intrigued and enjoy experimenting with new software and technology and being able to do that on a daily basis, then this is the place for you! I guess that’s what continues to appeal to me about this role – the idea of constantly being involved with new technology, being able to research and explore whilst constantly being challenged to find improvements.

We are always asking ourselves, “how can we make this page faster?”, “how can we make this page more user-friendly?”. We are always trying to think of new and improved ways of making the user’s journey through the site better. If those sorts of challenges excite you, then this sort of role is definitely for you.

What else can you tell us about life at TLA?

I think the office and the aesthetics of it make it a great place to be. We’ve got 360⁰ views of Liverpool from our office floor and it just makes it a really pleasant environment to work in.

The bar is pretty cool too. On a Friday, we have a check-in where we grab a drink and discuss whatwe’ve been working on throughout the week. It’s good to hear about what everyone else is up to in the office as we are normally working within our own smaller teams day-to-day. That’s great because it creates a togetherness and a fun teamworking environment.

What’s it like working with the rest of the team?

What I have found working here is that everyone is super friendly and helpful. As a whole, and within my team, everyone is willing to support each other. The general attitude is that there is no such thing as a dumb question and this really gets the best performance out of you as it encourages us to take on a challenge and not be afraid to make a mistake.

I think that’s what helped me to get off on the front foot when I first started at TLA. I had quite a few gaps in my knowledge and I had to learn a lot quite quickly, but everyone was supportive and patient with me, which has helped me to get to where I am today.

To view our latest developer jobs in Liverpool, visit our careers page.

New Car Lead Generation: Ignore customer emotion at your peril – 5 takeaways to maximise the performance of your campaigns

Understanding the emotional rollercoaster of buying a new car and how customers are feeling during every micro-moment of their journey will transform your campaign performance.

Car manufacturers are undoubtedly the experts in understanding the primary triggers which bring a consumer ‘in-market’ for a new car – from family lifecycle events (some of us have had to morph from boy racer to safety conscious family man, with bags of room for child seats and a dog) to technological innovation and efficiencies. (One manufacturer even went as far as to identify 72 separate triggers and uses them in campaign creative!)

Despite this, Deloitte claim that a staggering 85% of car buyers do NOT think that they purchased their perfect car. How is this possible?

Put simply, researching a new car is over-whelming, emotionally draining and consumers are still wary of dealerships and indeed, the manufacturer brands.

In a study by Nationwide, 38% of respondents claimed that negotiating with a dealer was the most painful part of buying a new car. 11% felt that working out affordability was the main headache and 19% felt that financing the car was the main pain point.

In the same study, respondents claimed that buying a new car is just as stressful as preparing tax returns, jury duty and public speaking!

Three months. 900 digital micro-moments.

The various stages of the buyer decision-making process have been well documented. Although the latest research suggests there is no such thing as a traditional funnel. Instead, consumers flip between them over an average of three months:

  • What are the best options?
  • Which is right for me?
  • Can I afford it?
  • Where should I buy it?
  • Am I getting the best deal?

Google recently added to the research by mapping out typical user journeys over three months for consumers looking to purchase a new car. It used the example of Stacy, whose journey included a staggering 900 digital touchpoints or micro-moments in her path to finally selecting and buying her new car.

Interestingly, only 20% were with manufacturer websites and only 8% we were with dealerships. This means that over 70% of Stacy’s research took place elsewhere and, as we have seen above, it was probably a highly stressful experience.

Stacy’s consideration set went from 14 brands she explored at the top of the funnel down to six brands she compared in some detail, leaving her with a decision between two brands and her ultimate purchase.

14 brands across 900 micro-moments over three months – and only a 15% chance of making the right decision. How depressing.

There is a better way!

There will be as many as 2,500,000 new car sales in 2018. Excluding fleet, that’s potentially over 1m consumers who may have a similar experience as Stacy.

Billboards on motorways, the ads on trains and TV adverts all continue to have their place. But, when it comes to digital budgets, there is a more effective way than scatter-gunning display ads or relying on the micro-moments that take place on manufacturer websites or dealership sites via search or paid social.

Here are The Lead Agency’s 5 take-aways that will improve your digital new car lead generation campaigns:

  1. Test using triggers in ad copy and CTAs – search is absolutely still the strongest signal of intent but as Google’s research has shown, our search terms don’t always give away what our trigger is
  2. Brand is one of the least important elements for consumers during their research (premium brands aside)– they are much more interested in value for money, features and the opinion of their friends and family
  3. Most consumers decide which car is right for them BEFORE they research whether or not they can afford it – yet a lot of the first touch messaging is around financing
  4. We’re dealing with people, they aren’t aware that they are in a funnel or a target market! Let’s start producing copy that addresses the emotions and stress they are experiencing just by looking for a new car, and ways to remove it! One in five car buyers feel they are being confronted with too many deals
  5. Nearly half of all respondents in Deloitte’s study claimed they changed their mind about the make of car they wanted AT LEAST once during the buying journey… which means there’s plenty of conquest opportunity out there

Written by Justin Thorne, Head of Digital at The Lead Agency.

Enjoyed this content? Then why not discover more practical advice and insight here: ‘8 customer-centric tactics to dramatically increase lead quality and performance‘