Let’s start off with a very simple question, what is data? That may seem like a simple question at first, but TRULY understanding data, where it comes from, how to use it, and how to understand it can be a bit overwhelming. It’s no secret that the accuracy of data is vital when it comes to making better business decisions and most importantly, getting the most return on your dealerships investment. But gaining that insight requires a highly qualified Data Team that you can trust and understands the basic fundamentals. Before we can talk about what data is, let’s highlight the basic types of data that are available to automotive marketing agencies.
There are 3 types of data that are commonly used in the automotive industry:
First-Party Data: First-party data is one of the most important tools in a dealership’s arsenal. This includes data that the dealer owns and collects which includes customer information, purchase history, and service history. This data is crucial for providing real-time analysis and decision-making strategies for dealers across the country.
Second-Party Data: Second-party data is information sourced directly from another owner of data. In short, this is data that you negotiated or purchased directly from someone who owns other first-party data.
Third-Party Data: Third-party data is much broader than first or second-party data, but can be equally as valuable when attracting new customers. Third-party data comes from data aggregators such as Oracle, who acquire data from Polk (Auto intenders), Visa (transaction history), Transunion (Fico), and many other sources.
The definition of Data are facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis. Understanding the different types of data available to you, is the first step when wanting to formulate a strategy.
Soon we will take a deeper dive into each category of data available to a car dealer or dealership, and the great strategies used to convert this data into an actionable response.