auto dealer in black and red logo
MenuMENU
SearchSEARCH

PureCars and Facebook Conduct Joint Study on Impact Social Marketing Tools Have on Dealers Cutting Advertising Expenses

Study showed higher website traffic and retargeting leads through lower advertising spend.

December 4, 2020
PureCars and Facebook Conduct Joint Study on Impact Social Marketing Tools Have on Dealers Cutting Advertising Expenses

Study showed higher website traffic and retargeting leads through lower advertising spend.

2 min to read


ATLANTA – PureCars, a leading provider of digital marketing and advertising insights for automotive dealers, today announced it has completed a joint study with Facebook on the impact social marketing tools have on dealers that are more heavily reliant upon digital retailing while cutting advertising expenses. During Q1 of 2020, Facebook and PureCars studied online and offline engagement and sales rates resulting from Facebook’s automotive inventory ads and retargeting campaigns for 16 auto dealers.

A rising number of consumers today utilize digital retailing resources during the research, shop, and transact phases of buying a vehicle.

The purpose of the study was to better understand how today’s digital advertising resources measure and attribute offline sales back to Facebook/Instagram and to show the overall impact advertising on those channels has for automotive retail clients. The study’s observers launched a lift test in January to attempt to show the incremental impact Facebook advertising has on a dealer’s business. Observers tracked both online actions (VDP views and leads) and offline actions (vehicle sales).

“A rising number of consumers today utilize digital retailing resources during the research, shop, and transact phases of buying a vehicle,” said Jeremy Anspach, CEO of PureCars. “At the same time, many automotive retailers have cut their advertising spending but are still looking for ways to connect, engage and convert automotive shoppers. Auto dealers are realizing there is great power and cost efficiencies found in social marketing today that’s even more robust than just a few short years ago, and today’s sophisticated attribution technology makes it more accurate to determine ROI.”

The study showed how Facebook’s Automotive Inventory Ads drove a 23% lift in vehicle sales, at a $136 cost per incremental sale, compared to the traditional dynamic product catalogs ads on Facebook. Based on the analysis conducted during the Q1 study, test dealers also achieved 83% of their Retargeting audience and 11% of their Prospecting audience – significant numbers for the average automotive retailer.

Furthermore, the extremely high lift in dealership web traffic (76.4%) means the campaign was responsible for driving a significant amount of traffic to the dealer’s site, which in turn populated the Retargeting audience. This helped fuel the Retargeting campaign, which subsequently was the engine behind attribution for clearer ROI identification back to the dealer’s advertising expenditure validation.

To learn more about the study, visit: https://read.nxtbook.com/digital_dealer/dealer_magazine/sept_oct_2020_issue/driving_your_dealership.html

To learn more about social marketing and retargeting campaigns visit https://www.purecars.com/solutions/purecars/

Topics:Digital

More Digital

Scott Worthington, vice president of product management at Reynolds and Reynolds, stands indoors in front of large windows wearing a navy blazer and white shirt.
Digitalby StaffMarch 3, 2026

Reynolds, Corpay Partner to Enhance Dealership Payables

The new connection between the companies is designed to help digitize payments, targeting smoother transactions for automotive dealers.

Read More →
Headshot of Zach Shefska, CEO of CarEdge, alongside the CarEdge logo on a blue background.
Digitalby StaffFebruary 24, 2026

Free Public Scoring System Rewards Honest Dealer Prices

CarEdge Dealer Transparency Index is based on verified quotes, and retailers can be rewarded with badges and other marketable proofs of honest pricing.

Read More →
Digitalby Hannah MitchellJanuary 9, 2026

Automaker Websites Valuable Tools

The majority of shoppers visit them, and most undecided consumers consider the brands whose sites they peruse, but some automakers emphasize brand over product detail.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Product & Technologyby Hannah MitchellNovember 25, 2025

AI-Guided Car-Shopping Insight

Consumers say they’re using the tech, but many still end up at dealerships to seal the deal.

Read More →
A smartphone displaying a Hertz Car Sales online listing sits beside the Cox Automotive logo, illustrating Cox’s new omnichannel car-buying platform.
Digitalby StaffNovember 11, 2025

Omnichannel Car-Buying Platform Launches

Cox Automotive says the technology enables online transactions on client sites and third-party marketplaces simultaneously.

Read More →
Digitalby Hannah MitchellOctober 31, 2025

Audi Drivers Can Ditch That Pesky Manual

Updated mobile app features AI assistant for tech questions, EV tasks and more

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Digitalby Hannah MitchellOctober 24, 2025

GM Cars to Get Smarter Over Time

Automaker announces single vehicle computing system to connect lineup for faster updates

Read More →
Shawn Concannon, president of TSD Mobility Solutions, stands inside a modern office building, representing TSD’s continued growth in connected-fleet technology.
Digitalby StaffOctober 14, 2025

TSD Mobility Acquisition to Bolster Telematics

Latest addition expands connected-fleet technology, strengthening telematics capabilities and global reach

Read More →
Digitalby Hannah MitchellSeptember 5, 2025

Cyber Threats Continue Apace

Hackers, seeing auto retail vulnerabilities in 2024 CDK incident, are taking advantage, data show.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Kamir Martínez Díaz and Chris Ponte receive $5,000 Amplify 2025 awards, donating to cancer research and veteran support groups.
Digitalby StaffAugust 26, 2025

Reynolds Introduces AI Agent for Dealerships

Winners of the Automotive Amplifiers Contest were also chosen at the two-day Amplify event in Dallas.

Read More →