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AD STRATEGY

Choosing a Vehicle Ads Strategy For Your Dealership:

What $2.1M+ in spend tells us

Vehicle ads, vehicle ads with feed only, pmax. There are so many options to choose from in Google Ads but what is the best option for your dealership?

The answer that we’ll take from our friends in the SEO department is, “it depends”.

We analyzed $2.1M in spend across almost 150 active accounts and 28 OEMS to find out what the best combinations are.

New Car Campaigns

Looking just at a strictly in-platform CPA/CVRT standpoint, we found that PMAX (no feed) campaigns are the winner with both the highest conversion rate and lowest CPAs, with the second best option being a Pmax campaign with a feed. This is most likely because of the multiple placement options that these ads can show up in.

New Cars CVRT CPA CPC CTR
All Types 12.3% $8.44 $1.04 0.9%
Feed+Assets 11.0% $8.50 $0.94 1.3%
Feed Only 10.8% $8.54 $0.92 0.8%
PMAX Only 16.9% $7.84 $1.33 1.2%
PMAX Models 9.6% $10.45 $1.00 0.4%

*Conversions include: Lead forms, click to calls, calls from ads only. CVRT from click.

Take away

The more assets and options you allow Google to “play in” the better performance you’ll be able to achieve. However, if you want to drive cheap traffic to your VDPs, feed only campaigns could be an option for you, but watch out as they have very low click through rates. You are most likely better off sticking to a feed + assets campaign in our opinion.

Used Cars

For used cars, we only looked at two campaign types, but between feed + asset and feed only, the clear winner was just like the new car campaigns. What’s crazy is the CPA difference between feed + assets and feed only campaigns, generating a much larger spread than new cars.

Used CVRT CPA CPC CTR
All Types 25.4% $2.86 $0.73 1.3%
Feed+Assets 29.7% $2.23 $0.66 1.3%
Feed Only 19.5% $4.19 $0.82 1.2%

*Conversions include: Lead forms, click to calls, calls from ads only. CVRT from click.

Does this differ for OEMS?

Across OEMS that are running all campaign types we did find a difference in what worked and what didn’t work, and also where CPAs leaned higher than the average, and where we would be more likely to avoid certain campaign tactics.

What did stay true is that Pmax dealer campaigns did work best for most OEMS with the execution of Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Volkswagen.

Campaign Type CVRT CPA CPC CTR
Nissan 32.8% $2.56 $0.84 0.8%
Feed+Assets 42.2% $1.46 $0.61 1.0%
Feed Only 2.4% $40.97 $0.99 0.4%
PMAX Dealer 16.4% $14.37 $2.36 2.4%
Mitsubishi 8.0% $8.82 $0.71 2.9%
Feed+Assets 16.7% $8.01 $1.34 3.2%
PMAX Dealer 5.4% $7.43 $0.40 2.9%
PMAX Mixed Models 11.0% $12.43 $1.37 2.9%
Volkswagen 4.6% $22.09 $1.02 1.0%
Feed+Assets 3.5% $41.15 $1.46 1.0%
Feed Only 10.3% $12.09 $1.25 0.6%
PMAX Dealer 8.2% $30.56 $2.50 3.3%

* If you want to see the full data set by the OEM, reach out to us!

So what does this mean for your dealership?

  • Test and test regularly. What might have worked in January may not be working any more in September, and that’s ok. It’s time to test and pivot.
  • Google is highly competitive and you need to find new pockets of opportunity, whether that’s your audience segmentation or channel segmentation.
  • Make sure your pricing is competitive.
  • See how we do Vehicle ads differently to stay ahead of the competition.

Ready to connect and talk about your dealership's ad strategy?

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