🧠We Don’t Always Really Know Why Most People Buy Cars—And That’s OK
Sometimes a customer walks in for service…
…and ends up buying a car they saw in the showroom.
Sometimes they’re just driving by, and the lot catches their eye.
Or they get prospected by a salesperson while waiting for an oil change.
That stuff never shows up in attribution models. It rarely is noted CORRECTLY in CRM.
We think we know why someone bought a car—because Google Ads, Clarivoy, or a 3rd-party site took credit. But the truth is, the customer is influenced by dozens of small moments before they buy:
• An ad they saw two weeks ago.
• A chat they had online.
• A referral from a friend.
• Familiarity with the dealership.
• A great experience in the past.
• A service visit that turned into a walk-around.
• A phone call with the right tone, at the right time.
Unless you’re doing full-scale post-sale customer interviews or detailed surveys, you’ll never truly know. When I was a dealer we used to give customers a paper survey at delivery. The results were summarized in detail and we shared them with whoever was trying to sell me advertising. It asked where they shopped, what ads they saw, and how long they’d been looking. It gave us better insights than any pixel.
🟢 Great marketing isn’t about finding the source. It’s about being present across every source.
That means:
• Being visible on 3rd-party sites and on TV, billboards , radio, etc…
• Having a great website, great word-of-mouth, great on the phones.
• Serving your service customers so well they become sales customers.
• Following up like it matters—because it does.
If you’re a dealer trying to simplify this into a single ROI number… you’re going to miss the truth.
Attribution is a tool. But it’s not the truth.
The truth is in the showroom, the service drive, and the customer conversation. You just have to look for it.
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