FORT MYERS, Fla. — Haystak Digital Marketing and vAuto are integrating Haystak’s Dynamic Inventory Tool with vAuto’s provision pricing data to tailor advertising to the customer in order to improve the effectiveness of search marketing campaigns.

Potential car buyers are shown ads which directly relate to the kinds of cars they are searching for online. These ads include vehicle-specific condition, mileage and pricing data tailored to the customer’s searches.

“With the vAuto data, we know if a vehicle is priced above or below the market and whether its mileage is lower than competing units,” said Duncan Scarry, founder of Haystak. “By bringing this data into our tool, we can generate pay-per-click ads that emphasize a car’s specific strengths.”

In a test group comparing search results from 18 vAuto dealers using Haystak’s inventory tool to 700 other dealers in Google’s ad network, the targeted advertising for vAuto dealers showed improved results, according to Haystak.

“The performance of their search advertising outpaced other dealers by substantial margins in our year-over-year comparisons, affirming our belief that consumers respond to pay-per-click ads that are highly relevant to their used vehicle buying preferences,” said Scarry.

The test showed that vAuto integrated dealers saw a more efficient cost-per-click on their ads than other dealers. Typically, cost-per-click rates increase for advertisers because of competition for advertising placement. With tailored ads, placement was less important and dealers were able to spend less while still having effective ads.

Click-through ratio, or the amount of times an ad was clicked on verses the times it was shown, was improved by 98% in vAuto ads. This is in contrast to the click through ratio of other dealers which improved by 57% in the same period.

Cost-per-Lead dropped by 13% while comparable dealers saw increases of 6%. The vAuto dealers benefited from the integration of market data which allowed the Dynamic Inventory Tool to adjust bidding strategies to fit specific vehicles, according to Haystak.

There was also a 25% increase in conversion rates during the test period. Conversion rate measures the calls and emails that result from click-throughs on pay-per-click ads.

“These initial results tell us that search engine marketing for used vehicles can be a cost-effective way for dealers to meet their objectives to increase sales and maximize gross profits,” said Dave Pollak, vAuto founder.