The Profound Agency
Automotive

Moving metal, and proving the ad did it

Dealerships have the clearest version of the attribution problem: the sale happens on the forecourt, not on the website. The channels that matter here are the ones that can tie an impression to a showroom visit, and the targeting that matters is in-market shopping behaviour rather than broad demographics.

How do you prove a car ad brought someone into the dealership?

Through on-site visit tracking. Someone who sees the ad and then arrives at the dealership with their phone within fourteen days is attributed as a visit — reported as verified visits, where GPS confirmed it, and estimated visits modelled from them.

What we run for automotive clients

Campaigns in this sector

Clients are described by sector rather than named. Every figure is from the campaign it sits under.

Automotive retail

A dealership finished four times above the national click-through benchmark

A Californian dealership wanted to reach in-market shoppers in its own catchment rather than buy regional reach.

What we ran

  • Paid social against in-market automotive audiences
  • Household IP targeting against a defined address set
Paid social click-through rate
0.36% — over 5× the national average
IP targeting click-through rate
0.09%
Campaign click-through rate
0.28% — 4× the national average

Automotive service

A service department offer redeemed at 9% and cut acquisition cost 75%

A dealership wanted service appointments, competing against independent garages on price and convenience.

What we ran

  • Custom audience matching against the dealership's own customer list
  • A discount offer carried through the creative
Offer redemption rate
9%
Estimated saving versus previous spend
Over 75%

Questions we get asked

How do you prove a car ad brought someone into the dealership?
Through on-site visit tracking. Someone who sees the ad and then arrives at the dealership with their phone within fourteen days is attributed as a visit — reported as verified visits, where GPS confirmed it, and estimated visits modelled from them.
How many clicks should I expect?
The national average click-through rate for digital display advertising is about 0.07%, so 100,000 impressions should produce at least 70 clicks through to your website. On 300,000 impressions that is roughly 210 visits. Campaigns we run frequently beat that average by several multiples, but the benchmark is what any plan should be built on rather than the best case.
How many of those clicks turn into leads or sales?
That depends on your own website conversion rate, not on the ads. Take the share of visitors who currently do what you want them to do and apply it to the expected clicks: at 300,000 impressions and a 5% site conversion rate, roughly 210 clicks would produce about 10 conversions. If you do not know your current conversion rate, that is the first thing worth measuring, because it sets the ceiling on everything paid media can deliver.
Can you track whether someone who saw an ad came to my location?
Yes, on the channels that serve to mobile devices. If someone sees the ad and then visits your location with their phone within fourteen days, that visit can be attributed and reported. It is shown on your monthly report as verified and estimated visits.
What counts as a conversion, and do you measure view-throughs?
A click conversion is someone who clicked the ad and then completed the action you are tracking. A view-through is someone who saw the ad, did not click, and arrived at your site and converted later. Both are reported separately, because counting only clicks understates what awareness channels like video, audio and Connected TV actually do.

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