In February, we told you about a recent Think with Google report on the power of consumer intent and how 3 Birds can help you bridge the gap between intent and traditional demographics. One of the easiest ways to do this is through hand-raiser leads -- and it's something 3 Birds has been helping clients do for years.

What is a hand-raiser?

In the 3 Birds Reporting application, a hand-raiser is a prospective customer who has engaged with your dealership's content in a way that shows interest and is suggestive of a current or upcoming automotive need. This engagement can take multiple forms:

  • Reading a new model review
  • Opening an oil change coupon
  • Clicking on an article about getting the best trade-in value for your vehicle

In most cases, hand-raisers aren't yet ready to buy -- and that’s why they're so valuable. Too often, dealerships place too much focus on lower-funnel tactics focused on an immediate sales or service conversion. Hand-raisers give you the opportunity to start nurturing interest earlier and help build your pipeline to ensure an ongoing stream of engaged, motivated leads. 

The consumer intent associated with your hand-raiser lists provides a starting point for you to build the relationship with customers and turn a cold contact into a warm one before they even step foot in your dealership. With customers visiting an average of only 1.6 dealerships before purchasing according to a recent McKinsey report, starting this relationship early is more critical than ever.

Finding your hand-raisers in the 3 Birds ME™ platform

Setting up hand-raiser reporting in the 3 Birds application is simple. First, you and your Account Strategist will identify your hand-raiser links using the Builder's intuitive functionality. This is why combining promotional with non-promotional content in your marketing is so important. By limiting the types of messages you provide, you're limiting the opportunities for customers to tell you more about themselves.

After that, sit back and wait for that valuable consumer intent data to start rolling in. You can find your hand-raiser lists in two places in the 3 Birds Reporting app:

1.Campaign Clicks Send Report

2.Send Summary

The Hand-Raiser Click Rate can be found at the top of the Campaign Clicks report and is expressed as a percentage of the Total Unique Clicks. The report will also show how each of the hand-raiser links in your communication contributed to the total click rate. Clicking on the name of each link will provide the Recipients list for your future marketing initiatives.

Your account manager will send you your top hand-raiser lists along with your Send Summary each month, so make sure you're checking your email so you can start dialing for dollars!

Don't take your hand-raisers for granted

While it's a mistake to treat a hand-raiser as you would a traditional lead, these reports are still a rich source of actionable follow-up opportunities. Your 3 Birds Account Strategist can help you capitalize on consumer intent and keep your customers moving further down the path to conversion with a Flex Campaign: for instance, a trade-in offer for customers who've expressed interest in similar content or a sales-based campaign featuring an offer for the review they just read.

In the 3 Birds ME™ platform, hand-raisers are also included as one of the many data sources in our proprietary predictive modeling that powers our Smart Messaging Streams. These models combine hand-raiser and other behavioral data with third-party data sources and your own CRM and DMS data to provide even more insights into consumer intent, including which customers are likely to visit your dealership for sales or service in the next 30 days.

For more information on marketing to hand-raisers in your database, contact us today.