What to Do With Trade-In Leads That Don't Convert

• Trade-in shoppers want to know what their vehicle is worth often, more than once every couple of months.

• If you get 100 trade leads in a month and convert 10, Mike says you're doing great, but the other 90 still matter.

• Unconverted trade leads are often upper funnel shoppers signaling that they're trying to figure out their vehicle's value.

• Market volatility from the lack of new cars produced during COVID, the chip shortage, and tariff discussions has left owners unsure what their car is worth.

• Sending unconverted leads their value every month keeps your store in front of them until their timing changes.

Every dealer with a trade tool on their website knows the pattern. Leads come in, the BDC works them, a handful turn into appraisals, and the rest go quiet. Knowing what to do with trade-in leads that don't convert is where a lot of stores leave opportunity on the table, because those leads have already told you something.

Mike Crothers, CEO of MOTO(acquire), puts it simply: everyone wants to know what their trade-in is worth, and they want to know often. Not once every couple of months. Over and over.

Why do most trade-in leads not convert?

Start with the math. If you get 100 trade leads in a month and you convert 10, Mike's view is that you're doing great. Getting to double digits on trade lead conversion is a strong result, and you should be happy with it.

But that leaves the other 90. They didn't come in, they didn't book an appraisal, and in a lot of stores they drop out of the follow-up cadence after a few attempts.

That doesn't mean they were bad leads. When someone goes to your website and plugs in their vehicle, they may still be pretty upper funnel. In Mike's words, they're signaling to you: "Hey, I'm trying to figure something out." They aren't ready to sell today. They're trying to understand where they stand.

Nobody knows what their car is worth right now

Part of the reason shoppers keep checking is that values have been hard to read. Mike points to the volatility in the market: the lack of new cars produced during COVID, the chip shortage, and tariff discussions. "Nobody knows what their car is worth," he says. "It's very confusing."

That confusion works in your favor if you stay in front of the customer. A shopper who looked up their value once is likely to look it up again. The question is whether they hear the answer from your store or from somewhere else.

What to do with trade-in leads that don't convert

Mike's answer: keep giving them their value. The trade-in funnel he describes goes on the dealer's website, and after a customer gets a value, it retargets them with a value tracking email using a value provider of your choice.

So the lead who didn't come in this month still hears from you. As Mike puts it: "The next month they get their value. The month after that, they get their value." Each email answers the exact question they came to your site with in the first place.

For a used car manager, this changes how you think about that 90. Instead of treating them as dead leads to close out of the CRM, treat them as a list of people who told you they own a vehicle and are thinking about what it's worth. A practical approach:

1. Close the ones you can close. Work hot trade leads hard and fast. That's where your 10 come from.

2. Don't drop the rest. Move unconverted leads into monthly value tracking instead of letting them age out of your follow-up.

3. Let the value do the work. A monthly update gives the customer a reason to come back to you when their timing changes, without your team making another cold call.

If you're also working on the top of the funnel, see how to get more website trade-in leads.

Where MOTO(convert) fits

MOTO(convert) is the website trade tool from MOTO(acquire). It provides instant valuations, firm offer requests, and monthly value tracking, and it includes the free buying power tool.

Mike describes it as the newest trade tool that's been built, made for the phone. He says it converts really well, and that he has data from early dealer partners that shows it. The monthly value tracking is the piece built for the leads that don't convert on the first visit.

If you're comparing options, watch Mike's take on the best trade-in tool for dealerships, or browse more videos on website trade-in leads.