Facebook Advertising Success Amidst California Consumer Privacy Act


For many auto dealers, Facebook advertising is a go-to marketing strategy. Dealers are able to target new-to-market shoppers, engage with those who have been on their website, and reengage customers to return for service or when they are ready to buy a vehicle again.

The bread and butter of targeting engaged shoppers is the ability to retarget them with the exact vehicle they searched on the website, called dynamic retargeting.

The Challenge

At the beginning of 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect. The Act “gives consumers more control over their personal information that businesses collect about them.” Due to these changes, many automotive dealerships in California lost the ability to target consumers with dynamic retargeting ads on Facebook. Then, the pandemic shut down most of California.

With less foot traffic due to COVID, some dealerships looked to inventive ways to target, and retarget, customers who were no longer seeing their dynamic retargeting ads.

The Solution

While there still isn’t a sure-fire way to dynamically retarget California residents with ads, 9 Clouds was able to customize Chavez Buick GMC’s Facebook advertising strategy to offer successful advertising and online branding for their dealership.

The dealership, located in Indio, California works with a strategy that targets shoppers throughout the automotive sales funnel. Using diverse creative, 9 Clouds develops ads that include retargeting website page traffic, lead generation, and click-to-call. Ads include new inventory, used and certified pre-owned, as well as service. 

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when California mandated a state-wide stay at home order, Chavez Buick GMC turned off their advertising. Within days, Facebook campaigns were turned back on and a healthy stream of website visitors was brought in from Facebook ads. 

Because the targeting was well-strategized, 9 Clouds was able to keep customers engaged with Chavez Buick GMC’s ads and help move them through the sales funnel.

Facebook ads for California auto dealers

The Results

Within 33 campaigns during a six month period, Chavez consistently produced impressive results.

  • Facebook Average Cost Per Click – $0.21
  • Facebook Average Click-Through Rate – 2.43%
  • Return on Ad Spend – earned $3.29 in sales for every $1.00 of advertising spent

“With all the challenges we’ve had in the past 12 months, I knew that being able to track our advertising spend was probably more important than ever,” dealership owner Jason Chavez said.

” Facebook has allowed us to fine-tune our message in order to get the most traffic in a cost-effective method and I couldn’t have done it without the 9 Clouds team.”

Need Help With Facebook Advertising in California?

If you need a partner who is knowledgeable with CCPA rules and regulations, we can help! Our team includes Facebook specialists who understand what it takes to operate successful online advertising and stay in ordinance with the privacy protection laws in California (and Canada).

Sign up for a digital assessment from our marketing experts, and we’ll provide custom recommendations for your Facebook ad strategy.

Get Your Digital Marketing Assessment »