Smart Publisher PRO | Configuring for the first time

Rules Engine

When you initiate SmartPublisher PRO for the first time, the first step you must take is to configure the Rules Engine. The purpose of the Rules Engine is to set the rules that the inventory will follow.

When you click on Rules Engine in Dealer Dashboard, you will see the list of subscribed export destinations that you are currently advertising your vehicles on. If you wish to verify your subscribed destinations, you can click onto the Export Destinations page to view them.

First, enable the Rules Engine by clicking on the toggle next to ‘Rules Engine Status; so it goes green and reads ‘Enabled’. Down in the bottom-right corner, click the Save Changes button which will launch a Confirmation window where you need to click the Save Changes button again. This ensures that the Rules Engine stays enabled before you begin creating rules. If you disable the Rules Engine Status toggle, you will need to click the Save Changes button again to ensure it is disabled.

There are two different options that are possible when creating rules for a destination:

1. Pause All – Pause all vehicles from advertising destination for the pause period defined
2. Custom Rules – Pause all used cars that meet the criteria you set in the rules from exporting to the advertising destination for the pause period defined

Next you will see ‘SmartPublisher Rules’ option where you can immediately begin creating a Custom Rule for your subscribed advertising destinations.

Last is the ‘My Rules’ section which you can view by Export Destination or the Rules List.

Minimum Export Criteria

When setting the rules option that will work best for your dealership, you also have the option of choosing to set a Minimum Inventory Export Criteria for each subscribed advertising destination which will apply regardless of whether you are choosing to Pause All of your Inventory or configuring a Custom Rule.

By turning any of the following options on, your inventory will sit in a Pending status until the minimum criteria has been met before it can be paused or listed through SmartPublisher PRO.

• Advertised Price Exists – A vehicle must have an Advertised Price or RRP before it will be assessed by the Rules Engine
• Comments Exist – A vehicle must have Comments added to it before it will be assessed by the Rules Engine
• Number of Photos – A vehicle must have the number of photos selected within the dropdown before it will be assessed by the Rules Engine

Pause All

This rules option will pause all your used car inventory from advertising on the chosen subscribed destination for the specified period you enter.

First click on the advertising destination you wish to Pause All on, then you will need to click the toggle to the right of Pause All so that shows as ‘Enabled. By default, the value prepopulated will be 28 days, but you can either type a new value or use the up and down buttons to select the number of days your inventory will be paused for.

Lead Pausing

This rules option will remove your used car inventory from advertising on the chosen subscribed destination once it reaches the total lead count that you select using the up and down arrows or typing a value in manually.

For example, you could set Destination 1 to remove the vehicle advertisement for your stock at 10 total leads received, Destination 2 at 20 total leads and Destination 3 at 30 total leads. That way if you were to receive 22 leads in total for a stock item - it would be removed at 10 total leads from Destination 1, 20 total leads at Destination 2 however it would still be advertised on Destination 3. 

By adding on this feature, you can further control your advertising expenditure on each of your advertising destinations to ensure that you are maximising your profitability on each vehicle.

Custom Rules

If you select to create your own custom rules, you can either click on ‘Create New Rule’ under the SmartPublisher Rules section at the top or click on the advertising destination that you wish to set the Custom Rule on and click ‘Create New Rule’. Either option allows you to tailor the rules for your dealership, to position your dealership to maximize your advertising revenue.

You can also create multiple custom rules for your dealership, allowing you to be as specific with your rule setting as you desire. Please see the Multiple Custom Rules page by clicking the link, or review the section below for more information.

Settings

Before creating a Custom Rule, in the Settings you will be able to select the location/s that the Market Analysis Rules (Days to Sell, Market Days Supply and Average EGC Price - Above or Below) apply to when being used in the Rules Engine.

If you choose not to add a location, then SmartPublisher PRO will default the Market Analysis Rules to the state that your dealer is located in. If only one location is selected, then the Market Data is based off that location (i.e. State or Region).

If you select more than one location, then the data is collated for the regions that you select. For instance, if you select Victoria and Tasmania, then both states market data will be combined and that combined value is used.

Create New Rule

After clicking either Create New Rule button, the first step when creating a custom rule is to enter the Rule Name. You can type in any name you would like for the rule, however each rule must have a unique name.

Next, you enter the Pause Period for this rule that you wish to pause your inventory for, with the default being 28 days.

Now that you have set the name and pause period, the available options are as follows:

My Inventory Rules

• Make and Model – Pause certain Makes and Models
• Manufacturer Year – 2021 (and every year) to 1995 or less
• Body Type – Select Body Types to pause. Multiple Body Types can be selected
• First Advertised Price is Less Than or Equal to – Pausing vehicles that are equal to or less than the entered amount
• First Advertised Price is Greater Than or Equal to - Pausing vehicles that are equal to or greater than the entered amount
• Location Code – Pause vehicles that have the entered location. If available, the location codes for your vehicles are found on the Vehicle Details page for each vehicle, accessible from the Inventory menu of Dashboard. Should you add multiple locations into the rule, any vehicle with either location will be set to pause for the period you enter

Market Analysis Rules

• Days to Sell – Average amount of days a variant will take to sell based on the number of similar variants sold in that State in the last 60 days. In this context, you enter the value for the rule that applies to your used cars. Whatever value you enter, is this value and less i.e. if you enter 50, it is all vehicles that have a value of 50 Days to Sell or less.
• Market Days Supply - The number of days’ supply available for a specific make/model/variant in the market, based on current number of similar make model variants in the market and the number of similar vehicles that were de-listed per day over the last 60 days. In this context, you select you enter the value for the rule that applies to your used cars. Whatever value you enter, is this value and less i.e. if you enter 50, it is all vehicles that have a value of 50 Market Days Supply or less.
• EGC Price Above Market Average - At what percentage above the average market EGC Price you want to pause from advertising,
• EGC Price Below Market Average - At what percentage above the average market EGC Price you want to pause from advertising.

Please be aware that if you have selected one or more locations in the Settings menu of SmartPublisher PRO, then the Market Analysis Rules will be calculated on the location-based values – for example if you were to select multiple states in the Settings menu, then the values of those states would be collated and the Rules would apply to that collated value. If you have not selected a location, the Market Analysis Rules will be based on the state your dealership is located in.

Also, If you select a Market Analysis Rule along with an Inventory Rule, a vehicle must meet both criteria or will not be paused.

Apply to these Export Destinations

Here you can select by clicking on the checkboxes, whether this rule will be set for all your advertising destinations or specific destinations only.

Test Rule Impact

Before you save your custom rule, you can click the button ‘Test Rule Impact’ button that will show you the percentage and number of your current inventory that would be affected by the custom rule that you are setting – however a new rule will only affect new stock that comes through SmartPublisher PRO as your existing stock has already been assessed. This will also show how the rule would have affected vehicles sold in the last 60 days.

Once you are happy with your custom rule, click either Apply and Enable SmartPublisher PRO or Save Rule.

Multiple Custom Rules

You can create multiple rules with different rules and different pause periods for each rule as well. Once you create a second Custom Rule and save it you will see both rules that you have set for your dealership underneath Custom Rules.

The rules are applied to inventory in the order set by the user. This means that when a vehicle is processed by the rules engine, Rule 1 will be evaluated first. If a vehicle does not match that rule it will then be evaluated by the next rule in the ordered list to see if it can match. If a vehicle matches the rule criteria of any of the rules then it is Paused for the period configured for that rule, otherwise if a vehicle does not match any of the rules it will be Listed.

This means that if you wish for the second custom rule that you configured to be reordered to the first position, you can do this by clicking and holding on the left-hand side arrow, then dragging it up to the first rule position.