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How Renault delivered true incrementality on carsales
December 5, 2025
Explore how a coordinated strategy delivered incremental leads, stronger efficiency and measurable impact across key buyer moments.
As marketers, one of the hardest questions to answer is whether your media spend genuinely influenced a buyer, or whether that result would have happened anyway.
This is the core of the incrementality test. It demands proof that you didn't just intercept a buyer at the finish line, but actually helped them step onto the track.
We recently ran this test across five major automotive brand campaigns to understand what drives real incremental value, with Renault Australia’s results highlighting the added impact a connected strategy can deliver.
The consideration gap
To put together a strong strategy, you need to understand how people buy cars. It is rarely a linear journey. It is a cycle of researching, comparing, and shortlisting.
A car sells through carsales every 18 seconds1. But before that sale occurs, buyers move in and out of the market. They look at your model, then a competitor’s model, check finance, close the tab, reopen it a week later, and repeat.
Winning in this environment is not about being the loudest. It is about being present at the moments that matter. You need to reach someone when they are curious and be ready to re-engage them when they return.
The Renault approach
Most brands have a search strategy. Fewer have a true marketplace strategy.
In our analysis, all five brands used Stock Extend. The product re-engages high-intent buyers who viewed a listing but did not submit a lead, finding them off-network, often across social channels, and bringing them back when interest is still warm.
On its own, it is effective. Across the campaigns we analysed, Stock Extend delivered between 152 and 844 incremental leads per brand2. These are leads that may not have been captured without that timely nudge.
Renault chose to build on this. They wanted to not only capture intent but also grow it.
To achieve this, they paired Stock Extend with Guaranteed Consideration, which is designed to reach buyers who are looking at competitor models and introduce the brand before a shortlist is formed. By combining the two products, Renault outperformed them all.
Connected media, compounding impact
The hypothesis was straightforward. If Guaranteed Consideration brings new shoppers into the funnel and Stock Extend reconnects with them when they hesitate, the results should compound.
That is exactly what happened.
Across six bursts of Guaranteed Consideration, each campaign delivered a view share uplift, ranging from 7% to 52%3. They were not just getting seen, they were winning time and attention from competitors.
Feeding this fresh audience into their retargeting pool led to a clear uplift in efficiency. Compared to every other campaign in the study, Renault achieved the lowest cost per lead4 and the highest click-to-lead conversion rate5, proving that coordinated media works harder than isolated tactics.
Strategy is the multiplier
With carsales commanding 80% of the time spent across Australian auto sites6, all of the brand campaigns we tracked had a large, qualified audience to market to.
But as we all know, reach without relevance is noise. In a crowded marketplace, simply showing up once isn't enough to win the sale; you need to be present at every turn.
Renault understood this. They did not rely on a single ad to carry the weight. They respected how people make decisions. One product sparked curiosity. The other helped close the loop.
As Julie Scarff, Senior Marketing Manager at Renault Australia, put it, the combination connected them with real, in-market buyers and the tools "worked together to drive results that were fast, measurable, and truly incremental".
Real incrementality is not magic. It is the outcome of being where your audience is and supporting them through the moments that matter. When you treat the marketplace as a strategy rather than a channel, results follow.
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Ready to build a strategy that drives real impact? Contact your carsales representative to learn more.
Source:
1. carsales internal survey data collected from dealers and private s ell ers, 1 July 2024 – 30 June 2025.
2. carsales internal data, 6 x Guaranteed consideration campaigns across 2 models between 15/01/2024- 3/6/2024
3. carsales internal data, Renault, Prefacts, January-March 2024.
4. carsales internal data; Meta; Renault, Prefacts, January-March 2024.
5. Ipsos iris, October 2025, 14+ PC/Laptop/Smartphone/Tablet, Brand Group, Mins Share %.
Connected media, compounding impact
The hypothesis was straightforward. If Guaranteed Consideration brings new shoppers into the funnel and Stock Extend reconnects with them when they hesitate, the results should compound.
That is exactly what happened.
Across six bursts of Guaranteed Consideration, each campaign delivered a view share uplift, ranging from 7% to 52%3. They were not just getting seen, they were winning time and attention from competitors.
Feeding this fresh audience into their retargeting pool led to a clear uplift in efficiency. Compared to every other campaign in the study, Renault achieved the lowest cost per lead4 and the highest click-to-lead conversion rate5, proving that coordinated media works harder than isolated tactics.
Strategy is the multiplier
With carsales commanding 80% of the time spent across Australian auto sites6, all of the brand campaigns we tracked had a large, qualified audience to market to.
But as we all know, reach without relevance is noise. In a crowded marketplace, simply showing up once isn't enough to win the sale; you need to be present at every turn.
Renault understood this. They did not rely on a single ad to carry the weight. They respected how people make decisions. One product sparked curiosity. The other helped close the loop.
As Julie Scarff, Senior Marketing Manager at Renault Australia, put it, the combination connected them with real, in-market buyers and the tools "worked together to drive results that were fast, measurable, and truly incremental".
Real incrementality is not magic. It is the outcome of being where your audience is and supporting them through the moments that matter. When you treat the marketplace as a strategy rather than a channel, results follow.
Ready to build a strategy that drives real impact? Contact your carsales representative to learn more.
Source:
1. carsales internal survey data collected from dealers and private s ell ers, 1 July 2024 – 30 June 2025.
2. carsales internal data, 6 x Guaranteed consideration campaigns across 2 models between 15/01/2024- 3/6/2024
3. carsales internal data, Renault, Prefacts, January-March 2024.
4. carsales internal data; Meta; Renault, Prefacts, January-March 2024.
5. Ipsos iris, October 2025, 14+ PC/Laptop/Smartphone/Tablet, Brand Group, Mins Share %.
Ready to achieve your marketing goals?