Getting leads back from marketplaces (ADF)

When a shopper contacts you through Cycle Trader, Facebook or another marketplace, the marketplace sends you the lead. Most send it as ADF ("Auto-lead Data Format"), the XML lead format the vehicle industry uses. MotoDealerHQ reads ADF leads and turns each one into a customer and a lead in Sales › Leads, with source "Marketplace" and the marketplace's name, attached to the vehicle when its VIN or stock number matches.

Before you start #

• Your plan must include Marketplace syndication (Pro and Enterprise).
• Ask each marketplace to send leads in ADF format. Many send plain email by default.

How leads can arrive #

There are two ways, and you can use both:

• By email (most marketplaces). The marketplace emails ADF leads. Your mail provider forwards them to your dealership's inbound email webhook, set up under Settings › Integrations › Inbound email (customer replies). ADF in the message body or as an .xml attachment becomes a lead instead of a reply.
• By lead link (HTTPS POST). The marketplace posts the ADF document to your private lead link.

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1. How marketplaces send you leads. Shows whether inbound email is set up and, for managers, your lead link with when it was created and last used.
2. Recent marketplace leads. The last 100 leads, with the marketplace, how they arrived (email or lead link) and a link to the lead.

Set up your lead link #

1. Open Inventory › Marketplaces and select Marketplace leads.
2. Select Create my lead link.
3. Copy the link and send it to each marketplace's account representative, asking them to post ADF leads to it.
4. When the first lead arrives, it shows under Recent marketplace leads, and the link card shows when it was last used.

If a lead link has been shared with the wrong people, select Create a new lead link. The old link stops working at once, so send the new one to every marketplace that uses it.

Set up email delivery #

1. Open Settings › Integrations and set up Inbound email (customer replies). It gives you the webhook address and a signing secret for your mail provider.
2. In your mail provider, add a forwarding rule or inbound webhook that sends the address the marketplace emails to that webhook, signed with the secret.
3. Ask the marketplace to email its ADF leads to that address.
4. The Marketplace leads page then shows inbound email as set up.

What happens to each lead #

1. MotoDealerHQ checks the ADF document and refuses anything that is not valid ADF.
2. It finds or creates the customer (matched by email or phone) and creates a lead with source Marketplace. The source detail is the marketplace's name, for example Cycle Trader, Boat Trader or Facebook.
3. It looks for the vehicle by VIN, then by stock number, among your own units. A match is attached to the lead, and the lead takes the vehicle's location. If nothing matches, the vehicle details go into the lead message.
4. The lead is assigned and your team is notified in the same way as a website lead. See leads.
5. If the marketplace sends the same lead again, no duplicate is created.

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Tips #

• To see which marketplace sends the most leads, open Reports & AI › Reports and group by Marketplace. The Marketplaces page also counts leads per marketplace for the last 30 days. See reports.
• Ask marketplaces to include the VIN or your stock number in their leads, so the vehicle is attached automatically.
• Leads are matched to your dealership only by the link or webhook they arrive on, never by the dealer name inside the ADF.

Permissions #

Limitations #