auto dealer website

Plays Nicely With Others?

Take a minute to check out your dealerships website. Go ahead, we’ll wait.

Okay… Now take a look at your newspaper, television and outdoor advertising.

Now ask yourself, does your web presence play nicely with your other materials? Does it look and feel the same? Are the same offers available in both places? If so, congratulations, you’ve effectively integrated your website into your marketing mix. If not, we’ve got some work to do.

As your website become a larger and larger part of the way your dealership operates, it is essential that it gets the same, if not more, attention as the rest of your marketing. After all, how many other marketing tools do you have that allow people to shop your inventory, make an offer, get financing, watch videos and more?

What’s that you say? Your site doesn’t do all of those things? Oh boy… we need to talk.

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC

Competing With Manufacturer Websites

There’s no denying it. Across the board, every automobile manufacturer has built an outstanding website full of multimedia, fancy Hollywood-quality production and possibly music by the Rolling Stones. So when winning a customer’s business lies increasingly on your ability to get them to spend some time at your website, how do you compete with that sort or production value?

Simple. You do it with relevance, personalization and interaction — the three things a manufacturer’s site can’t offer.

Relevance — Your site is more relevant to the user because they can actually buy the car from you. And chances are, your dealership is fairly close by. And if your data is strong, they’ll know whether you have the specific car they’re looking for on your lot.

Personalization — People do business with people. And that’s what your website can provide that the manufacturers’ sites never will — a personal connection. You can provide links to email your sales staff, photos of your team, and direct links to the service department.

Interaction — No automobile gets sold without a conversation. And that conversation is increasingly taking place online. Use your web system to start and maintain a conversation with your customers and prospects.

At first, it looks like they have the upper hand… but with the personal, relevant and interactive elements, you’re left holding all the cards.

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC

How to Personalize the Online Sales Experience

by : John Federman Digital Dealer Magazine
November 2007

Professionals in the automotive industry are known for their knack of engaging customers the minute they walk onto a showroom floor. However, most dealers fail to deliver that same personal touch when it comes to their online presence.

Some dealers have yet to embrace the Internet as a sales channel, while others are hesitant to dedicate full-time resources to managing Internet driven leads. At this year’s annual Vehix Auto Sales Summit in Deer Valley, Utah, one dealer told an industry analyst from the Kelsey Group that,“Some dealers drop everything for that customer that walks in the door, but they won’t answer the phone or pay attention to electronic leads.” However, that auto dealer also noted that, “For people that come in the door the closing percentage is about 16 percent, but with online leads the closing percentage is much higher. These customers are more knowledgeable and more armed to buy a vehicle. If we get back to them right away, it’s a better prospect than a person walking in the door.”

Clearly, dealers that view their web sites as simple brochures, and fail to engage customers as proactively as they would in the showroom, do so at their own peril.

Engaging customers online
Personal service goes a long way with car buyers on the dealer lot. A standout sales professional is usually one that has established such a good buying experience with customers that they are motivated to not only buy another vehicle from him, but also recommend the salesperson to friends and family. These sales professionals remember names, promptly return phone calls and follow up to address customer questions and alert them to service deals or new specials. In short, they anticipate customer needs and deliver on customer requests.

A recent study by J.D. Power and Associates found that online customer satisfaction was highest for those dealers and automotive marketplaces that responded promptly to online inquiries once they’re submitted. “Walk-in and call-in shoppers receive responses in a more timely manner at auto dealerships compared with online shoppers,” said Steve Witten, executive director of marketing/media research at J.D. Power and Associates. “An opportunity exists for dealers to improve the return on their investment in lead services by paying as much attention to online leads as they would to in-person or phone sales leads by responding just as quickly.”

Dealers who haven’t embraced their web site as a customer-focused sales channel are losing their chance to promote potentially lucrative customer relationships. Another J.D. Power study found that consumers that research vehicles online are likely to convert at higher rates than those that don’t. If these online researchers contact a dealer, they’re quite likely hot prospects.

In a world where competitors are just a click away, delays in responding to online leads could make all the difference in closing a sale. Any lag time between online shopping and the visit to the dealership can be expedited simply by enabling potential customers to ask questions and receive answers in a timely fashion.

Proactive conversion solutions
As a compromise, dealers often adopt a minimalist approach that relies on self-service tools like FAQs, low-touch e-mail exchanges and anonymous web forms to provide online customer service. Though these tools certainly have their place on dealer web sites, studies have shown they are less effective in promoting customer satisfaction or generating qualified leads than offering live assistance.

As a result, some of the leading names in the industry have adopted click to call and click to chat technology to engage high-value prospects with a live sales agent online or over the phone. Because not every customer visit merits live assistance, click to call and click to chat both allow dealers to create business rules that dictate which online prospects should be escalated to the phone or chat. For example, customers that have spent several minutes on your site and begin to configure and price a vehicle can be prompted with either click to call or chat, while those that are looking to simply schedule a service appointment are directed to an e-mail form.

Click to call services deployed across key purchasing points on brand web sites for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep drive sales conversions, with twice as many click to call callers purchasing a vehicle compared to standard inbound callers.

Autobytel, an online only automotive dealer, also implemented a customer service program that quickly connects online patrons with its call center. Using a form to phone solution, Internet browsers simply fill out a quick form, and the online retailer of choice or nearest franchise of that brand is immediately alerted to the customer request and sent a copy of the form. Once alerted, companies can reach out to these prospects and speak with them while they’re still hot. And as it turns out, timing is everything. Since deploying form to phone, Autobytel has increased the volume of qualified leads by 52 percent and doubled the closing rates of Autobytel car dealers.

Click to call offers the power of voice, allowing Internet sales professionals to answer questions while they are fresh in the consumer’s mind. Chat, on the other hand, enables dealerships to handle multiple web visitors at once while still allowing consumers to interact with an agent to answer a few questions.

To use these technologies, customers need only to click a button embedded on a web site and a customer service representative contacts them instantly via their preferred channel – online or offline. While the power of direct customer contact has been documented at length, click to call and live chat solutions leverage real-time web analytics to inform dealers about the customer’s activity the instant a connection is initiated. This sharing of data from the web to phone or chat channels, enables dealers to offer personalized and effective service, as well as insight into potential cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

Using click to call and click to chat technology extends personal customer service beyond the dealer walls. As online marketing matures, leading companies are focusing on providing a consistent customer experience across all of their sales channels. Soon, a sales agent – regardless of whether he is in a showroom or chat room – will be able to proactively engage customers and kindly say, “May I help you with something?”

http://www.digitaldealer-magazine.com/index.asp?article=1657

With Your Website, Control Is Paramount

It has recently come to our attention that one of our competitors, Cobalt, has partnered with General Motors to offer manufacturer-endorsed template websites. At first, it seems that using one of these basic, inflexible sites is mandatory… but this is not the case. The industry has seen Chrysler, VW, Lexus, Mercedes, and others try this strategy and fail. But there is something they’re probably not telling you. Yes you have to pay the $199 to get leads down from GM, but you can use nearly any internet provider to build, manage and host your site. You don’t have to work within the limits and restrictions of the template site — and you shouldn’t. You can simply run the template site in the background and use it to feed data into your custom-built site.

What they’re not telling you about these template sites is how limiting they are. They don’t offer you flexibility you need in regards to search engine marketing/optimization, proactive marketing, branding, local promotions, multimedia and all of the other things that really make a web site sing.

So, is this now a necessary evil for GM dealerships? Probably so. Does it force your hand in regards to the way you build and run your website? Absolutely not.

“Top Ten” signs a dealership is not serious about the Internet

10. They have AOL or Hotmail email address.
9. They still have the Field of Dreams mentality (Build it and they will come)
8. The Internet Manager spends more time integrating that new flying airplane on the site than making sure leads get followed up.
7. They switch website providers every year trying to find a site that will sell cars for them.
6. The Internet Department thinks they can take the same number of smoke breaks as everyone else in the dealership.
5. Policies, Procedures, and Accountability don’t pertain to the Internet Department.
4. The newspaper is their primary advertising medium, where the average reader is 55 and the new generation doesn’t even pick it up.
3. They use Cobalt or Reynolds as their primary web solution because they were told to (can you say brainwash).
2. The GM/Owner doesn’t use the Internet so why would anyone else.
1. The dealership has handed over a multi-million dollar profit center to Internet Guru they wouldn’t trust to baby sit their 8 year old daughter.

Brian Cox
President, Dealer Impact Systems
www.dealerimpact.com

Web Sites Influencing Used Car Buyers

From Digital Dealer
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Issue 44
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 44

Among late-model used-vehicle buyers who use the Internet during the shopping process, Internet use has surpassed all other shopping methods as the source for locating the vehicle a buyer ultimately purchases, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Used Autoshopper.com Study released late last week.

The study finds that Internet vehicle locators, such as Autotrader.com, CarMax.com, Cars.com and eBay Motors, are increasingly leading consumers to the actual vehicle they buy. In 2007, nearly one in four buyers of late-model used vehicles (23 percent) used an Internet vehicle locator or online classified ad services to find the vehicle they purchased — a 44 percent increase since 2006. In addition, 2007 marks the first year that Internet use surpasses all other shopping methods in locating the vehicle a buyer ultimately purchases. The proportion of used-vehicle buyers who use the Internet in the shopping process and who ultimately found the vehicle they purchased on the Internet is 10 percentage points greater than the number of shoppers who found their vehicle through the second-most-popular method, visiting dealer lots.

“This is just one indication that use of the Internet is now perhaps the most efficient source for shopping for and purchasing late-model used vehicles,” said Jon Osborn, research director at J.D. Power and Associates. “In the past, the majority of used-vehicle automotive Internet users relied on the traditional method of driving around to dealer lots to find the vehicle they ultimately bought. However, as the number of Web sites specializing in the used-vehicle market continues to grow, and the use of video, photos and improved dealer inventory management tools proliferates, we can expect that consumer use of the Internet for used-vehicle shopping and for actually finding a desired vehicle online will continue to increase.”

Consumer-generated automotive content (CGC) is dramatically affecting Internet usage for used-vehicle shopping, as consumers are offering their own experiences and opinions on makes, models and dealerships. With hundreds of sites listing shopping tips, vehicle reviews, pictures and vehicle specifications, CGC is becoming a highly sought-after and trusted source of information for consumers to help determine their buying decisions. The study finds that slightly more than seven in 10 used-vehicle automotive Internet users (72 percent) use CGC on the Internet either while they are shopping for their vehicle or after they purchase it. By far, the most popular types of CGC are consumer ratings and reviews, with two-thirds of used-vehicle automotive Internet users accessing this type of content for automotive information.

“Not only are reviews written by consumers frequently accessed, but also the buyers who use them rate them as the most helpful of all types of consumer-generated content,” said Osborn. “Among used-vehicle automotive Internet users who access consumer-generated ratings and reviews, 94 percent say the information is either ‘somewhat helpful’ or ‘very helpful.’ With this level of utility, CGC is one area that consumers will continue to seek out and may even expect to find on all automotive Web sites.”

The study finds various gender-based differences in used-vehicle shopping trends among automotive Internet users. For example, women not only tend to decide to buy a vehicle earlier in the purchase process than do men (15.9 weeks before the date of purchase compared with 14.1 weeks), but also decide upon the vehicle type and model earlier than do men. In addition, at the beginning of the shopping process, men are much more likely to know the make of vehicle they want than women (49 percent vs. 38 percent), while a much higher proportion of women are initially open to any vehicle that would meet their needs than are men (22 percent vs. 13 percent).

The 2007 Used Autoshopper.com Study is based on responses from 5,476 used-vehicle buyers who purchased pre-owned 2002-2007 model-year vehicles in January and February 2007.

http://www.imakenews.com/digital1/e_article000941164.cfm?x=bbvBGF8,b4TSprpk

Internet Marketing Requires Embracing Change

Digital Dealer Magazine September 2007 by : Bill Mulcahy

In the new world of Internet marketing, one of the most challenging aspects for many dealers to embrace is the huge paradigm shift from traditional advertising campaigns to the ever-changing requirements of effectively selling cars on the web.

When developing ads for radio, television and newspapers, the number of “buys” was often set, with only the content of the ad changing on a weekly basis depending on what specials the dealer was running.

Today, Internet marketers at dealerships need to be aware of a constantly evolving Internet where a program that works one day may not be achieving the same results two months later. Unlike traditional media outlets, new web sites are launched every day, and a site that’s attracting car buyers one month may be an online ghost town three months later. Marketers must keep a close pulse on the industry in order to understand the online market and the latest technologies available.

In short, Internet marketing is a full-time occupation. For many dealers, it’s difficult to justify allocating resources to hiring one individual to focus solely on marketing. Often, an Internet salesperson or other unsuspecting employee will get burdened with—or perhaps even volunteer for—the tasks related to a dealer’s web presence; blithely unaware that once implemented, the Internet marketing program will mushroom into an endless, demanding maw of responsibility.

Take a look at the following elements necessary for an effective Internet marketing program, and imagine it as a job description.

Dealership web site: Work with vendor to develop and implement lead generating specials such as coupons and vehicle specials to be updated on a monthly basis. Keep welcome message on home page fresh and appealing. Monitor web traffic including bounce rate, and tweak appropriate web pages accordingly to increase click-throughs. Since there is no one magic formula that works for every dealer and regional differences require different marketing approaches, and Internet and market trends are constantly evolving, this will be an ongoing task. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Analyze marketing efforts of major competitors with the goal of finding out what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Vehicle inventory: Update on a daily basis to include specs and photos. Ensure that what appears on the web site matches what is in the DMS. Work with a full service or do-it-yourself inventory company to make sure all inventory is updated and distributed to inventory web site partners. Most importantly, keep your pricing up-to-date, accurate and competitive.

Search engine marketing: Monitor SEM reports and work with vendor to develop and update search terms that result in effective search engine optimization. Ensure SEM vendor is keeping your site optimized for search engines on a regular basis. Monitor performance of your site on search engines and tweak SEM marketing program accordingly. Work with vendor to develop paid search programs based on specials, holidays, and inventory changes at the dealership. The more competitive your target market or a time of year is for your dealership, the more you might want to consider an aggressive pay-per-click campaign.

Classified automotive web sites: Classified sites are highly advertised and attract many buyers. Your dealership needs a web service that distributes your inventory seamlessly and accurately. The idea is to get your inventory in front of as many qualified buyers as possible. Remember, on the Internet, buyers are searching for a specific vehicle and you need to make it available to them.

Constant change: If there was a proven scientific formula to selling cars on the Internet, every dealership would be using it. Even if you are selling cars effectively on the Internet today, is it important to be comfortable with the idea that it will be necessary to adapt tomorrow. The most successful dealers on the web constantly adapt their strategy to what works, so no single change will be your last.

If you want consistent results and an Internet department that will enjoy long-term growth, you must commit to an ongoing process and a plan that embraces technology changes and stay ahead of the competition. If your dealership is like most, it is constantly being solicited by vendors offering a “magic pill” that will revolutionize the industry. They might even tell you some nonsense like nine out of 10 of “their” dealers sell every car on the lot every month. Don’t be fooled by false promises of quick effortless results. Selling cars on the web is an ongoing process, but will ultimately come down to the dealership’s relationship to a prospective buyer. Take the television commercials that claim to help people lose 35 pounds in three hours as an example. If you want to lose weight you have to commit to a diet and exercise plan. If you want to sell cars on the web you have to commit to a dynamic sales strategy that creates the best possible online experience for buyers.

The Internet as a medium provides incredible opportunities for dealers who dedicate the necessary resources to take advantage of it. Ever-shifting and never static, the Internet requires a similar marketing mentality. Keeping up with what’s current is challenging enough, let alone trying to stay one step ahead of competitors. But for dealers who embrace this paradigm shift, the rewards will be the attention and dollars reaped from today’s online car shoppers.

http://www.digitaldealer-magazine.com/index.asp?article=1573

Websites Can’t Create Leads

Your website has never created a single lead. There, I said it. Long lauded as the be all, end all of internet marketing, the website will always remain a limited, albeit powerful tool. Why is that, you ask? Well it’s because your website will always be a reactive marketing tool.

Your website sits out there in cyberspace, all shiny and glowing, whirring with multimedia and powerful data support. But until a consumer comes along, it’s worthless because it can’t go out and find leads. The best your website can hope for is to upgrade leads (turning a warm lead into a hot lead) and capture leads. You still need other tools (search marketing, email marketing, mass advertising, etc.) to drive leads to your site.

So, is your website important? Yes, it can be the most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. But it can’t function in a vacuum — it’s the most important piece of a complete, integrated digital marketing presence.

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC

Dealer Websites Built in Flash are Pretty… Invisible

When an auto dealership is considering a new website, one of their first considerations is typically the look and feel of the site. Dealerships pride themselves on the image they project to their customers, so it’s natural that they are drawn to great looking websites.

One trend in the auto web design industry is the “flash” website. You’ve seen these sites—they take a while to load, they move very fluidly and have great graphics and navigation, and usually they play some sort of movie upon loading.

But don’t be fooled: Flash sites will kill your search engine traffic.

Flash sites look good, and they’re an easy sell to dealers who don’t understand the downsides of using flash as the basis for an entire website. Flash has been the demise of many unsuspecting sites, so let me explain a few facts before you get fooled by flash.

Flash websites started out as an easy way to integrate video and animation onto a website, most commonly used for the introduction page of a site (you’ve probably seen this, unless you’re like most people and immediately click “skip intro”). Now that the use of flash is becoming more commonplace, entire websites are being built in flash.

So why is this bad? To put it simply, flash websites are essentially a huge movie file instead of a traditional website (that’s why when you visit a flash site, you first must install a plug-in to view Flash if you don’t already have one, and then kick back and wait for it to load). When a search engine robot arrives at your homepage, they just see a movie file, not a page full of good text and links to read and analyze.

This doesn’t work out very well for the friendly little search engine robot, because he can’t download flash movies. Even if he could, there’s no way for him to read anything in the movie to figure out what the page is all about and what it should rank for—it’s just images (even the text in a flash movie is really an image).

So what does he see? Just an empty page. Instead of your big, beautiful, flashy site, Google just sees an empty page. If Google can’t read and analyze the text on your site, Google is certainly never going to rank you for anything.

This leads us to another problem: the rest of your site.

If your whole site is built in flash, and the Google robot can’t even see flash, then he can’t see that you have any pages besides your homepage. This makes a lot more sense when you visit a flash site like http://www.automaxhyundaibrokenarrow.com/. Just click on a few of the pages up in the navigation bar, and look at your URL. It never changes because you’re not actually going to a different page, just a different part of a big movie file (like skipping to a scene on a DVD.) This website is just one page, and one page websites rarely get ranked.

Getting ranked by the search engines for your target terms is vitally important to online businesses—and it’s becoming increasingly important for offline businesses just because so many consumers begin their buying process online. If they find your dealership first, you are ahead right out of the gate. Flash websites are an immediate handicap—the search engines just can’t read them, so they generally ignore them altogether.

Flash can be a great technology, when it’s used like it should be: as a movie. A nice embedded flash movie within your html web page can be a great way to show off a new vehicle, advertise a special, or just get your customer’s attention. But when your whole website is created as one big flash movie you’re essentially invisible to Google, rendering you invisible to your potential online customers.

Don’t be fooled by flash. Do the research before buying a website, and be sure to make search engine visibility a priority. You wouldn’t build a new dealership in the middle of nowhere—you want to be where the traffic is. Internet traffic is on the search engines: if you’re not ranked, you might as well be invisible. Just like a website built in flash.

Jamie Wilson
Search Engine Marketing Specialist
DealerImpact.com

And, on a related note, check out this post from Blogpro Automotive:
http://blogproautomotive.com/2007/07/13/search-engine-basics-an-introductory-lesson-to-basic-internet-search-and-how-it-is-evolving/