Tag: Digital Marketing

Dealer.com’s New SRP Delivers Efficiencies for Consumers

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No one likes detours. A wrong turn that requires re-navigation is both frustrating and time consuming. And detours in the online car shopping experience only distract your customers from finding what they want. That’s why it’s so important to facilitate an efficient online experience and help steer your customers down the right path, toward the right VDPs as quickly as possible. 

Avoiding Buyer Roadblocks 

VDP views are an important website engagement indicator, but many shoppers spend a significant amount of negative sweat equity researching multiple Vehicle Deal Pages (VDPs) in search of the right vehicle. They search from a group of listings, click on a VDP, check the vehicle out, and view some photos before backing out to the listings and repeating the process. 

You might say this is just part of the automotive digital retailing experience, but in reality, every click back and forth is a detour—and a potential roadblock—that could force an abandoned search and lead to a bounce or interruption of the buyer journey. 

With the core belief that a dealership’s digital storefront should always be evolving to improve efficiency for the customer, Dealer.com’s User Experience team has designed, built, and tested a brand-new Search Results Page experience (SRP) that reduces some of the back and forth, helping consumers find the right vehicle and growing your dealership’s automobile leads. Shoppers and Dealers alike benefit in the following ways: 

  • Effortless Mobile Shopping – This new, responsive search experience features mobile-minded menus and tabbed content areas that make vehicle selection fast and easy from any device.   
  • Convenient Search Tools – Faceted Search tools and a Free-form Search Bar (with auto-complete suggestions) offer multiple ways to shop and select. 
  • Customizable Design – Grid or List view provides flexibility for dealers and shoppers alike.  
  • Photo Carousel – Moving one of the more popular elements of the VDP higher up in the shopping funnel helps shoppers more quickly identify the vehicles they like and don’t like. 

This, and other features like this, will reduce the back and forth that might jeopardize the user experience. Instead, the new SRP will help customers reach the right vehicle more efficiently than ever before.  

Proven In UX Testing 
During qualitative and quantitative testing, with the new photo carousel feature enabled, shoppers viewed 18% fewer VDPs on mobile and 9% fewer on desktop. Importantly, however, there was no change in lead volume. This suggests shoppers were able to filter more information from the SRP and find what they wanted earlier in the shopping process.  

Pilot Feedback 
The final design incorporated feedback from both dealers and consumers, and during the Pilot, dealers provided their thoughts on the redesigned experience. 
 
“It is a better VLP overall. It has larger images and the search capabilities are much better.” 
—Jeff Ramsey, Jones Junction 

“The mobile experience is the best part of the new design. Loved the tabbed content widget, and the ability to scroll through photos. The look and feel on mobile is 1000 times better.” 
—Town East Ford 

Coming to Dealer.com Websites This Fall 

We are constantly evaluating and tweaking our platform to make it friendlier for your customers and more effective for you. And we can’t wait to deliver this exciting, no-cost upgrade and give your customers a more efficient inventory search experience.  

Dealer.com will soon begin migrating all car dealer websites to the new SRP experience. Our clients can expect advanced notification via email, ControlCenter, or their Performance Manager ahead of the changes. If you have any questions, reach out to your Performance Manager for more details.  

Give Your Customers Confidence in the Car Buying Process

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More and more car buyers are looking for contactless or remote car buying and servicing options. In response to continued reluctance among some consumers to visit the dealership, most dealers (81% of them) now offer a variety of these conveniences.

To help you communicate these capabilities at a critical moment in the digital car-buying journey, Dealer.com has built a customizable new widget that allows your dealership to 1) address your customers’ safety concerns and 2) ensure confidence in the car buying process, right on your digital point-of-sale—the VDP.

By promoting your home services availability and capabilities right on your VDPs, you can build confidence in consumers who are ready to make a decision to move forward with their purchase or lease.

The Digital Point of Sale

The VDP is a pivotal decision point in the car buying journey where a shopper takes that next step—either by submitting a lead, a credit app, or some other retailing activity. It’s also the point where they decide to hold off.  Given the number of shoppers who remain reluctant to visit a dealership, the right information about your home services offerings could make or break that decision.

Knowing that your dealership offers at-home test drives, virtual vehicle walkarounds, and home-delivered vehicles can help many customers overcome a major hurdle in these times—fear.

A Full Suite of Home Services Marketing Tools

As the customer buying journey evolves, we’re here to act as your own personal automotive advertising agency to help you promote your dealership’s home services. Our new VDP widget is our latest effort to actively support your dealership advertising and cater to the preferences of millions of automotive consumers looking for contactless sales and service options.

As you continue to build your home services offerings, let us help you showcase them and stay connected to shoppers in your community. Ask your Dealer.com Performance Manager how to activate this feature on your inventory pages, and customize it based on your services.

3 Silver Linings for Dealership Digital Marketers

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Thanks to an environment of social distancing and ever-changing ordinances, your dealership undoubtedly looks different than you expected it to at the beginning of the year. While there have been many barriers to success in the car business this year, several silver linings have emerged as well.  

The rapid shifts in the automotive retail industry – and the world in general – have created opportunities for your dealership to leverage technology to ensure business continuity and prepare for a more digital future.  

Challenge yourself and your team to see the silver linings of this challenging time, including these three for your dealership digital marketing department.  

1. Customers Are Providing Better Data – and More of It  

Digital marketing becomes more effective the more accurate data you have, and your customers are giving you more and better data as they shop and buy online. According to the 2020 Cox Automotive COVID-19 Consumer Impact Study, 71% of shoppers want to do more of the purchase steps online compared to the last time they purchased a vehicle.   

Customers have long wanted a personalized car-shopping experience, and that experience starts with targeted, relevant marketing. With more of the buying process now taking place online, customers are giving you more details digitally about what they are shopping for in their browsing behavior, including alternative vehicles of interest and payment options. With that new abundance of rich data, your dealership can personalize emails, website experiences, and more – quickly, efficiently, and at scale.  

2. Technology Translates Data into Value  

While increased online shopping and purchasing helps your dealership collect more data, it is efficient, integrated tools that help translate that data into bottom-line value for your business. Many valuable dealership marketing solutions, including video advertising and automated website experience optimization, already exist and are delivering results for digitally forward dealerships.  

Over the last eight weeks, dealers using video to present additional service recommendations to customers earned an average of more than $4.4 million in incremental fixed ops revenue, according to an analysis performed using 1,700 Xtime Spectrum Inspect dealerships. In addition, the number of shoppers submitting digital deals increased 108% from January 2020 to May 2020, according to Internal Consumer Use Data from Cox Automotive Product Analytics.  

3. Efficiency and Experience Will Set You Apart from the Competition  

We’ve seen that customer data and technology have proven to boost dealership results. Despite this, there are dealerships that still aren’t ready to make a long-term commitment to digital-first operations. Cox Automotive’s 2020 COVID-19 Impact Study indicates that half of dealers are considering going back to their old, non-digital methods once their communities “go back to normal,” despite overwhelming consumer preference and increasing gross profits associated with a more digital process. 

This means that your dealership has an opportunity to be set apart from the competition. Now is the time to quickly and intentionally implement the digital tools that will improve efficiency and customer experience. The truth is there is no “normal” to return to. Consumers now expect a faster, more convenient, digital experience when they buy or service a vehicle, and dealerships that recognize that now will be the ones who win long-term.  

Transforming an industry is hard, but you can do this! From the rise of the internet in 1999, to the Great Recession of 2008, to the crippling recalls of 2016, this industry has proven its resilience before. With a focus on these silver linings, you’ll continue to succeed by adapting to meet car buyers and service customers wherever and however they want to engage you.  

To learn more about how to move your dealership forward, download the Digital Marketing Playbook or contact your team of Cox Automotive Performance Managers.  

Data Insights and Opportunities for the New Economy

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In a matter of months, Automotive Retail has transformed itself to adapt  to new challenges and a brand new economic environment. The old strategy of  “just bring them in” can’t quite work the way it used to. Dealers have embraced new ways to do business, new ways to meet consumers wherever they are, and new ways to win.

Servicing more than half of all franchise dealers in the US, and bolstered by intelligence from across Cox Automotive’s family of automotive brands, Dealer.com is helping dealers chart a course through the impacts of COVID-19. For more than 21 years, we’ve been in the business of guiding buyers through their journey from consideration, to selection, to your showroom and your service department.

Download the Data View

Support The At-Home Experience

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By Kevin Byer, Director of Sales at Dealer.com 

The past several months has brought lasting change to the automotive industry. While consumers adjusted their shopping behavior to comply with social distancing mandates, your dealership rolled out or enhanced digital solutions to meet their needs to produce automobile leads and keep the business in operation. The sales process is undeniably shifting to and advancing online, which means your marketing should too. Adjust the processes and technology for automotive digital retailing and advertising in order to support a seamless sales and services experience. 

It’s become essential to support a new, at-home shopping experience that enables the car-buying transaction in the comfort, safety and convenience of the shopper’s home. Services like 100% virtual car sales, home delivery and test drives, and remote vehicle service and repair have long been a dream for consumers.  This dream is becoming reality.  So, if your business still requires an in-person visit to your dealership, then it’s time to make some improvements. 

Start by generating a list of your current marketing activity and mapping it to your sales process. Does each activity align with the story your dealership is telling?  Better yet, does your marketing enhance this message? Connect and align your dealership story and shopper convenience. The recommendations listed here can help you accomplish this. 

Evaluate Website Tools 

Explore your website through the eyes of the consumer. Start from the homepage and navigate through the search, vehicle deals, and service pages, paying close attention to communication tools: 

  • Can shoppers easily find a way to connect with a sales associate?  
  • What communication options are available?  
  • Are communication prompts visible and prominent? 
  • What deal building tools are available? 

By evaluating your website from the shopper’s point of view, you may uncover opportunities to build a bridge to your sales team. And the more convenient and direct these pathways can be, the better your chance to connect and generate quality leads. 

Invest in Technology  

Once you’ve assessed the communication options that are available to shoppers on your website, the next question is whether you have the right mix. In today’s automotive shopping environment, some consumers are still warming to digital retailing, while others are embracing it and would welcome more features. Enter: video chat. What better way is there to offer one-to-one engagement and foster connection with shoppers, while conducting the conversation from different locations?   

Video chat enables a sales team member to guide the shopper through the buying experience as if they were sitting in your dealership together. Explore reallocating a portion of your budget to launch this tool. In addition, CoBrowse is a service that allows shoppers to share their computer screens with their sales associate. Both technologies support seamless communication with shoppers during the car buying process. 

Audit Your Content 

By now, you’ve compared marketing activities against your sales plan, researched communication tools currently available on your site, and explored adding modern technology to connect with shoppers.  Last on this list but not least, have you updated your website content recently? 

While communities are in a period of transition, emerging more and more from their homes for work and play, now is the time to perform a content audit.  There are two recommendations to focus on for the sales context:  

  • Develop clear steps for building a deal, sharing them across all digital communication channels. 
  • Create consistent messaging that tells the seamless experience story, remembering to manage several key customer touchpoints like social media and the Vehicle Deal Page. 

Support Sales to Support Your Customers 

The answer to where and how your customers makes a purchase from you is increasing online, whether it’s a new vehicle or vehicle service. Take a look at how your dealership is operating now.  Do you have the right marketing processes and tech to effectively support your current and ongoing sales process? Support sales to create an amazing experience for your customers. 

If you have questions or would like additional resources to help you check these boxes, please reach out to your team of Cox Automotive Performance Managers.

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Digital Marketing for Your Re-emergence: Personalization and Specials Tools

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Webinar: Personalization and Specials Tools

Your website experience has become central to the success of your dealership. In Part 2 of this webinar series, Noah Lee dives into our Website Personalization and Specials tools, and shows you how deliver the best possible website experience for consumers flanked by your latest offers, home services messages, and compelling OEM incentives.

Digital Marketing for Your Re-emergence: Website UX Best Practices

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WEBINAR: Digital Marketing for Your Re-emergence: Website UX Best Practices

The challenges dealers have faced during the last few months have reshaped the market. As you think about restarting your operations, consider this question: what did COVID-19 teach us about consumers and their sales and service needs? What customer conveniences are likely to stick around, and what digital marketing skills will continue to be key drivers? Watch this webinar to learn about website best practices.

Craft Effective Digital Marketing Communications in a Changing Environment

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By Kate Quinn 

With government and public health updates being released every day, you may feel the need to follow this lead and share all the steps your dealership is taking to protect and support your customers. You know what you want to say, so the next issue to address is how you say it. How do you communicate this information so that visitors to your digital storefront see it, read it, understand it, and remember it?     

One option is to consolidate these updates in a single display ad or a homepage slide, pop-up, or the like, but is this effective? And will your customers read all of it? Most likely, the answer is “no;” they will read the headline, a few more words, then navigate to their next page. This defeats the purpose of using this prime real estate on your website. What is a better alternative? 

Now more than ever, it is important to deploy clear and concise messaging to your consumer base. This approach applies to the multiple communication vehicles you may choose from, including Onsite, Online Advertising, Social Media, Email blasts, and more. 

Below are two examples of creative: Slide A is what we discussed NOT doing, while Slide B is the clear and concise alternative. Slide A overcommunicates by including lots of copy in a single homepage slide, increasing the risk of reader fatigue or that online shoppers will bypass the messaging altogether.   

Slide B breaks down the content of the homepage slide. This approach creates message hierarchy while utilizing best practices and drives the online shopper to a landing page with relevant information that’s organized and digestible. This page can also link to respective pages for the online shopper to act on (Schedule Online, Service Specials, New Car Specials, New Inventory, Digital Retailing Step by Step, etc.). An A/B case study showed 70% of online shoppers clicked on the more refined designs over the content heavy designs.  

Slide A:

Slide B:

Now when you layer in your other digital marketing channels, including Off-Site Display Ads, Social Media, Email Blasts, you should retain a consistent creative strategy with clear and concise messaging, as well as a dedicated landing page. The landing page will keep your customers up to date with any operational changes that may impact their customer experience. Equally important, it facilitates engagement between you and your customer.  

Knowing that in our current economic climate, 2/3 shoppers are willing to do 100% of their business online, it’s important to utilize technology to effectively and efficiently communicate. With Dealer Home Services, you can bring your dealership to the consumer by helping your customers shop, buy and service their vehicle safely and conveniently from their home. 

  • Digital Retailing & Shop-At-Home Services: Bring the dealership experience to the comfort of home. With Digital Retailing and Shop-At-Home Services, your customers can shop, schedule a test drive, value their trade, pick their payment and have a vehicle delivered safely to their home. 
  • Remote Vehicle Service & Repair: Fixed Operations are an essential part of your business. While they may be a small percentage of total sales, they make up 50% or more of your gross profit. 

How do you market Dealer Home Services to your customers? Share clear and concise information on your website and off-site marketing channels that drive traffic to a dedicated landing page for these offerings. Include links to respective pages to inventory, parts, and service so your customers can continue to learn about them. 

Take time now to make your website a true digital storefront, and you will see both immediate and long-term returns.  Before the start of social distancing, 83% of car buyers wanted to take their shopping experience online. Current events will have an impact on consumer expectations well into the future. With 28% of shoppers delaying their vehicle purchase, the 78% majority are still actively shopping and want to engage with a dealership.  Refine your digital strategy and accelerate plans that will drive engagement with your customers.  If you need assistance developing your dealership’s creative strategy, please contact your Dealer.com Performance Manager to learn about our Managed Services Content and Creative services.

 

Sources: 

Cox Automotive COVID-19 Impact Study – March 18, 2020 

Cox Automotive COVID-19: Tracking U.S. Consumer and Automotive Dealer Sentiment Survey – March 24, 2020 

Cox Automotive A Fresh Focus on Fixed Ops Is Paying Off – January 16, 2019 

Cox Automotive 4 Truths of “Connected” Retail – January 15, 2018 

What You Need to Know About Google My Business and Store Visit Tracking

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Google My Business (GMB) has long been one of Google’s key tools for business listings. A verified and well-managed GMB listing makes your dealership easier to find online, lets you engage with customers through messages and Q&A, helps support your advertising performance and can improve your search visibility.

Google My business

But in addition to these benefits, recently Google took a pretty big step forward in making GMB significantly more valuable. That’s because Google My Business can also enable  dealers to receive store visits reporting, which helps tie Google advertising directly to in-store visits. This combination represents a powerful marketing attribution tool to improve your presence online and measure the marketing impact to your dealerships.

But taking advantage of this opportunity requires a few steps, and comes with a few caveats. Here are the key things to know:

1. Store Visits is highly impactful, but you need a Verified GMB Account to be eligible for it.

Store Visits insights represents very powerful advertising attribution. It will help you make smarter advertising decisions, in addition to helping you continue to bridge the online to in-store consumer experience. That said, activating Store Visits depends entirely on your dealership actually having a verified GMB account. It’s well worth the effort to ensure your GMB account is set up properly. After verifying your GMB account, you’ll also need to let us know the account email that it’s verified under. We’ll link your GMB account to a Google advertising account.

2. Verifying your GMB account isn’t always simple, but there’s a lot of help available to guide you through it.

GMB account verification involves a few steps. For instance, as part of the process you’ll need to request that Google send you an old-fashioned post card as part containing a code that needs to be entered into an online portal. It can also be tricky to gain control of a GMB account even if your dealership already has one set up.But the process is worth it. For help, Dealer.com Managed Services teams are well versed in GMB and can walk you through each step, while also helping ensure you have an effective strategy around your GMB listing. This includes Managed Social to help you monitor and respond to Google Reviews and post content as well as Managed SEO which helps you create business descriptions within GMB, upload images and adjust business hours, and Managed Content & Creative to help ensure your current offers are updated. Even if you don’t work with Dealer.com Managed Services, Google also offers some convenient downloadable resources to help you. Here are our favorites:

3. Not every dealer will be immediately eligible for store visits.
Although you’ll become eligible for Store Visits with a verified GMB account, the verification process doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get this new functionality right away. Google is rolling it out currently, and is promising that most dealerships will be eligible for Store Visits “soon.”

As a Google SMB Premier Partner, Dealer.com works with Google to ensure you can take full advantage of the advertising, search and social opportunities Google offers. New Store Visits offers the potential to see the value of these opportunities in a powerful new way. It’s well worth the effort to verify your GMB account.

For more, connect with us directly or download our best practices guide to Google My Business.

Carl Cannon Holistic Digital Marketing Strategy with Dealer.com

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Carl Cannon Chevrolet Buick GMC needed a strategic, transparent advertising and SEO partner to help them create a holistic digital marketing strategy.

Learn how a partnership with Dealer.com helped them increase traffic and sales for their dealership.
 

Download the Case Study