DealerFire
Are Your SRP's (Inventory Pages) Costing You Sales?
It’s no secret that VDP views have been almost unanimously accepted as a core KPI for dealership websites and even third party services. While there are many, many factors that go into why a VDP
view happens, it is without a doubt a buying signal and an important one at that. If this is the case, you’d probably like for your website to be set up to get more customers to your VDPs. But is it? The answer may surprise you.
The answer is: Probably not. The ideal visitor flow is pretty obvious when it comes to an ecommerce website and can be seen on all of the best sites from other industries. It is generally as follows:
Step 1: Attract visitor to the site. Whether it’s via SEO or content or PPC or any other channel, you need eyeballs.
Step 2: Guide visitor to inventory. Again, whether it’s from a link within the landing page or through the main navigation, the hope is to get people to look at your inventory.
Step 3: Push/Pull visitor to product (vehicle) pages. Ideally you’ll have the right inventory to get people to click through to the product page and fall in love with a piece (or pieces) of your inventory.
In automotive, what you’ll find is that many entities – third party lead providers, your website provider, or even your own dealership – are hijacking the process just before that crucial third step. See it in action:
See ALL of those calls to action leading people away from VDPs and even worse, off of your site? Ultimately all of these CTA’s pull people away from the optimal, designed shopping process.
Of course, the rebuttal will be that if you can get a lead at the inventory search level, you may as well take it, and a lead is more valuable than a VDP view. But if you look at the research, the findings actually point to a correlation between VDP views and SALES – not leads.
The question becomes: Is the relentless push for more leads actually limiting your opportunity for sales?
DealerFire
3 Easy Ways Dealerships Can Capitalize on OEM Super Bowl Momentum
This year it cost OEMs an unprecedented $4 Million per thirty-second spot during the big game. While many talked about the instant lift in search and traffic for the OEM’s, dealers that take action quickly also have quite a bit to gain.
Most of the ads during the Super Bowl focus on generating awareness for a product. Many of the ads served to talk about a certain technology or feature (like Ford’s #nearlydouble Ford Fusion Campaign) or unveil a new model (like Maserati’s New Ghibli). The first thing a viewer is going to do, and the intent of these advertisements, is look for more information, or show interest. Whether it’s instantly, the day after, on the OEM site or a search engine, consumers are following up by asking questions and looking for more information.
Here’s a quick game plan on how to capitalize on the huge OEM investments and the subsequent consumer interest!
1. Content Marketing
Build content (landing pages, blogs, etc…) focusing on what the OEM is pushing. For example- if you’re a Kia or Maserati dealer the announcement of the K900 and the Ghibli must have undoubtedly raised some questions – including what the names themselves even mean among plenty of others. Being one of the first to answer the questions accurately leaves you with more traffic, more links and hopefully more sales.
2. PPC
We’ve already established that the OEM commercials are going to drive more searches. The types of searches being made will be different and may include brand terms or slogans heard in the commercials. Without a doubt these terms will have lower competition and a lower Cost Per Click. Since PPC has more targeting options, you can ensure more of a relevant audience than with content alone. For bonus points, direct your PPC to your newly created content pages.
3. Social
One of the most noticeable changes in the ads this year was the proliferation of hashtags. Any easy way to answer questions both directly, and with links to your content is by following the conversation around hashtags and adding your knowledge as a dealer representative of the OEM. Just remember not to be too ‘salesy.' Answer questions, add value and the rest will come!
That’s it. Quick, easy and painless. Now get out there and get your share of the action!
No Comments
DealerFire
Is It Still Duplicate Content If You Change The City And State?
YES. ABSOLUTELY. DEFINITELY. FOR SURE. WITHOUT A DOUBT. OF COURSE.
TOTALLY. ALWAYS. YEP. INDEED. YOU BET YA. UNDOUBTEDLY. FO SHO. SI. OUI. THAT'S RIGHT. TRUE. WITHOUT FAIL. INDUBITABLY. CERTAINLY. AFFIRMATIVE. BEYOND A DOUBT. BY ALL MEANS. SURELY. UNQUESTIONABLY.
Tim Martell recently wrote a blog detailing the use of duplicate content on dealer's sites – mostly surrounding the text that is used on the standard pages of a dealers' site upon launch. While this was a big eye-opener for many, there is a bigger issue at hand. With content marketing being all the rage as of late - and rightfully so - dealers are shelling out thousands of dollars to have content created on their sites and in their dealership's name. Certainly since you are paying specifically for content creation, it is being written specifically for your dealership, right? …right? Not usually so.
Not only are agencies and providers lying and stealing content and posting it for multiple clients – they are the maliciously lying to dealers when calledout on it, telling them it is okay. IT IS NOT.
When Google released the herd (Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird) of updates to its algorithm, the policy did not read: "Duplicate content is bad, unless you change the city… then it’s cool." Just swapping out the city and state information is an old tactic that these updates were made to catch. It’s spammy, it’s not useful to your communities and it’s going to do your site and business harm. Don’t believe it? Here is the opinion of a few SEO experts that know that it's true:
Moz:
“Upload unique content to the page designated for each city.”
“Big No-No: Duplicate content anywhere on your site, but especially on city landing pages. Yes this includes recycling a few keywords here and there to make it look different.”
Search Engine Journal
“Sites that are trying to rank high for locations or themes will get penalized here because often what they will do for content is generate an article on a topic and then change it slightly based upon a few strategic keywords and headers.”
Small Business SEM
“In this situation, the worst thing you can do is to create a series of web pages (or blog posts, etc.) that are all the same, with only the city/town names changed.”
Hopefully these few non-vested third-party sources have helpedconvince you that this is a bad practice that has to stop. If you do some searching you'll find a ton of others saying the same thing. You'll also find the first results you see don't have the same content with a city and state swapped out.
All opinion, technicalities and SEO aside... as a dealer how could you be OK with having the same content as other dealers? Doesn't you brand deserve better that the sloppy seconds of others?
FAQ
Is it ok if the pages/blogs are being dynamically created out of my CRM or DMS?
No.
Is it ok if the pages/blogs are being done by hand with misspellings on purpose?
No.
What if the owner of the company selling me the service says it’s ok and works for other clients?
No.
What if I’m currently doing it and have decent rankings in a few places?
It’s only a matter of time until you reach the tipping point and do what could be irreparable damage to your site.
ADDED:
From Google themselves:
Minimize similar content: If you have many pages that are similar, consider expanding each page or consolidating the pages into one. For instance, if you have a travel site with separate pages for two cities, but the same information on both pages, you could either merge the pages into one page about both cities or you could expand each page to contain unique content about each city.
10 Comments
Proactive Dealer Solutions
Yes, this is the exact issue we had. Tims article was specifically talking about my store. I was down almost 60% because of these bad practices. Anyone using big name website providers or SEO companies that service hundreds of dealerships or more should carefully look into this.
DealerFire
Got ya! I thought your issue was more the standard web content and not that they had been adding duplicate content to the site as a service. It's amazing how many times we have someone who understands duplicate is bad but is then swayed that it's ok because of minor changes! Are you getting things turned around?
Proactive Dealer Solutions
Yes, we are going with another provider. We chose DealerInspire after talking to several providers and really sitting down with Tim and my SEO guys (Wikimotive). Vinsolutions knows of this issue, and they are partnering with Haystack to have a new platform in the next few months. Hopefully they will fix this, but we couldn't wait to see. I liked that DealerInspire was built on WordPress so its very easy to customize and change almost anything you can think of, and the level of support and access they are giving to Tim and his SEO team is top notch. Anyone looking for a new provider I really suggest having your SEO team in the discussion. I had Tims team on the phone with me as I interviewed providers, and made sure they were happy with the ability for them to do their job. So my new site should be up within a month or so and hopefully ill not only capture my 60% back, but actually grow from there... that or Ill fire Tim. :P
DealerFire
Awesome! I know Tim and the DealerInspire team pretty well and you are in capable hands! Best of luck!
Proactive Dealer Solutions
Ya, You guys at DealerFire were a close second. I would definitely tell anyone looking for a new provider to check both of you guys out. Your company is one of the good guys out there. Also and I cant stress this enough... Vet your SEO guys out! So many dealers pay people $1000 to just check off a box that says they do SEO without making sure they are doing SEO right. I took over a year of looking before I decided on my SEO guys. SEO costs money to do right, but you are just wasting money and usually even hurting yourself by paying a few hundred bucks and getting a company that is using outdated or Blackhat SEO. Also make sure any provider you go with is willing and can make the changes your SEO teams needs. We were close between Dealerfire and DealerInspire, both good companies.
DealerFire
Absolutely. Anything that's on your site. Of course there are going to be some areas where you are bound to have some of the same things repeated - but the majority of the content should be original. Think about using a lot of the same placeholder text on your VDP's as well...
Proactive Dealer Solutions
Yes it does... now lets face it, a little bit of duplicate content is inevitable. But everywhere you can make custom content you should.
Lower Dealer Cost
Great article, an eye opener for many people. i have a feeling a LOT of dealers have been taking a much closer look at the content of their websites since reading this.
DealerFire
PPC vs. SEO: 2 Big Reasons Why Organic Rankings Just Became Even More Important Than PPC.
We all know that a balanced approach of paid and organic search traffic is imperative for continued success on the web. It would be irresponsible to totally disregard one or the other, but a couple recent pieces of news point out why organic rankings and traffic are more important than ever.
1. Rising CPC’s - Adobe Systems analyzed over $100 million in ad spend from April through June 2013. Between the mobile space getting more competitive and the switch to enhanced campaigns, Adobe predicts that the average CPC will rise up to 10% over just the next 2 quarters. Cleary CPA’s (cost per acquisition) will follow suit as ROI is diminished.
2. Dropping SERP Click Market Share - On Wednesday U.S. regulators warned several search ad networks, including Google, Yahoo and Bing, that they were not doing a good enough job distinguishing paid ads from organic listings, including on mobile devices and even voice search. With this we can definitely expect CTR’s and overall SERP click share to shift even further in favor of organic.
In light of these developments and a general rise in competition, we will see the ROI of PPC advertising decrease, especially relative to organic efforts which are seeing diminishing costs. There will be more advertisers vying for less clicks that will be more expensive.
How can you protect yourself from this? If you are doing PPC, make sure whoever is managing your account is actively doing so. With all of the automated solutions out there it is easy to quickly overspend in the wrong areas. The ‘set it and forget’ method becomes that much more dangerous. Also make sure to diversify your digital efforts. While an organic campaign may require more resources up front, it is a diminishing cost - whereas PPC is ‘pay to play’. As always continually monitor, measure and adjust!
No Comments
DealerFire
High Bounce Rate? Maybe Your Content Is Too Compelling.
I often field questions about bounce rates. Usually the question revolves around a bounce rate being too high. One of the most understood reasons for this is over-compelling content! Let’s finally shine some light on this often-misunderstood problem and learn how to avoid stimulating your visitors.
Problem: TMI – We’ve all heard of TMI (too much information) but you may not have heard of “TMUI” (too much useful information). Bounce Rate enemy number 1. This is what you really need to watch out for. TMUI can lead to higher bounce rates by answering all of your visitors’ information in one place.
Fix: Don’t be afraid to spread any pertinent info around your website. This way your visitors will be compelled to search your site for the rest of the information they need! You’ll find that this strategy could also increase your pages per visit. Awesome!
Problem: Too specific – This is similar to TMI, but I see it all the time so I had to make sure I covered it. Often times I visit webpages and when I’m done reading about a product I have no questions left to answer… so I leave to go buy the product or try out the advice given… BAM! That’s a bounce.
Fix: Be general. You may also want to consider using stock photos and the oldest manufacturing information you can find. For the advanced marketers out there, you may want to try leaving some questions unanswered altogether. Not only will this ensure a lower bounce rate but it may even increase your leads! It’s all about leads and conversions, right?
Problem: Actionable Info. Does the information on your web page offer directives or advice? Does it suggest taking action, especially *gulp* off of the webpage or even the Internet! This could lead people off of your site to confirm your suggestions or even in to your store!
Fix: Be passive! The purpose of a webpage is to just barely, almost subliminally, create awareness. Avoid words such as “buy”, “try” and “do”. You may also want to avoid incentives, and limited time offers.
Hopefully at this point you realize this is a bit of a satire. The reality is that this is a common occurrence problem in our industry. All too often we become entrenched in analytics and statistics and lose sight of how it all relates to the bigger picture, the ultimate goal: business results.
If you enjoyed this piece be sure to tell DrivingSales you want to listen to Eric Giroux and I dispell more metric myths during our presentation, “Metricks - Learn the Tricks of the Metrics Trade” at #DSES in Las Vegas in October!
No Comments
DealerFire
More Indexed Pages ≠ A Better Site
The number of pages being indexed is again being pushed as a core KPI in the automotive industry. I assume the vast majority of DrivingSales readers know, but; indexed pages are those web pages that a search engine has crawled and “filed,” which then have the ability to rank (and theoretically earn traffic). In the more elementary stages of web analytics and SEO this number served as an indication of site architecture and “crawlability.” Back then you could use this absolute number as a comparative indicator of success, but that was before the significant improvements in crawler sophistication/scalability … and… well… logic.
Don’t get me wrong, knowing that your site is being indexed is important, but making any kind of decision based solely on the number would be irresponsible. (Unless of course that number is zero, in which case, run Forest, run!) The real problem is that there is always a degree of correlation attached to the number of pages indexed and the overall site traffic and/or site health. This ‘correlation’ was a given when we were in the pre-Panda/Penguin times, but now we’re all much smarter and more capable, right?
Just in case you need a couple additional reasons to question this number, here are a few things to ask yourself to bring context to the equation:
- Where are these pages ranking? (If they rank on page 100, no one will ever click them anyway.)
- Are people actually searching for the terms these pages are being optimized for?
- How much traffic are these pages earning?
- Are people being directed to the best possible pages?
- Do these pages bring the kind of traffic you want?
- Are visitors to these pages converting?
In fact, the most up-to-date webmasters are actually limiting the amount of pages allowed to be indexed through
With the latest updates to Google you have to remember, it’s sites without quality content that are being punished, not sites with good content being rewarded. This may seem like semantics, but your site may have tens of thousands of low quality pages being indexed - which can outweigh any quality content being bolted on. Make sure search engines are seeing your site's best side.
3 Comments
DealerTeamwork LLC
Aaron - thank you for adding your logical clarity to this issue. Those six questions are the most important layer of metrics in my opinion. And of course, in order to seal the deal on the effectiveness of these pages, you need to have goal conversion tracking in place within your analytics.
DealerFire
Thanks guys! I'm just always excited at pushing the digital KPI's down funnel so that they align with actual business goals. Too many dealerships get lost in arbitrary metrics. Ain't nobody got time for that!
DealerFire
Penguin 2.0 – What you need to know (and do)!
Penguin 2.0 has been rumored to be on the brink of release for a while now. Well it’s finally confirmed here by none other than Matt Cutts himself. We all know that it’s only a matter of time before all of the fear mongers start posting jargon-filled posts meant to scare you into paying for protection. Well I thought I’d attempt to beat them to the punch. Here’s what you need to know:
- Original content is more important than ever. A big part of the original penguin and what’s being revised in 2.0 is how links are being built. Great content builds natural links. Period. If you are building links in any other way you are at risk of this and future spam updates. I know content can seem cumbersome but it’s not as bad as you think…
- Get signed up with webmaster tools! A great and much less ‘scary’ update will be the enhanced messaging through webmaster tools. If your site gets hacked, hit by this update or if any significant events occur Google will reach out through webmaster tools with tips on what to do. Given all the tools and insights that were already available in webmaster tools there is no excuse to not have this set up for your site(s)!
- Social signals appear to be on the rise. As Google continues to try to offer the best results it knows that social relevancy is harder to game than a web index. Plus they REALLY want you to use Google+. So something this update will do is add influence from sites that have a social relevancy for a certain topic. (That’s automotive for you, folks.) Be sure to be active on the main social channels and put your expertise on display!
That's the gist of it! Not so scary right? It’s all about putting the time in and doing things the right way. So now get out there and fight the good fight. Make awesome content. Sign up for webmaster tools. Be social!
3 Comments
Bill Jacobs Auto group
It's not often you get to hear from someone like Aaron. Great blog and great information!
DealerTeamwork LLC
Thanks for the update Aaron. Always awesome to hear from you. (Plus, you saved me from writing about it:) Three simple things that have been talked about for a while and now Google is validating these efforts within this latest update!
Team Toyota
Follow the basics... "Gaming" Google is a very bad idea... It is more work initially, but anchored original content is the gift that keeps on giving. Digital marketing strategies do not require rocket science... but do work best with an organized plan. DTG
19 Comments
Blake Lemmons
Auto Web Engine
Absolutely this is true. You see it everywhere. Too many services are pushing all sorts of lead types, sending shoppers here and there rather than keeping them where they need to be. Dealers need to get back to basic web design concepts. Use third party services for CRM, DMS, data management, whatever, but have real designers develop the sites they need to actually get shopper engagement. Service providers are coming up with all sorts of new "tools" that really don't benefit anyone but the service provider. If a shopper goes onto a dealership lot, there's no way a dealer would have a big sign up telling them if they want more info on this or that to visit the store down the street, so why would they think it is a good idea on their own website. The logic does't make sense. One can say well we have stats about this and stats about that, but anyone can come up with stats about anything, doesn't mean it is good. Show the shoppers what they need in order to buy or inquire about the vehicle, nothing more. Shoppers are not asking for all this other stuff, so why show it to them.
Dave Page
Dealer eProcess
I'm surprised you didn't at least use a screen shot of one of your own dealers. http://www.toyotaofnaperville.com/used-cars-naperville-il
Aaron Schinke
DealerFire
For sure! I tried to keep all parties unidentified including the dealers themselves. As I said in the article its not only the web providers and 3rd party lead providers to blame, but also the dealers themselves demanding these things be added! P.S. DealerFire and Toyota of Naperville thank you for the link! ;)
Dave Page
Dealer eProcess
For starters, there is no better place to convert a visitor than on the VDP of a website (assuming you have all the data on the page such as the installed options of the vehicle for example.) The question then is, why all the different ways to ask for a customers information? If you are asking me, I am going to rely on the DATA. Our DATA tells me that different forms appeal to different people, and some consistently out perform others. For example, one of the WORST performing lead forms on all dealer websites is "Schedule a Test Drive" which usually sits in the number one position. Two of the best lead forms are "Get ePrice" usually placed in the pricing fields, or "Confirm Availability" usually placed where the pictures are. These two lead forms convert the highest because they are discreet questions the visitor is asking themselves in their own mind. Would a customer ask themselves, should I schedule a test drive today? Of course not! Would they ask, I wonder what the payment on that car would be? -Bingo- payment lead form. Layout VDP- Personally I have driven 5 different makes of vehicles in the last 10 years. It wouldn't matter to me what the layout is, assuming the layout takes into account (regardless of the manufacturer) the important points customers are looking for before they decide to submit their information. In no particular order - Real Pictures, Price/Payments, Available Rebates, Installed Options . What more information do I need as a consumer to make a decision? Dealers who think their customers are special because they drive a Lexus or Mercedes versus a Toyota or a Chevrolet would be dead wrong from a navigational or VDP standpoint on a website. Their actions and expectations are the same. At the end of the day, ALL customers are looking for a few pieces of information to help bring them to a decision which makes a sale.
Blake Lemmons
Auto Web Engine
@Dave: Completely agree with you. You are correct, design/layout/add-ons is user specific. Toyota shoppers vary from mercedes shoppers. And the above mentioned link is an excellent example, in my opinion, of overkill.
Dennis Galbraith
Dealer e Process
Calls to action are no substitute for content, but that does not mean they are misplaced on the SRP and VDP. In fact, many of the items pointed out are links to content. I don't think it can be said that no shoppers are looking for the market price or the vehicle history report (VHR). Whether the dealer gives transparency to market pricing is a strategic issue, but VHRs are a must have. It would be great if we could get this information directly onto the site rather than a link, but when the information is critical to a significant segment of shoppers it's important to provide it. At the end of the day, there are very few ways the shopper can transition from the technological touch-points online to the first human touch-point with the dealership: phone, email (lead form), chat/text, walking in. All of these should be facilitated within the inventory. Let them contact the store the way they want to and more will. The same is true of content. Some shoppers will make contact with the store in less than a minutes. Some will read and click on darn near everything they can find. Dave's makes an excellent point about meeting the needs of all of them.
Aaron Schinke
DealerFire
Absolutely. It would be great if we could tailor the site to every persons' preferences, but the reality is that we can't, at least, yet. I would not take that to mean that we have to present every possible option to every possible shopper. Again, there is a general pattern to the majority of shopping behavior. I would think you'd use that to dictate the ideal flow of the site. For me it comes down to this: If you have 12 different calls to action potentially leading visitors away from your site, you could potentially distract them from the main goal. If you don't have a bunch of competing calls to action, they aren't going to NOT click through to the VDP. Hence, the article. It's worth noting that the intention of the article is NOT to point fingers at anyone, but to spark debate and shed light on an ongoing issue.
Dave Page
Dealer eProcess
Do you have any data that can support whether there are more leads that come from the VDP versus the SRP? I don't think we can make the determination or assume that "ALL" leads have to come from the VDP. Keep in mind, sometimes the functionality of a website could affect "where a lead" comes from. For example, some websites allow you view "ALL" the pictures of the vehicle from the SRP, while some only let you see "ALL" the photos if you are in the VDP. That could easily affect where the lead submission comes from.
Blake Lemmons
Auto Web Engine
But you can tailer a website to your shoppers. As the website owner, whether you use a service or not, you should know your visitors, know their habits - stats show this. You know demographics, you know traffic flow, you know who is actually buying your cars and you should be conducting surveys from these buyers. It's easy to say you can't tailor the site, but you really can. Heck, with geolocation services you can even tailer messages based on location. The tech is there to know your visitors and what their habits are on a website.
Aaron Schinke
DealerFire
Certainly have some data - but the article was written based on the premise that VDP views are so highly correlated with sales (not leads, those are different). We obviously know that only a small percentage of people that visit a site or buy a car submit a internet lead. So theoretically VDP views can become a better index of shopping behavior as a whole. This is why I really capped the whole thing off with a semi-hypothetical question: "The question becomes: Is the relentless push for more leads actually limiting your opportunity for sales?" Just something to ponder.
Blake Lemmons
Auto Web Engine
And in the spirit of debate, it is true that there is nothing to show that VDP's do push more leads than SRP. The only difference is email leads since the details page is where the email form typically resides. But from experience, phone calls and getting shoppers to come in from the site is of course much, much better than email leads. From a UI standpoint, showing all images, vehicle details, etc from the SRP is much, much better than having to go through another click to get this info. All the details page does is provide additional per vehicle stats. You can technically accomplish this same thing on the SRP, and it would be so much more friendly to a shopper. Many items on a site are truly there for the service provider as a way to provide stats to show proof the service is doing its job.
Dave Page
Dealer eProcess
Having spent many years working in a dealership, I would take leads (form submissions, chats, & phones calls) as a much better measuring stick for an "opportunity" to sell more cars versus VDP views any day! VDP views can be so manipulated by site structure, PPC marketing etc, its not even funny. This is Autotrader Kool-Aid reporting.
Matt Lowery
Proactive Dealer Solutions
I am all for as many call to actions as you can get. I want your name, phone number, and email address. If you are on my site and viewing my inventory, thats the most important thing to me. Leads over VDP all day, every day. Once I have your information, I know what my team can do, and what percentages will end up closing. Give the customer a reason to raise their hand and come out of anonymity, so we can help guide them to the right vehicle. Customers are fickle, and need to have their hands held. This isnt a $20 toaster on Amazon... Now with that said, things that drive the customer away from your site... you have a point there.
Dennis Galbraith
Dealer e Process
Aaron, I am ever so grateful for the post and your clarification. I am also a longtime advocate of VDPs as a key performance indicator. There are several issues here. I'll try to separate them and close by agreeing with you in large part, as well as Dave. I've been involved in the debate about ideal flow for over 10 years. I've never seen the data supporting limitation of content and links for the purpose of facilitating any concept of ideal flow. My early involvement was with respect to manufacturer sites. Fantastic advances were made in site navigation that enhanced the usefulness of the site, and I did have the data to confirm that. Manufacturers didn't need to cut down on the content, they could increase it as navigation improved. There is no single shopping path that meets the needs of enough people to triumph over an excellent site allowing each shopper to easily navigate their own path. I've heard tales and theories about the ideal path, but no empirical data. In much the same way, dealers need the freedom to have the site they think is best for their brand and their unique selling proposition in their market. Will there be times when things are added to the site that don't work out? You bet. Again, the data will help the dealer get back on the right track. One of the areas any dealer should be cautious about is linking off the SRP, for exactly the reasons you mention. The objective of the SRP is match making. Sometimes, the shopper can see from the limited information on the SRP that the dealer has that black platinum edition vehicle they have been looking all over for and that's all it takes to get them to contact the dealer. Most of the time, the shopper will go to the VDP first (your point). Therefore, calls to action are okay on the SRP, but they should not get in the way of content. Dave's right, it should be the data that defines what getting in the way is. Links off the SRP should be thought through even more judiciously. If there isn't some very good content on the end of that link that will likely bring the shopper back more ready to by, then it probably won't pencil out when the data comes in. I think that's pretty darn close to several positions on this thread. Thank you so much. The subject is always worth pondering. I hope others will add to the discussion in the hours and days ahead.
Peter Chung
Magic Toyota
I do have to first apologize to all the corp execs comments before this in their tech discussion, However... As a dealer.. I will say that we are a little schizophrenic and greedy when it comes to customers. With that said a little of both (or maybe a lot of both) used strategically is the best answer. When placing call to action, make sure they action is what you want and it makes sense. VDP in my belief,are best to create more content thus driving more traffic to my site(SEO). If you look at my site...(full disclosure is one of Dave's) you will see most call to actions have been retargeted from a standard form to another action (click to make demo apt calendar, Click to make service apt, etc) serve our goals. We have also layered hundreds of VDP as well as SDP pages to build additional content to feed and feed and feed that blasted "humming bird" I will say that since switching to Dave's platform our conversion rate has tripled.. No data needed for that one! .....
Yago Paramo
DealerEProcess
The faster I can get the customer to find the information they need the better, whether that is the SRP or the VDP it doesn't make much difference. Each further lick into the VDP increases the amount of information for a specific item (deeper click = higher reward). Here is an interesting thought; with schema .org coming soon and the vehicle data being available to Google to they can display a long tail search into their SRP (so not even need to click on the dealer's website), what would you do? Not use Schema so the client has no choice but to click on your website? What if Google penalizes websites without Schema? Information is going up the channel, whether we like it or not.
steven chessin
dealership core inventory content specialist and trainer
A friend of mine had a house in NY with book shelves and tables and chairs and all sorts of collectables everywhere. When he moved to Miami his condo had a great ocean view, a futon, high gloss wood floor and a giant screen TV. Minimalistic. No fat. That's how I do VDPs today. The clutter distracts from the only things that really matter. stevenc@theautogallery.com
Grant Gooley
Remarkable Marketing
What a great thread! Something I have been challenged with for the last few years. I remember in a post I generated a year back I asked the question one call to action or 12? I got 2 comments that stuck with me and have worked ever since quite nicely! (Re; VDP's) 1. You can't please everyone, so make sure you have enough CTA options that any given person can make a plausible decision that fits their needs. Call, Form Submit, SMS, telegram.... Whatever your data supports. 2. If the CTA is a link to somewhere else, you better be sure that it's bringing the customer to a valuable position that cues the customer to generate a phone call or form submit.
Alex Lau
AutoStride
Great topic. User experience is everything, not only to the user, but bots. You should be doing A/B, Multivariate or Split Testing on your VDPs and SRPs: https://www.optimizely.com/ab-testing/ https://vwo.com/lp/ab-testing-tool/ (LOVE VWO) If you really have the money, hire a usability testing group, such as: http://www.userzoom.com/ (LOVE UZ) Web Remote Usability Testing UX Benchmarking & Measurement Competitive UX Benchmarking Information Architecture Prototype & Concept Testing Web Voice of the Customer Mobile Remote Usability Testing Mobile App Voice of the Customer http://teced.com/services/user-interface-design/ https://www.usertesting.com/ http://www.centralis.com/landing/usability https://usability.pro/landing/usability-testing etc. Subjective opinions are a bunch of BS, test your interfaces over and over and over again, until you get it right. I laugh at the number of large groups making this mistake.