DrivingSales
6 Things You Need to Know About Marketing in a Mobile First World
The world has shifted. It is time to stop thinking about mobile AND desktop, and put all the focus on mobile.
The old way of thinking was that desktops were the platform for people to do their research and mobile was where they got their directions. That is no longer the situation. Most of your customers are bypassing the desktop completely and interacting entirely with your site on a mobile device.
Perhaps you are thinking: Well our site is responsive so we're fine. Being "responsive" usually means that what is built for your desktop version rearranges for people when they get to your site using a mobile device. Let's be clear... that is not enough. In a mobile-first world it's going to take more than a "responsive" website to be a successful strategy.
It was my privilege April 9 to moderate a pivotal workshop at the DrivingSales Presidents Club event. The topic was Marketing in a Mobile First World with our two presenters Carlos McEwan from Jazel and Eric Brown from LotLinx. There was too much discussion in the room to give you a full tutorial, but here are the top 6 things you need to know:
- Mobile is King
At DrivingSales we collect trends in website traffic from thousands of dealers across the country. Last month 57% of traffic to dealer sites was on a mobile device. The surprising thing about that number is that it is grew at a 10% rate over last year. When you look at your website you need to do it on your phone, or tablet.... not on your computer. - User First
It is tempting to build the website for ourselves. We want to focus on things that are important to us: our beautiful building, our leadership team, fancy technology. News flash, your customer doesn't care about what you care about. Building for the consumer experience first means eliminating everything that gets in the way of what your customer wants to do. This lesson is even more vital on mobile where you only have a small screen to present. One dealer in the room talked about how he removed their chat pop-ups to decrease distractions on their mobile site. The result? They see people spending more time on their site. - Think of Your Site as a Live Interaction
This approach came from Carlos and I feel it is a great way to think through your site strategy. His suggestion is to think about your site as a customer lot visit. Would you attack your customer as soon as they got on the lot to get their phone, email, address, phone number? Would you interrupt them shopping your lot with a service offer? Thinking this way helps you understand how your site should flow, and help eliminate distractions. - You Won't be There to Hold Your Customers' Hand
During the end of the session we had an exercise where dealers sitting next to each other had to exchange their website address with the person next to them. They then had to perform 7 common customer tasks on their mobile sites. It was interesting to see how many people had to ask questions or give directions to each other to perform these basic tasks. The problem is that you can't be there to show your customers how to request information. If someone sitting right next to you can't find the click to call button, neither can your customers. - It's Time to Rethink Your Goals
If you are just measuring your site's performance based on lead generation, you could be vastly disappointed. From one dealer case study we found that the likelihood of a customer filling in a form from the phone decreased by 61%. Simply put, people on mobile devices don't want to fill out forms. - What Happens When There's No Web Searches?
Eric provided a glimpse into the future when artificial intelligence integrates itself into our buying processes. Think of the amount of data you are sending back to Google, Apple and Amazon about your preferences, frequented locations, sites visited, purchases and habits.
The arms race is on to turn that data into artificial intelligence that will insert itself into our buying processes. Suddenly we'll start getting notifications that inform us that our car has reached maximum trade-in ROI, and that there are 3 cars within a 10 mile radius that would fit our style.
This new approach of artificial intelligence decision making may be only a few years away and the technology is most likely going to outpace the human acceptance of it. However, we are starting to see these automated, decision making applications sneak into our lives. Think of how your phone looks at your calendar, finds events with locations in them and then warns you when you need to leave to get there on time. You probably didn't even notice, but your phone is already taking away decision making. You didn't have to search it, it happened automatically and that is coming from every decision you make. This brave new world may not even need websites.
So, how will we compete when artificial intelligence steps in? It will be based on the speed of information you produce and your experience, ranked by your past customers. In this scenario it is crucial to get your cars on your site as soon as possible and reputation management will be where you sink or swim.
I wish I could capture all of the conversations that happened during the workshop in New York, but I guess that's why you need to be there. The one clear message though was mobile is king and it certainly isn't going away.
One of the comments I made during the session was that I have 5 kids (yes, I'm from Utah) all of them from the 11 year old to the 1 year old know how to operate my phone, but none of them really know how to use it as a PHONE.
Every time I call them I have to explain how to put the receiver near their face and the transmitter to their ear. What happens when that generation starts buying cars? They see devices as an integral part of life and they have a hard time understanding why they're called phones.
We may have a hard time accepting what's next in artificial intelligence decision making, but the next generation won't and we need to prepare.
DrivingSales
3 Reason to Stop Believing the Millennials Lie
There is no escaping the love affair with Millennials. Everyone has an opinion on them and how they want to be sold and marketed. Every thought leader is giving their strategy on how to attract them. Every vendor is using Millennials as the reason the newest gadget is a must-buy. With all this attention you’d think that Millennials were the only ones with money.
The chatter about Millennials is they are suspicious of marketing. They rely more on friends than brands, particularly friends they’ve connected with online. They grew up in the information age so they leverage the internet to do research before buying and are purchase savvy. They shop online regularly and expect a seamless online to in-store sales process.
If you think these traits only describe Millennials, you’re wrong. Here are the facts:
- Business Insider reported Amazon demographics showing the online retailer’s buyers age broke down by Non-Prime vs. Prime users, the company’s upgraded account status. The study showed that Amazon customers 40 and up were more likely to purchase Prime memberships than younger generations. 60+ had the highest percentage of Prime users. Result: older generations are attracted to the convenience of premium online shopping.
- Social media isn’t some college dorm obsession. A Report from Pew Research Center found that 71% of adult internet users are on Facebook. Meanwhile InvestorPlace reports that the biggest growth segments for Facebook were for 55-and-up growing 80% and 41% growth in users 35to 54. It seems that older generations are connected online just like their younger counterparts.
- The DrivingSales Consumer Experience Study reports that 99% of car shoppers expect the process to be a “hassle”. That goes across every age group, demographic and vehicle type. The result of this frustration is that 56% of those surveyed would buy more often if the process were easier. Bottom-line everyone wants a better buying process, not just Millennials.
The research about Millennials is all true. They tend to be less brand loyal, distrust marketing, trust friends and do their research. The lie is that Millennials are the only ones who these facts apply to and expect a better buying process. The internet age has rewritten the book on buying process expectations for everyone.
Let me break down two scenarios that occurred during the DrivingSales research initiative: 1. A gentleman goes to a dealership ready to pay cash for a car, but walks out when he is required to give his personal information before a test drive. 2. A shopper is frustrated by a dealer’s website lack of information and refuses to visit the lot because of it. What were the ages of each of these individuals? The demographic assumptions would indicate the opposite of reality. The first gentleman with cash in hand was in his 20s, the frustrated online shopper was in his 50s.
All your customers want more control in the buying process. They want the buying process to be responsive to their needs, not a linear one-size-fits-all model. It’s time to wake up from the Millennials lie and adjust to what all customers really want, a more responsive/personalized sales process.
11 Comments
Lancaster Investments, LLC
Great post Adam. Technology is certainly changing the way consumers interact and make buying decisions. Millennials may be the early adopters of technology but the environment for adaptation is too fast paced to assume utilization doesn't span generations. Humans will always want to interact (and do business) with people they like and trust.
DrivingSales
@Joy Great points. The tendencies of doing business with those we trust/like certainly hasn't changed, just the way we do business. It used to be the only way to establish trust was through face to face, but that has definitely moved online with transparency and ease of transaction.
Mercedes Benz of Taunton
Amen to this stuff. I am a big advocate of a fluid sales process within a wider framework, not a dictatorial sales experience for customers!
Auto Industry
RE: "1. A gentleman goes to a dealership ready to pay cash for a car, but walks out when he is required to give his personal information before a test drive." HINT - You absolutely do NOT do test drives without a copy of the drivers license left in the store. Anyone suggesting that practice be stopped has obviously never owned a dealership. Its always a good idea to learn a business before setting out to change it.
Auto Industry
RE: "They tend to be less brand loyal, distrust marketing, trust friends and do their research."All true. Consumers have always done research. Customers today have so much more information. They also have less ability to unpack that information, so they have more info but "know" less. Its like drinking from a fire hose for them, but they think they know, which can make them really prickly to work with. Auto retail has run off a LOT of talent. Putting a bunch of youngsters who think they know more than they do with youngsters who are inexperienced and who aren't given all the information by their ownership isn't an equation easily solved.BTW, don't think I'm suggesting we give sales people "all the info." I'm not. Its none of their business just as it is none of the business of the consumer. For those who think "transparency" is the answer, I suggest posting your triple net cost and listing your margin separately. See how that works out. Apple will be transparent when they do the same. Do you ask the grocer what the cost is of the head of lettuce you are buying?Another hint to those who want to remake auto retail in the image of Amazon, Apple, Disney, or whomever. We already retail new vehicles for about break even after expenses. And consumers as a group still aren't happy. Decades ago consumers were happier when our industry sold new cars for real net profit. Our mission is to win them over one by one, not try to mollify them as a cohort. If we are successful one out of three times, we're doing well. What piques customers is the thought that someone might have gotten a better deal than they did. Its the FTC that prevents us from sticking to MSRP. If we could, consumers would all be happy, right? They'd all pay the same. There would be no Scott Painter "friction" and we'd be doing a 20 million SAAR, right? How do you please them all? I do my own surveys. Every time I'm in front of a group I ask for a show of hands of everyone who believes a dealer is entitled to an 8% to 10% return. I don't use terms like gross profit and net profit, because few people are accountants. 80% to 90% raise their hand feeling that this is reasonable. A little later I ask the same question differently. "How many of you would be happy if you got home and discovered your dealer had just made a $3K profit off of you. NO ONE raises their hand. Go figure. So much for surveys. What is important is to know what they mean rather than what they say.
Auto Industry
RE: "The result of this frustration is that 56% of those surveyed would buy more often if the process were easier."This is entirely incorrect. You can say that 56% SAID they would buy more often if the process were easier, but until you can measure that, to say they would buy more often just isn't accurate.The process would be easier if consumers all had great credit and no trade negative equity. The process would be easier if we could just ignore all of the government forms and regulations. The process would be easier if new vehicles didn't cost so much..... then there's that pesky sales tax. The process would be easier if we could charge everyone the same. But most people learn as they grow older that we can't change the world until we first learn to live in it the way it is first. And as we grow older, we frequently discover there might be good reasons things are the way the are.
DrivingSales
@David Thanks for the added color to some of my supporting statements. I should have made some points clearer in my post (as you have pointed out): 1. "You absolutely do NOT do test drives without a copy of the drivers license left in the store." Agreed, and that was not the issue with this customer. The customer I referred to in the DrivingSales study was frustrated that the dealer wanted to get his personal information to run is credit before allowing him to test drive the vehicle, that was the point of frustration, not that he was unwilling to give his driver's license. I assumed that would be clear since as you said that is a basic practice in the industry, but I should have made that point clearer. 2. "You can say that 56% SAID they would buy more often if the process were easier, but until you can measure that, to say they would buy just isn't accurate." You are absolutely correct. Just because they SAID they would buy does not mean they would. The point I am trying to make though is that everyone, Millennials and other age groups want an improved buying process and that could result in more sales, not 56% more across the industry, but certainly an increase. Side note: Autotrader conducted a similar study and produced nearly identical results saying that 53% of consumers would buy more, interesting: http://press.autotrader.com/2015-03-31-New-Autotrader-Study-Consumers-Want-Big-Changes-to-the-Car-Buying-Process You make excellent points about price. It is apparent that driving to the lowest prices doesn't make customers happier. What they do want is to trust the they get a fair deal or as you put it "What piques customers is the thought that someone might have gotten a better deal than they did". Great point that: "Our mission is to win them over one by one, not try to mollify them as a cohort. If we are successful one out of three times, we're doing well." This is a slow process that will be won one person at a time, but it can be won. We've seen how Social Media amplifies negative experiences, it does the same for positive as well.
Auto Industry
RE: "Millennials and other age groups want an improved buying process and that could result in more sales, not 56% more across the industry, but certainly an increase."All age groups will answer this question the same way. This is nothing new. 40 years ago the answer would have been the same. But consumers don't have the same idea of what an "improved process" is. Further, this leaves the impression that there is such a thing as an "old process" and a "new and improved process." I don't get that. Demanding personal info to run a credit bureau BEFORE a demo drive was substandard process 30 years ago. Auto retail has always been a slow process to be won one buyer at a time. And dealers are winning to the tune of a 17.3 SAAR. The idea that we'd be selling at a 20 million SAAR rate if we alleviated friction in the sales process isn't valid. You can't "prove" that based on what consumers say in an answer to a survey question. You can "claim" it. You can say I can't prove you wrong. And I can claim my grandmother is in orbit around Mars, and you can't disprove it. I asked both Maryann Keller and Tom Webb about this, and they both laughed at the premise. First, there is no new and improved sales process that satisfies all consumers. While it is true that if you sold all new cars for triple net cost, we would sell more cars, that's not hardly an "improved sales process." Part of the "friction" is the dealer's profit. We are already selling at about break even after expenses. We could reduce "friction" if only the FTC would allow us to charge everyone the same margin. All you have to do is get the FTC to go along with that. More friction is sales tax. Get rid of that and we'd sell a few more cars. But we live and operate in the real world. RE: "This is a slow process that will be won one person at a time, but it can be won."Yes, and dealers are winning to the tune of a 17.3 million SAAR. Regarding "old process" and "new and improved." To reiterate, this is a false comparison. People like Mark Rykess paint some really bad processes and policies as typical "old method." That's just BS. I started my auto business career in what was essentially a One Price store. The year was 1970. It wasn't called One Price then. In 1970 a sales person could make real income. While sales staff turned over, it was nothing like it is now. There was much more of a relationship built between customer and sales person. It wasn't perfect. There is no "perfect." It was better than today. A consumer needed less information because things were much less complex. Consumers knew MORE then than today, not less.
DrivingSales
3 Reason to Stop Believing the Millennials Lie
There is no escaping the love affair with Millennials. Everyone has an opinion on them and how they want to be sold and marketed. Every thought leader is giving their strategy on how to attract them. Every vendor is using Millennials as the reason the newest gadget is a must-buy. With all this attention you’d think that Millennials were the only ones with money.
The chatter about Millennials is they are suspicious of marketing. They rely more on friends than brands, particularly friends they’ve connected with online. They grew up in the information age so they leverage the internet to do research before buying and are purchase savvy. They shop online regularly and expect a seamless online to in-store sales process.
If you think these traits only describe Millennials, you’re wrong. Here are the facts:
- Business Insider reported Amazon demographics showing the online retailer’s buyers age broke down by Non-Prime vs. Prime users, the company’s upgraded account status. The study showed that Amazon customers 40 and up were more likely to purchase Prime memberships than younger generations. 60+ had the highest percentage of Prime users. Result: older generations are attracted to the convenience of premium online shopping.
- Social media isn’t some college dorm obsession. A Report from Pew Research Center found that 71% of adult internet users are on Facebook. Meanwhile InvestorPlace reports that the biggest growth segments for Facebook were for 55-and-up growing 80% and 41% growth in users 35to 54. It seems that older generations are connected online just like their younger counterparts.
- The DrivingSales Consumer Experience Study reports that 99% of car shoppers expect the process to be a “hassle”. That goes across every age group, demographic and vehicle type. The result of this frustration is that 56% of those surveyed would buy more often if the process were easier. Bottom-line everyone wants a better buying process, not just Millennials.
The research about Millennials is all true. They tend to be less brand loyal, distrust marketing, trust friends and do their research. The lie is that Millennials are the only ones who these facts apply to and expect a better buying process. The internet age has rewritten the book on buying process expectations for everyone.
Let me break down two scenarios that occurred during the DrivingSales research initiative: 1. A gentleman goes to a dealership ready to pay cash for a car, but walks out when he is required to give his personal information before a test drive. 2. A shopper is frustrated by a dealer’s website lack of information and refuses to visit the lot because of it. What were the ages of each of these individuals? The demographic assumptions would indicate the opposite of reality. The first gentleman with cash in hand was in his 20s, the frustrated online shopper was in his 50s.
All your customers want more control in the buying process. They want the buying process to be responsive to their needs, not a linear one-size-fits-all model. It’s time to wake up from the Millennials lie and adjust to what all customers really want, a more responsive/personalized sales process.
11 Comments
Lancaster Investments, LLC
Great post Adam. Technology is certainly changing the way consumers interact and make buying decisions. Millennials may be the early adopters of technology but the environment for adaptation is too fast paced to assume utilization doesn't span generations. Humans will always want to interact (and do business) with people they like and trust.
DrivingSales
@Joy Great points. The tendencies of doing business with those we trust/like certainly hasn't changed, just the way we do business. It used to be the only way to establish trust was through face to face, but that has definitely moved online with transparency and ease of transaction.
Mercedes Benz of Taunton
Amen to this stuff. I am a big advocate of a fluid sales process within a wider framework, not a dictatorial sales experience for customers!
Auto Industry
RE: "1. A gentleman goes to a dealership ready to pay cash for a car, but walks out when he is required to give his personal information before a test drive." HINT - You absolutely do NOT do test drives without a copy of the drivers license left in the store. Anyone suggesting that practice be stopped has obviously never owned a dealership. Its always a good idea to learn a business before setting out to change it.
Auto Industry
RE: "They tend to be less brand loyal, distrust marketing, trust friends and do their research."All true. Consumers have always done research. Customers today have so much more information. They also have less ability to unpack that information, so they have more info but "know" less. Its like drinking from a fire hose for them, but they think they know, which can make them really prickly to work with. Auto retail has run off a LOT of talent. Putting a bunch of youngsters who think they know more than they do with youngsters who are inexperienced and who aren't given all the information by their ownership isn't an equation easily solved.BTW, don't think I'm suggesting we give sales people "all the info." I'm not. Its none of their business just as it is none of the business of the consumer. For those who think "transparency" is the answer, I suggest posting your triple net cost and listing your margin separately. See how that works out. Apple will be transparent when they do the same. Do you ask the grocer what the cost is of the head of lettuce you are buying?Another hint to those who want to remake auto retail in the image of Amazon, Apple, Disney, or whomever. We already retail new vehicles for about break even after expenses. And consumers as a group still aren't happy. Decades ago consumers were happier when our industry sold new cars for real net profit. Our mission is to win them over one by one, not try to mollify them as a cohort. If we are successful one out of three times, we're doing well. What piques customers is the thought that someone might have gotten a better deal than they did. Its the FTC that prevents us from sticking to MSRP. If we could, consumers would all be happy, right? They'd all pay the same. There would be no Scott Painter "friction" and we'd be doing a 20 million SAAR, right? How do you please them all? I do my own surveys. Every time I'm in front of a group I ask for a show of hands of everyone who believes a dealer is entitled to an 8% to 10% return. I don't use terms like gross profit and net profit, because few people are accountants. 80% to 90% raise their hand feeling that this is reasonable. A little later I ask the same question differently. "How many of you would be happy if you got home and discovered your dealer had just made a $3K profit off of you. NO ONE raises their hand. Go figure. So much for surveys. What is important is to know what they mean rather than what they say.
Auto Industry
RE: "The result of this frustration is that 56% of those surveyed would buy more often if the process were easier."This is entirely incorrect. You can say that 56% SAID they would buy more often if the process were easier, but until you can measure that, to say they would buy more often just isn't accurate.The process would be easier if consumers all had great credit and no trade negative equity. The process would be easier if we could just ignore all of the government forms and regulations. The process would be easier if new vehicles didn't cost so much..... then there's that pesky sales tax. The process would be easier if we could charge everyone the same. But most people learn as they grow older that we can't change the world until we first learn to live in it the way it is first. And as we grow older, we frequently discover there might be good reasons things are the way the are.
DrivingSales
@David Thanks for the added color to some of my supporting statements. I should have made some points clearer in my post (as you have pointed out): 1. "You absolutely do NOT do test drives without a copy of the drivers license left in the store." Agreed, and that was not the issue with this customer. The customer I referred to in the DrivingSales study was frustrated that the dealer wanted to get his personal information to run is credit before allowing him to test drive the vehicle, that was the point of frustration, not that he was unwilling to give his driver's license. I assumed that would be clear since as you said that is a basic practice in the industry, but I should have made that point clearer. 2. "You can say that 56% SAID they would buy more often if the process were easier, but until you can measure that, to say they would buy just isn't accurate." You are absolutely correct. Just because they SAID they would buy does not mean they would. The point I am trying to make though is that everyone, Millennials and other age groups want an improved buying process and that could result in more sales, not 56% more across the industry, but certainly an increase. Side note: Autotrader conducted a similar study and produced nearly identical results saying that 53% of consumers would buy more, interesting: http://press.autotrader.com/2015-03-31-New-Autotrader-Study-Consumers-Want-Big-Changes-to-the-Car-Buying-Process You make excellent points about price. It is apparent that driving to the lowest prices doesn't make customers happier. What they do want is to trust the they get a fair deal or as you put it "What piques customers is the thought that someone might have gotten a better deal than they did". Great point that: "Our mission is to win them over one by one, not try to mollify them as a cohort. If we are successful one out of three times, we're doing well." This is a slow process that will be won one person at a time, but it can be won. We've seen how Social Media amplifies negative experiences, it does the same for positive as well.
Auto Industry
RE: "Millennials and other age groups want an improved buying process and that could result in more sales, not 56% more across the industry, but certainly an increase."All age groups will answer this question the same way. This is nothing new. 40 years ago the answer would have been the same. But consumers don't have the same idea of what an "improved process" is. Further, this leaves the impression that there is such a thing as an "old process" and a "new and improved process." I don't get that. Demanding personal info to run a credit bureau BEFORE a demo drive was substandard process 30 years ago. Auto retail has always been a slow process to be won one buyer at a time. And dealers are winning to the tune of a 17.3 SAAR. The idea that we'd be selling at a 20 million SAAR rate if we alleviated friction in the sales process isn't valid. You can't "prove" that based on what consumers say in an answer to a survey question. You can "claim" it. You can say I can't prove you wrong. And I can claim my grandmother is in orbit around Mars, and you can't disprove it. I asked both Maryann Keller and Tom Webb about this, and they both laughed at the premise. First, there is no new and improved sales process that satisfies all consumers. While it is true that if you sold all new cars for triple net cost, we would sell more cars, that's not hardly an "improved sales process." Part of the "friction" is the dealer's profit. We are already selling at about break even after expenses. We could reduce "friction" if only the FTC would allow us to charge everyone the same margin. All you have to do is get the FTC to go along with that. More friction is sales tax. Get rid of that and we'd sell a few more cars. But we live and operate in the real world. RE: "This is a slow process that will be won one person at a time, but it can be won."Yes, and dealers are winning to the tune of a 17.3 million SAAR. Regarding "old process" and "new and improved." To reiterate, this is a false comparison. People like Mark Rykess paint some really bad processes and policies as typical "old method." That's just BS. I started my auto business career in what was essentially a One Price store. The year was 1970. It wasn't called One Price then. In 1970 a sales person could make real income. While sales staff turned over, it was nothing like it is now. There was much more of a relationship built between customer and sales person. It wasn't perfect. There is no "perfect." It was better than today. A consumer needed less information because things were much less complex. Consumers knew MORE then than today, not less.
2 Comments
C L
Automotive Group
Keep it simple
Adam Shiflett
DrivingSales
Leslie for the comment... and the win!
I think you summed up beautifully in three words what took me 1,098 words to say.