Your website, your search optimization (SEO) and your search engine marketing (SEM) are all closely linked in what is essentially a ‘circle of life’.

It’s hard to believe, but even with all the mega-website providers in the industry, dealers still end up with ad traffic that has no logical place to land on their website. Understanding this critical error isn’t just the responsibility of the marketing or internet manager. General managers and sales managers should also be aware of the importance of this critical fact.

Your website, your search optimization (SEO) and your search engine marketing (SEM) are all closely linked in what is essentially a ‘circle of life’.

Let’s say your agency or even in-house expert writes you a great ad about a current lease or finance special on an SUV for $299 per month. You don’t really have a ‘specials’ or ‘offers’ page, but the special matches the information on your homepage slider, so the ad is pointed there.

When the shopper clicks-through, your Google AdWords account is charged for the click and the shopper lands on your homepage. But your slider is one of six or so graphics in this month’s rotation. They see one for a tire special, then one for your charity event, then a ‘truck month’ ad. They didn’t see the $299 SUV anywhere on your homepage so they hit the BACK button.

You didn’t just lose a customer for this vehicle cycle, but maybe a future one, as well because you broke the shopper’s trust. That’s not all, you also broke the trust of GOOGLE! Their digital watchdogs saw what happened (bounce), AND they already know you have no searchable text that matches the ad (low relevance). So you have to pay higher bid rates just to be seen on Page 1, if you can even get there. This isn’t just for the auto industry – it applies to ALL advertising.

But that’s not all! Because of the low relevance and bounce, your ORGANIC search ranking just took a hit, as well. Here are four ways to protect your store from lost customers – and lost rankings:

• Use a specials / offers page to land your traffic – and keep it updated regularly with accurate information
• Be sure the text in your search ads matches the text on your page and are updated when the information on the page changes
• Don’t use graphics with the special pricing embedded in the photo – search engines can’t read a picture
• Ensure landing page has effective conversion tools so you can both convert traffic to quality leads and so Google can see these positive results

There are dealers who do have a ‘specials’ page, but the agency has a bunch of photos with the lease or finance specials. Google can’t read the text in photos. Google can see if someone goes to your website and just bounces. It may not know the reason for the behavior but it WILL know if the content on the page doesn’t match the offer in the search ad and penalize you with higher click prices and lower placement.

Landing pages are the lifeblood of BOTH SEO and SEM. Start looking for ways (and tools) to help get this circle of digital life into better harmony – and better sales.

The concept of dealer staff selling cars with chat and text is simple. Answer the chat requests when a shopper is on the website and start selling a car, right? Not so fast. As with many facets of putting a car deal together, there is a significant amount of art and science required for success.

It’s surprising how often we see transcripts of chat or text conversations in which the dealer chat operator spends as much as 20 minutes or more answering questions. Sometimes it’s clear that they are running all over the dealership getting questions answered from the service department or sales manager’s desk and never get around to asking for, or getting, contact information for the shopper.

The best positioning for a chat operator

During a phone up, the goal is generally to start the sales process and set an appointment, if possible. With chat or text, the goal is to get quality contact and their permission to be contacted by dealer staff. Regardless of the chat operator’s role in the dealership (internet sales, GSM, or even GM), they should have the title of ‘chat operator’. Think of the position JUST LIKE the receptionist.

How often does someone leave a voicemail on the main phone number after hours? Maybe once or twice a month. But if they call in the morning looking for someone during the sales meeting, the caller will generally leave a message because a LIVE PERSON said their call would be returned. Do you want the receptionist answering questions about inventory, availability or best price? Probably not, and the same goes for your chat operators. But because a LIVE PERSON promised that the message would be received, the caller has a lot more confidence.

Operators should be a resource

The best way for an operator to help online shoppers is definitely to answer all the basic questions possible. Things like hours, directions, and product questions are a must for the chat operator. However, inquiries about product availability, discounted pricing, trade value, or challenging credit give the operator the perfect reason to ask the website visitor for contact information and if someone from the store can call them back. That is the best way, even if the same operator is going to be following up on the lead.

There are two major reasons this is not only the best way to handle the conversation, but also why it works. First, the chat operator can spend a half hour or more answering everything and never actually get contact information (this happens a LOT). Also, dealer staff have much better success rates on the phone than through messaging, when possible.

There are dozens of ways mechanics can impact the effectiveness of chat. But when it comes to the human factor, the last thing you want is to invest the money and staffing time to have in-house team members handling these conversations, only to lost the chance to sell a car, truck, or SUV. It is possible to have chat success in the store, but like many other facets of the business, time and effort are required.

I advise dealers all the time regarding setup and execution of chat / text technologies, even when they're not a client. If you ever have a question, feel free to call or pm me, and please be sure to shake my hand at events.

Skype has become the go-to standard for most video conversations, but their IM tool is very effective for one-on-one chat conversations, as well as for groups and work teams. A huge advantage of the platform is that it is available on virtually every device and operating system, including Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux. This makes it an ideal tool for instant communication, and it’s actually pretty powerful.

You can send photos and files, as well as video messages. In addition, there is a built-in translator for more than 50 languages. You can edit or even DELETE messages after they are sent, which can be a gift. What is less obvious is how to use formatting for emphasis. Skype uses their own formatting code and don’t have buttons we are all used to. So here is a quick list of skype formatting tips:

BOLD: put *asterisks* around the area to bold. I use this in group messages to grab the attention of a specific team member

Italics: Use an _underscore_ on either side of the text you want to italicize

Strikethrough: Use the ~tilde~ squiggly line on either side of the text. Look for this key on the top left of most keyboards

Monospace: If you’re into the plain text look, use the word {code} with the brackets on either side of the text you want to format to look like programming code.

I hope this helps. For more information, check out the Skype’s support page on instant messaging.

For obvious reasons much of the sales pitch from a live chat provider and the majority of focus from dealers revolves around sales leads and how many units are sent down the road. But there are several key benefits that shouldn’t be overlooked in which managed chat can make a difference. Certainly the key reason for using chat software – and especially a quality managed chat provider – is to increase quality sales leads. These leads tend to close at a similar rate to website form leads, and with comparable profit margins.

The whole purpose of chat is for dealers to greet shoppers on their website in the same manner as on the lot to answer any questions and hopefully create a quality lead. Beyond the sales department there are several other benefits from website chat. These include:

• Incremental fixed ops boost – as many as 40 percent of chat conversations have to do with service, parts, and collision center.
• Customer convenience – chat, and even text, give your dealership customers a convenient means to contact your store, often around the clock.
• Protect CSI – Imagine having an operator available around the clock when a car owner who just took delivery has a check engine light on, or a service customer whose repair didn’t solve the problem. Or maybe they came into the showroom and didn’t get the care they thought they deserved. Better for the chat operator to hear about it and give the store a chance to address it than have it show up on social media or a CSI survey.
• Start paperwork – often a chat operator helps a customer by helping them find an employment application or open a credit application. Directions, hours, and even the dealership’s phone number are other common inquiries.

With mobile website traffic at or well above fifty percent, more and more website visitors have a preference for chat than submitting a form lead on the website or even making a call. Live chat continues to grow in North America as a must-have on dealer websites, and the ROI can extend far beyond just the sales department.

Be sure you're getting what you pay for

We don't perform tune-ups on cars like we used to, but there are still factory-recommended inspections. Likewise, it's a good idea to give your live chat a checkup to see that it's giving your the performance and ROI you deserve. And it may actually need a tune-up. Whether you prefer to handle your live chat in-house with self-managed live chat software or rely on a third party to ensure you can respond to requests around the clock, it is wise to check on it from time to time. 
Once you decide to pop the hood and perform some diagnostics, you're going to need to have a plan of action. Here are eight touch points for your inspection:

• See what the interface looks like on your website. You NEED the popup proactive invite (really), so ensure it is turned on. How is the color selection of the different icons? Sometimes a choosing colors that have more contrast (as long as they meet OEM standards) can increase click rates. Your invite should not pop up on every page if customer experience is a consideration
• Click through an icon to see if it is working. You don't need to waste time with a full mystery chat because you have the transcripts, but check operator response times and be sure they are actually working
• Ensure your add-ones work. If you are paying for value-added plugins like video chat or coupons or other interactive tools, test them to see if they're operational. THEN look at your data to see if shoppers are actually using them
• Take a look at your transcripts - not just the ones that generally come in with a lead, but get on your management console and check out the ones that DIDN'T generate a lead. See how the conversations are handled by the operators, even if they're on your staff
• How's your mobile? Is the icon working? Is there a popup (there should be)? Does the chat box seem like it was engineered for mobile or a dinosaur remnant of desktop chat? Is it fast?
• Talk to your website provider - see if they have concerns about the chat software slowing down  your page load times and killing your search engine page load ranking
• See what the live chat looks like on your chat vendor's site - are you paying for features the don't even use themselves?
• Double-check your ACTUAL ROI from live chat leads- not just to see how many car sales it generates, but also look back to see that it hasn't cannibalized your normal form lead counts

Live chat may only take up a corner of your digital marketing space, but it is a critical tool that helps generate a boost in QUALITY leads compared to OEM or third-party. Like a performance automobile it is a good idea to get it checked out. The good news is you don't have to pay for a 60k maintenance service to protect your investment.

Sure, 2015 was nearly a record sales year for the auto industry, and overall, there is a year-over-year increase in sales so far in 2016, but there is a storm coming. The used car shortage which has propped up trade values for the past few years is long gone, and worse, there is a huge glut of used cars in the pipeline headed off lease. As these cars come off lease, they will quickly suppress used car wholesale values. All of a sudden, you’ll be a grand or two lighter on Ford Fusions or Nissan Jukes that you’re used to. It will quickly affect both the amount of sales that can be made AND nick gross profit margins as dealers have to dig deeper to make deals.

According to an Autoremarketing.com article March 7, 2016, ...in the 2016 Used Car Market Report, Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb acknowledges the “justifiable concern” that off-rental pricing will be hurt by the surge in off-lease cars.  But he also points out that OEM incentive and inventory practices will play a bigger role in the fate of off-rental prices — which is typically the case, he said.

The drop in values doesn't put it at 2008 levels, but they are clearly trending down, relative to last year. Then there’s the eventual domino effect on retail pricing, as vAuto and other valuation tools start to notice the lower asking prices from dealers who snapped up these units at the lower prices. So now your EXISTING inventory will be at the higher end of the price spectrum, competing against units that were acquired for hundreds or thousands less. Is your team ready for this challenge?

All is not lost. Just like bears have to go back to hunting when summer campers stop leaving food out for them, sales staff and managers can sharpen their skills NOW for prospecting, building value, product demonstrations, closing, and follow-up. Here are five ways to shore up your income defenses:

• Identify the weaknesses in your team, and find a strategy for improving them
• Determine your strengths, and make them stronger
• Find a sales training regimen - and stick to it. In-house is great, but just like kids will listen to their coach more than their parents on some occasions, a third-party training option is a wise choice
• Take a look at CSI - in a challenging sales environment, a culture of customer care will make a massive difference
• Keep your head around digital marketing game. Paul Potratz says you don’t have to be an expert, but you have to be aware of your ROI

Hitting a 16 million SAR in auto sales for 2016 may be a bigger challenge than many dealers think after a banner year in 2015, but there are still some chinks in our economic armor and more than a few grumblings about some weak key economic indicators. Just a bit of preventive maintenance to sharpen your sales team can position you well to compete in an unpredictable market.

Tom LaPointe CarChat24 Marketing Consultant

www.carchat24.com/ 24/7 Interactive Automotive Dealer Website LIVE CHAT Solutions Managed Chat, Backup Chat Support, and chat software options 727-638-0195

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Tom has an MBA in Marketing and is an automotive writer and author with nearly 20 years experience in virtually every aspect of the retail auto industry. He has been involved with the internet from the beginning, building websites at Johns Hopkins University in the 90's, and has been a performance leader in nearly every dealer role, from sales and service, to BDC / internet sales and viral marketing.

Even when the massive snowstorm hammering the eastern United States subsides, it could still be days before people can get to work, and that includes car dealership personnel. One trend I discovered after a similar Washington, D.C., storm in the 1990’s is that there was a crazy run on trucks and SUVs with all-wheel-drive.  Couple that with cheap gas, and nearly anyone with electricity and internet service will be looking for a car while they binge-watch Netflix.

If your staff can’t get to the store to answer the phones and are too busy shoveling to respond to live chat, even on their phone, what’s the solution? That is one HUGE reason to ensure a quality live chat partner is there to respond to chat requests on your dealer website. Snowstorms, hurricanes, floods, and even tornadoes can interfere with a store’s ability to respond to website live chat requests. But those are the times when it’s needed most. Hundreds of cars are often wrecked or destroyed during weather events, and countless other vehicle owners ponder an upgrade at the same time.

It is one of the fundamental arguments for using a third-party chat provider to handle either all chat requests, or at least on a backup status to facilitate chat conversations when dealership staff aren’t available for whatever reason, whether it’s after hours or a major weather event.

Our thoughts and prayers are for the safety of everyone affected by this epic blizzard of 2016. 

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Tom LaPointe CarChat24 CHAT GURU
 

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Tom has an MBA in Marketing and is an automotive writer and author with nearly 20 years experience in virtually every aspect of the retail auto industry. He has been involved with the internet from the beginning, building websites at Johns Hopkins University in the 90's, and has been a performance leader in nearly every dealer role, from sales and service, to BDC / internet sales and viral marketing.

I once had a general manager tell us that Disney had a vice president of parking to ensure the first and last experience guests have at their parks are not tainted by stress. I don’t know about the VP part, but they certainly have it down to a science, as evidenced by nearly two dozen personal visits and this Wall Street Journal article.

What does that have to do with live chat on dealer websites? Only everything. Just like a crappy parking experience can ruin an amusement park visit, OFFERING auto shoppers a chance to chat on your dealer website, then not answering the call when they click the CHAT NOW button is a sure way to kill a car deal.

For all the things that can go wrong in an auto shopping experience, and even just during a live chat experience, killing it from moment one by not answering the virtual phone is surely the biggest.

Check out my stop watch on this live chat inquiry. This dealer is taking their own chats – or is deluding themselves in to THINKING they are. What they are doing is completely blowing out a customer. Not only did the chat invite say they were available to chat, but after more than 40 seconds, a message popped up offering me a chance to leave a message.

The CHAT ICON is a promise that a live person is waiting on the other end to have a conversation. Here are three keys to avoid blowing the chat conversation before it starts:

1. Be sure that your website shows OFFLINE if nobody is able to respond to chat requests.
2. Answer chat requests within 10 seconds (under 6 is best).
3. Contract a quality managed chat provider to provide backup support when operators are offline or can’t respond to live chat requests.

Disney sets the bar for commitment to customer service, and with some attention to the processes for handling chat interactions, dealers can have a shot at increasing leads and sales. But more importantly, they can avoid blowing customers out with a dreadful chat experience – or attempt at one.

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Tom LaPointe CarChat24 CHAT GURU
 

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Tom has an MBA in Marketing and is an automotive writer and author with nearly 20 years experience in virtually every aspect of the retail auto industry. He has been involved with the internet from the beginning, building websites at Johns Hopkins University in the 90's, and has been a performance leader in nearly every dealer role, from sales and service, to BDC / internet sales and viral marketing.

It’s one thing to try to view the auto industry through the eyes of a consumer when you work for a dealership.  It’s quite another to attempt to view it as a vendor. But to TRULY get the feel for what it’s like to see the industry like a car shopper, one needs to actually shop for – and buy – an automobile. And during the past 10 days that’s exactly what I did.

For most of us in the industry, we either have the inside track on factory employee pricing or a shot to buy trades near cost and typically avoid pricey dealer fees. But my journey through the auto industry has put me in a position about every five years in which I have to purchase a vehicle on the open market, either with stores where I’m not really connected or on eBay. Yes, I know how to work a deal and where fair numbers should be on my trade and my purchase vehicle, but it can still be like a lion’s den.

So what does this have to do with live chat on your dealership website? Only EVERYTHING! When dealers put chat on their website it’s basically offering shoppers a contract – a contract that they’re offering buyers a new way to interact with the dealership that meets the website visitors on their own terms. It’s an acknowledgement that the auto industry is changing to create a better experience for car buyers from first contact.

Quality dealerships and quality chat providers tend to strive for chat conversations that offer car buyers on their websites a good experience, with the goal of generating accurate lead information. But when a dealer perpetuates old-school car sales games with pedestrian behaviors like hiding the real prices behind bogus discounts or credits they blow the deal before it starts. It’s one thing to throw out a TV ad for a new vehicle with every improbable rebate thrown in, like military AND college graduate AND loyalty, or similar. But to have an AutoTrader.com ad with used car prices displayed $2,000 below list price with a ridiculous qualifier print that offers an arbitrary $1,000 “additional trade allowance” and $1,000 discount for “financing through the dealership” is a slap in the face to buyers.

What makes it even worse is when a dealer plays these ‘hide the salami’ games with live chat. Take this example:

[10:27:25 AM]<HB>Hello, how may I help you?
[10:28:07 AM]<Customer>I saw a certified 2011 santafe. Still have?
[10:28:44 AM]<HB>I can check for you, Okay?
[10:28:55 AM]<Customer>Ok
[10:30:15 AM]<HB>I am showing I have this vehicle on line but for me to be certain I need to physically check for you,okay?
[10:30:57 AM]<Customer>Assumin g you what is current price? No trade, cash deal?
[10:31:10 AM]<Customer>Assuming u have it
[10:31:44 AM]<HB>I am almost certain, I can secure the vehicle for your visit
[10:31:55 AM]<HB>When are you available to come in?
[10:32:19 AM]<Customer>That isn't the question... how much is it listed for?
[10:32:55 AM]<HB>I am checking it for you do you happen to see the stock number
[10:33:55 AM]<Customer>Not on my phone
[10:34:20 AM]<HB>You are referring to the one with 53,098 miles on it?
[10:34:59 AM]<Customer>Like 30k
[10:35:35 AM]<HB>What color is the Santa Fe I have several 2011's
[10:36:03 AM]<Customer>Silver I think. Awd
[10:38:26 AM]<HB>I believe the internet price is 14,996
[10:39:50 AM]<HB>Who do I have the pleasure of working with?
[10:40:12 AM]<Customer>Do I have to trade or finance for that price?
[10:40:39 AM]<Customer>Tom
[10:41:18 AM]<HB>Hi Tom yes that is the bases of that promotion thru our Dealership
[10:41:44 AM]<HB>Managesr are very motivated to earn your business
[10:42:01 AM]<Customer>My original question...what is the price no trade and cash deal?????
[10:42:21 AM]<Customer>List price?
[10:42:21 AM]<HB>$16,996
[10:43:06 AM]<HB>Who you like to make a offer?
[10:43:10 AM]<Customer>Thank you.

We can debate the finer points of chat strategy (like avoiding very poor grammar and typos with pre-written scripts), but the customer experience here was epically frustrating. For starters, first she said she still has the car then asks me which car I’m asking about (lie number one). Then she says she has several; there are only two (lie number two). Then she ‘believes’ the internet price is 14,996 (lie number three because that’s the listed price). Finally, after being asked three times, she finally acknowledged the price. By then I was done being yanked around, and so would anyone else looking for a smooth transaction.

I have no qualms with her asking early and often for contact information. It’s one thing (though not a good thing) to avoid answering the price question directly, but lying outright? That’s a travesty in the era of dealers of trying to generate leads with live chat, text, and social media. It doesn’t matter if a dealer uses smoke signals or two tin cans on a string, they need to treat shoppers with integrity and respect. And if business practices NEED chat operators and call centers to use classic ‘tin man’-style tactics, like ‘bait and switch’ or ‘hide the salami’, than a managed chat system will never work, and self-managed chat will only end up costing deals, like this situation. I may have actually pursued that vehicle and worked a deal, but I was so disgusted with the experience, I went for other options.

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Tom has an MBA in Marketing and is an automotive writer and author with nearly 20 years experience in virtually every aspect of the retail auto industry. He has been involved with the internet from the beginning, building websites at Johns Hopkins University in the 90's, and has been a performance leader in nearly every dealer role, from sales and service, to BDC / internet sales and viral marketing.

TARPON SPRINGS, Florida., Nov. 10, 2015 – Continuing its leadership in the automotive website live chat industry, CarChat24 announced a substantial chat performance upgrade to Microsoft’s SignalR technology, today.

“With half or more of all franchised auto dealerships in North America using some form of live chat, and the importance of high performance on mobile automotive websites, we leapt at the chance to make this substantial upgrade,” explains Jeff Sterns, Vice President of Sales.

Deployed on CarChat24’s own high-speed chat servers, the SignalR complete client- and server-side solution is a major leap forward from the limitations of the 20th-century technology Jabbr platform that chat providers typically use. SignalR basically creates a more-reliable, continuous two-way connection between the chat operator and the auto shopper on their mobile device, tablet, or desktop / laptop computer. This cutting-edge server technology was released by Microsoft only last year, and CarChat24 began preparation for the upgrade even before the final version release.

“With SignalR, you can provide content to your users in real-time,” according to Visual Studio Magazine. “Most importantly, it's compatible with browsers ranging all the way back to IE6!”

This performance boost is only one of many elements the Florida-based company credits for its status as the automotive chat provider with the highest closing ratio of sold units to unique visitor count. “Website providers and industry experts had already let us know that many dealerships were seeing their search page rankings drop because of add-ons, like chat,” said Sterns, who spent nearly 30 years on the retail side of the business. “Our relentless research and development commitment has put us atop the industry in performance, and increasing mobile chat reliability with SignalR is the next step in our growth.”

About CarChat24

CarChat24 is the highest-performing live chat provider for auto dealership websites in the automotive industry. Its award-winning, 24/7 Managed Chat Support & Dealer Chat Software help dealers sell more vehicles by converting the highest percentage of website visitors to sold units. Since 2007, CarChat24 has been helping car dealers improve their sales and customer service on the Internet. Based in Tarpon Springs, Fla., in the Tampa area, the company’s mission is to empower car dealers with cutting edge live chat and mobile chat technology, as well as provide the professional staff and superior processes needed to obtain the best possible results. Their entire team is committed to help auto dealers get the best return on investment from their websites and strive to make their support service the very best. The CarChat24 team continuously strives for innovative ways to give its dealer live chat clients the edge over their competition.