PCG Digital Marketing today announced that Dealer e Process was chosen to receive a 2011 Automotive Website Award (AWA) in the Technology category for Best Fixed Ops Website Marketing Software. Dealer e Process is also a 2010 and 2011 Pinnacle Award winner, the highest level award in the AWA, for search marketing. The awards were presented to the leading automotive website companies and software vendors at the AWA ceremony that took place October 7th at Caesars Palace, just prior to the DrivingSales Executive Summit.

The Technology category recognizes companies for excellence in website technology. This is a broader category that allows the AWA study team to adapt to changes in the marketplace and new solutions that may not have been on the radar screen the previous year. The Technology Awards also allows the AWA team to recognize products that have been road tested by dealers and have demonstrated outstanding value.

Dealer e Process Software Increases Fixed Ops Revenue

Car dealers looking for new ways to increase Fixed Ops revenue need to start with the basics. Dealer e Process took a hard look at the traffic that is already coming to service pages on dealer websites. They decided that they could increase the conversion experience by rethinking the appointment process. The result of their conversion and engagement study was the creation of the Virtual Service Advisor (VSA). The software replaces boring service appointment forms and interacts with consumers by providing live pricing and service suggestions for their vehicle. The end result is a 300% increase in service leads through this online scheduling tool when compared to service appointments booked with traditional “boring” forms.

The 4th annual Automotive Website Awards (AWA) are created by PCG Digital Marketing,, recognized leaders in automotive digital marketing strategies. For 2011, PCG Digital Marketing recognized the industry’s best website platforms across five different categories: design, technology, search marketing, mobile websites and mobile applications.

The Automotive Website Awards seek to provide car dealers with an unbiased evaluation of automotive website platforms and integrated search marketing tools. The 2011 AWA study included a review of over 50 automotive website providers.

This year’s published study includes 160 pages of valuable information regarding automotive website platform choices, search marketing performance, design, technology, social media and mobile applications. The report is the industry’s reference guide for the best in automotive website technology, design and marketing.

Dealers can purchase the 160 page buyer’s guide to help them with their purchasing decisions in the year ahead by visiting the official AWA website.

PCG Digital Marketing today announced that Dealer e Process was chosen to receive a 2011 Automotive Website Award (AWA) in the Technology category for Best Fixed Ops Website Marketing Software. Dealer e Process is also a 2010 and 2011 Pinnacle Award winner, the highest level award in the AWA, for search marketing. The awards were presented to the leading automotive website companies and software vendors at the AWA ceremony that took place October 7th at Caesars Palace, just prior to the DrivingSales Executive Summit.

The Technology category recognizes companies for excellence in website technology. This is a broader category that allows the AWA study team to adapt to changes in the marketplace and new solutions that may not have been on the radar screen the previous year. The Technology Awards also allows the AWA team to recognize products that have been road tested by dealers and have demonstrated outstanding value.

Dealer e Process Software Increases Fixed Ops Revenue

Car dealers looking for new ways to increase Fixed Ops revenue need to start with the basics. Dealer e Process took a hard look at the traffic that is already coming to service pages on dealer websites. They decided that they could increase the conversion experience by rethinking the appointment process. The result of their conversion and engagement study was the creation of the Virtual Service Advisor (VSA). The software replaces boring service appointment forms and interacts with consumers by providing live pricing and service suggestions for their vehicle. The end result is a 300% increase in service leads through this online scheduling tool when compared to service appointments booked with traditional “boring” forms.

The 4th annual Automotive Website Awards (AWA) are created by PCG Digital Marketing,, recognized leaders in automotive digital marketing strategies. For 2011, PCG Digital Marketing recognized the industry’s best website platforms across five different categories: design, technology, search marketing, mobile websites and mobile applications.

The Automotive Website Awards seek to provide car dealers with an unbiased evaluation of automotive website platforms and integrated search marketing tools. The 2011 AWA study included a review of over 50 automotive website providers.

This year’s published study includes 160 pages of valuable information regarding automotive website platform choices, search marketing performance, design, technology, social media and mobile applications. The report is the industry’s reference guide for the best in automotive website technology, design and marketing.

Dealers can purchase the 160 page buyer’s guide to help them with their purchasing decisions in the year ahead by visiting the official AWA website.

Everyday I wake up and head into the offices of Dealer e Process, I am systematically doing searches on Google to see what has changed from 24 hours ago. And guess what - here we go again! Do a search on your dealer name and take a look at Google's latest change to the bread crumbs for your dealers website.

These links, Search Inventory, Used Specials, Hours & Directions, Used Specials, Parts Department, Certified Inventory,  were known as bread crumbs to a website. Now, Google has quadrupled the size of these bread crumbs including a description and link to the appropriate portion of the website resulting into a loaf of bread!

Here is the golden question; How is your dealer website going to dictate which links Google decides to pull as a bread crumb? I would highly suggest that you make sure that all images and buttons on your website have the proper alt image tags in place, and every page of your website have unique meta data.

How does this benefit the dealer? The great part of all about this change, is it pushes the majority of third party listing for your dealership name "under the scroll", where nobody looks!

Everyday I wake up and head into the offices of Dealer e Process, I am systematically doing searches on Google to see what has changed from 24 hours ago. And guess what - here we go again! Do a search on your dealer name and take a look at Google's latest change to the bread crumbs for your dealers website.

These links, Search Inventory, Used Specials, Hours & Directions, Used Specials, Parts Department, Certified Inventory,  were known as bread crumbs to a website. Now, Google has quadrupled the size of these bread crumbs including a description and link to the appropriate portion of the website resulting into a loaf of bread!

Here is the golden question; How is your dealer website going to dictate which links Google decides to pull as a bread crumb? I would highly suggest that you make sure that all images and buttons on your website have the proper alt image tags in place, and every page of your website have unique meta data.

How does this benefit the dealer? The great part of all about this change, is it pushes the majority of third party listing for your dealership name "under the scroll", where nobody looks!

For those of you who know me, you know how I love to keep an eye on others industries in hopes of bringing great technology and insight to the auto industry. That being said, I was doing some searches this morning as I was working on a new SEO strategy for the Fixed Ops side of the business for Dealer e Process and dealer websites, when I discovered something new AGAIN.

Above the Place Page Listings, there is now Related Searches broken down by Brands, Stores, Types.

How will Google eventually determine which car BRAND manufacturers to show, which dealership STORES, to show, and which vehicle TYPES to show is anyones guess.

Take a look at the screen shot below of a search for "Brakes".

I'm sure it wont be long before we see this affecting your dealership, so stay tuned for more on this topic as I investigate further. I have performed numerous searches and at this point its hit or miss which searches pull this new special box. Here are a few examples; watches, tires.

Do some searches in your area, as this might be a market thing (I am doing searches from Chicago) and let's see if the results are the same.

Could you imagine what would happen if your searches the word "Cars" and the results for Brands, Stores, and Types left your dealership out of the mix? What is powering these results and when will it hit our industry?? Let's get in front of this change now.

For those of you who know me, you know how I love to keep an eye on others industries in hopes of bringing great technology and insight to the auto industry. That being said, I was doing some searches this morning as I was working on a new SEO strategy for the Fixed Ops side of the business for Dealer e Process and dealer websites, when I discovered something new AGAIN.

Above the Place Page Listings, there is now Related Searches broken down by Brands, Stores, Types.

How will Google eventually determine which car BRAND manufacturers to show, which dealership STORES, to show, and which vehicle TYPES to show is anyones guess.

Take a look at the screen shot below of a search for "Brakes".

I'm sure it wont be long before we see this affecting your dealership, so stay tuned for more on this topic as I investigate further. I have performed numerous searches and at this point its hit or miss which searches pull this new special box. Here are a few examples; watches, tires.

Do some searches in your area, as this might be a market thing (I am doing searches from Chicago) and let's see if the results are the same.

Could you imagine what would happen if your searches the word "Cars" and the results for Brands, Stores, and Types left your dealership out of the mix? What is powering these results and when will it hit our industry?? Let's get in front of this change now.

The result of this dedicated service-scheduling site with a Virtual Service Consultant and the power of PPC marketing has been two fold. Not only did traffic dramatically increase, so did the conversion rate. Appointments from the site increased 685%, phone calls from the site increased 501%, the dealership doubled their online RO count and booked over $18,000 in additional revenue in the first month of the site being live. BMW Schereville has proven extreme ROI by the power of a dedicated site and search marketing for service scheduling to increase fixed ops revenue.

The result of this dedicated service-scheduling site with a Virtual Service Consultant and the power of PPC marketing has been two fold. Not only did traffic dramatically increase, so did the conversion rate. Appointments from the site increased 685%, phone calls from the site increased 501%, the dealership doubled their online RO count and booked over $18,000 in additional revenue in the first month of the site being live. BMW Schereville has proven extreme ROI by the power of a dedicated site and search marketing for service scheduling to increase fixed ops revenue.

I had an epiphany the other day. The number one concern that people have when doing business with a dealership is that they are going to be taken advantage of. People are afraid of the car buying process and even more concerned when bringing their vehicle in for service. My epiphany concerns the later.

Minimize the “fear” and uncertainty for a customer visiting a service department and you can only increase business. It’s that simple. Where do you start? With your website!

With a few simple steps you can not only lead the horse to water (your website/service department) but you can also dramatically increase their likelihood of drinking (setting an appointment to visit your service department).

Statistically 83% of customers who buy from a dealership do NOT return the vehicle to that dealerships service department after the sale. That is a lot of lost service opportunity for a store.  A sure fire way to increase service traffic off of your sold units and capture some of that 83% is to drive these people to your website and reiterate to them the benefits of servicing their vehicles with you. In order to do this effectively there are a few steps you can take to lead the horse to water and to make him drink. Here are a few recommendations:

1)      48 hours after the sale have an email sent (another incentive to get this from the customer as they are buying!) from the Service Director introducing their department and directing the customer to the website for all future service needs. Provide sold customers an online incentive to visit your service department. For instance, provide that first oil change at a discounted or no charge rate, offer a free car wash, etc.  In other words, make it worth their while to come back.

2)      Remember service clinics? When was the last time you had one at your dealership? What a perfect time to cover the vehicle and its needs and explain to them the new way you do business, ONLINE.

3)      Have a dedicated web page exclusively representing your service department; better yet invest a little money in a auto dealer service website. Divert a few bucks from your ad budget to drive traffic to your service department. After all isn’t it your service department that keeps your dealership afloat during stormy weather?

4)      Make sure that you have a live chat option so that visitors can ask questions as they navigate through your service page or site.

5)      Create an intuitive experience- an experience that gives the visitor a sense you KNOW the vehicle they are driving as well as the preventative care it requires in order to be well maintained. Perhaps a Virtual Service Consultant. When a customer visits your service website and puts his or her information in to start an investigative or appointment setting process, provide manufacturer maintenance recommendations and/or dealer recommendations and services for their specific vehicle.

6)      Create a fear relieving experience for your service “shopper”. Post awards, testimonials, and community involvement information along with printable coupons and incentives to visit your store.

7)      Provide a comparative price schedule for regular maintenance needs. For instance create a matrix that outlines, oil change, tire rotation, brakes, A/C checks etc. and a list of local aftermarket shops/competitors such as Midas, Firestone, Jiffy Lube. Give your shoppers what they need so they do not have to leave your site and possibly not return.

8)      Do not be afraid to quote a price. We overcame this fear with cars shoppers and we need to do the same with our service shoppers.

It is time that we dismiss the perception consumers have regarding our dealerships service departments. Our advisors, writers, techs and mechanics are highly trained and more qualified than the aftermarket place down the street. It is time that we take back what we gave away by leading the horse back to the water and making them WANT to drink it. You can most cost effectively do that starting with your internet marketing. Make these tweaks today and watch your service appointments start to increase tomorrow.

Dave Page

Dealer e Process

I had an epiphany the other day. The number one concern that people have when doing business with a dealership is that they are going to be taken advantage of. People are afraid of the car buying process and even more concerned when bringing their vehicle in for service. My epiphany concerns the later.

Minimize the “fear” and uncertainty for a customer visiting a service department and you can only increase business. It’s that simple. Where do you start? With your website!

With a few simple steps you can not only lead the horse to water (your website/service department) but you can also dramatically increase their likelihood of drinking (setting an appointment to visit your service department).

Statistically 83% of customers who buy from a dealership do NOT return the vehicle to that dealerships service department after the sale. That is a lot of lost service opportunity for a store.  A sure fire way to increase service traffic off of your sold units and capture some of that 83% is to drive these people to your website and reiterate to them the benefits of servicing their vehicles with you. In order to do this effectively there are a few steps you can take to lead the horse to water and to make him drink. Here are a few recommendations:

1)      48 hours after the sale have an email sent (another incentive to get this from the customer as they are buying!) from the Service Director introducing their department and directing the customer to the website for all future service needs. Provide sold customers an online incentive to visit your service department. For instance, provide that first oil change at a discounted or no charge rate, offer a free car wash, etc.  In other words, make it worth their while to come back.

2)      Remember service clinics? When was the last time you had one at your dealership? What a perfect time to cover the vehicle and its needs and explain to them the new way you do business, ONLINE.

3)      Have a dedicated web page exclusively representing your service department; better yet invest a little money in a auto dealer service website. Divert a few bucks from your ad budget to drive traffic to your service department. After all isn’t it your service department that keeps your dealership afloat during stormy weather?

4)      Make sure that you have a live chat option so that visitors can ask questions as they navigate through your service page or site.

5)      Create an intuitive experience- an experience that gives the visitor a sense you KNOW the vehicle they are driving as well as the preventative care it requires in order to be well maintained. Perhaps a Virtual Service Consultant. When a customer visits your service website and puts his or her information in to start an investigative or appointment setting process, provide manufacturer maintenance recommendations and/or dealer recommendations and services for their specific vehicle.

6)      Create a fear relieving experience for your service “shopper”. Post awards, testimonials, and community involvement information along with printable coupons and incentives to visit your store.

7)      Provide a comparative price schedule for regular maintenance needs. For instance create a matrix that outlines, oil change, tire rotation, brakes, A/C checks etc. and a list of local aftermarket shops/competitors such as Midas, Firestone, Jiffy Lube. Give your shoppers what they need so they do not have to leave your site and possibly not return.

8)      Do not be afraid to quote a price. We overcame this fear with cars shoppers and we need to do the same with our service shoppers.

It is time that we dismiss the perception consumers have regarding our dealerships service departments. Our advisors, writers, techs and mechanics are highly trained and more qualified than the aftermarket place down the street. It is time that we take back what we gave away by leading the horse back to the water and making them WANT to drink it. You can most cost effectively do that starting with your internet marketing. Make these tweaks today and watch your service appointments start to increase tomorrow.

Dave Page

Dealer e Process