Smart targeting is becoming a popular term in the automotive space. But with every buzz word, it’s important to understand the actual meaning.  What is smart targeting and how can it benefit your dealership’s website?

First, a definition:

Smart targeting is the use of AI (artificial intelligence) technology to predict the interests of website visitors and target them with relevant content and offers at optimal times.

Let’s break that down.

Hopefully you have lots of content on your site: information for every customer, from the late stage shopper seriously considering a particular model to the first-time browser to the service customer who needs an oil change. Getting all that content up is super important.   

What smart targeting does is take it to the next level: it takes your content and special offer overlays and targets them to the right customer at the right time. That way, you can build on customers' interests and provide each one with opportunities to convert when interest is high.

Here are some examples:

• Someone browsing VDPs can be shown an offer on that particular vehicle after having a few moments to read and research on their own. Because they are demonstrating interest in that vehicle, this offer is useful for them, and is offered at a time they will likely convert.
• The first-time visitor will see an offer for a holiday sale, not the second they arrive onsite, but after 15 seconds or so, enough time to get oriented. Note: this customer will not see a specific vehicle offer because they are likely still shopping around and not ready to choose a car yet.

How does smart targeting actually work?

The technology works like this: a system based on algorithms and machine learning tracks visitor data such as location, browser language, and time of day. It also notes behaviors including site visits, time onsite, and VDP views. Using this information, the system creates segments of visitors, such as early-stage shoppers, late-stage shoppers, shoppers in a particular location, and so on, and predicts the interests of each segment. With segments in place, site visitors can be categorized and offered content they will likely want. Finally, their responses are recorded– did they convert or not?– to improve segments and future predictions.

In non-technology terms, smart targeting is a system that behaves like a great salesperson, responding to customer interests, anticipating their questions, and helping them find the products and deals that interest them.

How does smart targeting benefit my dealership?

Smart targeting is a tool that brings online car shoppers unprecedented levels of personalization on dealership website. This means:

1. Improved advertising ROI. When customers convert on your site, the ad dollars you spend bringing them there pay off. You also save on retargeting.
2. A competitive edge. In today’s market, 55% of customers are willing to pay more for better customer service. The dealership that can provide it from the moment customers arrive onsite will win over those customers, drawing them away from the competition.
3. More leads. Recent research shows that 74% of customers get frustrated with content that is irrelevant to their interests. Personalization is an effective way to get more leads. Smart targeting is the key to personalization.

Are you using smart targeting on your dealership website? Is it helping you get more leads?

Sometimes you need to go back to basics.

So today, we bring you a short refresher course in conversion optimization for auto. What is it? How does it work? Why should anyone care? We'll explain it all.

Learning about conversion optimization is the best

First, let's define our terms. And when we say define terms, we don't mean use more jargon to explain jargon. We're going to really get in there. So get your notebooks and have a seat.

Conversion

A conversion is a change in status. In digital marketing terms, it means going from a casual, passive website visitor to an active one. How? By buying something, or signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a form- in short, by providing some kind of contact information that allows for follow-up. Once someone does this, they become a lead, or converted website visitor. Now they are a customer that you can interact with.

As you might imagine, most website visitors do not want to do this. You don't give your information to everyone who asks for it. You have to feel like you're getting something in return. That's where optimization comes in.

Optimization

Optimization is an improvement. If you optimize something, you upgrade it, or maximize it.

Thus! Conversion optimization means upgrading your website's capacity for conversion, or making your website more likely to get visitors to give you their contact information so that you can start a buying conversation with them.

Note: this is not the same thing as driving traffic to your site. Conversion optimization is taking the traffic that's already there and making it count. It means appealing to people who have already found you, probably because of the time, energy, and dollars you have put into other areas of your digital marketing strategy. It's not getting people in the door. It's getting the people who are already in the door to stay, and to come back, and to buy.

Second note: this is also referred to as conversion rate optimization, or CRO.

Why is conversion optimization important?

Great question.

In most case, the vast majority of the people who come to your site do not convert. They fill out no forms, they leave no contact information, they disappear, and might never come back. In fact, conversion rates on dealership websites are usually in the range of 1-3%. That means that bringing all these customers to your website is not paying off. Dealerships are both losing that ad spend, and not building enough new revenue from their websites.

But, when more of your existing site traffic likes what they find on your site, starts to feel loyal to your dealership, and begins to move the process forward with your dealership, guess what? You have optimized your conversions! And you've made all that money you spent pay off! Cue the marching band!

Or uncork the champagne. Not everyone is into marching bands.

Is conversion optimization in auto different from other industries?

Conversion optimization is important for every type of e-commerce, but it's especially important for auto. Why? Because more than ever, shoppers do most of their research online before walking into a dealership. They don't decide whether or not to buy from you when they come into your store. They decide whether or not to buy from you when they come to your website, and instantly start judging it.

In fact, within 0-8 seconds, your website visitors will make the decision to stay on your page– or leave the page.

So how do I optimize my dealership website for better conversion rates?

In three main ways:

• Content
• Design
• Strategy

Content

First of all, if you want people to engage with your site, you need to put things on it that they want to see. What does a dealership website visitor want to see? Well, cars. But they also want to see information on how to buy a car, or on oil changes, or on financing. They want to see how much their trade-in is worth. They want to know your office hours. Notice that not everyone wants to see the same thing. So really think through who you are trying to reach and what they might want to get from your site. 

People also want to see the sales and special offers you have going on.  They want to know why it's worth it for them to move forward with your company, what they will get out of working with you.

Some of this content should appear directly on your site. However, it is also really helpful to create popups with content and offers to appear at good times while people are browsing. More on that later.

Design

It's gotta look good or no one is sticking around. Think of your favorite store, say, I don't know, a dealership, maybe the one you work at. Think about the vibe, the decor, the layout. Consider how easy it is to find things, what the lighting looks like, what colors you favor. Now make your website look and feel like that.

Strategy

We mentioned earlier that not everyone wants to see the same thing. This is obvious: no two conversations in person are the same, and this is also true online. The key here is to take all the content you've put on your site and make sure the right people are seeing it, when they want to see it.

Here's where the magic comes in. The technology that conversion optimization companies use monitors what your visitors do on your site, and then uses that data to predict what they'll be interested in. Based on those predictions, it shows different visitors different popups at different times.

So someone who keeps coming back to the same VDP will see a sale on that vehicle. Someone who's visited your service section three times this week will see an offer about service. Someone who comes to your site for the first time will see a holiday sale offer, and someone viewing a VDP for the first time will see some of its major features highlighted.

It's basically like answering people's questions, except without hearing the question. It's anticipating your users' needs so that they feel like your website is talking to them in a helpful way, and then stay, and convert, and eventually come into your dealership and close a sale.

But aren't popups annoying?

Sure, if they're not done right. If they appear immediately, every time you go onsite, are hard to dismiss, are full of loud, flashing colors, and cover everything you want to see? That's the worst. But a popup with a clean design, that is easily dismissed, that looks like the rest of your site content, and that gives people things they actually want? Those will get you conversions. It really works.

It probably won't surprise you to hear that people today do most of their shopping online. From electronics to clothing to toilet paper, pretty much anything can make its way through the ether to your front door. When it comes to car shopping, the vast majority of people still want to come in for a test drive and not complete their purchase online- however, car shoppers are doing a huge amount of their car research on the internet. That means your website experience is crucial for bringing in customers and starting your sales process.

So how do you make sure your website is creating that great shopping experience to get you more leads, and ultimately more sales?

We decided to take a look at some of today's e-commerce giants' websites and see what some of their best features are. Here's what we found, with handy tips for implementing them into your dealership website:

Personalization

People love to feel like your website is speaking directly to them. Think of a time you went into a store and spoke with a really great salesperson, who showed you not only various options in your price range, but also complementary products, reviews, and comparisons. This salesperson had access to all the information you wanted- and spared you the effort of wandering the aisles and figuring everything out by trial and error.

Your website should strive to bring this level of personalization online.

Amazon is pretty great at this. We shopped for a remote control helicopter, as one does, and were presented with all kinds of helpful options: items that are frequently bought together, similar products, comparisons between models, and reviews, all on the same page. These are tools that customize the shopping experience, helping customers find exactly what they want.

Take a look at a few of these features in action:

This tool is extremely helpful for shoppers who want to make the most of their purchases- and it's also a great way for companies to upsell. Some ways to bring this type of experience to your dealership website: offer tools to select all features a user might want in their next vehicle, or create service packages with suggested upgrades. And of course, customize users' experiences with smart targeting that presents offers to the right people at the right time.

Here's a shot of the extremely user-friendly comparison feature:

If I'm shopping for a remote control helicopter, I definitely need to comparison shop, and Amazon has got me covered. On your dealership website, offer comparisons between your top sellers and competing similar models. Don't be afraid to show your shoppers the competition. They're looking for it anyway, and this is an opportunity to showcase why yours is the best.

Transparency

One thing that really frustrates people is when they have to do elaborate searches for the basic information they need to move forward. eBay mitigates this problem by anticipating the key information shoppers need and putting it front and center. When you're shopping online, you want to know how much shipping will cost, how long it will take, and what the return policy is, without clicking all over the place to find out. This makes it so, so clear:

For your dealership site, think of what information your shoppers typically need-such as specials, valuation tools, contact information, typical service costs-  and display it prominently. Make it as easy as possible.

Customer Service

It's important for customers to be able to find you and get help when they want to. It's frustrating when they can't find you, or don't get responses when they reach out, or have to jump through any kinds of hoops to reach the person or department they need. For this, we turn to the king of customer service, Zappos. Zappos is known for amazing phone service and return policies, but it starts on their website:

This page has a number of advantages: it doesn't have six different numbers to choose from, it allows customers to communicate in whatever way is most convenient for them, and it even has a Spanish language option. You can tell just by looking at this that this company cares about customer experience.

You can do the same thing in your dealership. Show your visitors that you are there for them on your website, and they will feel confident that future interactions with your dealership will be positive.

Specials

If you're running a special, that should be immediately obvious to people. Macy's is a great example:

This appears immediately when people arrive on-site, making it absolutely clear what sale is going on. This is attention-grabbing and helps people understand the value of staying with you.

On your dealership website, make your offers prominent and clear. People need to know about your sales so they can buy more cars!

Great offers

We talk a lot about popups and offers that look great with your site by providing moments of focus, consistent branding, unobtrusive design, and clear instructions. Here's a great example on Best Buy's website:

This is a popup that works: its CTA is clear and straightforward, it asks for minimal information, its visuals are on-brand, and it's easy to close. Make sure your dealership offers are doing the same.

Extensive product information

Shoppers are on your site for a reason: to get all the information they can to make the best possible decision. If they can't find the information they need, they will get frustrated and leave. So we love this feature tour on Walmart's website:

It's labeled, it's comprehensive, it anticipates what customers might have questions about. This is a great idea to do with your popular models.

Easy Navigation

Speaking of finding what you're looking for, take a look at your navigation bar and make sure it has all the options is needs to, clearly labeled. Here we turn again to Zappos, whose navigation bar at the top of the page is a good one:

Whatever your key categories are, make them easy to find.

Great Design

Check out Priceline's homepage:

Here's what we love about this page: it has the clear navigation, it prompts visitors to easily start the process right away, its text clearly communicates brand values, and the background image suggests to visitors all the fabulous adventures they'll have. And yet, with all that going on, the page is still visually appealing and not overwhelming.

Looking at your dealership site, make sure it guides people without feeling pushy, and that the website design welcomes without overwhelming and communicates your dealership's values.

Use these examples to look for ways to improve your website and create a superior online shopping experience. Your customers will thank you- by coming into your dealership.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a technology buff, you’ve surely noticed: getting around is different than it used to be. It’s not just a question of whether to take the bus or buy a car. It’s a question of whether to buy, lease, rent by hour, rent by day, co-own, or maybe rideshare. It’s no longer a question of stopping in at several dealerships and choosing one– anyone with a smartphone can research to their heart’s content anywhere anytime. Even the cars themselves are different, offering features that were once the stuff of science fiction.

So how does today’s dealership keep up with automotive technology, and even use it to thrive? It’s not as hard as you think.

First, here’s a rundown of the disruptive trends your dealership should know about:

• Connectivity. Cars today have sensors and safety cameras. They have navigation systems and infotainment centers. Connectivity solutions are becoming ever-more important to car shoppers, and the demand for auto apps and software is exploding.
• Online car shopping. It is possible to buy a car online, without ever entering a dealership. It is possible to lease a car without a middleman. Though most people still like to test drive a vehicle before buying, those who don’t want to no longer have to, and solutions for home-delivery test drives are becoming more prominent.
• Ride sharing. It is no longer necessary to own a car– or take the bus– to get around. Utilizing navigation technology, smartphones, and social media, ridesharing and ridesourcing services allow today’s travelers to hail cabs from their phones, carpool with local strangers, rent out their vehicles while not using them, or even co-own a car with a group of friends.
• More options, more flexibility. With all the transportation options available at the touch of a smartphone button, people will choose different modes for different activities instead of relying primarily on their personal vehicle, predicts this McKinsey report.
• City type market segmentation. The report also posits that as transportation choices proliferate, car shopping markets will become more closely tied to location type than to geographic area. A city dweller might face congestion, parking difficulties, and traffic, while rural living comes with longer distances and less public transportation. All of which means two cities on opposite ends of the globe might be more similar in terms of car buyer behavior than a rural and urban area in the same region.

Did that sound like a lot? The truth is that these technologies and changes share a common thread: a push for an easier, more convenient, more efficient, and more personalized shopping and driving experience. Drivers seek connectivity to improve the enjoyability, safety, and productivity of transportation. They shop online to eliminate hassle, work at their own pace, and make the experience relevant to their needs. They customize their transportation choices to increase convenience and affordability.  

So while some of the changes in the auto industry reduce the necessity of personal car ownership, the heart of the technology actually speaks to a different customer need, one that dealerships are in an ideal position to provide: an improved customer experience, on and off the road. Disruptive changes present new opportunities for dealerships to create a positive and customized car buying process and edge out the competition.

Here’s how your dealership can do what it takes to keep up with customers’ needs and bring them the positive experience they want:

1. Jump on the rideshare bandwagon. Dealerships should embrace people’s interest in multiple methods of transportation. Create targeted ad campaigns that highlight the benefits of car ownership, as well as ones that appeal to more rideshare-focused shoppers. Consider facilitating co-ownership programs. Service departments should take care to understand the maintenance needs of drivers who rent their vehicles to others or co-own. Make it clear your dealership is not one size fits all.
2. Focus on your customers’ specific mobility needs. Consider your dealership’s location type. Are you located in a more urban or a more rural location? What kinds of vehicles, services, and connectivity integrations are most useful to the population you serve? Make sure everyone on your staff understands the autotech options that will benefit your customers and can easily explain them to shoppers.
3. Have a strong digital presence. Even if they prefer to test-drive a physical car in your dealership, today’s customers expect to be able to start the shopping process online. They want to do research before coming into the dealerships and look for an easy, streamlined experience. Make sure your dealership websites are providing:
   • Up-to-date reviews from happy customers
   • Real-time data to show targeted content and offers to shoppers
   • Facilitated tools to understand trade in, financing, and pricing
   • Branded, easy to navigate, and visually appealing offers
   • Relevant, helpful content 
4. Streamline the digital and in-person experience. Ensure that the connection between online research and in-store shopping is fluid. Setting up appointments should be simple and straightforward, and sales teams should be prepared when internet leads come into the showroom with any information they provided online and all resources to help move their process along. Shoppers should feel that your website is as personalized as your store, and that your store takes into account everything already completed on your website. Remember, your shoppers are looking for efficiency and productivity. Give it to them

Use these new car solutions and their takeaways to your advantage– create the ultimate shopping experience online and in the showroom.

You spend a lot of time, effort, and money on lead generation, conversion optimization, and lead capture. Ads, bids from third-party sites, and of course, targeted, engaging content and offers on your site are all part of your strategy to get more leads and, ultimately, more conversions from your website.

But what happens after those leads finally convert? Do you follow up immediately, or do you let your newly converted lead’s coveted personal information simply evaporate into the ether?

Consider the following scenario:

Monday, 11:22 AM:

Jim wants to trade in his old car for a new one.

So he does what most people would do: he goes online and spends an hour looking up car specs, reading reviews, and comparing pricing. 

Once Jim has chosen his favorite makes and models, he googles dealerships in his area, and clicks on the one or two that are closest to his home or office. He begins browsing, when he notices an offer that interests him enough to complete the form before shutting his laptop.

Monday, 11:27 AM:

Five minutes later, Jim hears a notification beep on his phone and sees an obviously automated email from the dealership. He ignores it because he’s rushing to an appointment.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Here’s the first thing you have to know about follow-up to lead conversion: auto-responses are essentially useless. Why? Because they almost never answer shoppers’ questions and rarely stop them from seeking information– or a test drive– elsewhere. What’s worse, a 2010 US Sales Satisfaction Index reveals that 56% of dealership automated emails include basic errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It’s hard to get a stranger’s attention. It’s harder when you appear sloppy and careless.

But anyway, back to Jim.

Tuesday, 9:30 AM:

22 hours after converting, Jim receives a phone call from one Julie, who says she’s calling from Motown Jeep. Jim has just sat down at his desk to multiple projects and messages, and has no clue what Julie is talking about. After a moment, he vaguely remembers that he filled out a form on some site earlier.

But he’s busy now and can’t speak to Julie. He hangs up.

What went wrong?

Julie did her job: she made the call. But she lost the deal. Why? Because she didn’t get around to calling Jim until 22 hours after he converted on the dealership website. 

Compare this lag to the follow-up time in your actual dealership. Would you tell a customer in your showroom to wait 22 hours for the next available salesperson? How about 12 hours? How about 4 hours?

The answer is no. Never.

Ten years ago, customers were visiting, on average, seven dealerships before actually buying a vehicle. Today, that number is more like two. If your team doesn’t speak with a customer on the phone within 10 minutes of their filling out some sort of interest form on your site, chances are that customer isn’t coming to your lot, ever.

It gets worse.

Research shows that the odds of calling to contact a lead decrease by over 10 times in the first hour. Waiting 30 minutes instead of five causes odds of contacting a lead to drop 100 times.

And yet, 2008 JD Power’s Internet Mystery Shopper Study found that only 68 percent of dealerships followed up with their website leads within three days, and the average response time for dealers who did follow up was 12.4 hours. 

Picture Jim sitting around in your dealership for over 12 hours. It’s laughable, right?

The bottom line is that you just can’t make a hot lead wait to speak to a person. It’s a needless waste of time and money to not immediately pick up the phone when someone comes to your site, expresses interest in buying one of your cars, and hands you their contact information.

And if you don’t reach them the first time? Try again. Data shows that reaching out to leads at least six times increases odds of reaching them by up to 90%.

This is another way your digital showroom needs to be an extension of your brick-and-mortar showroom, with the same standards, attention to detail, and excellence.

Which brings us to the next point. It’s not enough to make the call, and make it quickly and persistently. To maximize your lead nurture, you also have to prepare for the call.

Read the Lead

This might sound surprising after telling you to call your leads immediately, but there is such a thing as calling too fast.

Let’s say Julie notices Jim’s conversion right away, but decides to call him before taking a moment to read all the information in her CRM: not only his name and phone number, but also the number of sessions he spent on the site and pages he visited before converting, and any specific questions he asked.

She will likely ask him for information he has already provided, or offer him something he finds irrelevant. Think of it this way: have you ever called customer service with a problem and been passed along to four representatives, each of whom asks you for the same information, and then tries to get you to sign up for something you don’t want? Don’t do that to your converted leads.

Instead, take a minute– and it only takes an extra minute– to get a sense of who your new lead is. Are they further up the funnel or closer to buying? Have they expressed interest in a particular model? Do they have a specific question? Know this information. Then, when you make the call, you can offer value, avoid redundancy, and make a great impression.

So, next time a lead comes into your CRM, note it, read it, and make a call right away that is as tailored as your showroom’s in-person customer service. You’ll see happier customers– and make more sales.

If you’re like most dealerships, you work hard to achieve high conversion rates from your website. And rightfully so: a vast majority of car shoppers today use the internet to research their purchases and your dealership website is your best source of qualified leads. So you invest in creating high-quality, appealing offers, and use analytics to offer them to the right people at the right time.

But there’s no getting around it: no matter how appealing your offers are– no matter how personalized, clean, or relevant– some of your website visitors will not want to convert.  

Some of them won’t want to convert because they genuinely are not interested in your dealership– maybe they’re not shopping for cars at all and accidentally clicked onto your site. But many more are actually interested, but would prefer to browse at their own pace without giving you their information. Think of how many people like to walk into stores and look around without being approached by a salesperson. You might be this type of shopper yourself. People like that are not bad customers. After all, they’re checking out your website. They just need to be engaged in a different way.

So how do you appeal to these customers? How can you keep them engaged on your site, and encourage them to come back?

The answer is this: provide rich, high-quality content that asks for nothing in return.

The idea is that customers want to feel that you value them. This is why ice cream stores give free samples without requiring a sundae purchase, why optical shops often provide free repairs for glasses purchased from a competitor. They do this because a valued customer is, more often than not, a return customer.

Here are some examples of content you can provide to help commitment-wary customers feel valued and engage with your website:

• Comparisons of different models. Make it easy for customers to compare and contrast on their own time at their own pace. Anticipate their questions and answer them clearly and concisely. Help them decide what’s best for them without having to pick up the phone.

• Specific information about specific models. Explain and highlight the performance information, fuel economy, and features of the cars in your inventory. Allow website visitors to do extensive research before coming into your dealership. This is, after all, the way a lot of people like to shop these days.

• Customer reviews. More than ever, peer recommendations are important for today’s shoppers. They seek out testimonials, so make it easy for them to find them.

• Charts, photos, and videos. Present your information in accessible, appealing formats. People gravitate towards information that is presented visually, and who doesn’t love a video these days? 

The more quality content you provide, the more time visitors will spend on your site, the more pages they will visit each session, and the more they will turn to you when they have questions. Of course, shoppers can find a wealth of information on third-party sites or OEM pages. But if they can find it on your site, they won’t have to leave your site and forget all about you. And the truth is, they don’t want to have to go looking elsewhere because customers want simplicity. A site that can streamline the entire car shopping process for them is extremely valuable.

Your dealership will see several benefits from providing quality content on your website:

• Consideration. The longer shoppers stay on your site and engage with your content, the more they consider buying from you.

• Credibility boost. If your site provides an outstanding shopping experience, you can build your dealership’s credibility and establish trust with customers. This not only makes them more likely to buy from you– it also makes them more likely to recommend you to their friends. Remember how important recommendations are these days? You can get more of them with great content.

• Early lead capture. You want to engage customers when they are not ready to give you their information. But here’s a little secret: if you do engage them, they are more likely to hand over their details. If you can give early stage customers the value they want without asking for anything in return, chances are, you will earn their trust and they will convert faster than they would have without access to quality content.

Providing great content gives your dealership more ways to connect with a wider variety of shoppers. It lets people use your dealership website according to their shopping style and is likely to ultimately bring more people into your showroom.

You've probably heard by now that Google has released new rules that limit the size and type of popups for mobile sites. If the mere sound of this strikes fear into your heart, you're not alone. People everywhere are wondering: do the rules mean that every mobile site with a popup will be ranked lower in searches? Is optimizing my mobile site a lost cause? 

These questions are particularly urgent for dealerships, whose offers are crucial to lead capture. But not to worry – you can make these new requirements work for you and create the best engagement and conversion rates possible on your dealership website. 

First, the details: according to the new rules, Google will lower the search rankings of sites that have "take-over" popups– ones that fill the entire screen, block all content, or position themselves to look like the real webpage when they are not.  On the flipside, Google will award higher rankings to mobile sites that abide by their standards.

Google's stated goal is mobile friendly sites with well-positioned engagements and easily-dismissable popups. And the truth is, your visitors probably want the same. Now is a great time to update your content and offers to make sure they not only fit the new standards, but are also providing the highest quality engagement so you capture more of your site traffic. 

So how do you make sure your dealership website is ready for the change? First, check your mobile engagements to see if they fit the new requirements. If you work with a vendor, confirm with them that your site is in good shape. If your popups don't fit the qualifications, it's time to update them so your rankings remain high and customers can find your dealership website.

Not sure where to start? Here are some best practices we’ll be using at AutoLeadStar to create effective and mobile-friendly popups:

1. Make your offers fat-finger friendly. Your mobile popup fields should be big and easy to fill out. This is crucial for engaging mobile users, who need to be able to fill in information quickly on the go. But remember not to let the fields take over the entire page of content. Find the right balance.
2. Limit the number of fields in your offers. The fewer boxes to fill out, the more likely you'll get visitors to convert into leads.
3. Pay attention to size. Optimize the dimensions of your popups for mobile so your site visitors have a good experience – and so that you comply with the new Google requirements. One option is to position your popup as a banner along the top of your site or as a slider in the corner. Make sure to optimize your text size and font, too. If your readers have to zoom in to see, Google will no longer consider you mobile friendly.
4. Highlight the infamous "x" button. Make your popups easy to exit. If you don't have a clear "x" or "no thanks" button, you'll probably be marked as spam by Google. Don't try to lock your website visitors into a commitment to convert. They'll probably get annoyed and bounce – and once the new requirements kick in, they won't even see your site. 
5. Nix the add-ons. If you have applications like Flash on your mobile site, the time has come to remove them. These are not compatible with the new standards and will affect your ratings negatively. For dealerships that are using "click-to-calls" and live chat boxes, make sure users don't have to download anything funky to engage with your site.

So no need to freak out– Google hasn't banned popups. In fact, Google will probably reward sites with compliant mobile popups– so make sure yours are the best they can be.