I intended to write about the renewed importance of service videos on a dealership’s website. A resource I had lined up changed my topic in about 15 seconds. You might ask how that happened, and the answer is simple: the website didn’t load fast enough.

Funny enough, the page I waited for was a Think With Google report about the value of Youtube video ads. The page continues to have a spinny circle over a blank white screen. That led me to research how long a customer will wait for a website to load before leaving and not returning. It’s not long.

According to a MachMetrics report from last year, it’s all about the load time on mobile. The average page takes 22 seconds to fully load despite the enormous upgrade to mobile phone capabilities. But the more surprising statistic is that 53% of users will leave a website if the content they seek takes longer than three seconds to load.

You can debate how accurate that stat is, or fume about how impatient some people can be. The fact remains that surfers demand speed. If you think of your own expectations when browsing the World Wide Web, you’re likely to find the same trend. If a page takes more than a few seconds to load, you tap your toe, then tap the back button to find a new page.

But what can you do about it?

Above the Fold

If your web pages are slow to load, the best thing you can do is have the important information load first. In advertising, it’s called ‘above the fold’. It refers to the first thing a reader would see in a newspaper before they unfolded it. On websites, it’s the content that displays before the reader has to scroll down.

You need a hook above the fold. It’s the first part of the page to show up, and it has to have some type of valuable content for readers to consume. It gives your website a little longer to load while holding attention. Every page needs to be optimized on mobile and desktop for this.

Reduce Page Sizes

MachMetrics shows that the average automotive site size is 2.1MB. That’s rather substantial and a big reason pages take a long time to load. Your designer should be able to demonstrate aptitude for their job if you request that all web page sizes are reduced. Ideally, keep them under 1.3MB for faster loading.

This can be done by reducing image sizes especially. Use JPG, PNG, and GIF images that offer great quality with small file sizes. Reduce the image size so it will appear clearly on the screen but isn’t compressed.

Find a Video Host

Recently, Ryan Gerardi explored video hosting on AutoConversion.net. Because video takes up tons of space on a server, most automotive web service providers don’t want to host those files. However, you can control the user experience if you control the hosting. That includes load times as well as ad placement.

Youtube hosting is free, and a great way to get started with video on your website. But when your goal is to do video better with more intentional analytics and better load times, a provider like Flick Fusion should be on the agenda.

The bottom line: your website load time is more important than you think. The average automotive site takes 9 seconds to load. Over half of shoppers leave if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load. Can you afford for more than half of your potential clients to never walk through the digital door?

‘Live On Location’ radio shows are still a staple in Saturday morning car sales. It’s been an effective way of capturing an audience’s attention and drumming up leads to move metal. Despite the growing enthusiasm behind music streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, as well as SiriusXM satellite radio, AM/FM radio continues to be the more popular choice.

Radio doesn’t appear to be in decline just yet. But there are options for advertising locally that can double down on the effective strategies you already have in place. I’m talking about digital influencers in your area.

What Digital Influencers Do

If you watch YouTube videos, you’re probably familiar with the group known as digital influencers. They are the ‘host of the show’ typically, whether it’s for car reviews, outdoor adventures, product reviews, or a day-in-the-life-of type videos.

Many digital influencers are multi-channel owners like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Their channels can have hundreds of thousands or even millions of subscribers. And when they post content, it’s immediately gobbled up.

It’s not uncommon for vendors to sponsor local influencers. Fishing videos are often sponsored by Mystery Tackle Box, for example. The message comes across loud and clear as an endorsement. And it’s all because these lay people have connected with a crowd better than almost anyone. Better than you.

How You Could Use Digital Influencers for Your Dealership

There is an incredible sense of connection that followers have to influencers. If you read comments or follow their social media stories, you’ll come across opportunities for a meet-and-greet with these online stars. And suddenly, they have that voice that people take for gospel.

Use these to your advantage.

Find a Local Influencer

Online, marketing gurus are quick to offer ways to find influencers for your niche. Absolutely DON’T do that. Growing dealership business with an online influencer is going to take going outside your industry. You want someone that will tell their diverse audience why they should visit you, not a group of car nuts that they should visit a car dealership. The goal should be tapping into new demographics.

Put some time into your search for local online personalities. It honestly doesn’t matter what industry they’re from. You’re looking for someone with a positive voice and has tons of followers – over 1 million, preferably.

Give the Influencer a Reason to Promote

Here’s where you pony up. A solicited message has to be authentic for their audience. You could sponsor an episode of their show in exchange for a shout-out, but that’s not getting you anywhere. Put them in your metal. Give them a short-term lease or one of your most popular models for the week to review. That’ll give them something to talk about on their show. Make specific requirements in exchange such as at least 60 seconds in three video intros promoting your business.

Host a Meet-and-Greet

You wouldn’t believe how many people want to shake hands with the influencers they follow on social media. When you host a meet-and-greet at your store, you can count on droves showing up. You’re putting local residents on your lot, which you know is a great way to showcase your products.

MediaKix research shows that 89 percent of marketers find that “ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other channels”. As well, 71 percent agree that the quality of customers and traffic from influencer marketing is better than other marketing sources.

In the digital age, you might want to explore additional marketing opportunities. Print is gone the way of the buffalo, but radio is still effective. But online influencers are a relatively untapped source in the automotive industry. Be an early adopter.

A simple Google search for dealership social media ideas gives you a snapshot into things dealerships think about customers. One after another, all the ideas revolve around creative ways to show vehicle features, equipment, and benefits. That’s great… if the reader is in the search for a new vehicle.

But what’s noticeably missing in social media strategies for car dealers – at least, the ones I’ve seen in my feeds – is the service department.

Assuming a car owner buys a vehicle every five to six years on average, there’s a period of YEARS where those posts are of no interest at all. But the service department? They’ll need to visit someone for service twice a year or more. Shouldn’t those profitable visits during ownership get some traction?

Abysmal Defection Rates

There’s no arguing defection rates at car dealerships. Anywhere from 50 to 67 percent of car buyers choose not to service at the dealership after warranty is over, and many while warranty is still in effect. It’s not just possible but likely that a segment of those owners could be retained simply due to service-related posts in a dealer’s social media presence.

Social Media Ideas for Service

Broad advertising for service hours on the Twitter machine or Facebook is fine from time to time, but there’s not much value you can add in that alone. These ideas can bring much more traction to your social media followers.

Why Services are Required

Readers eat up informative posts regarding automotive services. Remember, most car owners know only basic maintenance like oil changes and tire rotations. They don’t understand why brake fluid needs to be changed or why an alignment should be done as maintenance. Include a couple benefits, the time it takes to perform the service, and the cost.

Service Deals

Looking to boost business in a certain department? Maybe you have a 4-for-3 tire deal, an alignment special, or you want your customers to know you now offer full vehicle detailing. Put these posts in front of your customers’ eyes on social media with a link to your online appointment scheduler.

How-To Videos

Honestly, no one wants to pay $39.95 in labor to change their cabin air filter. For services that a customer can perform on their own with just a little know-how, post a video, made in-house, so they can do it themselves. Also post how much you charge if they prefer the professionals do it. You’ll have two reactions: customers who buy the parts and do it themselves, or customers who come to you because they couldn’t be bothered.

Staff Features

People love people. Feature one of your service advisors, service administration, technicians, and even your management in a social media post. Give a quick profile on how long they’ve been with you, their interests, favorite food, and what they drive.

Common Faults to Watch For  

Address common mechanical or diagnostic issues that customers face. Why the Check Engine Light comes on, causes for steering wheel vibration, what that little red light means – anything that customers could find valuable in their car ownership experience and emphasizes the dealership’s authority and expertise can be the focus.

Contrary to popular belief, email marketing is not dead. It isn’t even dying. For the service industry, it’s still one of the best ways to elicit a positive response from recipients. But that’s only if it’s done right…

And unless you’re using one of the good digital marketing providers in the automotive industry, you’re probably leaving a bunch of responses on the table. They could be your next great customer but if you aren’t getting your message across well, you can forget about adding them to the fold.

Whether it’s a campaign to fill out slow months or an attempt to prevent customers from defecting, these are some tips for your email campaigns that are crucial so you don’t miss the target.

Check the Name Formatting

When you use customer lists for your email campaigns, one of the most impersonal things you can do is formatting the name different than the rest of your text. What I mean is this:

“Dear JORGE,

At ABC Motors, we have a service offer that’s just for you.”

Or…

“Dear Jorge,

At ABC Motors, we have a service offer that’s just for you.”

In the first one, ALL CAPS is a dead giveaway that it’s not a personal email – it’s a form letter. If you could measure how quickly the trash button gets clicked on the first example compared with the second, you’d see why the name formatting is so important.

Speak One-on-One

When you create campaigns, the tendency is to use plural language. But each customer that reads it is an individual. Consequently, the language you use needs to be like a one-on-one conversation. Have the campaign written like you’re speaking to just one person.

“This offer is exclusively for you.”

“Because you are a loyal service client…”

Clearly State Where the Offer Applies

A tendency for dealership emails to all look alike, especially for service campaigns. If you’re doing something unique, you NEED to make sure customers know it’s only for your store. It doesn’t apply to other dealerships. Just yours.

This is so important if you aren’t adding to the manufacturer’s promotions where the customer truly can go to any other franchised store.

Say Why You’re Special

You know this – customers can go anywhere to service their vehicles. Every time you communicate with them, you should reinforce why your store is special. Tell them why to choose your dealership’s brand. While the offer is the primary reason for your campaign, the reason customers follow through is because of you, the dealership.

Email marketing is a thing of beauty when it’s done right, and a disgusting mess if it’s sloppy. Use a professional service to create and distribute your email marketing campaigns for service promotions. Otherwise, you could be hurting your customer relationships more than drawing them in closer.

Ever invested in the stock market? I’m not talking about relatively safe investment portfolios, bonds, or a few shares in Google. The type of investing I mean is the stuff dreams and nightmares are made of – IPOs that will either skyrocket or plummet, a leap of faith in a startup with a great idea, or an investment during a crisis with hopes and prayers it will turn around.

It takes a certain kind of person to make investments of this magnitude and scope. You need to be willing to take a huge chance on success…but that also means an even bigger chance of failure.

There’s something you’ll notice about the people who invest in high-risk stocks: they NEVER put all their eggs in one basket. They’re looking for a home run on each and every investment, but they’re prepared to lose from time to time – maybe more often than they win. What it all comes down to? Finding a Golden Egg.

What Does Investing Have to Do with Dealership Life?

Rolling the dice on high-risk stocks is much like dealership marketing. The purpose is to capitalize on the next big thing before the competition does, earning more business and the resulting income. But not all marketing strategies will be successful, that’s obvious. A millennial demographic in San Francisco may not respond to the same ad portfolio as a middle-age executive profile does in Manhattan.

The risk is calculated and based on knowing your clientele. It’s just like an investor doesn’t put millions into a stock willy-nilly – they’ve done their research. But until the campaign is in full swing, there’s no way to really know how strong the response is going to be.

Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

All content providers, marketing agencies, and social media marketers will have their own opinion about what’s best for your business. They’ll do their research and give you suggestions on what they think is your best chance of success. Strangely enough, they think their own product is going to be the solution for your problem.

But as you can learn from the volatile stock market, you’re going to win some and lose some. That’s why choosing one aspect of marketing, one demographic, or any other narrow metric is not a good idea.

Diversify your marketing portfolio, tackling three important aspects.

Do What’s Worked in the Past

Traditional marketing tactics like print ads, television and radio. It’s worked for dealerships and car companies for decades. The world is moving on from these media types, but there’s still value within these areas. Continue to put a small portion into traditional marketing techniques but do it selectively. Choose only the stations or papers that have proven in the past to be successful.

What Works Now

Today’s marketing is about digital marketing: paid ads on Google, social media campaigns, and a professionally developed website with fantastic content, for example. This should take up a fair portion of your advertising budget because it’s modern and successful across a wide swath of demographics.

Take a Long Shot

Put money into advertising that isn’t yet mainstream. Your marketing team has some ideas – tap into them. Is it to do with augmented reality or video stories? Can you collaborate with another successful company near you to increase both your businesses? Dedicate a portion of your marketing and advertising budget to explore the realm of opportunities to find the next big thing – your Golden Egg.

It’s like a diversified investment portfolio. Do what works well, but keep an eye on the horizon for opportunities.

For those who still have cable TV, manufacturer and dealer ads continue to dominate the commercial breaks. Video advertising makes sense – there’s a message to convey along with imagery that just isn’t as effective in other media forms. For decades, commercial ads have been a high-performing way to create brand awareness and announce new models or redesigns.

But television isn’t what it used to be. Over the course of 2017, 3.4% of cable subscribers cancelled their plans. On the flip side, Netflix reported that nearly 2 million people signed up for their services in the first quarter alone. That’s a massive shift, and it’s because if widespread and inexpensive availability of streaming video. Netflix, HULU, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Now – for a relatively low cost viewers can watch what they want in a mostly uninterrupted manner.

The Problem with Cutting the Cord

That’s a problem for advertisers. Dealerships who have a limited advertising budget aren’t getting the results they once did. Car companies need to find a different way – a more effective way – to let potential buyers know about their products.

Here’s the rub: driven by the millennials, the cord-cutting trend is simply an evolution. Those customers are still out there. They’ll still need to buy a car, lease one, or sign onto your car subscription service. And it’s up to advertisers to find an effective way to do it.

Where You Go From Here

Think With Google released a report about this exact topic. The U.S. Navy, who advertises extensively for recruiting, shifted their resources. Their current advertising is 70% TV. Next year, it will be 70% made-for-digital video.

What does that mean? The Navy created 60 short videos from 6 to 15 seconds in length, then strategically placed them in short series. Think about watching a YouTube video and seeing the ads come up – say, three per 10-minute video. A three-clip series can be placed in that video, like a story within a story.

That might seem like a stretch for dealerships with small budgets compared to the U.S. Navy. But it doesn’t take much to scale that idea to be usable. According to Think With Google’s report, there are three things that you need.

Brand Perspective

Catch your viewers by surprise, showing them something they don’t already know. A drone shot of a car driving down a coastline isn’t effective. A six-second video of a mother cleaning up a Cheerios spill with her Honda Odyssey’s built-in HondaVAC tells a story that also gives prospective minivan buyers a surprising detail.

Creative Perspective

Implementing ads in streaming video is only effective if you’re showing your creative to the right people. It takes hard work and research by your marketing team to identify and incorporate it. As an example, if someone is watching a music video, a 10-second clip of the Toyota Entune radio would be good placement for audiophiles. Or if the video is about a video game review, there could be an ad for rear-seat entertainment systems on the Dodge Durango.

The creative – meaning the video ads – needs to be in harmony with the video it’s placed in.

Media Perspective

It’s a package deal. Each part of the media and advertising strategy need to work with each other. A customer watching a six-second bumper needs to be able to relate the ad with the odd TV commercial you still do. And the bumper video should reflect the same production value and theme as your 15-second ads.

Honestly, an individual dealer will have a very difficult time doing this on their own, and many shouldn’t even try it. A marketing company is the best choice to undertake the strategy. But it’s very important to know what results you want, and the composition of your marketing strategy.

To each their own. Maybe you feel confident sticking with your traditional marketing strategy, despite the research and unquestionable shift away from TV and newsprint. But if you’re feeling the hurt already, flip your marketing script. Jump in the deep end with both feet with made-for-digital videos.  

Think with Google research is always revealing. Once again, a recent analysis of the automotive market has shown data that shouldn’t be a surprise. Here it is:

Customers have a singular view of auto marketing.

What does that mean? It means that customers view all advertising and marketing as if it came from a single source. The parent brand, regional, and retailer are all lumped together as a single source in the customers’ eyes.

Of course, we know that’s not how it works in the industry. Each level of the auto business has functioned independently for generations. Manufacturers don’t typically filter customer data down to the dealerships as they respond to marketing, and dealerships aren’t openly working with regional branches to give a unified approach.

The Problem that’s Presented

Yet, be it as it may, the customer still views it all as a single unit. Google’s VP of consumer goods, Adam Stewart, provided an anecdote that sums up the problem with a disconnected multi-level approach:

“This might sound familiar to you. I’m currently in the market for a new car. While I’m considering a newer model of the brand I own, most of the marketing communications I receive don’t recognize me as a potential loyal customer. Furthermore, I recently visited the dealership, spent two hours there, and after returning home, received an email from the general manager of that same dealership inviting me to come in and check out the latest models. I was just there.”

As a customer, if you aren’t recognized as a “potential loyal customer”, it feels like you’re not being treated as you should. It feels like disrespect, and we know that’s not a good way to treat your customers.

Why It’s Important

There are two main reasons that a singular customer view is important:

• It honors your loyal customers. You want to keep these customers satisfied by any means necessary because the cost is so high to replace them.
• It’s incredibly efficient. Not only can the marketing approach be measured more accurately, but achieving mini-conversions can be multiplied up to 300% and cost-per-acquisition dropped by 75%.

What Can You Do?

It takes a long time to correct course, especially with a ship as big as the automotive industry. It’s been acknowledged that a singular customer view is important – Fiat-Chrysler has been implementing such an approach in their network. But for other manufacturers reluctant to do so, it falls on the dealerships to make a difference. How can you do that?

Make Every Dealer Communication Personal

As a dealership, you might have to take the reins. Communicating to your customers who are potentially loyal is so very important. When you’re establishing campaigns that go out to your client lists, make absolute certain that loyal customers are acknowledged as such. Use clear wording that thanks them for their continued loyalty.

Offer Loyalty Bonuses

Whether you offer VIP loaner car services in the service drive, an extra detailing package for three months after purchasing their car, or some other localized benefit, email blasts should remind those potentially loyal customers why they continue to stay loyal.

Work on Your OEM

Contact your district manager to emphasize the importance of a unified approach to marketing. I may take pressure from the retail automotive industry to initiate change on the corporate level.  

Branding is a hot button. It’s pushed as the best way to create an individual identity or your dealership. Whether it involves a slogan, a physical image, or a location, branding has benefits, of that there’s no doubt. But branding your dealership can be detrimental if it’s not done well. Here’s an example of what I mean:

A Poorly Positioned Brand

A dealership’s brand is ‘Your Big City Dealer with Small Town Pricing’. That’s not too bad, kind of catchy. It’s a message from a rural dealer just outside a major city. They position themselves as equals but with the capacity to undercut any sales deal you’ll get from the urban dealerships.

However, they’ve created their own metric; a way you can measure your experience at the dealership. And unfortunately, in the automotive industry that’s dominated by commission sales, it’s not a promise you can make to your customers. Shopping between dealers is commonplace, and the ‘Big City Dealer with Small Town Pricing’ has pigeon-holed their branding into a losing proposition.

Any customer that gets a better deal elsewhere has immediately associated your store with a fallacy. Your store hasn’t come through for them according to your brand’s promise. It’s not only poorly positioned – the brand is based on pricing alone – but it’s unrealistic to provide that experience to each customer that comes through the door.

Make Your Brand an Achievable Mission Statement

A mission statement isn’t a destination but rather the road on which you’re traveling. It’s a consistent path that you can always find your way back to. That’s what a brand should be as well, and it should be evergreen. That means that ten years from now, twenty years from now, or even longer, your brand should be as applicable as it is today.

If your branding is about an experience, it must be one you can promise for every single client or visitor that comes through your showroom doors, browses your website, or visits your service department. Here are a few things you CAN’T promise in your brand:

- You can’t promise to always have the best pricing. Someone is always going to try to undercut you and positioning yourself based on a best-price brand only takes gross profit out of your pocket.

- You can’t commit to being the most convenient. Current and potential customers have options, many of which may be more convenient in their personal situations.

-You can’t promise anything definitive like being the ‘ONLY’ anything. You just don’t know when something else comes along, and you’ll have to change your brand again.

Base Your Brand on Something Experiential

Let’s look at that sample again. They’re only one word away from a really good brand message: ‘Your Big City Dealer with Small Town Service’. Everyone understands the ‘small-town service’ image of being friendly and personal. Those are characteristics you can reasonably promise that a customer can experience at your store. However, it means that the small-town service experience has to be the one overriding motivator for everything in your dealership. Whether it’s the sales experience, the service drive experience, or the parts guy at the counter, everyone needs to understand and undertake the brand message as their own.

It comes down to being who you say you are, and if you can deliver it consistently, that’s a message you can hang your hat on.

Your dealership website is often the first point of contact for new customers. It provides high-level information for shoppers and current customers. You’re displaying your inventory, enticing the anonymous lurker to make their first contact with your store. It’s the first impression you make on the clientele you’re targeting.

If you’ve had someone spend hours taking high-quality pictures, you have a system that decodes the VIN for accurate details, and you keep the listings current, you’re on the right track.

You give detailed profiles on your sales, service, parts, and support staff, making a personal connection with the reader. It’s an extremely healthy item for your website.

The mobile experience mimics your website with intuitive, easy-to-navigate menus and simple-to-find information. It’s really coming together.

You have a website that functions well and looks great! But instead of the roar of the crowds in response, you have crickets. Why is it?

The Silent Killer Has Sturck

Did you notice the typo? And what did you think? As soon as your brain detected the spelling error, it was like jamming the gears. Your engagement went from a 10 to nil in a heartbeat. The silent killer STRUCK!

Spelling and grammar are two of the most important things to a reader, even though they may not identify it. It might be an errant keystroke or it could be the writer isn’t strong in the area. Whatever the root of the issue, one misspelled word can negate everything else you’ve built up.

Are you doubting how relevant it is? Think about it in real-world applications in your life:

• When you read Facebook posts, do you pass over the comments with improperly-used punctuation or those with none?
• On a LinkedIn profile, do you give credence to people who misspell words in their posts?
• Do you weight a tweet’s validity based on how well the writer conveys their 140-character message?

I’d be willing to bet that at least one of those items strikes a chord.

A Simple Message: Speling and Grammer Matter

I promise I’ll stop the intentional spelling errors. It hurts me too! But it drives home the point: your dealership website content needs to be spot-on with every detail you present to the reader. Spelling must be correct. Sentence structure and grammar must be accurate. In short, eliminate this basic issue as an obstacle for your customers.

How Do You Do It?

It sounds simple. Accurate spelling and grammar aren’t as easy as you’d like to think, however. If someone at your store writes content for your website, you need to give them the tools to be successful. Grammarly is a fantastic tool that addresses most grammar and sentence structure issues and is phenomenal with spelling. It even offers an alternative so corrections are often just a mouse click. If your content has frequent mistakes, though, perhaps you have the wrong person on the job.

Ideally, your content should be handled by a professional service. Online content creators have the skills necessary to provide a top-notch website experience for your readers…without all the errors. It’s going to seem expensive at first but if it results in a single new customer, it will pay itself off immediately.

Take a look at your website right now. Check every page for spelling and grammar issues. Are you missing an ‘S’ in ‘Accessories’? Is there an ‘A’ in ‘Definate’? Can you find a run-on sentence or a period where there should be a comma? Is the wrong ‘then’ or ‘than’ used?

If you find errors, your customers will also. Don’t let something as simple as spelling get in the way of selling cars!

Take a minute right now to browse your website’s home page. Just open a new browser window on your phone or your computer, check it out, then come back. It’s okay, I’ll wait.

What did you see? Did anything catch your attention? There’s probably a slider at the top, scrolling through your current offers. You have a sharp-looking logo up in the corner, maybe a bunch of your top-of-the-line inventory flashing across the screen.

If this sounds what you just saw on your website, you’re missing the mark completely. The Car Buyer of the Future study by Autotrader gives you a glimpse into what customers value most in their dealership of choice. If they’ve come to your website, that says you at least have a shot at being their car dealer, but you’ll have to get their attention.

What Customers DON’T Want

What a customer doesn’t want on your website is to be ‘sold’ on something. The typical sales advertising tactics are old hat and have no place on your site. We’re talking about the “$77 per week” ad or the “9,999 plus $3,000 down, PDI, Freight, dealer fees, and sales tax” banner. That’s not helping anyone!

Actually, your website is hardly about the vehicles at all, except for your in-stock inventory. Better, more accurate and complete information is on the manufacturer’s site. Unless you’re doing something special with the vehicle listing on your website, it shouldn’t be the focus.

It’s not the time to close the customer, and unless you’re selling cars online, the vehicles aren’t the most important part of your site.

What Customers Want in an Online Experience

What your customers respond to most when they visit your website is a unique experience. This can’t be stated strongly enough:

Anyone with the same franchise as you can get the same vehicles as you, if they don’t already have them. Your customer experience is what you should give your customers a taste of online, not just the cars and trucks you sell.

Please don’t get the message mixed up – the vehicles are important to have listed, just not as important as your team members and the environment.

How You Can Tweak Your Website

What you see when you first view a website, before you scroll down at all, is known as ‘above the fold’. It’s a term from physical ads where there is a literal fold in the paper. It should always contain the most important message you want to convey; a briefing of what your store is all about.

• Make your staff a feature. If you have a slider across the top of your screen, include brief profiles of your sales and service staff. These are the people who make your dealership the success that it is.
• Give your customers a glimpse into your store. Photos of your showroom and your service drive make it less foreign, helping a customer decide to walk through your door physically.
• Be transparent with pricing. Forget about the ‘sticker price PLUS’ and instead, show all-inclusive pricing. At minimum, show a pricing breakdown with the total price displayed somewhere.
• For your vehicle listing pages (VLPs), be current! Don’t keep old listings up online and put new arrivals online immediately. Anyone shopping for a car doesn’t want to hear that the vehicle they’re inquiring about has already sold – that’s a turnoff.

Want to Make Your Website Truly Individual?

If you’re serious about being different in your website presentation than everyone else, get personal. Add a brief video of the president or GM explaining why their store benefits the shopper. Add video clips of friendly interactions such as a salesperson greeting a customer at the door with a handshake. Include a 360-degree showroom view and service drive view.

Give customers a reason to feel that they know you. It’s the personal connection that’s going to set you apart from the other dealers around you who all focus on price, not personality, as their selling point.