Over the last few months, I’ve consistently encouraged dealerships to challenge their perception of what an optimal consumer experience looks like on their website. In most cases, dealers only think they know what their consumers want. And more often than not, their assumptions are pretty off from reality. It’s hard as a dealer to get unbiased feedback from a consumer or not be biased in their own opinion about what consumers want.

Even though it’s been proven to be ineffective in the past, dealers (whether they realize it or not), often helicopter around their consumers — waiting for their next move, and waiting to hold them by the hand with whatever step they take next.

Here's the thing: it doesn't matter if a consumer has a good idea of what vehicle they want or not. What DOES matter is that many consumers don't always want a salesperson helping them at every stage of the shopping funnel. When it comes to conducting research, consumers like to do it on their own -- and they don't wanna be forced to talk with someone. Instead, they'd prefer to opt-in for that kind of assistance.

Most online shoppers prefer to be left to their own devices. If they want a trade-in estimate or even a guide to help them figure out what they want, most consumers are perfectly willing to look up this information on their own and at their leisure. In fact, it's something a good portion of consumers prefer. Your dealership consumers prefer self-service... which means it's important for your website to be self-service friendly!

Naturally, there's one MAJOR question that remains: does your dealership’s website fulfill those self-service needs? Ask yourself these questions to find out!

Can My Consumers Access Detailed Information About Warranties?

Whether a consumer has made a purchase with your dealership or not, Terms of Service [TOS] documents and product warranties are some of the most sought-after items for car buyers. Because many of these documents are often NOT available on a whim, making these documents accessible allows consumers to figure things out on their own and avoid having to talk to a salesperson.

Again, a salesperson is an integral part of the purchasing journey for most car buyers — but in most cases, consumers who are browsing your website are already on a quest to find accessible documents and information. If they wanted to talk to someone, they’d call or write. Simple as that. If you want a surefire way to make your website self-service, make these documents available on your website for your website visitors to access.

Can Consumers Get Immediate Value from Interactions with my Website?

Along with downloading important documents like warranties, consumers want answers to their many questions. Many consumers will have questions that can only be expounded upon by another salesperson, while some questions can be answered with a quick calculation, evaluation or quiz. If your dealership website doesn’t possess these types of tools, now is the time to consider integrating them.

One of the most common reasons consumers will even reach out to a dealership is to get a trade-in estimate — and as you know, this isn’t the most ideal scenario for many website visitors. Consumers don’t even really like it when they have to fill out a form and wait for someone to contact them regarding their trade-in. By integrating a trade appraisal tool on your website, consumers can get the answers they need quickly and easily.

The same can be said for folks who don’t know what vehicle they want. Instead of having a salesperson coerce them into buying something they may or may not want, a consumer could go through an evaluation experience. If consumers can’t get immediate answers and value as they browse your website, you’re providing the self-service options that web visitors crave.

Can Consumers Calculate Real Payments on Your Website?

The last thing the majority of consumers want is to have a full-fledged conversation with a salesperson to even understand payments. That’s why many consumers love the ability to calculate accurate payments online before they talk to a dealer representative.

This gives consumers the opportunity to think through purchase scenarios to narrow down their options and it allows consumers to come up with questions for the salesperson they’ll be talking to. Online payment calculators that are well integrated have the ability to give a more realistic idea to what the payments will actually be at the dealership. Give consumers space and allow them to take control over how they want shop— which is really the whole point of self-service website elements to begin with!

If you answered “no” to any of the above 3 questions, you should definitely take some time to evaluate your website and determine the specific areas that you’re falling short. Now, more than ever, it’s important for your website to provide consumers with whatever they need without any human interaction. Your consumers will want to talk to someone eventually when they near the purchasing stage, but in the research phase, if consumers want to do something on their own, they will.