Everyday, more website solutions are being introduced to the automotive industry. If leveraged properly, these solutions can have an extremely positive impact on leads. This is both from a qualitative and quantitative perspective.

By the same token, however, these solutions can make life confusing for your team working in your dealership. When new software solutions are implemented, processes and work structures remain the same — but we all know they need to adapt to changes.

Some of your reps are able to adapt just fine to the new software, but others will struggle. Regardless, there will always be a learning curve. In order to ensure a smooth implementation, education is imperative for everyone on your BDC team.

Now, you might be thinking, “Oh, that’s okay. I’ll just hold a one hour workshop or pow-wow to discuss the new software” and how it’ll impact their role. In an ideal world, this would be completely acceptable. However, your BDC team is composed of people with a diverse set of talents and skill sets. Newer BDC reps will likely be able to handle the changes better than a seasoned veteran who’s been doing things the same way for years.
 

Not only is employee education going to be crucial following the implementation of new software, but you might need to assign different work to certain employees or have them follow up with different types of prospects in different ways. You might need to adjust your overall strategy. Essentially, conversations need to happen so that everyone is on the same page.

In the midst of implementing new software solutions, there are a few things that dealerships must change in regards to their overall lead capture strategy. Here are some of the more common changes that dealerships experience when integrating new lead capture solutions.

The Number of Leads Are Increasing… And We’re Overwhelmed

In the case of PERQ’s online guided shopping solution, engaging interactive experiences are presented to prospective car shoppers who peruse your dealership’s website. The solution uses artificial intelligence to serve up the next best steps in the shopping process. Because a dealership’s website promises to provide consumers with the information and resources they’re looking for, they’ll be far more inclined to submit their contact information to your website in exchange for information that helps with their car buying decision.

Many consumers are hesitant to fill out static forms because the information is often thought to go into a void, and consumers get nothing in return. Guided shopping experiences, however, allow consumers to get valuable information on their trade, calculate payments on a vehicle of interest, take a quiz to determine the make and model match right for them, and more. So what do you think happens? If consumers have more incentive to submit their information to your website (and if they have the option of NOT being contacted right away), they’re going to complete those experiences — and that means more leads on your end.

Getting more leads doesn’t sound like a problem, but when you see a 30% to 40% increase in leads in a relatively short period of time, the results in sales you’re looking for can be hindered by an overwhelmed staff.  Your team are only able to reach out to so many people with the care and attention they deserve. So what does one do?

For starters, the information your BDC team receives from these prospects is likely far more in-depth and nuanced than the information received before. Consumers discuss purchase timelines and even how they prefer to be contacted. This information (and many other bits of information in the consumer profile) can give insight into which shoppers should be reached out to first. Instead of trying to reach out to each consumer in the order their forms are received, sales should FIRST focus on consumers who closer to a purchasing decision or in the market to buy now and then work their way up.

Some of your BDC reps might focus on trying to close a deal with shoppers who are clearly in the buy phase (they’ve scheduled a test drive), while other reps might focus on continuing to warm up consumers who are still researching (they got a value of their trade and say they’re in the market to buy in 90 days). Those reps might reach out via email to continue to nurture that relationship.

We’re Getting Far More Detailed Information… But We Don’t Know Where to Find it!

Along with seeing a significant increase in the number of leads received, the amount of different information (or rather, the quality of information) skyrockets. Again, this isn’t a problem at face value — but it can be a problem if things aren’t communicated and configured properly.

One of the most common pain points experienced by dealerships is a lack of knowledge of where to find this new and highly valuable information. Many CRM’s aren’t “up to snuff” when it comes to capturing and evaluating unique customer profile attributes. In a standard listing, contact information will populate a profile, along with the some feedback (from a comment form), but sales people might need to delve deeper to find unique information like “Are They Ready to Buy Now? Yes/No” or “When Do You Want to Schedule Your Test Drive? <Date of Choice>.” Many salespeople know the information is available, but they might feel exasperated not being able to find it.

The best thing you, as a dealership owner or internet sales manager, can do is to provide your sales teams with knowledge. Educate your team on where to find these unique consumer attributes and, more importantly, HOW they can leverage that information in their upcoming conversations. After all, what good is the additional information if you don’t know how to leverage it? Additionally, it’s not a bad idea to teach your sales people how to segment those leads (based on priority) and delegate them to the best people for the job.

Don’t Forget: Open Communication Is Key

Aside from educating your sales team on the different aspects of reporting and lead capture, open communication is another important aspect of integrating guided shopping solutions.

Your sales team wants to succeed and they absolutely want the business to succeed as well — so include them in the decision making process! When introducing the software to your team, let them know precisely what’s going on, step-by-step.

Schedule a vendor education session (or a few) with your team or ask for a webinar from your vendors to help educate your sales team further on the features of the website software. And ask for their feedback and questions along the way. It’s those meetings that will allow your team (as a whole) to determine what’s working and what isn’t. If some aspect of the software is working, keep at it. If something isn’t working, then everyone needs to evaluate its importance and determine what the next steps will be, along with openly communicating with your vendors - at times an issue might be a simple fix and there are times where the solution already exists, but the team needs more education. When your teams have a successful online guided shopping strategy that they believe in, they win and you win.

It’s fair to say that things have changed when it comes to the purchase of a car. Now more than ever, auto dealers are hyperaware of how much consumers dislike the process and how much power they have to choose the dealership that offers the right blend of customer service, inventory and price. As a result, dealership managers have made drastic changes to improve the in-store purchase experience to fit consumer expectations.

Today, when you walk into a dealership, you often get a personal greeting from the first person who sees you, a more consultant-like sales experience, and an improved in-store environment that includes comfortable waiting areas, Wi-Fi, playrooms, giant TVs, and cafés.

Changing your showroom environment takes a significant capital and time investment, something that is increasingly required in order to go above and beyond the shopping expectations of today’s consumers.

Everyone in the industry is working to change the old perception of a super slick salesman and putting customer service first. Dealers have learned that with top-notch customer engagement, they’ll reap long-term loyalty and additional revenue from service and word-of-mouth referrals.

So why haven’t dealership websites kept pace with dealership showrooms?

It’s ironic that the Internet — the very thing that helped force changes in dealer showrooms —- now more closely resemble the perception of a 1980’s sales “slickster”… with offers being shouted at website visitors from all directions. In the era of the “expert researcher,” dealer websites can often be a weak link in the process, especially considering that consumers expect the same easy, personalized and informative experience whether shopping for a razor or looking to spend $50,000 on a vehicle.

Dealer websites often don’t measure up. The experience can feel like seven different sales people shouting seven different offers all at once in the hopes of getting a lead. It’s gone from “What do I have to do to get you in this car today?” to “What do I have to do to get your lead today?” Shoppers feel dealer websites are designed to trap them into giving up information so they can become a target of a salesperson (the industry even uses the word “capture” when discussing consumers and the goal of websites).  

In short, many dealers optimize their website around the transaction, thinking if they point everything towards making a purchase “now,” it will shorten the sales cycle. Unfortunately, that’s not what wins over today’s expert researcher. In fact, let’s just bust that myth right now: roughly half of the traffic on an average dealership’s website is from consumers who aren’t in the buy phase of the shopping journey. Yet despite this, the entire website experience is set up to display product and price, and then delivers a series of lead traps. All of which can scare consumers away, resulting in “lead trap avoidance” because they feel like prey.

Lead trap avoidance

Dealers have tried to solve this with interactive experiences like a trade appraisal tool or chat, but instead of creating a great experience, they remain too focused on capturing a lead. Consumers often discover a chat feature that is nothing more than a way to capture information and have a salesperson call them.

Consumers are savvy enough to know that the interactive experiences they are getting aren’t there to help them make an informed decision but are, in essence, a fancier “trap”. The same can be said of some of digital retailing tools that lack true integration and connectivity, forcing web visitors to re-input details and info at every turn.

Not the Experience Consumers Want

Just imagine what it would happen if this online scenario played out in the showroom: multiple sales reps shouting multiple offers, never remembering the customer’s name, and attempting to trick them into a random car at every turn.

Needless to say the result would be counterproductive considering that the best way to create a lead is by providing value to the expert researcher – without requiring an interaction with a salesperson.

The consumer-researcher will gladly hand over reams of information, but only if they get valuable information in return. This data doesn’t come from a salesperson call, but instead from a research-friendly website designed to provide a stepping stone to the dealership showroom.

In my previous post, I discussed the difference between selling and guiding consumers in your dealership, and why it was so important for dealerships to act more like guides than salespeople. The problem here, of course, is that there’s sometimes a fine line between guiding and selling.

Even if you feel as though you’re guiding a consumer to the best possible choice, it might very well feel like selling in their eyes. This can be especially true for consumers who are pursuing your dealership’s website. For example: Having the option of “arranging your deal” might seem helpful, but what if a consumer isn’t ready to set up their deal? That being said: What does guiding actually look like to a consumer as opposed to selling on a dealership’s website?

One thing that’s important to keep in mind is that, in general, salespeople are more disruptive than supportive or helpful. A good example of this (from the consumer’s POV) would be “Getting Up’d”at the dealership.

You, as a consumer, know what it is YOU want, but the dealership clearly doesn’t. However, you’re being treated as if you and the dealership have had long conversations about preferred services & inventory. You’re classified as a prospective buyer as opposed to someone who’s just looking at their options.

In a nutshell, the sales people who have “Up’d” you aren’t listening to what you have to say.  They’re offering suggestions with 0 knowledge of your purchase preferences and they aren’t guiding you to the things you want. Even if a dealer is genuinely trying to help (and believe me when I say a lot of them are), they aren’t personalizing their approach. Not only do I see this in dealer showrooms, I see this very often on dealer websites.

Dealers are now being provided with lots of opportunities to personalize the online experience for their consumers. Dealers can now make the experiences on their website smarter and more connected; thus incentivizing consumers to move further down the purchasing funnel: from the research phase all the way down to the purchase phase in the showroom. On a website, you can’t feasibly guide a consumer through anything without knowing anything about them. Connected experiences allow your website to collect useful information from the consumer.

The expectation from consumers is that if you they enter something into a website (regardless of what that experience is), the website is going to learn from that and help them move along their shopping journey. If your website doesn’t remember their information or even provide immediate viable solutions to smaller obstacles, the consumer will give up and leave your website.

When we think of good salespeople, we think about how helpful they were. Good salespeople don’t “trap you” (take information and provide nothing of value in return) or make you do things that you didn’t wanna do  (talk to a salesperson while simply looking at inventory).

Static forms are arguably the biggest and most prominent lead trap on dealership websites. Despite this fact, lots of dealerships still think this is a perfectly valid method of lead capture. Static lead forms are primary examples of things that SELL rather than guide on a dealership website. They don’t assist with anything. All they’re made for is collecting information.

Regardless of the type of experiences you place on your website, big or small, if you’re providing a consumer with valuable information and basically pointing them in the right direction when they’re on the site or when they come back, your website is doing a great job of guiding consumers. Selling (or trapping consumer information on a lead form) is the quickest way to push consumers away from you and off to a competitor.

Over the last 2 or 3 years, it’s become increasingly clear that consumers across all industries are sick of being sold to. Fewer consumers are visiting showrooms when they research because they don’t want to be badgered into a sale. Although this is something that we’ve elaborated on pretty early on here (for automotive), it’s become abundantly clear that consumers outside of the auto industry are always looking for insights.

Think about it for a moment… When you visit a cell phone retailer like Sprint, AT&T or Verizon, what’s actually happening? If you’re actually in a store, you’re likely pretty close to making a purchase. You did all your research online for a new plan, a new phone and you just want to sign up for the service in person. Now, here’s the major difference between the experience in the cell phone provider’s shop and most automotive dealerships.

Typically, my experience at a store like Sprint or AT&T consists of an associate acting less like a salesperson and more like a guide. Sure, there’s some upselling in the mix (For example: warranties, protection plans, more data, etc.), but for the most part, they’re there to answer questions. The consumer has already indicated that they’re wanting to purchase, so the most logical thing a sales rep can and should do is make the experience as helpful as humanly possible.

Now, this isn’t to say that there aren’t dealerships who have applied these “guide” principals. There are quite a few auto dealerships out there who have begun replacing their high commission sales people with low commission sales people who act more like “product specialists.” Doing this has proven to be quite successful for a lot of dealerships — and as more dealerships experience this type of success, more dealerships decide to adopt this type of “selling” or “guiding.”

Although “guided selling” has been validated in the showroom for a lot of dealerships who have adopted this method, it unfortunately hasn’t been fully adopted on most dealership websites. There are still a ton of dealership websites out there that remain focused on selling to the consumer as opposed to guiding them.

When I think of a website “selling” to someone as opposed to guiding, I think about those ol’ static lead forms that I’ve consistently discouraged. To me, selling on a website means trapping a customer’s information without providing any sort of value to them in return: the “Contact Us for More Information” or “Reach Out to Schedule a Demo.”

It’s essentially a way of trying to gain an advantage over the customer so that they have no choice but to listen to your spiel and get the information they’re looking for. That might have worked about 5-10 years ago (both in the showroom and online), but it’s proving even more difficult now. Consumers don’t want to sign on the dotted line when they’re trying to figure out what it is they want. They need a guide — not a salesperson.

During the research phase of their shopping journey, consumers want the opportunity to educate themselves — and your dealership’s website can do this by simply providing information to them that they’ve requested. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with getting contact information from your consumers (prior to providing real-time information), you want both parties to hold some sort of advantage. It shouldn’t be one-sided.

The whole point of online guided selling (or online guided shopping) is to provide the means for a consumer to empower themselves with information. If a consumer requests specific information from your website, they should be able to find it almost immediately.

A salesperson doesn’t even need to be available to chat. All that’s required is that information that the consumer is seeking. By providing consumers with an opportunity to find information on their own, this opens up more opportunities to have an actual discussion with someone in the showroom regarding specifics.

What are some of the ways you currently guide customers online and in your dealership? Let me know in the comments below!

As much as we don’t want to admit it, the automotive industry has always held a very different reputation compared to other industries — and it isn’t a particularly great one. Although there are a TON of fantastic dealerships out there (yours included) who yearn to provide the best customer experience possible, many consumers are left with a bad taste in their mouths from a time when dealerships were perceived as seedy, deceptive places where dealers would hornswoggle you out of your last dollar.

Type in “car salesman” or “used car salesman" into Google and some of first images to pop up are stereotypical caricatures — short, balding, mustached men wearing plaid suit jackets that clash with tight fitting khakis that don’t match. A few of the pictures might include one of these guys with a cigar in their mouth.

Sadly, despite the fact that these pictures are NOT an accurate depiction of how car dealerships operate and how car dealers actually act, you’d be surprised by the number of consumers out there who still believe the aforementioned stereotypes. It’s a total bummer, but it is what it is… and the only thing dealerships can do to combat these stereotypes  is go above and beyond consumer expectations in any way possible.

When it comes to crafting a marketing strategy, it’s best to assume that your customers already have it in their heads that your dealership is full of the seediest, money-grubbing dealers in the world. Even though this might not be the case, the point here is that you REALLY want folks who you believe don’t trust you to sincerely trust you. This means going out of your way to please those skeptical consumers to the best of your ability, and providing them with time, resources and incentives that keep them satisfied.

One of the major ways your dealership can go above and beyond is by providing an exceptional website experience to its consumers. Last year, I wrote a whole article discussing the ways consumers judge your dealership based on how well they’re able to navigate your website. Everything from maneuvering through sections to of your dealership website to engaging with interactive experiences can have a major impact on how consumers ultimately view your dealership.

Obviously, the reason for this is because the first interactions consumers even have with your dealership is through your website. Folks who are still conducting research won’t typically waltz into your dealership — but they will attempt to look up inventory and get other useful information prior to their visit.

While it’s important to make sure the navigation on your website is solid and that the interactive experiences of your website are connected and useful, it’s arguably more important to ensure that you’re being open, honest and aren’t taking advantage of consumers in any way. If you want to change how your dealership (and dealerships, in general) is perceived by the general public, you need to create a sound website experience that earns their trust and understanding.

Honesty is one of the most crucial characteristics your dealership should focus on when creating this type of experience. There’s little to no doubt that there are experiences on your website that allow for the collection of consumer information. One of the primary reasons for having a website is to capture leads, after all.

Unfortunately, many consumers view lead capture as problematic because they feel like they’re going to be bombarded with communications like emails, texts and phone calls. If it isn’t the bombardment of communications that’s bothersome, it’s the relinquishing and use of their personal information that bothers them.

Either way, your best bet (as a dealership) is to be completely upfront about why this information is being collected. And no, you don’t necessarily have to say “we’re going to follow-up with you in a few days.” All you need to be is transparent. For example: If many of your consumers fear that you’re selling their information, tell them that you aren’t with a note at the bottom of an interactive experience.

Another thing your dealership can do is provide options for how and when a consumer wants to be contacted — because, let’s be real, they know why they’re supplying their information to you. Even if they’re being incentivized with a trade appraisal, assessment results or a large discount, the reason they’re submitting their information is so the dealership collects a lead. I can tell you from experience that consumers don’t necessarily mind providing their information to dealerships. What they don’t like is not having control over when and how they’re being contacted.

A simple dropdown or comment box indicating contact method and time preferences in a trade appraisal or assessment tool can be just the thing your dealership needs to gain consumer trust. Not only will the consumer appreciate that your dealership is listening to them, but it allows the consumer to have control over their shopping journey. They can continue to research your website (among other websites) without being persuaded into a purchase.

Even if the majority of dealerships in the U.S. never rid themselves of their often untrue sleazy, hornswoggling reputation, your dealership website can break the mold. Considering so many of the consumers visiting your website are still in the research phase, you can leave a genuine, lasting impression on them by catering to their needs as well as their concerns at the very beginning of their shopping journey.

Your dealership doesn’t have to uphold the strained reputation that was bestowed upon them by consumers for decades. If your dealership goes above and beyond consumer expectations, your reputation will improve for years to come — and therefore, it’ll be easier for to capture more leads and retain more loyal customers.

In my previous article, I emphasized the fact that consumers visiting your dealership’s website for the first time likely wouldn’t be ready to buy from you — or rather — any dealership, for that matter. Consumers aren’t going to respond early on to buttons or calls-to-action that possess “buy now” language like “Start a deal” or even “Schedule a test drive.” You have to get them warmed up a bit and the personalize the messaging to low funnel CTA’s when the time is right.

Consumers who are currently in the research phase are going to be far more inclined to go to sections of your website and leverage tools that answer many of their preliminary questions. High funnel interactions or tools like “Appraise My Trade-In,” “Estimate My Payment,” or even “Get Pre-Approved” are common website experiences that your consumers in the research phase would be happy to leverage before they would even consider talking to someone within your dealership.

Although they may seem less valuable than a consumer structuring their deal, these “one-off interactions,” or individual interactive experiences, are actually quite important because they allow consumers the opportunity to move further down the purchasing funnel. T

The trick is having as many of these interactions as connected and personalized as possible. Once a consumer, for example, gets a trade estimate on their current vehicle, they’ll obviously want to move on to the next step. That, in essence, is what digital retailing was all about. Not just the part where they agree on a payment or sign the digital dotted line.

Instead of trying to immediately shove a consumer towards a binding agreement with a “Buy Now” button, optimize your website to take on a more top down approach to digital retailing.

To further optimize your dealership’s website for digital retailing, you’ll want to first make sure you have experiences or tools that cater to consumers who don’t know what they want just yet. They’re in the early, early stages of the research phase and are just now figuring about to proceed. Things like assessments, calculators, and other premium interactive content.

Once consumers engage with those tools, your website can then personalize CTAs (calls-to-action) that encourage consumers to go to the next step. For example:
 

After a consumer gets their trade-in appraisal, a CTA can pop up on the same (maybe the page after) to offer an opportunity to check for special offers (specifically for them) or schedule a test drive.

Try to avoid having consumers re-enter information whenever possible. If each individual interaction is optimized in a silo or not working together with your lower funnel tools, your conversions are going to suffer.

There’s little to no denying that high funnel interactions are important for folks in the early stages of their shopping journey. In a nutshell, these interactions are often basic actions that consumers take on your dealership’s website like: getting your trade-in appraised, estimating your monthly car payment or simply researching the different services and incentives you’ll receive for making your purchase at a specific dealership.Think discovery questions customers are having to help guide them towards the right decision.

Because there are more folks on your website NOT ready to start paperwork, it’s safe to assume that the majority of those consumers aren’t ready to “start a deal” either.  At this point in time, they’re simply trying to figure out what it is they want regarding financing, preferred services, and naturally, from the vehicle they’re wanting to eventually purchase.

While it might be tempting to set your website up to showcase a “Schedule a Test Drive” CTA for first-time website visitors (in the hopes that they know what they want), you must understand that those types of CTAs can and will drive these types of consumers away. Why? Because most of your first-time visitors don’t know what they want. It might not be as harmful if this type of CTA pops up following a consumer completing another type of experience, but something to understand is that these types of decisions take time. Starting a deal requires a significant amount of commitment that they simply might not have yet.

Just because a consumer has already went through one early stage experience (the trade appraisal experience, for example) doesn’t mean they’re ready to immediately "start a deal." Quite the opposite. In fact, the majority of consumers visiting your site will eventually leave to conduct research on another dealership’s website. Many consumers aren’t committed to anything at that moment, so why wouldn’t they explore every option possible?

Even though it’s crazy tempting to do so, optimizing your website entirely for digital retailing (or for “starting your deal”) isn’t doing your dealership any favors. It completely ignores the majority — folks who are in the research phase of their shopping journey — and attempts to cater to the minuscule number of folks who are ready to buy. That is, if there are any “ready to buy” consumers who are willing to leverage the “make a deal” experiences on your website at all.

Here’s the thing: most of the consumers who eventually get to the “ready to buy” stages of their shopping journey got there because they’ve been consistently working with your dealership. It’s very rare that a consumer will waltz in one day without any working relationship and sign on the dotted line. Conversations need to be had and things need to be figured out. You can’t set your website up to only cater to bottom of funnel consumers without having catered to them as “research phase” consumers.

Ideally, you want to be with that consumer every step of the way — even when your consumers are conducting research on their own. You want to build that digital relationship and be there to offer guidance when they eventually need it. Bombarding them with those messages of “start a deal” gives consumers the impression that you don’t care about them. You only care about selling them something and moving to the next consumer.

As tempting as it is to wanna focus heavily on interactive experiences that help consumers start their deal (Ex: Schedule a Test Drive, Buy Now, etc.), those separate tool interactions are far more important than you’d think. One-off website interactions can actually help with your overall digital retailing efforts.

We have a tendency to overreact in this industry and the idea that people want to experience most of the buying process online has some dealers turning their whole website into a shopping cart. Slow down a bit and do some well rounded research. It will show that there are at least, if not more consumers browsing your site that aren’t even in the buy phase yet. What interactions are driving shoppers down the funnel?

Take a look at your website and ask yourself this: “What interactions on my site are actually driving consumers to start arranging their deal in the first place?” If you make it easier for consumers to begin interacting with your website, then it’ll be much easier to push them towards a full-fledged digital retailing action like “Schedule a Test Drive” or “Buy Now.”

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.

Auto dealerships have always strived to create seamless connectivity between the experiences on their website (trade appraisal tools, evaluators, etc) and their CRM, credit card processors, credit vendors, and so on.

As you’re probably aware, this type of connectivity is extremely important to the success of your dealership's day-to-day operations. All of the data that your dealership’s website collects needs transmit immediately transmit to your dealership’s CRM, and be appended to the records in your other programs so that you’re able to track the consumer’s history with your dealership.

Now, let me ask you this: have you ever stopped to think about how connected your website experience is for consumers? If you haven’t, then now is the time to start! In an age where consumers are online more than they are in your store, it’s arguably more important for you to create a connected website experience for consumers.

Websites like Amazon, Google & Facebook have already proven how important it is for connectivity to exist between a platform and its users. Between its ability to remember specific  details about you and its ability to provide suggestions, these sites are prime examples of ideal connectivity.

I realize that these are much larger sites, but much smaller sites are beginning to add improved connectivity between the consumer and the website. Who’s to say that your dealership can’t do the same exact thing?

Your dealership’s website can absolutely improve its consumer connectivity. The primary thing you need to understand are the common traits that make a consumer connected website successful. Check out the 4 most common traits below:

The Website Remembers the Consumer

One of the most common traits found in consumer connected websites is its ability to remember who consumers are when they return to your website. One of the major reasons why sites like Amazon are so successful is because of this particular trait. After you’ve logged into your Amazon account, you can return and the site still remembers your name, your shopping preferences, your credit cards numbers, and everything else under the sun.

For your dealership’s website, this trait can have a major impact on the way consumers continue to engage with you. Consider the experiences on your website, for example: your trade appraisal tools, your evaluations, your credit applications, etc. If they’re considered valuable, a consumer is going to engage with some of those experiences.

Considering most consumers pay your website a visit a 2nd or 3rd time, they’re continuing to peruse your website and go through other experiences. If your consumers have already visited your website, why should they have to enter in all their information again when going through a separate experience? They shouldn’t have to!

Integrating a feature that allows your website to remember consumer names is not only considered thoughtful, but it makes life just a little easier for the consumer. There’s no extra hassle and the consumer can keep browsing as they see fit.

The Consumer and Dealership Get Equal Value

Another common trait I’ll be discussing is “equal exchange of value.” What does this mean? Basically, an equal exchange of value is when a consumer receives something of equal or greater value from your dealership after they’ve submitted valuable that your sales team can use to follow-up with consumers with ease.

Essentially, it’s when an experience provides consumers and dealers with a win-win scenario. If a consumer is going through a trade appraisal experience, it means they want to know the value of their current vehicle. If they’re taking the time to go through the experience, then it’s clear that the appended dollar value is very important to them. In exchange for that estimate, they provide dealers with their contact information and shopping preferences — which again, is all very valuable information to dealers.

Smart CTA Implementation

Personalized Calls-to-Action or Smart CTA’s are another trait often found on highly connected websites. Like I’ve discussed in previous posts, Smart CTAs are calls-to-action that change based on an individual’s previous activity on your website.

After a consumer completes a certain action on your website (say, they go through a trade appraisal experience), the website will automatically generate button that suggests next steps. These next steps can be anything that helps a consumer push them further down the purchasing funnel: lock-in price, schedule a test drive, etc. The best part about Smart CTA’s is obviously that they’re customized to their individual consumer’s specific needs — so nothing is irrelevant.
 

Consumers Can Choose to Talk to a Salesperson

As much as we don’t want to admit it, consumers are still a tad weary about submitting their information to dealerships — even if they are getting something of immediate value from you. The reason for this is because consumers are fearful that they’ll get a million phone calls and e-mails from a sales person after they hit “submit” or “Get Trade-In Value.”

While the salesperson is an absolutely integral part of the purchasing journey for many consumers, consumers who are still in the research phase might not want to talk to anyone at that moment. A salesperson doesn’t have to available 100% of the time. Consumers might still need some time to figure out what it is they want from their next vehicle. Not only are they looking at inventory, but they’re probably looking at other dealerships too — and that’s perfectly okay!

When it comes to website experiences, it pays to be courteous. Simply adding a permission checkbox before submission allows consumers to feel more comfortable with submitting their information to you. If they want someone from the dealership to reach out, they can click the checkbox. If not, they can leave it blank — and they’ll still get the information they requested.

Does your dealership leverage any of these traits? Are there any traits that you can maybe add to the list? Let me know in the comments below!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece about creating an experience that doesn’t heavily rely on a salesperson. Although I made it pretty clear that eliminating the salesperson altogether is a bad idea (the salesperson is still an important part of the purchasing journey), not everyone wants to talk to a sales person right away — especially when they don’t know what they want.

One of the items I mentioned in my last piece was the concept of "automated responses." This was met with a bit of skepticism initially, until it was realized that I didn’t truly mean attempting to falsify human engagement. Such communications would need to be completely permission based — which is why these responses are so valuable to begin with. These are responses are typically generated by requests from the consumer directly.

There are a number of different ways to leverage an instant response in your website marketing efforts, without feeling as though you’re tricking the consumer (ex: getting a “personal” letter after a consumer receives their instant trade appraisal). Here are a couple of good examples:

Provide Consumers with Downloadable Resources

One of the best ways your dealership can leverage automatic responses is by having your website automatically send downloadable resources to consumers who request them. Regardless of whether they’re in the research phase or the the purchase phase, consumers are always hungry for more information.

Instead of having your consumers rely on a salesperson to get certain information (which wastes precious time and resources), why not have certain documents readily available for them to download? Place an experience on your dealership’s website that allows consumers to request certain documents. Upon request, that information (in the form of a document) can automatically be sent over to the requester.

Now, you’re probably wondering “what the heck can my consumers even download? What would they even want to download?” Well, believe it or not, there are plenty of downloadable items that your consumers are likely interested in.

Vehicle warranties, vehicle instruction manuals, financing information, terms of service and other miscellaneous legal documents are just a few examples of the extensive information that your consumer might want to have on hand. Why not provide that information to them immediately?

One last thing I should point out is that just because you’re automatically sending your consumers a downloadable item, that doesn’t mean you can’t personalize some aspects of your communications. Your consumers still crave a human element. And don’t worry — it doesn’t have to be that hard at all. A simple “Hi [Name], here’s the eGuide you requested.” would more than suffice. In fact, if you want to go the extra mile and ask an open-ended question at the end to encourage engagement, that’s even better!

Basic Vehicle Inquiries

Another fantastic way to leverage automated technology is by providing an instant response to questions like “is this available?” or “are there any additional offers available for me?” Questions like this can be immediately answered online using assessment or dynamic technology on your website.

I’m not talking about auto responders. It’s not about making it seem like a real person responded but rather letting technology provide the type of experience consumers are used to getting today. How many times have you been online shopping and without talking with anyone, found out basic information like availability, discounts, estimated shipping or even trade-in value of non-automotive products.

Many inquires that are specific to auto dealer websites can be leveraged without a required salespersons involvement to deliver back to the buyer. This means you can be more effective with our follow-up resources, provide instant value 24/7 to website visitors and engage consumers earlier in the buying journey by not forcing them to talk to a dealer representative.

Again, this doesn’t mean I’m saying not to have your salespeople to call these leads. They can and should still call/email to follow up with leads. It will just be something of an additional value to what a consumer was given instantly online.

Instead of your sales team having to handle document download requests and basic inquires, they can reserve their engagement for when a consumer really needs to talk to them — like when they have a specific question about their personal financing issues or about different service add-ons following a purchase. The point I’m trying to make is that automatic responses allow for your website to answer certain consumer questions while leaving your sales team to do what they do best: sell.