As consumers continue to visit dealership websites to conduct research, the more important it is for consumers to continue to beef up their websites with the possible tools: trade-in tools, calculators, assessments, etc.

It might seem relatively simple to just have your website provider slap any ol’ tool on your dealership’s website, but this move could prove to be rather detrimental. Even though doing something like this would have been more than acceptable, say, 10-15 years ago, dealerships should absolutely think about their current marketing and sales goals before moving forward with implementation.

As time has progressed, dealerships have become more and more aware of the impact their websites can have on consumer attraction, retention and conversion. The quality and resourcefulness of your website can mean the difference between a high bounce rate and a closed customer.

There are a number of different dealership tools on the market today that have been developed for prospective car shoppers. While many of these are tools are extremely effective at providing many consumers what they want, not all tools are built alike and provide the same types of results.

On the market today, there are 2 important types of dealership website tools that you need to pay attention to: utility tools and conversion tools (or guide tools, as I sometimes call them). In a nutshell, utility tools (or website utilities) are exactly what you’d expect they’d be. They’re tools that solely act as a utility to a consumer. For example: a payment calculator would be considered a utility — because it’s a simple tool that does exactly what it says its going to do and nothing more.

A conversion tool, however, is one that focuses on converting that consumer into a paying customer. A good example would be a consumer that wants to calculate their monthly payment, while being presented with options that would fit their particular budgetary needs. Instead of just supplying a calculation, it goes the extra mile.

Of course, this isn’t to say that one type of tool is better than the other. In many ways, utility tools can be just as good as conversion tools. When searching for the perfect lead generation tool for your website, it’s important to think about your current marketing and sales goals. If your goal is to supply a quick resource for consumers who are likely to buy from you, then by all means, stick with a website utility tool. If, however, you’re trying to convince consumers to buy from your dealership, you might consider integrating a tool that acts as a guide — a conversion tool, if you will.

Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself “Utility tools and conversion tools sound about the same. I don’t get what the BIG difference is. Isn’t a utility tool a resource that consumers use during their research?” Well, yes and no. Although utility and conversion tools can possess a lot of the same functionality, their purposes are entirely different. To understand their differences, of course, you need to fully understand what utility tools and conversions tools actually are:

What Are Utility Tools?

Like I mentioned before, utility tools are integrated onto a dealership’s website purely for the purpose of being, you guessed it, a utility. Usually heavy in functionality but without a high level of user-friendliness.

What’s arguably the biggest difference between utility tools and conversion tools is that utility tools are simply tools that were originally made for internet managers and dealers, but were converted to assist consumers as well. Even though this might seem like a positive all around, a lot of the terminology used hasn’t been changed or simplified for a curious consumer. For example: Consumers utilizing a traditional trade-in tool might not be able to fully assess the detailed options and condition of their vehicle because they (like many consumers), don’t have a full understanding of what would be considered a “good” or “average” condition vehicle. Consumers who aren’t familiar with automotive terminology might find themselves confused with a trade-in experience, and it might ultimately leave them frustrated.

This, of course, isn’t to say that utility tools are bad. While I’ll fully admit that I’m advocate for the consumer guide approach, utility tools can prove extremely useful for consumers who are familiar with automotive terminology. Many digital retailing technologies are a great example of utilities are helping advance consumer's capabilities online. They’re also a really good example of a utility based product. Very heavy in functionality but for someone who doesn’t handle vehicle transactions on a daily basis, it can be a lot to take on. Where we see the best performance of the digital retailing strategy is by far with the most consumer centric

What are Conversion Tools?

Unlike website utilities (or utility tools), the purpose of conversion tools is to literally convert a consumer into a paying customer. A conversion tool might also consist of a trade-in tool or calculator — but the actual experience and results are presented at a very high-level and are easily digestible. Instead of assuming that consumers will understand certain terminology or understand the intricacies of determining vehicle condition (good, bad, average, etc.), it asks consumers to answer questions that they can answer with full confidence.

For example: Instead of asking a consumer about the condition of their vehicle, they could simply ask about the things that aren’t based on opinion like: vehicle mileage, years you’ve known the vehicle, car make and model, etc. The questions in these tools let consumers feel like they have a say in the matter — even if they’re providing simple information. And in addition to providing “just the facts,” they might have an opportunity to show their interest in other things like: a test drive, special services — anything that can help folks in the dealership help their consumers when they finally are ready to purchase.

Long story short, website utility tools and conversion guide tools both have clear benefits to your dealership. Whatever type of tool your dealership decides to use should be determined by your consumer base as well as your dealership’s overall marketing and sales goals. Again, while I’m personally a heavy advocate for conversion tools, you might find that utilities are helpful as well. My suggestion to you is to experiment with different types of technology and use your best judgment. You never know how things will pan out.

Dealers generally tell us they see a slow start at the beginning of the year when it comes to auto sales. Now is the perfect time for dealerships to adjust strategies and optimize their website to help generate auto sales leads for a successful year.

As consumers start to receive their tax refunds, those thinking about purchasing a vehicle will start their research soon, hopefully land on your website and become engaged.

Follow these 3 tips to help turn auto sales leads into customers.

1. Review your website ads

Most auto dealers offer incentives throughout their website, such as $2,500 cash allowance on new car purchases or zero percent financing. If you’re offering static deals but your competitor is offering similar deals, these ads may not be as attractive to the shopper.

To get better automotive leads, consider car dealer ads that are targeted toward the consumer and where they’re at in the buying phase. For example, you can use interactive software on your website to capture whether consumers are starting their research, narrowed down their vehicle options or if they’re ready to buy.

The details you capture from the software can help you determine what type of offer you want to serve up in each experience.

You can then make your offers more relevant and appealing to the buyer, and you can capture quality lead data helping you to create a buyer profile for each website visitor.

2. Make sure your dealership is mobile friendly

If you’ve ever landed on a website on your phone, you know just how frustrating it is when it’s not mobile responsive. Within a second, you’re already onto another website. Making sure you have a mobile friendly website will help keep potential buyers happy.

Your dealership’s website should include response designs. Be sure to check out how your website looks on phones and tablets, working with your website provider to make adjustments as necessary, whether that’s to CTAs, fonts or images or even the layout.

Data proves that people are using their phones now more than ever to start their vehicle research, compare dealership pricing and even make a purchase.

When a visitor comes to your website on their phone, interactive software that’s mobile friendly can also ask them how they prefer to be contacted. Some consumers only want to be contacted by text today, rather than by email or by a call, which helps the dealer tailor the buying experience to each shopper.

To personalize the experience even more, you can ask questions through interactive mobile software on your website that finds out that buyer’s next step, whether it’s to continue browsing on their own, arranging a deal, scheduling a test drive, or requesting to speak to someone at the dealership.

3. Nurture potential car buyers

You have a lot of potential buyers coming to your site. One segment might be looking for used vehicles, another might only be interested in new, while some are interested in specific inventory only. A visitor could be an existing lead in your system, while another is a new visitor or even a previous customer who purchased a vehicle from you in the past.

For each of those types of buyers, you can create a personalized experience with smart CTAs with interactive auto software that captures quality lead data.

For example, based on the data you capture, you may only show manufacturer promotions to only new car shoppers, instead of all visitors.

For visitors in the early stages of their buying journey, you may offer an email newsletter sign-up to help them in their car buying process. In the newsletter, your dealership could offer facts and figures such as safety ratings and new vehicle features, too.

An email newsletter allows you to begin building a relationship with the consumer, making you a trusted source of quality information and reinforces that your dealership cares about its customers.

By offering up more relevant CTAs, you’re giving the consumer a meaningful experience on your website, building their trust, engaging them in their online car shopping experience and hopefully turning that quality lead into a buyer.

About 2 weeks ago, I wrote a piece about the importance of boosting your dealership’s brand over 3rd party brands on your website. I laid out the reasons at a very high level, but the primary reason for focusing so heavily on your own brand is to ensure you stand out to consumers during their online shopping so you're not lost when it’s time to finally buy.

This week, I thought I’d go into a little more detail about how you can fully accentuate your brand on your dealership’s website. Here are 3 effective steps you can do to boost your dealership’s brand:

Integrate Your Brand Into Your Trade-In Tool

One of the first (and arguably easiest) things you can do is integrate your brand into your website’s trade-in tool. Although a number of trade-in tools offer a varied number of customization options, you might be able to work with your software provider to add branded elements to the trade-in experience. Depending on who your software provider is (I’ll try not to be too biased), you might be able to go the extra mile and add multimedia elements to the experience. Videos that explain the trade appraisal process and even unique questions that ask about specific preferences can distinguish your dealership from others.

Now, if you have the resources, another might consider simply building your own trade appraisal tool. With a fully customized trade appraisal integration, you would be able to customize the experience to your heart’s content. The more you customize your trade appraisal experience, the most engaged your consumers would be and they wouldn’t feel a need to go elsewhere.

Focus On Other Types of Interactive Media

Although the trade appraisal tool is the most common and quintessential of automotive website tools, there are other types of interactive experiences that you can throw on your website. One of the best ways you can really put your dealership's brand in the spotlight is to have consumers engage with your website in unique ways. Interactive experiences like assessments, quizzes, and games are all great ways for consumers to learn more about your brand, and in turn, capture valuable information from your consumers for follow-up with.

Aside from obviously being able to integrate your brand’s logos and slogans into those experiences, the experiences themselves are memorable and help consumers retain more information. If you’re thinking of dabbling with interactive experiences, reach out to a reliable website or software provider that can help you create the experiences you want. Simply put, these types of interactions create depth in the conversation between your website and website visitor. That depth allows you to say more in a more meaningful way during their interaction.

Brand Your Price

The last thing I’ll cover regarding boosting your dealership’s brand is the concept of branding your price — something I discussed in-depth in my January 14th blog post. In a nutshell, branding your price literally means appending your brand to a car’s listed price. Whether you’re a “one price” dealership or intend on allowing some room for negotiation, branding your price is a great idea.

By “branding your price,” you’re essentially taking responsibility for the what way your inventory is priced. To ensure there’s trust between you and your consumers regarding this final price, you can leverage videos and images that explain how such prices were calculated. You likely put a lot of work into pricing your inventory competitively. By building value in that price with your brand and explanation of what extent you went to calculating it, you can build trust with consumers.

Not only does this reduce the need for negotiation, but your dealership immediately becomes memorable and it keeps consumers on your website. This separates you from the competition and keeps you in the running for when its time to leave the computer and visit a dealership.

Every dealership is unique and has something special to offer its consumers. That being said, it’s important for your dealership to let folks know, not only that you exist, but that you’re worth looking into. How does your dealership boost its brand?

Last week, I joined in on an interesting forum discussion with DrivingSales’ own Adam Shiflett regarding the relevancy of leads. According to Shiflett, many dealers he had talked to have recently noticed a significant decline in lead volume and conversion rate.

One thing that Shiflett mentioned that was particularly interesting was that he had seen a steady increase in younger consumers visiting these dealership websites. In addition to seeing increased traffic from younger consumers, there was also a swift increase in mobile visits to their websites — which can be rightfully concluded as a direct correlation.

If we’ve learned anything from this, it’s that younger consumers aren’t as willing to relinquish their information as some older consumers — especially in a mobile format that isn’t particularly convenient to fill information out on.

As we continue to see a steady increase in newer, more tech-savvy car drivers, Adam Schiflett asks a bold but not completely logical question: Are lead forms (and leads) "going the way of the Dodo?"
 

When you’re seemingly doing everything right and you’re not seeing any results, then yeah, it sure might seem that way. But what if it just so happens that the definition of a “lead” is simply changing or evolving?

As I’ve mentioned time and time again, the industry standard for lead capture is evolving. However, there are still quite a few dealerships who rely heavily on static lead forms to create opportunities. While static lead forms captured lots of leads back in the day, consumer engagement technology has become far more effective at nabbing a consumer’s attention and getting them to convert.

Although part of the older generations (Generation X-ers & Baby Boomers, more specifically) might still prefer to interact with a salesperson vs. using online technology, the large majority of those younger generations that Shiflett refers to have historically preferred to do research on their own until they’re much closer to completing a transaction with the dealership. And let’s be honest with ourselves: this new generation of tech-savvy, smartphone toting drivers is only continuing to grow. These are just young kids anymore, they’re in their 30’s now and slowly taking over the consumer market.

Instead of filling out a lead form to request information from a salesperson, younger consumers prefer to seek out the information on their own. Before speaking with a live person that will no doubt act as a salesperson more than a resource, consumers like to make use of self-service tools on dealership websites that provide them with everything they need: calculators, assessments, shopping guides, utilities to configure shopping preferences, etc. Of course, the tricky part is determining the best way to capture their information after they’ve leveraged your tools or have gone through assessments.

In the majority of self-service website tools, a consumer needs to submitting their contact information while receiving any sort of additional information (ex: trade appraisal, assessment answers, e-guides, etc.). It’s really not all that surprising when you think about the fact that most of these consumers are use to using sites like Amazon, Yelp, Google, etc. They regularly carry out the complete consumer journey online in a way that is optimized to help them, help themselves.

It’s my belief that the dealer will remain a vital part of the consumer journey in the foreseeable future because it's a large purchase. The transaction itself for most people(not all) will likely still feel much more comfortable to complete at the physical showroom, face to face. It’s easy to make sense of collecting a name and email for the sake of the consumer but not so much when it comes to their phone number.

As this trend continues to become more prominent, it’s becoming clear that dealerships need to reevaluate what the heck a lead actually is. Is a lead just someone that fills out a form and provides their contact information; or is a lead an opportunity? Do all leads need to be responded by a live person? Maybe it’s that some leads need nurtured by your automated marketing tools while others justify the dedicated of your staff resources.

Instead of immediately enticing consumers to give up their contact information, why not warm them up to the idea of volunteering their information. In this self-service age, consumers feel a need to have complete control over every aspect of their purchasing journey before they even think of speaking with someone who could help them. Forcing information to be submitted can easily be hacked and even if it is accurate, it did nothing to get them to respond when you reach out.

Collect information about them beyond contact details. Build a profile on who they are, how they want to shop and the best way to earn their business. This consumer profile can be used in real-time on your site, by your CRM or a number of other powerful AND automated tools, instead of your staff.

This new generation of consumers doesn’t want to be swayed from their initial research and they don’t want their opinions changed by someone who really wants to sell them a car. It’s simply not in the consumer’s best interest, and they know that for a fact. Give your consumers whatever resources you feel might genuinely help them along their purchasing journey — and don’t immediately expect anything in return for that information… at least not for a whole lot.

Enhanced calculators, assessments and shopping guides are all great examples of resources that consumers find extremely useful and that don’t necessarily require that they submit specific contact information (like phone number). The more free resources you provide, the more it incentivizes consumers to actually speak with someone from your dealership directly. One great way to do this is by providing your consumers with choices. After a consumer has done some research on your website, they might feel more confident about moving forward (or down) the purchasing the funnel.

So, let’s say a consumer has determined that after a month or so of research, they’re finally ready to speak with a representative. While doing a bit more research, a consumer fills out a “what car is best for your lifestyle?” assessment and they’re provided contact preference choices. One is a checkbox that says “Are you ready to speak with a dealer representative?” Another is a drop-down that allows consumers to indicate how they want to be contacted. Once again, this is something that give consumers the feeling of complete control. It gives me a say into how they want to conduct research during every step of the purchasing funnel. It doesn’t get more self-service than that!

In a nutshell, the moral of the story is that consumers nowadays don’t like having someone “helicopter” over them. Car shopping isn’t taking up 100% of a consumer’s time just as selling isn’t taking up 100% of your time. Consumers have nearly complete control over most of their purchases and a high standard of being able to do it themselves. This doesn’t mean we can’t still drive more leads and higher conversion rates. We may just want to think about taking a different approach.

Instead of only capturing leads by forcing consumers to talk to a salesperson, capture lead data while consumers help themselves on your website and then leverage that data with the automated systems you have in place. Nurture the customer, warming them up until they actually want to talk to someone at the dealership.

That being said, it’s NEVER a good idea to assume that consumer who has interacted with your dealership’s website is ready to speak with a salesperson. The absolute best way to figure that out is to ask them — and you can do this with your dealership’s website. Not only should you give them room to make decisions about what they want from a car or what they want from their financing, but let them decide when the best time is to talk to someone or make a purchase. There’s no need to rush the process — especially when buying a car can be such a long, drawn-out process. Sit back, observe their behavior, and when they’re ready to come to you, they’ll let you know — and they’ll be able to arm YOU with the information you need to help them out!
 

As soon as the majority of consumers realize that they need a new vehicle, they instantly become immersed in various types of research — most of it involving dealership inventory and financing. In the early part of their research, most consumers will find themselves on a 3rd party branded website like KBB, Edmunds or AutoTrader. Not only are they often looking for a particular type of vehicle, but they’re using that site’s calculators to estimate the value of their current vehicle.

Throughout the last year, I’ve been a HUGE advocate for dealerships possessing their own branded trade-in tools. Obviously, I’m still an advocate for leveraging every aspect of your dealership’s brand; but there’s no denying that consumers (in those early stages) are still visiting 3rd party brands for a lot of this information. These websites have been around for quite a long time and they’ve established the reputation of having valuable and reliable tools that can get consumers the information they’re looking for.

While it’s true that, in an ideal world, your dealership could (and should) provide this same information to a consumer; that’s just not how it works out all the time. Despite this, however, your dealership should hold its brand up on a pedestal above all the others. Even though many consumers are encountering famous, 3rd party brands first, they’re usually following up that website visit with a visit to your dealership’s website. Although a vehicle can be found relatively easily off those 3rd party sites, the majority of those consumers still choose to do business with actual dealerships. Why? Well, on top of the fact 3rd party brands don’t sell vehicles, they have access to services and offers that they wouldn’t otherwise get through a 3rd party brand. Additionally, the ability to physically visit your dealership gives consumers a sense of comfort, when making a large purchase.

When consumers visit your website after visiting 3rd party websites and leveraging their tools, they aren’t necessarily looking to interact with the same tools or content they just did. They’re much more interested in tools, data or specific content tied to your dealership brand and inventory. Independent 3rd party brands do provide a high level of value and let me be clear, I’m  not saying you shouldn’t work with them. My point is that their data can only be so relevant or accurate to what is actually going to transcribe with a transaction at the dealership. That's why there is still tremendous value to visiting the dealership's site. It’s also why what you provide visitors to interact with MUST be unique to your dealership and brand.

What can offer in unique brand values and perks, along with your ability to assist consumers throughout the whole process, are many times what are the deciding factors on where to purchase. Many times, even overriding just price as a driving factor on where to buy.

When it comes to learning how to generate new sales leads, your dealership’s brand is arguably the most important aspect of your marketing strategy. Unfortunately, there are still a number of dealerships who aren’t focused enough on their own brand; leading consumers to go to 3rd party websites in order to complete a transaction. This is obviously something that we don’t want.

Here are 2 major things that your dealership needs to QUIT doing going forward:

Quit Intentionally Sending People Off Your Website

One of the biggest issues I've seen, and continue to see, are dealerships who send their consumers off their site to 3rd party branded websites. It might seem like I'm making this up, but I assure you that I'm not.

The reason many dealerships do this is that they think they're providing consumers with a resource. I mean, technically they're correct. They're providing consumers with a place to find more valuable information. The problem is it isn't on the dealership's website. It’s like sending them back out where they can find competitors and be marketed to by someone else after working so hard for their visit to your website.

It’s enough that many of the 3rd party branded tools dealers use are over-branded and cookie cutter. To actually deliver them off your domain, back into competitor territory, just does not make sense.

Take note that it doesn’t make sense for the consumer either. They’ve likely already been where you're sending them and have interacted with 3rd party tools or content already. They came to your site to learn about you or receive something that validates what they learned elsewhere.

Instead of sending these valuable consumers to a 3rd party website to learn more about a particular vehicle, fill out a credit application or appraise their vehicle, put all those resources on your own website. There's absolutely no reason why your website can't be just as credible and trustworthy as more well-known brands.

Quit Prioritizing 3rd party Brands Over your Own

Another issue plaguing dealerships is that they're completely unwilling to relinquish 3rd party tools and branding from their own website. Once again, I implore you to STOP!

There isn't anything wrong with these 3rd party trade-in and evaluation tools. However, like I mentioned before, most of your consumer base visits these 3rd party websites during the beginning of their research. If they've already gone  through the process of assessing their trade and going through additional experiences on that 3rd party website, what makes you think that they'll leverage the same exact tools on your dealership's website? They know the results won't change, so why would they go through it again? There's no point in putting a KBB or BlackBook tool if you know several of your consumers have already used those tools.

Instead of integrating these 3rd party trade in tools on your website, focus on integrating other types of experiences onto your website. Create a 1st party trade or retail reporting tool. It can still provide a 3rd party brand placed in the bottom corner that validates the source of information is legitimate. However, your brand should be the shining all-star at the top.

Custom build assessments and quizzes are a great way to engage with prospective customers while capturing valuable lead data. Instead of using another brand's logos and templates, custom assessments and quizzes allow your dealership the opportunity to put your brand on display. You can ask unique questions and offer experiences that many of the quintessential 3rd party tools don't have. Additionally, you can add branding elements to your price and your financing that make it uniquely yours. Think of these interactions as ‘self-service’ interactions that can also generate leads. Not obstacles that force website visitors to talk with salespeople. Not only does this add credibility to your dealership, but your dealership becomes distinguishable almost immediately.

The average consumer doesn’t understand the complex dynamics of the automotive industry. In fact, they probably don’t even care enough to learn about it. But these very dynamics are what greatly affect the availability, price and depreciation of vehicles.

Even though many consumers don’t understand these certain complexities, and claim to not care about them, they’re things that consumers care about a LOT.

Think about it. Let’s say a consumer visits your dealership and asks for a lower price on a vehicle. The dealer asks the consumer “Why?” and then the consumer doesn’t have a proper answer for them.

If that consumer happened to understand the complexities of calculating such a price, not only wouldn’t they feel the need to negotiate, but they’d feel more comfortable with the price as it’s likely the best possible calculation.

Back in the day (let’s say 10 or 15 years ago), it was almost to the dealer’s benefit to NOT have to explain the process of pricing to a consumer.

A consumer would visit a dealership, browse the selection at said dealership and take things at face value. If they didn’t like what they saw or researched, they’d leave or try to haggle. If haggling didn’t work (because of a lack of industry knowledge), then again, they’d take their business elsewhere.

Nowadays, however, consumers aren’t okay with being complacent and accepting things as they are. If they can’t get the information they’re looking for, or can’t get the deal they want, that relationship is over. In this tech-savvy age of smart-phones and micro-moments, consumers prefer to self-educate.

Before they make any purchasing decisions or even step foot into your showroom, consumers visit different dealership websites to look at inventory, pricing, financing options, trade appraisals, etc. Additionally, consumers like to take assessments (Ex: what vehicle or financing option is best for me?) and they prefer to read reviews of vehicles and dealerships before committing to anything. After all, purchasing a vehicle is a big decision.

Long story short: You can’t trick people anymore. Now, I’m not saying that your dealership has been tricking people intentionally -- but there’s no such thing as hiding information from car buyers anymore. To alleviate a lot of the conversational friction that stems from a consumer’s lack of education or independence, your dealership needs to provide resources that help improve self-efficiency.

What better way to provide those resources than to publish them on your dealership’s website? It’s your most powerful marketing platform! One of the most important things your dealership should do is educate car buyers about their vehicle of interest and your appraisal process.

Using images and video and other automotive solutions like assessments and calculators, your dealership can explain, at a high level, what the current process is for calculating best prices and determining fair vehicle appraisals. Images, video and interactive experiences have not only help consumers to stay actively engaged on your website, but it helps them retain information as well. Something as simple as a short, 1-minute video next to a specific inventory listing to explain went into calculating a specific price, provides them with the confidence to move further down the purchasing funnel.

In my last piece for DrivingSales, I mentioned that importance of branding your price in order to take responsibility for the information you’re providing to consumers. Educating your consumers about aspects of your dealership is really no different. If anything, the concept of branding your price was just one component of many regarding consumer education.

By taking the time to educate your customers, you decrease their need to ask numerous questions and haggle. If consumers have copious amount of information at their disposal, they won’t even have to speak to a sales rep until they’re basically ready to step into your showroom for a test drive. Even though the ultimate goal is for your sales reps to develop a strong relationship with their consumers, technology has made consumers desire a more independent research experience.

As much as dealers would like to resist the temptation to replace all of their old fashioned marketing and sales tactics online, now is not the time. Consumers will need your help at some point during the car-buying journey — but in early stages, it’s best to leave the information out and let them seek it out themselves. As soon as they find what they’re looking for, I almost guarantee that they’ll be back.

If you’ve been reading my pieces for the last few months, you’ve probably noticed how passionate I am about branding. By branding every aspect of your dealership’s marketing, it makes the consumer’s experience on your website far more engaging and memorable.

In the past, I've discussed the significance of branding your website, your trade appraisal tools, your assessments, etc. That being said, there’s one thing I haven’t touched on with DrivingSales and that’s the concept of “branding your price."

Over the last few years, dealerships have eagerly pushed a “best price” model because it’s well known that consumers don’t like to negotiate. The theory was (and still is) that if you offer consumers the “best possible price” on a vehicle, it’s basically like shouting from the rooftops “we’re the best and you won’t get a better deal anywhere else."

The problem with the “best price” model is that despite consumers not wanting to negotiate, they still expect it — and if they don’t have the opportunity to negotiate, they become highly skeptical of whether or not your “best price” really is the best price. If they don’t get to negotiate, they feel conned….. even though you & I know you’re being totally transparent and honest with your consumers! So, what do you do? Simple. BRAND YOUR PRICE!

What Does Branding Your Price Even Mean?

Branding your price is exactly what you think it means. Basically, you take your “best price” model and you quite literally add your brand to it.

Let’s say your dealership is called “ABC Motors.” You could name your “best price” as “ABC Motors True Price” or “True Deal.” Essentially, the point of placing your brand onto this price is that you’re claiming responsibility of the legitimacy and accuracy of this fair deal. You wouldn't want your name associated with something deceiving, would you? Of course not. By branding your “best price,” your consumers are able to hold you accountable. And guess what? If their experience is a positive one, that helps boost customer loyalty going forward.

Along with becoming a more “pronounced” and distinguishable brand, there are lots of great marketing opportunities and benefits that come with branding your price. Here’s why branded pricing is such a good idea:

Provides an Opportunity to Educate the Consumer

One really cool aspect branding your price is that it opens up the opportunity to educate your consumers. If you’re going to proudly claim this best price as your own, then you might as well explain why. Take the time to tell car buyers how you managed to calculate that price in a creative way. Instead of writing up some longwinded explanation, create an image or a video that explains it. What’s particularly cool about educating your consumer on the pricing is that it makes car buyers want to learn more about your dealership; which helps increase the number of automotive leads your salesmen can work with.

You’d be so surprised how many free, easy-to-use tools are out there to make this possible. Adobe Spark is an awesome, easy-to-use platform that allows you to create videos and images for your website and your social media channels.

Offers a Competitive Edge

In addition to explaining how you managed to come up with your “best price,” you can use the “branded price” as an opportunity to make your actual dealership shine. In a short video or simple image, explain why buying from your dealership or auto group is a good idea.

Explain that this “best price” not only gets you an awesome set of wheels, but it gets you free or discounted services, coupons to auto shops in the area, a great customer experience — really anything that you think would be an advantage to visiting your dealership as opposed to another. You’re basically telling car buyers that this is the best price because you’re the best dealership.

There’s no question that competition in the automotive industry is fierce. By branding every aspect of your marketing possible (yes, even your price), you stand a greater chance of being remembered in a positive way.

Has your dealership tried branding its price? Tell us about it in the comments!

For most dealerships nowadays, website strategy is a HUGE component of their overall business goals. Your website is now the ultimate vessel for capturing sales. 

While focusing on your website's lead capture efforts is certainly beneficial, the problem with this type of thinking (or mindset) is that you lock yourself onto one very specific goal: capture as many high-quality leads as possible. Again, this isn't a bad thing -- but is that your REAL ultimate goal? No! Your dealership's ultimate marketing goal is to get more consumers to visit your dealership in order to initiate a personal conversation(sell more vehicles).

Conversations are important because they allow both the dealer and the consumer to get to know one another. Both parties have information that they're looking for, as well as a goal that needs to be fulfilled. Consumers want to learn more about how to buy a car and dealerships want to know more about their consumers so that they see more auto sales in the future.

Starting that initial discussion can be challenging because different consumers will always be at different stages of the consumer journey. You don't want to come off as too strong, but you don't want to ignore them either. One way to alleviate this pain point is to focus more on the conversations consumers are having with your website VS just the number of leads you're capturing. Allow me to explain....

I've said it over and over again, and I don't think I can ever stress this enough -- consumers can and should have conversations with your website. Like Amazon and Google, it should be a 2-way participatory experience the whole way through.

You don't need to call, email or physically visit someone in order to initiate a discussion. It's all in the tools and resources. When a consumer is on your dealership's website, it's clear that they're on the hunt for something, have questions or need help thinking through their options.

One great way to initiate a conversation is to supply consumers with a guide to help with the options (but not too many, of course) and resources that allow consumers to make important buying decisions. Provide them the opportunity to see suggested inquiries or recommend the next best step suitable for them through an interactive assessment. As soon as they complete those interactions, you can have your website suggest additional actions that suit their individual needs.

This can be done through the use of Dynamic Pathing and Smart CTA's. Depending on the information collected, your dealers can then develop a more personalized "plan of attack" and continue the "discussion" on the phone or ideally, in person. Your follow-up efforts should really be transitioning an already existing conversation between your website and a customer, to a live person in the dealership. This drastically reduces the friction, hesitation and even fear consumers have when considering a live conversation with someone at the dealership. 

For example, if a leads consumer profile dictates their the type of shopping experience they want and all the immediate details of their situation, that's essentially giving the dealership everything that would normally be discussed in the first conversation with a prospect. Now your first live conversation with a lead is more meaningful and effective because you've already really started the conversation online with your website. No one likes having to repeat themselves over and over as you explain your whole situation to each new dealer you talk with. 

Capturing lots and lots of leads is always exciting. There's nothing cooler than seeing all those names and phone numbers popping up in your CRM. But let's be honest for a moment: how valuable are those leads if all you have is a name and their phone number? It isn't very valuable at all. Not until some type of a real conversation takes place.

The reason why interactive experiences are so important is because they allow consumers to ease themselves into the discussion. They're essentially giving you (the dealership) permission to reach out, and they're expecting you to know all about them. Consumers have become savvier over the years and they're fully aware of the capabilities of technology in regards to information collection.

Consumers know damn well that their contact and preference information is a gift to dealers, and they're expecting great service in return. There's no reason to disappoint them. 

If you haven’t already figured it out, interactive content is something I’m very passionate about. I talk about it all the time. Along with talking about interactive content at a very high level, one of the other things I’ve consistently talked about as of late were “Smart CTA’s."

In case you’re unfamiliar, Smart CTA’s are calls-to-action that change based on a consumer’s on-site behavior. A consumer will be presented with a “generic” or “generalized" CTA when they first visit your website — but as they explore your website and share personal information, different CTAs will be displayed to better cater to what they might be looking for.

One cool thing about Smart CTA’s is that you can do a lot with them. Through dynamic pathing (something I touched upon in my previous post), you can present Smart CTA’s to consumers after they’ve perused your website or completed an interactive form in order to push them further down the purchasing funnel. 

The interesting thing about Smart CTA’s is that, through the magic of dynamic pathing, you have options for what types of Smart CTA’s you can utilize. When I provide dealerships with car sales tips and tricks, there are 2 primary types of Smart CTA’s that I recommend. Some dealers focus their energy on one type, and heck, some dealers focus on both. 

The first option you have are “Targeted Offer” Smart CTA’s. The second option are “Existing Lead” Smart CTA’s. 

I know what you’re thinking: What in God’s name are those? Allow me to explain in more detail what each of these individual types of CTA’s are — because they both have their complexities.

Targeted Offer CTA’s 

Targeted Offer CTA's are buttons and banners that are presented to consumers entirely based on previous website browsing behavior, combined with any captured lead data. While a consumer that initially visits your website will typically be served generic, catch-all CTA's that can basically apply to those in the research phase, consumers might find themselves seeing different CTA’s a few seconds later. These CTA's, as expected, are meant to push consumers down the purchasing funnel from that initial, research phase, and the ads presented are based on what parts of your dealership's website a consumer has looked at. 

For example: let's say you have a new visitor to your website. Although they might have heard of your dealership, this might be their 1st visit to your website ever -- or perhaps in a while. During that initial touchpoint, your website knows NOTHING about this consumer.

As they browse, however, your website automatically figures out what they might be interested in. If a consumer visits the financing section of your website (even without filling out any forms), one CTA that might be presented to them is "Get Pre-Approved." If they're looking at a particular vehicle body type pretty aggressively, they might be served a "Schedule a Test Drive" CTA under several vehicle listings. 

In order to serve a targeted ad, all a consumer really needs to do is visit your website. Now, you might asking "what about consumers who have filled one of the interactive lead forms on my website?" Good question! That actually brings us to the other CTA type.

Existing Lead Smart CTA's

Unlike Targeted Offer CTA's, "Existing Lead CTA's" require that a consumer has already submitted their information in order to become an actual lead in your dealership's CRM. As many of these folks complete these interactive experiences, they're provided with an opportunity to tell your dealership a little more about themselves.

The general consensus with interactive lead forms is that a consumer is providing dealers with their information in order to immediately get something of value in return. Sometimes it's an immediate offer (ex: a trade bonus) and sometimes it's immediate insight (ex: vehicle value). Regardless of what type of information a consumer gets, dealers can use this specific information to present CTA's that provide a CLEAR next step. 

For example: let's say one of the experiences on your website asks if a consumer is or was ever a part of the armed services. If they answer "yes," (assuming they've completed the experience), they might get served a CTA that offers a specific "thank you" incentive for their service. It can be as simple as an additional bonus on their trade-in; or an offer for X number of free services if they decide to come in for a test drive. 

Just to be perfectly clear, there isn't any one type of CTA that is better or worse than the other. Both types of CTA's have their merits; and they've helped tons of consumers get to the final stages of the purchasing funnel.

The point is that you don't have to continue with the traditional mindset that there is a one-size fits strategy that converts the highest. Your goal should be to try to provide a personalized experience and optimize conversion on a one to one level. Imagine the top 5 or 10 type of website visitors and how you would optimize your site differently for each one of them. Smart CTA's and Dynmaic Pathing are just methods available to you that allow you to optimize your site for all of them at the same time. 

What Smart CTA types have been most beneficial for your dealership? Remove the restrictions of what you think is possible and just assume you could present the right CTA, to the right person, at the right time.   Let me know in the comments! 

One of the things that I’ve consistently harped on in my articles for DrivingSales (including my most recent presentation at DSES), is that dealerships should ALWAYS focus their efforts on catering to “bottom of the funnel” consumers first and then work their way backwards through the consumer journey. 

Just to be clear, this is something I totally believe in because — after all -- you need to “strike while the iron is hot.” If you engage with consumers who already have a clear idea of what it is they want, then your chances of converting that lead to a customer increase significantly.

Despite the need (and heavy suggestion) to focus on those “bottom of the funnel” buyers first, you mustn’t forget about those car buyers at the very beginning of their purchase journey. Although many consumers in this phase are aware that they want to purchase a car, they need to do as much research as humanly possible. Improving consumer engagement earlier in the shopping journey has a "trickle down" effect that increases conversions at the bottom of the funnel. 

As you can rightfully guess, your dealership’s website is arguably the most important component of your dealership’s overall marketing and sales strategy. With it, you can capture a copious number of car sales leads. Outside of Google, your website is generally the initial touchpoint for a consumer who’s currently in the discover or research phase.

With that most often being the case, it’s important for dealerships to immediately nab a car buyer’s attention before they can even think about going to another dealership to look around. The best way to capture and hold a consumer’s attention is to provide optimal resources that help them along their purchasing journey. What better place to do this than your dealership’s own website?

Are you providing a remarkable experience on your website? After visiting several local dealer sites, would the average consumer remember something unique about yours that draws them back when ready to buy? Are you winning over consumers through their digital experience? 

Here are some great ways you can help prospective buyers look, browse & shop using your dealership’s website:

Develop Interactive Content that Answers Common Questions

The cool thing about interactive content is that it’s nearly limitless. The only thing that could possibly stop you is your creativity — and I firmly believe that most, if not all people are infinitely creative. We’re far more capable than we think, and that’s why coming up with incredible ideas isn’t out of the question whatsoever. I mean sure, you need crafty developers to make your dreams come true, but you’d be surprised by what even a smaller team can come up with.

During the discover and research phases, buyers are trying to figure out some pretty basic stuff. They ask themselves questions like: what vehicle body type do I want? what brand do I want to go with? what financing options do I have available to me? And obviously, there are far more questions that early-stage consumers can ask. There overwhelmed by these options and commonly stall out here and end up starting over. 

So, if you’ve already determined that most consumers have these types of questions, Why wait for them to ask? Like I’ve said before, “always strike while the iron is hot.” If you already know the questions they’re going to ask, help them find the answers. Prevent them from stalling out or starting over. 

One great way to do this is with an online evaluation that suggests a certain type of vehicle based on a consumer’s lifestyle. Depending on the answers a consumer gives, a unique solution will be provided. As always, these evaluations can be highly configured. 

Incorporate “Dynamic Pathing” or Smart Calls-to-Action's in the Mix

I dunno about you, but it’s always exciting to hear about dealerships being able to provide their consumers with the resources and information they’re looking for. I’d be lying if I said it was an easy feat. 

Now, being able to engage with your consumers in order to provide them with answers is pretty awesome. But What if you could take that engagement a step further by assisting them with their additional questions and pushing them further down the purchasing funnel?)

A great way to continue engaging with your consumers is by leveraging the power of smart calls-to-action.

In case you aren’t aware, "Smart CTA's" are banners on your website that display offers based on the unique website activity and lead data of a consumer.

As a consumer continues to browse through brands, body styles and so on, your website will automatically collect that data, determine the next possible step and display a button that it feels would best suit their interest and that would best push them further down the purchasing funnel.

Depending on what a consumer is currently looking at (let’s say, for example, it’s financing options), a button or CTA will be displayed that’s relevant to their previous selections. If we use the example we just mentioned, we might assume that a trade appraisal button is displayed.

Something to Keep in Mind

Now just to be completely clear, I firmly believe that simply engaging with your consumers should be your tip-top priority. Period. Capturing a sales actionable lead, should be completely secondary when you’re focusing on consumers in the discovery and research phase.

So, you might be wondering “why is he saying this? I thought capturing leads was a #1 priority.” Well yes, technically it is. It’s the ultimate goal. However, all those consumers that are now in the buying phase started off somewhere. Where did they start? Why, they started in the discover and research phases. Those “ready to buy” consumers were in the same position as the ones you’re focusing in on now. They were unsure of themselves and they had lots of questions that needed to be answered. Additionally, they needed some guidance. 

When you think about all the steps it takes to get to the buying phase, you realize that there a number of opportunities to really gain a consumer’s trust. Those steps are allow you to mold a generic consumer into a loyal paying customer.)

You might need to devote a little bit more time to focusing on these types of consumers, but let me tell you from experience that it’s totally worth the extra effort. By having an ongoing conversation with prospective customers and helping them make the right decisions along their journey, they’re going to be more inclined to purchase from you because you’re familiar and trustworthy. 

If I had to sum it all, I’d basically say investing in more effort earlier in the consumer journey is an investment that will pay dividends once their at the end of their journey. Remember, the average consumer only visits 1.5 dealerships before making their purchase. Meaning the experience you need to lead your market in, is the experience your giving on your website. 

Has your dealership ever focused its efforts on helping unsure consumers? Let us know in the comments below.