Digital Perspectives for Automotive Dealers: Part 2
This is part 2 of a 3 part series, to read part 1, click here:
Think about it this way, Google’s whole job is to make your search results relevant for you. They take great pride in the meticulous ways that they try to out-fox themselves. There was a great article written in the first quarter of this year about the Google algorithm. It talks about how important it is to them that you get what makes the most sense when you search with Google. If someone is looking for Jeep, Google wants to show them the dealership that is closest to them (unless it’s an AWFUL site with a low quality score and bad reviews and no inventory or specials, then they might send you somewhere else.). Think of your own search patterns. If you want to buy an iPod, you don’t want Google to send you to the Apple store 70 miles from your house. You want the closest store. If you ask for a Catholic Church in the vacation town that you are visiting, do you want Google to send you results for Episcopalian churches 45 mins from the hotel? Nope. You want something that makes sense, and is convenient after all that is the point of the internet to make life easier, quicker, right?
Second, look at the condition of your website and ask yourself what you would think of a website that looks like your,s representing the most important and expensive purchase that someone will make that year. If you are going to spend between $12,000 and $120,000 on a purchase what do you expect the website to look like? How about a Chanel purse, that might cost $1400. Maybe a new Joseph A. Banks suit, $400. What do their sites look like? How about an iPod $50, or a ticket on Southwest Airlines, $200. Look at other professional websites that represent companies where you will spend a small fraction of what they will spend with your business. Does Nordstrom have their brother-in-law’s neighbor do their website? It amazes me every day as my team and I scour the net how awful some of these sites look. Now you might say, that’s ridiculous, those are multi-billion dollar companies. That’s right, and that is what we are used to seeing when we go to the internet. Clean, efficient sites that easily navigate us through the PURCHASE process. Imagine how annoyed we would get if the Macy’s site kept routing us off their site to get another credit card. UGH! We would hate it. Most shoppers have a couple of minutes and all they want to see is that you have the car they want and directions to the dealership.
Third, what is the purpose of your site? What I tell my customers is; my goal is to have them pick up the phone and call you. That’s it. I don’t want them to build a car that you don’t have on your lot because then they might want to order it and it will take longer for you to get paid. They might change their mind and cancel the order. Nope, I want them to fall in love with the car you have available for them to drive off in today. I don’t want them to go off to a credit approval site that might not approve them. They might be embarrassed and not want to buy a car that day. I figure an ambitious sales guy will find a place where they can get approved. I don’t want them to get another price on their trade-in either. It will probably bum them out when my customer says the car is worth half that because of the crushed in quarter panel that they failed to mention to Kelly Blue Book. An automotive dealers’ website goal is simple: Get the customer to call the dealership. Fourth and I am tempted to make this one first, get the talking girl/guy/anonymous voice off the website.
To be continued…
By Cristina Foster
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