Of course we in the dealer business embrace change, so long as someone goes before us!
I’m running shy on time before I take time out in Southern France, with my good wife, so in lieu of crafting my own words I take the liberty of reproducing an article recently penned by Steve Findlay of Wards Auto in the US.
In his article Steve canvases the myriad of changes unfolding everyday in the digital marketing space for dealers. I’m sure you will find his opinion informative.
“Because(we’ve been operating this way for more than 100 years, change doesn’t always come easy to the franchised auto-dealership system”, says Jared Hamilton, head of DrivingSales.com.
“Change can wreak havoc on a mature industry, and the market is changing at 100 mph,” Hamilton says, citing how most consumers today use the internet and social media, in particular, to shop for cars.
“A start-up dealership could do this so much easier,” Hamilton says of the need for many dealerships to adapt modern methods.
In the pre-internet days, the buying process worked something like this: A customer walked into the dealership, took a demonstration drive and picked out a car. The purchase order was written up and the vehicle delivered.
That process still basically holds true, but it is stretched out and includes twists and turns.
“Is it search, appointment, visit and deal?” says Hamilton, the son of a dealer. “No, it is not linear like that.
“There are lots of factors,” Hamilton says, adding that dealers should make sure customers’ online and offline experiences mesh. “There shouldn’t be two separate processes that, among other things, offer different prices and inventories.”
He offers three suggestions to dealers who want to run top-notch Internet operations:
Measure customer traffic in all forms. That includes using software to track emails, phone calls; online vehicle searches and time shoppers spend on web pages.
Deals do not have a single source, so get beyond optimising pages and instead optimise the customer journey.
Customer-relationship management software is a tool, not a substitute for human interaction. “It is not about technology, but what you can do with it. Content is creative, tasks aren’t.”
In the era of social media, “marketing is at a turning point,” says industry consultant Paul Potratz. “Learn how to engage customers. And it’s not by telling them you sell cars. They know that.”
He recommends dealers include helpful information graphics on their websites. He lauds a dealership, Congressional Motors in Rockville, Maryland, for posting videos of customers expressing their opinions about cars they are test-driving.
“Another dealership posts videos of staffers talking about who they are and what they do,” Potratz says. “It takes it beyond the price of a car, which is not that critical anymore with many customers.”
Dealerships also should set up a process for soliciting customer reviews that are posted on dealership websites, he says. “Reviews are critical. The more you have, the more traffic you will have.”
But he warns dealers to avoid excessive self-promoting in online customer communications, especially when answering shoppers’ requests for information. “It’s email, not me-mail,” Potratz says.
He advocates online videos as a way to keep customers engaged. “Create lots of them. People are on YouTube researching cars. It is unbelievable what videos will do.”
Most dealerships are on social-media websites such as Facebook. But successful social-networking requires dedication and effort, Potratz says. “Skip the hired kid doing it.”
He initially wasn’t a big believer in online chat. Now he is. “Some dealers get 400-500 chats a month. That, and the fact that chat is 24/7, is why dealers should out source it.”
J.D. Rucker, new-media director for TK Carsites, traces the evolution of online auto retailing:
In 2007, search-engine marketing got a lot of attention and websites focused on lead conversions. In 2009, social media caught on, mainly through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
In 2011, mobile marketing “made a big splash,” Rucker says. “It will get bigger in 2013” as Smartphone and computer-tablet use expands.
“Dealership service departments can take a picture of, say, a worn brake rotor on a car in for service, and then send it to a customer’s Smartphone rather than verbally describing it to the person,” he says.
Effective content on dealership Facebook pages should include photos of customers taking delivery of their newly purchased cars, Rucker says. “And how about encouraging them to post those pictures on their own Facebook pages? It’s much more effective, and most people will do it, if asked.”
He recommends an online approach in which dealers use a combination of channels, including search, social media and mobile marketing.
Smartphone’s and computer tablets are the hottest trend in automotive marketing, says Kevin Root, chief product officer at Dealer.com. “They are so big that it is game over if dealers don’t accommodate the users by offering a fully functioning mobile site.”
The growing number of people using mobile devices to shop for cars awes Cars.com CEO Mitch Golub.
“We launched our first mobile app four years ago. We’re at 3.7 million visitors a month,” he says. “That will be up 75%. The growth is beyond imagination. I’m surprised not so much at the numbers, but at the level of consumer engagement.”
Mobile users are 20% more likely to buy a car within 60 days than are people using stationary computer terminals, Golub says. Tracking the habits of the mobile set, Cars.com data indicates:
* 86% of them like that they can access automotive sites on the go, indicating they are shopping while moving. Often, they are using their mobile devices as they walk around dealership car lots.
* 75% use mobile devices to view car photos, find a dealership and compare prices.
* 67% search dealership listings and reviews.
* 50% read reviews on their mobile devices.
Last year, Cars.com began posting customer dealership reviews on its website.
Although some dealers at first balked, fearing bad reviews, most have been positive, giving dealers an average rating of four out of five stars.
“I attend an annual dealer roundtable consisting of 15 dealers representing 45 stores in Texas,” Golub says. “The year before, they were resisting dealer reviews. At the last meeting, they were embracing reviews.
“A year ago, they were reluctant to give pricing online. Now they aren’t. They realise if they don’t, someone else will. Dealers are getting a lot better when it comes to effectively using the internet.”
Such attentiveness should extend to dealerships shaping what people say about them online, says Peter Ord, a training manager for DealerSocket, a provider of customer-relationship management systems.
“Your reputation is your responsibility,” he says of reputation management. “Monitor what people say about you, good and bad. Build a positive reputation and quickly address every customer problem.
“No one is perfect and customers understand that,” Ord says. “Dealerships that prove they can solve customer problems will retain more customers.”
Because they have become virtual showrooms, dealership websites need to look their best, says Shawn Raines, automotive director for ReachLocal.
“Dealers can track effectiveness of content and design changes, as well as the inventory layout on the site,” he says. “Where inventory is on a website it has a huge impact. If clicks die out after a certain level, you need to look at making changes.”
Although auto lending is serious business, online credit applications shouldn’t scare people off, he says. “They need to look enticing, not like an Internal Revenue form.”
In the 1990s, many dealers were worried the Internet would put them out of business. It didn’t. Then dealers began using the internet, seeing it not as a threat but as a way to sell more cars. Some learned faster than others.
Only a few stubborn dealers still insist on “doing it the old way,” Golub says. “The industry tends to focus on dealers who don’t get it, but that number keeps getting smaller.”
Trust there have been more than a few pearls of current US internet wisdom in these comments for you to reflect on just how your may apply some of them to your own dealership.
I’m in the business of “sharing thoughts” on this subject – what you do with them is up to you.
Best regards
Peter Aitken
peter@clearedgenet.com
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