A Well defined Dealership Photo Process aids success with AutoTrader & Cars.com

I have gotten several emails about “which photos to take of a vehicle and why?” and thought I’d create a posting about this often talked about question in our Industry:I have found that there are several differences
in the way that Classified Listing Services like AutoTrader and Cars.com handle photos. Cars.com offers up to 32 (or something crazy like that) photos with their $150 Multiple photo subscription Service and as of
now, AutoTrader only offers 9 Photo Slots on vehicle listings.This is where a well-defined Photo Process can help you capture the maximum photo impression in your Classified Vehicle Listings.

Okay, in the diagram below there is a reason that you must take photos and name them according to the order below. The reason, is simply that you want to make sure that you always offer a variety of pictures. With only 9 photos available on AutoTrader currently you must make ensure the “Number 9″ Photo is taken from the back seat and taken of the full door-to-door interior dash, including rear view mirror.

By Implementing this proven method, on ALL of your Classified Vehicle Listing you will make sure you include the all so important interior photo. After all, from this 1 Single Photo, the shopper can see if the vehicle is Automatic or Manual, has a CD Player or cassette deck, has Cruise Control, has steering wheel Audio Control, has a Navigation system, has OnStar……. do you get the point yet, haha

Example Dealership Photo Taking Process.

Thanks for the great posting Jake. Just to quick note, IF you are signed up with AutoTrader as a Partner Listing dealer, they are now providing up to 27 photos now.

Dealership Internet Department Photo Process – by Jake Wirth

Share the wealth!

Not huge news but non the less worthy of a posting. The Cobalt Group has bought OnStation.

I sat through 2 Onstation demo’s and was never too impressed. They had a decent service follow-up but I thought they lacked in the sales end of their product and their email program looked very generic and primitive. BUT since I never personally used them I can’t comment on how well their services are.

I guess The Cobalt Group thought they would be an asset to their portfolio. I think we might see The Cobalt Group in the news more lately. Just a hunch..

Do any readers use OnStation..share some comments?

-OnStation is a provider of automatic, email-based customer lifecycle management solutions to auto dealers.  The Company’s main product, e-Advantage, extracts customer information from the DMS (dealer management system), discovers and authenticates email addresses for these customers, and creates automatic email marketing campaigns for all stages of the customer lifecycle.

- The Cobalt Group is a provider of marketing services to automotive manufacturers and dealers throughout North America.

Share the wealth!