Mazda changes direction with their third party leads and Search Engine Marketing efforts.

An email from Mazda Dealer Online:

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Over the last few months we have been working with dealers, conducting surveys, and obtaining input from Mazda Action Teams regarding the evolution of our Mazda Dealer Online (MDOL) program. As a result of this process we have jointly developed a strategy to improve our overall lead quality, reduce the impact of lead duplication for dealers with direct contracts, and allow dealers to be more efficient with their monthly lead expenses.  Additionally, we expect this will free up valuable time needed to successfully work those internet leads that have a better chance of closing.

The strategic changes below have been a direct result of dealer collaboration that has also received full support from CD MAT, Tech MAT, and NDAC and will begin to take effect on January 1, 2009 for all dealers participating in the MDOL program.

• Eliminate poor performing third party lead sources
• Cobalt/Dealix and Jumpstart will be removed by December 31, 2008
• AutoByTel will be removed by January 31, 2009
• Increase MazdaUSA.com lead costs from $5 to $10 beginning January 1, 2009

Additional funds will be reinvested in Search Engine Marketing efforts to generate more high quality MazdaUSA.com leads

* KBB and Edmunds leads will remain in the MDOL program with no changes

This new direction should improve overall lead quality and volume through MazdaUSA.com while maintaining our best third party lead sources. It will also allow us to increase our Search Engine Marketing activities to drive more in-market shoppers and leads through our site that will help to off-set the overall lead volume decrease from eliminating poor performing lead sources.

As you can see over the first ten month’s of this calendar year close rates from ABT (4.4%), Cobalt (5.2%) and Jumpstart (4.0%) have been performing over 50% below MazdaUSA.com (11.0%), KBB.com (10.2%), and Edmunds.com (11.2%) which was a significant factor in our decision making process.

Improving quality as well as speed of response is critical in today’s competitive environment and is necessary in meeting our demanding consumer expectations. This change will contribute to our collective online digital efforts and will strengthen the MDOL program as we move into the New Year.

Zoom-Zoom.  Forever!

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Does anyone have any comments on the effectiveness of online trade-in value tools?

As far as I know, there are only really 2 available.

Black Book Online (Activator)

vs

KBB Lead Driver

I’m sure at one point or another, almost every Internet sales manager has used one or even both of these online trade evaluation tools for your dealers website. I have read a few studies that show adding the an online trade appraisal tool to your dealers website could increase conversion rates another 1-2%.

We just started with one of the above trade tools, but it was a tough decision on which one to go with.

Kelly Blue Book has such a reputable name on the consumers eye BUT I always fear that the consumer has already been there. According to KBB and several other studies, it’s one of the most consumer visited websites. If the customer has already been there, than does my chances of converting lessen? OR since I have the KBB Trade-in value logo on my site, does that give our dealer more validity?

What about the actual car values? There are many times a large difference between the two companies values.

Are there other trade-in tools that I’m not aware of?

What has been your experience?

Stephanie Hudmeyer
Internet Sales Manager

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Grant Cardone pushes for a tax credit for dealers and the consumer.

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First off, sorry for disappearing from Dealer Refresh again – I was on another vacation….rough life, I know.  I just got back Monday morning and thought I’d do a quick review on the Storm since it has now gone through its first firmware upgrade, and I’ve got some significant mileage on it.

There is a Verizon store about a mile from my house and I have to pass it to get to work, so I stopped by late on the release date to check it out.  When I got there I found out I could grab a spot to get the phone on the second shipment of the day, so I bit.  Later that day I got a call to drop everything and get to the store.  After 3 unsuccessful attempts to get it programmed (Verizon’s systems crashed numerous times) we finally got it right.

The Storm is a very well constructed phone.  It has a weight to it that gives it the same kind of feel you get from a German car – just solid.  When you turn the screen on, it is beautiful.  There is so much screen real estate you almost get lost.  It is filled with all the Blackberry goodness of intuitive navigation and simple buttons to move through apps easily.

Before the new firmware update, it was a little slow to respond to things and I found myself hitting buttons twice because I didn’t think it was responding.  Today it is much better.

The keyboard takes a lot of getting used to.  Everyday I get better, but it will never be the same as the keyboard on the Curve or Bold.  I like it much more than the keyboard on the iPhone though.  There are 3 keyboard options:  regular QWERTY, double-lettered SureType like the Pearl, and a numeric keyboard much like any regular phone.  I find myself using the SureType keyboard more than anything else.  I only use the QWERTY one if I need to type a word the SureType (fills in the words for you) doesn’t like – usually cuss words (for emphasis of course).  SureType has a tendency to replace a certain word with “ducking” every time and that is *ducking* annoying!

Keyboard Tip: grab a business card and cut in 3 equal pieces.  Put one piece between the battery and the battery cover to decrease the travel space on the push-down part of the touch screen.  This will allow you to type much faster.  Continue to add pieces of the business card until you’re satisfied or the back cover won’t close.

The phone is plenty loud – louder than the Curve and much better than the older Blackberry 8703e.  BlueTooth is fantastic over an earpiece or through the car.  Using BlueTooth sucks the battery out over a day of use, but when the BlueTooth is not on the battery lasts for days with heavy use.  My biggest gripe with the phone is that there are 4 big buttons present:  Speaker, Mute, Add Participant, and Flash.  Because this is a touch screen you either have to pull up the numeric pad or be very careful not to rest your face on the screen or you’re going to hit one of those buttons.  My second biggest gripe with the phone is that you have to hit the call button twice in order to get to the phone – it is just annoying.  When you hit the phone button it takes you straight to your contacts which is good for me about 40% of the time, but I also call people back about 40% of the time too and have to shift over, or the other 20% of the time I’m actually dialing a number.  I can’t tell you where I’d prefer the phone default to.

Where the Storm rocks is online.  I have yet to find a website I can’t visit in its full splendor.  There are 3 browser settings that tell websites what type of device you are:  Blackberry, Internet Explorer, or Firefox.  If you find a website isn’t loading quickly or is coming up in the mobile format, it is simple enough to flip between one of those three and hit refresh – works like a charm!  The Verizon 3G network is fast.  Yes, I would like Wi-Fi, but I’m not that impatient.  I find my texts, emails, voicemails and any other messages coming to and from the Storm are happening much, much faster than on any other Blackberry I’ve ever owned.

When on a call, you cannot send and receive emails, but you can send and receive texts.  I find this to be a blessing and a curse all in one.  I’m too much of a multitasker to pay attention to anything.  I’m always doing 3 or 4 things at the same time and think that not being able to respond to emails in a call helps me pay better attention (my girlfriend appreciates that), but there sure are a lot of boring business calls during the day where I’d love to be saying “uh huh” …. “yeah” ….”gotcha” ….”uh huh” while getting some emails done.

It works fantastically while roaming – even in Mexico….except in Mexican Customs where I really needed it to work (don’t ask).  I have yet to find a bad spot with this phone.

All in all, the Storm is a great phone.  I’m not convinced it is “the” phone and my search will continue one day.  I’m looking forward to the new Curve, but I certainly will not be getting one on launch day.  If you’re a heavy Blackberry user with little patience you will hate the communications side of the Storm, but if you need to visit heavy websites on the go, you’ll love it.  So I’m split because I need to do both.

Some of the things I didn’t cover, but am happy to answer in comments below:

• Visual Voicemail
  Voice Dialing
  Instant Messaging
  Highlighting Text
  3 MP Camera
  Video Camera
  Music/Video…media
  Other Applications
  Memory
  Acclimater

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Increase Your Dealerships Traffic Without Increasing Your Advertising Spend

AIADA and CarFax Presents is hosting a FREE Webinar:

Date and time: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 12:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

Panelist(s) Info: Jay Luna

Process Improvement Manager, CARFAX

Duration: 30 minutes

Description: This FREE 30 minute webinar will examine the best practices that leading dealers are using to get more return on their advertising investment. Jay Luna, Process Improvement Manager with CARFAX, will be bringing real life tips that you can introduce into your already successful process to get more from your advertising and used car operations.

• What is your vehicle history process?
• Are you ensuring that your online listings have the information your customers want?
• Learn some great new ways that you can increase your exposure without increasing your advertising spend

UPDATE: Listen to the recorded webinare – Increase Your Traffic Without Increasing Your Advertising Spend

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