On a site I did last summer (click my name), I altered my web architecture to track every single visitor to the site as if they are a lead. The only difference is that I won’t have their name, email, or number. I only know them by their Visitor Code – a number. (Hello Ms. 23234234).

But Ms. 23234234 is a living, breathing person. I can watch everything she is doing and compile a ton of marketing data about Ms. 23234234 and put it into a database. I then can use that data to personalize Ms. 23234234′s visit to our website when Ms. 23234234 revisits the website.

I then have a radar screen. I can watch Ms. 23234234 move around the site and I can change the website LIVE for each visitor. If I saw they were looking at a certain vehicle or watching our commercial, I can change the links or engage them with chat to sort of push them along.

The chat is completely integrated into the site. So when the customer starts asking me questions about financing, I can write back….”Hold on, let me bring up the creditapp for you, you’ll see it show up on your screen.”

I call it JumpInChat…because you are jumping into the visitor’s experience with them.

So instead of focusing only on the 2 – 3% that respond, I can take a swing at 100% of the people with live interaction. We’re waiting for the visitors to decide if they want to play ball. We are sitting back waiting for leads, when we should be working the visitors on our site when they are there. Just like a walk-in.

The system is still in development. My continous stream of projects prevent me from really putting it through the wringer. I had tried about 30 times to engage a visitor with chat and only talked to one person. One reason for the low chat rate was I didn’t allow the visitors to engage me with chat because I wanted to keep control of who contacts who – for testing purposes. Plus, I could not be sure that I would be available. It’s extremely time-intensive. It would require a dedicated rep to use and we’re not at that point yet.

It’s still a young and developing system that needs more resources and development to really get it going. It’s a first draft. I can demonstrate on request.

But I did learn some things about what our visitors are doing, and you are right to focus on repeat visitors because it happens a lot. Your numbers seem about right, but I think it can be much higher if the website is really fun and engaging.

Wayne

PS…you really don’t need the customer to give their name or phone number. I’m working out the details for a concept called the “Anonymous Appointment” that follows that thinking. But I think if I provide enough service, I can get Ms. 23234234 to reveal her name. If anything, she’ll grow tired of being called Ms. 23234234.

Note to all who have good site stats, I need YOUR help!
I am trying to improve our RETURN VISITOR’s numbers. I’d like to get a handle on what an average our here.

I am looking for a percentage (raw numbers are not important). If you have google’s analytics, lets look back 60-90 days. Google calls it Visitor Loyalty. My Example: 73% of our traffic is a one time visitor. Making 27% of the traffic repeat visitors.

If you’re not comfortable with sharing stats, if you have any “hooks” that work on repeat visitors send them along!

thnx,
Joe

Nice 37signals.com reference. There is alot to learn from that company.

Just make sure your website lives and breathes and tracks freakin everything.

Wayne

>>>…I haven’t had a lot of luck getting people to read much copy on our site – they start clicking the menu instantly. So I tried to condense any marketing messages to ADD friendly bullet type statements…< <<<

Couldn't agree more, but, don't give up!
From my testing, the Home page is the "fly over" page. BUT, The deeper they drill into the site the more ready they are to commit time to reading. You gotta feed them 1st, satisfy their hunger, get them feeling they are in the right place, then they'll read the fuzzy stuff. Even then, deep into the details page, I feel you gotta "keep it clean" use color icons/buttons to let the shopper "opt in" into your pitch (warranties, accessories, etc...)

I have to be careful and avoid building a site that is all about me and my opinions. We've got an ultimate task...

D.I.G.L.
Does It Generate Leads?
(what can't be measured, can't be paid!)

I am working on a test front page that is as stark as google. Well... I am not that brave, lets say logo, phone number and 5 nav buttons on a white background. Kinda http://www.37signals.com/ Gulp. It’s so anti dealer site, it’s tough to commit to it.

RSS is a nice feature. I’ve had positive feedback on our inventory & blog feeds.

And yes, our blog drives additional traffic to our main site. The blog is a key element of our SEO strategy.

Conversions are the key – converting web traffic to leads & leads to sales.

If you’re not driving traffic to pages with targeted content based on their searches & improving your lead conversions by tracking their behavior with web analytics, it will be increasingly difficult to add incremental sales to your Internet efforts.

I don’t think Jeff minds the conversation inside blog comments – it helps his SEO!

I’m getting good SEO results with our blog: http://blog.checkeredflag.com. I’m also in the middle of a redesign right now, and the new site will have some interesting incorporations of things being discussed in this thread.

I was considering RSS to syndicate my inventory. People could sign up for:

a feed for Deal of the Day

a feed with a summary of all vehicles that came in that week.

etc…

Wayne

I noticed the new site was very much geared toward the “Eisenberg style” for converting… now I see why. I’d like to see how it works for you guys – I haven’t had a lot of luck getting people to read much copy on our site – they start clicking the menu instantly. So I tried to condense any marketing messages to ADD friendly bullet type statements

As big as you guys are, I’d think you would doing much bigger numbers from the internet. You really have some serious untapped potential there.