Obstacles, Observations and Opinions of an Automotive Internet Sales & Marketing Manager
Just saw that Google released Web.dev today, to perform SEO audits.
Running them on our OEM mandated DDC site, along with a lot of my competition, is showing a severe trend of poor performance, slow load times, along with a number of other issues. Some are provider caused, some are from us.
I’ll be fixing what I can, but something tells me I will not get anywhere with bringing up the page load issues Google is mentioning.
Run your website through and report back to the dealer forums.
As a small child, I remember traversing the halls of the local Sears with my father who always acted like a little kid in the candy store when buying new tools. In my bright-eyed view, Sears was the place to go back then. They had the best selection and the best customer service for all of our home improvement needs. I remember how proud my dad was of his latest purchase, and how nice it was of the friendly cashier to hand me a lollipop.
Fast forward to today, and Sears has filed for bankruptcy, joining the graveyard of big box brands who have gone out of business, and the sad truth is that no one is terribly surprised.
So, what happened? [Read more…]
It is a well-known fact that your online reviews are your first foot-in-the-door with a new customer. It is also widely known that it is essential to respond to ALL reviews – be they negative or positive – but the struggle with online reviews is keeping them up!
Your dealership may be one of the lucky ones. You may have a dedicated staff member that daily monitors your online reviews, but if your dealership is one of the many that do not, I’d like to show you a great way to continue to build consistent online reviews, by creating your Google Review Link.
As technology progresses, consumers collectively have become more and more reliant on what is “easy.” How many times has a company directly asked you to review them online, and you think to yourself, “I’ll get to it when I get to it.”? Most likely that has happened more than you can count, but think of the times when a company has directly sent you a link that you just click on to review them. I know that as a consumer myself, I am 100 times more likely to click on that link and post a review of my experience if the source to do so is sent directly to me.
Setting up a Google Review link for your dealership is easy, and it only takes 5 steps to get started.
On tomorrow’s #RefreshFriday Dan Sayer and Jon Berna (Mr. Truth) join us to discuss the VALUE of 3rd Party Classified Websites. Dans post over in the dealer forums was the driver for this week’s RefreshFriday. Thanks Dan!
Determining the value of 3rd Party Classifieds can be fairly complicated. Despite all the promises around greater attribution tools, we all know the greater number of eyeballs on our inventory, the higher the influence is on vehicles Sold. So, keeping the classified websites somewhat accountable for consistent KPI’s is still compelling…
Join us Friday (tomorrow) at 1pm EST, LIVE on Facebook for the answers!
Here’s a thread that for some reason has yet to find its death…
As I mentioned on #refreshfriday last week, over the last several days or so I’ve been presented a QR code over a dozen times. I scanned each one – I couldn’t resist!!. Maybe it was only out of curiosity, but I also did it because there was a relevant CTA behind the QR code – scan to leave a review, scan to register your product, scan for a list of accessories to match your purchase, etc.
Maybe they were before their time? Maybe I’m just crazy… the below post from Phil Penton is several years old now but still gets commented on. Check it out! – https://dlrfr.sh/QRCodesINorOUT
Will QR codes make a comeback? 😉
-Kershner
——-
QR Codes… has this been a hot topic lately. I was never completely sold on QR codes. I look at my entire family and only my sister and I figured out how to use them. My father, for example, has a smartphone and if you asked him to scan a QR code, it might take a couple of hours for him to figure it out (the need to download an app is their biggest drawback in my opinion). My mother – I don’t think she owns a smartphone, so she’s out.
“But Phil, their old.” Maybe they are. But I’m a techie and so is my sister. We get it and we still don’t use them, other than to say we gave it a try. If I look at my closest friends, they don’t use them. They all have fancy smartphones and I bet only a few have the software installed. (It’s probably because I told them how to do it).
I have always said text messaging is for the masses. It may not be cool or flashy… but you know, even my father and mother can text.
These articles put an interesting twist on the future of QR codes and NFC. Industry titan Google is stepping out of the QR Code game. I think that says something. Will they be the first of many? Most likely not, and QR Codes will stick around, but there may be better technology out there soon.
Google Kills Off Those Little Square Codes You Scan With Your Phone (GOOG)
Google Throws Its Weight Behind NFC – Tech Europe – WSJ
Google Ends QR Code Initiative – PCWorld
Guess we will see how it all works out. If you have any thoughts about QR Codes and their importance, please share them with me. I really want to like them 🙂
As you and your team review your sales plans for 2019, it’s important to remember that the dealers growing market share use the same websites, tools and marketing sources you use. Just like you, they’ve yet to discover a magic bean or digital secret that can sell vehicles without effort. They’ve discovered, as most dealers have, that selling cars isn’t hard, it just takes work.
Moreover, top dealers understand knowing is just a fraction of the job of selling cars; the bulk of what drives their growth is the doing. And doing, for most people, is boring. However, as top dealers know, it’s the boring stuff that sells cars. [Read more…]
I’m back in retail after being on the vendor side (which I think everyone in retail should do at least once and vice versa) for nearly two years. Prior, I spent 14 years on the retail side mainly in Internet/BDC/eCommerce/Dig Ad. Around 2010, I was struggling how to measure ROI of classified vendors [insert joke here].
Leads didn’t make sense so started focusing on their cost per VDP. Back then I was holding AutoTrader to under a dollar and Cars.com to $.85 and really used that through 2016. During that time, if they wanted a package up-sell I needed to see that cost stay the same or lower for it to make sense and ultimately keep the product.
Fast forward to 2018 and it looks like my stores (same group I was at prior) are running just below $.70 per VDP view with both AutoTrader and Cars.com (CarGurus is quite a bit lower per).
My question to you is do you use Cost Per VDP as a KPI and if not, what do you use in 2018? Analytics/Referrals, Leads, Actions on site, etc?
Countless decisions get made every day in dealerships based on averages. Popular examples include market day supply, average retail price, average days on lot and average wholesale price. Too often we trust these numbers (simple averages) as if they are the be-all end-all.
After doing something for so long, we begin to take it for granted. We assume the numbers must be right. But what if we’re wrong? [Read more…]
Old Men Reunion at Digital Dealer 25. Barry Brodsky, Amir Ammirrezvani, David Metter and Shaun Raines
“What’s that you say sonny?”
Digital Dealer 25, which means hmmm, how many years?
It must be a lot since my first Digital Dealer (3…) as I got off to a brilliant start when I arrived in sunny Las Vegas to pick up my badge at registration.
“Mr. Frye, we cannot find you anywhere in our system…”.
Guess who forgot to register for DD25? [Read more…]
I know many of you can relate as we have had this discussion many times in the dealer forums.
Be sure to check out more funny videos around industry sales and marketing from the DealerKnows team – https://www.dealerknows.com/category/videos/funny-videos/
The Devolution of the Industry Conference Starring:
Joe Webb
Bill Playford
Brent Wees
Shaun Raines
April Rain
Eric Miltsch
Written by Joe Webb Edited and Shot by David Hudson Directed by David Hudson and Joe Webb
