Does Your Website Leave Money on the Table?
Let’s say for a moment that one of your potential customers desperately wants to buy one of your cars. They’ve come into some money, or they’ve been saving up for years, and all they want to do is buy one of the cars that you sell. Is your website helping or hurting them?
When a web savvy customer is in the market for a new car, the normal first step in their process is to head over to the OEM website to check for statistics, pricing, and model details. Unfortunately, most manufacturer websites are sadly lacking in what these customers are looking for. They’ve got lots of sexy videos and flash introductions, but not much in the way of hand holding or explanation.
In many cases, when a customer doesn’t already know the model they’re looking for, the OEM site doesn’t help them. They’re often forced to search by model at the very least, sometimes even having to input the GT or LS or 123 at the end. Does every single one of your customers know that?
While this is bad news for the OEM, it can be very good news for your auto dealership’s sales.
What many car dealerships seem to forget when designing their website is that people don’t always actively plan to come in. They list their hours and their location and maybe their specials and assume that the information they’re providing is compelling enough to make the customer drop everything and stop on by. Not so.
Take the opportunity to differentiate yourself. Take a good look at your local competitors and your OEM’s site and see what’s missing. Find someone you know who knows nothing about cars — what do they think? What do they recommend? What would they like to see?
If you plan out your automotive internet marketing based on what your customers need — and not what you think they need — you can stop leaving money on the table and make the sale before the customer even leaves their desk.
