Mobile Customers Actually Prefer When Businesses Get a Little “Pushy”

By David Metter

The multiple ways businesses can communicate with customers are constantly expanding - from telephone, to e-mail, to text messaging. With today’s technology, communication methods continue to evolve at unprecedented speeds. As smartphones have gotten smarter, the rise in the development of apps has introduced yet another way to communicate: push messaging. In fact, according to Openmind Networks’ CEO Alex Duncan, push messages represent an opportunity for mobile network providers to the tune of $10.9 billion. The reason? Consumers respond to push notifications at a higher rate than any other type of B2C communication, and they also prefer them. According to the study, 55 percent of consumers stated that they responded to push notifications versus 10-20 percent that responded to text messages, and 3.2 percent to e-mail. In addition, 23 percent ranked push notifications as their preferred mode of mobile communications for brands and organizations. See more information about the study here.

However, just as in any unprompted communication with a consumer, the message needs to be relevant and deliver value. Today’s phones are tracking everything customers do - from their heartbeat and health activities, to the places they visit - and our phones don’t forget! Have you ever been near a business you frequently visit and received a push message with an offer or prompt to stop in? The food industry does an excellent job of this. Walk past a Starbucks and chances are, at the very least, your phone will have your Starbucks card on its home screen in anticipation that you will be needing it soon.

Dealerships can take advantage of this exact same technology. Mobile network operators know where their customers are at all times. The fact that it is now being reported as a multi-billion dollar opportunity suggests that direct to consumer push messaging through mobile operators is on the horizon.

If over half of consumers respond to relevant push messaging, imagine the possibilities of having the ability to push out messages to consumers that are at your dealership. Or, better yet, on a competitor’s lot. With all other forms of communication, a dealership requires some piece of information - a phone number or e-mail address. With push messages - especially if done in cooperation with mobile network operators - dealerships don’t have to have any consumer information whatsoever. They can simply geo-fence their dealership (or a specified area) and push a message directly to THAT consumer’s phone - the one standing on their lot, or shopping across the road, at the competition. Rather than blasting messages via e-mail or text messaging, or attempting to guess when a consumer is in-market, push messages allow you to send messages to people that are confirmed as being in market - and better yet, that are actively shopping for a vehicle at that very moment!

Smartphone mobile apps have taken communication and information sharing to a whole new level. The ability to push messages and relevant offers to consumers who actually prefer to receive communications in that very manner, and will respond to them, is marketing gold. Don’t end up being the dealership whose customers are receiving push messages from your competitors. 

Join The Dark Side of Mobile

by David Metter

More than fifty percent of car shoppers are viewing dealership websites with their mobile devices, so having a mobile marketing strategy to connect with them is not only recommended, but critical for future survival. The benefits of "going mobile" are many and well documented, including the ability to make relevant offers to a specific target market, and the ability to identify and communicate with customers that are geo-physically close to your location.

Yet there is a dark side to mobile technology that auto dealers can't ignore. When customers are in your showroom and using their mobile devices, chances are they aren't checking email. Chances are, they're checking prices and offers at other dealerships. In fact, 62 percent of customers who use smartphones on your lot will visit another dealership within 24 hours.

This phenomenon -- called "showrooming" -- is on the rise, helped out by apps that allow car shoppers to scan a barcode or VIN and instantly see:

·      How much other car shoppers in the same area paid for the same make and model

·      How much your competition is charging for the same vehicle

When I talk about showrooming to dealers, I am reminded of a similar time back in the early days of the Internet. During that time, some dealers immediately realized the Internet was the future of car-shopping and raced to be early adopters, posting online ads and posting photos of inventory on their websites. Other dealers staunchly opposed the idea of all that transparency; their attitude was "in order to view my inventory, the customer has to come to my store."

In retrospect, this attitude seems pretty silly, but it was very real at the time. Today I often get a similar reaction from dealers when I tell them the best way to deal with showrooming is not to fight it, but to embrace it. Best Buy is one big-box retailer that initially tried to fight showrooming by blocking cell phone and wifi signals in its stores. The attempt failed dismally and eventually, Best Buy embraced showrooming by offering to price-match its competition and boosting its ecommerce presence. This strategy has worked.

Auto dealers can also make showrooming work for them instead of against them.  

If they jump in now, they'll be similar to those trend-setters in the early days of the Internet who were well prepared as more consumers went down that path.

Here are a few steps that dealers can take to help them conquer the dark side of showrooming:

Ensure Your Entire Online Shopping Experience is Responsive.

Most dealers trust their website vendors to make their dealership website responsive. But sometimes extensions and other third-party add-ons can render in a way that disrupts the flow or function of a mobile page. The only way to know for sure what a customer's experience will be is to use your own mobile device to do everything a customer does, including: inventory search, getting a trade-in price, calculating payments, filling out a lead form and using online chat.

Ideally this process will be done on more than one mobile device. In fact, it may be a good idea to hold a sales meeting and lead the entire sales team through this process on their mobile devices. At the end of the meeting, all glitches should be identified and as a bonus, the salespeople will have a greater understanding of how half their customers are interacting with the dealership.

Check Out the Competition.

Now use your mobile devices to check out the car-shopping experience on your main competitors' websites. Note both their shortcomings and their strong points, and compare it to your own mobile car-shopping experience. Is there anything you think works that you'd like to add to your website? The goal is to offer the best mobile online shopping experience in town.

I would have an app for existing customers - and I would use it as a service application and for customer retention. I fly Delta and I use their app all the time - I use Spotify. A car-buying app - I am not going to use that every single day. Am I going to use it as a conquest car-buying application - I love apps for the right reasons. I have a strong opinion on executing on mobile apps.

Communicate With Mobile Customers.

Car shoppers using mobile devices rarely fill out lead forms, but they will chat and they will text. So learn to communicate with them using their preferred methods. Using a reliable vendor for these services is highly preferred over letting your salespeople send personal, informal texts. In general, if you want to own your messaging, keep it consistent and stay in compliance, a vendor is a better choice.

Draw Customers to Your Showroom.

Once you are in communication with your mobile customers, give them a reason to visit your dealership. Remember, these car shoppers are performing low-funnel activities like viewing inventory and researching pricing, so your messaging should be low-funnel too.

Avoid high-level messaging stating how great your dealership is or why you should shop there. Low-funnel messaging gives car shoppers a specific reason to visit your dealership today, and provides the answers and information those shoppers are looking for, such as:

1.    Maps. Display your address and a map, and clickable directions from your customers' current location.

2.    Offers. Give away a free visor or a gift-card just for coming in to take a test drive. 

3.    Incentives. Display special lease prices, cash-back bonuses and other offers. Offers can be customized to an individual's browsing history.

4.    Pricing. Car shoppers want to know pricing and one way or another, they'll find it eventually. Why not be the dealership that gives it to them?

A very wise Jedi-trainer once said, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to suffering."

Showrooming may be the dark side of mobile but if Yoda's words are right, auto dealers who fear it may suffer from its ill effects; while those who embrace showrooming will learn to master it, and prosper.

# # #

About the Author:

David brings a wealth of automotive knowledge and experience to AutoHook powered by Urban Science, both from a dealer and service provider perspective.  As President of AutoHook, David leads strategy, product, sales, and marketing for the industry leading provider.  As the co-architect of the product suite, he works with OEM’s, agencies, vendor partners, and dealers to increase lead conversion, showroom visits, sales attribution, and brand Loyalty & Conquest rate.       

Prior to starting AutoHook, David served more than six years as Chief Marketing Officer for MileOne Automotive, a large, privately held automotive dealership group. At MileOne, he built an industry-leading marketing organization, leveraging technology and the internet to increase market share, while dramatically decreasing advertising spend per vehicle sold.  David previously headed sales for Autobase for nearly 5 years, where he helped grow the company from a small start-up to the leading automotive CRM software vendor.  He began his career on showroom floor.  As an early adopter of technology, he built a prospecting and follow-up system that helped him rise to become one of the top Chrysler salesmen in the country and moved his way up, eventually to General Manager of a dealership. 

David is regarded as one of the foremost experts in the automotive marketing and e-commerce space and is a frequent speaker at industry events including Digital Dealer, the Global Automotive Conference, NADA, 20 Groups, and JD Power’s Automotive Internet Roundtable. 

A Primer on Mobile Wallets and How Dealers Can Benefit From Them

By David Metter

If you have a smartphone, chances are you have Apple Wallet (formerly Passbook) or Google Wallet. These applications are mobile wallets that store, among other things, applications like Apple Pay that enable people to purchase things with their phones. Of course, it's very unlikely that anybody is going to purchase their vehicle by swiping their mobile device. For that reason, many dealers dismiss the notion that they need to know anything about mobile wallets.

However, mobile wallets are used for a lot more than just purchasing things. A mobile wallet is the digital equivalent to the physical wallets we carry in our pockets and purses. They can be used to store many things including drivers' licenses, social security cards, payment cards, login data for websites and loyalty cards. Mobile wallets are also used to store gift cards, coupons and authentication codes for boarding passes, public transport tickets, movie and sporting event tickets, and house and car keys.

For dealerships, the "keys" to getting your brand inside of a consumer's mobile wallet include loyalty cards, mobile advertising, coupons and special offers. The good news is, once you're in there you're likely to stay there, and your digital passcode can be easily updated so you can send customers push notifications offering them new coupons and specials.

Although mobile wallet usage is not yet mainstream, familiarity and usage have doubled since 2013, according to a recent study published by market research and consulting firm Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB). Fifteen percent of respondents reported using a mobile wallet in the first half of 2015 and an additional 22 percent said they're likely to use it in the coming six months. If that's true, over one-third of consumers are now using their mobile wallets, at least on occasion.

This growing usage presents significant marketing opportunities for dealerships. Mobile wallets provide the perfect post-click destination for coupons, gift cards and incentives. Here are several ways that dealerships can leverage mobile wallets to ensure that your brand stays top-of-mind with consumers:

Digital Advertising

Early in 2015, Honda promoted its nationwide Honda Dream Garage Sales Event through a mobile wallet ad campaign that invited consumers to tap a banner ad and save the event to Apple’s Passbook (now Wallet) or Google Wallet. The mobile ads ran on ESPN.com, Allrecipes.com and the Washington Times. Once consumers stored the event, Honda sent reminders to them as the event date got closer. Individual dealerships could easily replicate this strategy.  

Normal mobile ad campaigns can be forgotten soon after they are over. Mobile wallet marketing campaigns can be instantly updated to stay relevant to your customers' needs. Once your dealership has a digital passcode or "pass" into a customer's wallet, it's easy to push out reminders for a new promotion, much like Starbucks does.

Social Media and Mobile Apps

According to research firm Forrester, smartphone owners spend 80 percent of their time in five apps: Facebook, Maps, YouTube, Pandora and Gmail. For dealerships that advertise on Facebook, the growing adoption of mobile wallets will almost certainly result in higher click-through and redemption rates of Facebook ads. Here's why:

When a consumer is sitting at home or at work and surfing Facebook, they may see your dealership's coupon or offer, but may decide not to redeem it because they don't anticipate an immediate need, or they may forget about it as they continue to read their friends' updates. That consumer may remember later on, but the thought of having to go back to find and retrieve the offer or coupon is sometimes just enough of a deterrent that it doesn't happen.

When a consumer is checking Facebook with their mobile device, storing coupons and offers is a snap: just click on the ad or offer, click on a button that says "Add" and their mobile wallet stores the coupon or offer for future use. This makes it easy to store and organize a nearly endless supply of coupons and offers.

According to Vibes, a mobile wallet-marketing firm, 70 percent of consumers will save an offer to a mobile wallet when presented with the option and these offers have a 64 percent higher conversion rate over static mobile web coupons.

Location Targeting/Geo-Fencing

When a consumer stores a coupon, offer or event in their mobile wallet, your dealership has the ability to "ping" that customer when they enter a pre-defined area near your store. So if they stored information about your sales event and then drive by your dealership on the day of the event, they will receive a notification reminding them about the event. Or, if a consumer has stored a service coupon your dealership can send them a push notification reminding them about the coupon when that customer is within a one-mile radius of your store.

Loyalty Cards

This summer Apple confirmed it is bringing loyalty programs to Apple Pay, starting with retailers like Kohl's, Walgreens, JCPenney and Dunkin' Donuts. Could auto manufacturers be far behind? The ability to link a stored loyalty card to a local dealership's coupon, combined with the ability to notify customers about new offers, may create the "perfect storm" of incentives that will drive customers to your store.

Last year about this time, 2015 was being hailed as the year of the "mobile tsunami."  I predict the next wave in 2016 will be the "mobile wallet tsunami." Innovative dealerships will be experimenting with digital advertising campaigns, social media ads and loyalty card programs. The goal is to get into the consumer's mobile wallet, which in effect gives your dealership permission to continue sending that consumer offers, coupons and gift card incentives.

A word of warning: this privilege should not be abused by sending out a continuous stream of push notifications and sales messaging. Instead, the mobile wallet should be viewed as a vehicle for building a long-term relationship with the customers that literally opened their wallet to let your dealership brand in.​

How to Convert More Website Visitors Into Leads

How to Convert More Website Visitors Into Leads

by David Metter

What's the best way to generate more leads from your website? Contrary to popular opinion, the answer isn't to "get more website traffic." Although a comprehensive digital marketing strategy is key to driving appropriate traffic levels to your website, unless those visitors convert into leads, that's money down the drain.

Before you spend more on search engine and digital advertising, focus on website conversion. Think about it: if you could double your website conversion rates, you could sell twice as many cars without spending another penny on advertising!

If you're thinking that website conversion is the sole responsibility of your website provider, think again! The dealership is actually responsibility for several key elements to conversion, including:

Content: People buy from businesses they like and trust. Content allows you to own your branding and showcase your strengths. Does your website content give customers a reason to like and trust you? Does it clearly state your value proposition (why buy from you?) Or does it read like many other cookie-cutter dealership websites?

Social Proof: This could be included under content, but it's so important it deserves its own category. Car shoppers want to know if you're trustworthy. The best way to do assure them you are is to litter your website with customer testimonials and plenty of quotes from (and links to) your online reviews.

Phone Ups: Believe it or not, your phone number is one of the biggest lead generation tools on your website. Make sure your website vendor includes your phone number in large font on every page. Make it stand out. Even more important, make sure your internal phone-answering process is flawless. You're paying for every phone call, so have every call answered quickly, by a human being, and don't leave callers on hold or transfer them to voice mail.

Chat: Does your chat window pop up the second a visitor lands on your website? Chat best practices include waiting a minute or two before approaching a visitor to see if they need help. Train your chat representatives to inform visitors about your latest offers, specials and incentives. They should also include URL links to other areas of your site to entice visitors to stay longer.

Lead Forms: Think of all the technology advancements that have been incorporated into dealership websites in the last ten years. Now think of your lead forms. They haven't changed much, which is why they don't perform well. Customers are conditioned to ignore them and most forms ask for too much information. To increase lead form conversion, reduce the number of field forms required to no more than three. Also be sure your lead forms answer the "What's In It For Me?" (WIIFM) question. Don't expect your website visitors to hand over their email address for free; what will you give them in return? Offering free content, a coupon or an incentive of some kind will help increase conversion rates.

Additionally, be sure your website vendor places all lead forms "above the fold" and incorporate borders, colors and other design elements to make them stand out.

Mobile Website: Last but not least, if you don't have a mobile, responsive website by now, make this your first priority! More than 50 percent of car shoppers are using their mobile devices to view dealer websites, including inventory pages. If you're not mobile, this is probably the easiest and fastest way to double your website traffic AND conversion rates.

Additional Resources for Website Conversion Include: 

 eBook: 25 Website 'Must-Haves' for Driving Traffic, Leads and Sales - Hubspot

eBook: Conversion Marketing: Convert Website Visitors Into Buyers - Bryan Heathman

eBook: Marketing Attribution: The Auto Dealer's Digital Roadmap From Awareness to Sale - AutoHook

Webinar: Tips & Tricks to Engage Customers and Turn Shoppers Into Sales - DealerOn

Webinar How to Target and Convert More Online Car Shoppers - DealerOn

Videos: Converting More Leads from your Auto Dealer Website - Dealer Playbook interview with Tim Paige of Lead Pages

Conversion Optimization Blog: http://conversionxl.com/blog/ 

Do More Firefighters At A Fire Cause More Fire Damage? Rethinking Attribution

When thinking about attribution, it would make everyone’s lives much simpler if there was a straight line between marketing, conversion and a sale. As car buyers increasingly visit more touchpoints in their car shopping journey, attribution becomes more challenging. 

There was an interesting analogy in a recent article on Business 2 Community that I felt nailed the challenges we face - and errors we make - when attributing a sale to a particular source. The article shared that data has proven the more firefighter at a fire, the more damage the fire caused. It was hypothesized to reduce fire damage the answer was to send fewer firefighters to fires. Of course, we all know that would probably not solve the problem, or reduce fire damage. After a deeper analysis factoring in other variables, it was found that the presence of more firefighter at fires was not, in fact, what increased fire damage. The reason more fire damage happens is because more firefighters are present at larger fires. 

While reviewing month-end expense reports to determine whether a vendor’s service is producing sales, do you simply measure cost versus revenue? Too many dealers make this mistake. All dealers - whether they realize it or not - have multi-channel marketing strategies. Some more than others. But, the simple fact is that every dealership has varying combinations of marketing channels that include print, radio, TV, online, social media, and more. How many messages from these channels did it take to compel that lead to respond, or that customer to walk through your door? It could have been one, or it could have been many. I’m sure you do your best to source customers. However, simply attributing a sale from an online inventory service based on a call-tracking number might steer you to some erroneous conclusions. 

In all probability, that lead, conversion or walk-in customer was influenced in some way by one or more of your marketing channels.  The customer may not remember which touchpoints they visited that lead them into your dealership. However, even asking them will typically give you more insight as to what was their primary influence. 

I’d bet that your customer’s journey looked something like this: They passed your billboard every day on their way to work. While scrolling through Facebook, they saw your targeted ads. Perhaps a neighbor brought home a new car, and they saw your license plate frame or sticker on the back. Watching TV late at night, they viewed one of your TV ads.  They conducted some online research about a specific vehicle and viewed one of your listings. They visited your website and browsed your inventory, then left to read some online reviews about your dealership. Maybe they even posted on Facebook; asking friends, family and associates for advice on the vehicle they’ve chosen and any opinions about your dealership. They decided to give you a shot and made plans to come to your store that weekend. And then they show up. Where do you attribute the sale? Which marketing channel gets credit?

The reality is that all of your marketing channels are working together to drive business to your dealership. So, consider digging a little deeper when analyzing attribution and judging any particular service’s performance.  Save yourself from making a mistake that could do more harm than good and drive in more sales and profitability into the bargain.

What Are You Doing To Reach Your Mobile Customers?

There’s no doubt that people are in love with their to their phones.  As a result, memes and jokes constantly circulate the Internet about how some people no longer participate in “normal” activities because they simply can’t put down their phones. People aren’t reading newspapers anymore - at least not in print - and they’re fast-forwarding through commercials. So where are they? You guessed it. On their phones. 

In a recent article on eMarketer.com, a respected publication that covers the global digital ecosystem: digital marketing, media and commerce, it was reported that 2015 is “a benchmark year for ad spending in the US, as mobile surpasses desktop spending for the first time.”  

In fact, eMarketer estimates that mobile will account for almost 52 percent of all digital spending by the end of the year. It attributes the shift to consumer demand and estimates that adults spend almost 3 hours per day on “nonvoice activities” on mobile devices – 1.5 hours of which is on mobile phones. 

There’s a very simple - and good - reason companies are shifting ad budgets towards mobile marketing. That’s where consumers are. Not too long ago, when someone decided to go car shopping, the first thing they did was pick up the Friday newspaper to view the section with all of the dealership advertising. Now, they hop online and look through OEM, dealership and third party sites to obtain that information on demand. In fact, the more tech-savvy consumers conduct their research from their mobile device while they’re shopping – right in the store or dealership. 

With this ever increasing trend in the use of mobile, I would advise dealers to investigate successful methods to capture the attention of these mobile shoppers. Technology is quickly developing including the strategic use of display ads, geo-targeting and push notifications. If you can reach out to a nearby customer actively shopping in your area and immediately inform them of sales, offers or specials -- without any effort on the part of that consumer -- you certainly could then have an edge over any competitors. 
The technology exists today that allows dealers to do this relatively inexpensively, such as through the use of iBeacons, a class of Bluetooth low energy (LE) devices that broadcast their identifier to nearby portable electronic devices. This can be used to determine the device's physical location, track customers, or trigger a location-based action on the device such as a check-in on social media or a push notification. Facebook, for example, offers free beacons to auto dealerships that can be used to push messages to customers at the dealership through the use of Bluetooth and geo-location technology.

As consumers continue their migration away from desktops and rely more on mobile devices, marketing will continue its shift in that direction as well. Just as it is extremely important that your website is compatible with mobile devices, the same now applies to your marketing.  

May the Phone Be With You - Why Mobile Marketing Is Taking Over

Have you ever walked down the street and all of a sudden had your phone alert you that you’re near a Starbucks or Walgreens, automatically displaying your loyalty card in Apple Passbook or Google Wallet? Or perhaps you have received push notifications from Waze and other apps that deliver real-time notifications based on your location.  As consumers increasingly rely on mobile phones for information, location-based marketing is becoming more important.

Facebook recently launched Facebook Bluetooth Beacons, which enables push messages, tips and invitations to like your page, whenever a customer opens the Facebook app while at your business.

Geo-targeted technology allows businesses to push coupons and offers to nearby users. Many industries - especially retail and hospitality - are adopting these technologies to capture more immediate business. Traditional - and even digital - marketing may still be effective. However,   it takes time for that message to reach the customer before they see it and take action.

A recent article by MarketingLand shared some interesting information on this subject. I thought I would share it and at the same time put it into perspective for the auto industry, as to why you might want to consider this technology:

Location-based data is currently used by only 23% of marketers

If only 23% of businesses are using this technology currently, your dealership could be ahead of any competition by adopting a location-based marketing program.

Companies can provide consumers with product/service information and recommendations in real time, based on location

Imagine a customer walking your lot, or sitting in your service waiting area, to whom you can immediately send service specials, offers and coupons. Or you could simply share current incentives with them. If you can provide the information they seek without any effort on their part, the customer may well be more inclined to take action.

But how do they respond to this?

57% of consumers are willing to share their locations to receive more relevant advertising.

53% are more likely to engage with location-based advertising

This seems like a no-brainer. If you’re looking for a place to eat and all of a sudden you get a coupon pushed to your phone from a nearby restaurant, you may just be swayed into trying you out. The same could well apply to your dealership.

The real question is, do consumers take the businesses up on the offer?

72% of consumers respond to calls to action in marketing messages they receive within sight of the retailer

With all these stats and technology in mind, wouldn’t you want to put that to use when a customer is at a competitor dealership and searching your site, or other auto sites? That technology exists today.  You just need to execute a plan of action.  Think about how huge this would be for a dealership. It’s almost like sending your salespeople over to the competing dealership and pulling the customer back to yours. Why would you not want to do that? This customer is nearby and actively car-shopping. Can you think of any customer you’d rather have walk into your dealership?

The fact is that the technology is readily available to accomplish location-based marketing right now. The ability to push relevant messages to nearby customers, incenting them to come to your dealership showroom, when they are in the vicinity of your dealership and ready to buy is a game changer. If you’re not already utilizing services that allow you to do these things, take the time to investigate them and see how you can leverage this technology to drive more traffic into your dealership.

8 Things Dealers Can Do To Increase Their Show Rates

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When handling Internet leads, the lack of response by customers, the appointments that don’t show and the unrealistic expectations often frustrate internet managers and dealers. Show and closing rates in the low to mid-teens is not uncommon, compared to the total number of leads received.

I thought I would share some best practices from my observations working both in and with dealerships, that can be used to increase the number of customers contacted that actually visit the dealership.

1.    Respond promptly – One of the most common setups in Internet departments is to have Internet sales managers (ISM) also serve in sales positions. A typical pay plan will see an ISM compensated by sales commissions, so that is where there focus will be. Therefore, when a customer comes in for an appointment Internet leads get ignored until the ISM is done with their customer. Which, in the event of a sale, could mean that the leads coming into the CRM are ignored for hours. A quick lead response exponentially increases the chance of contacting and further interesting the customer.

2.    Provide Information – ISMs typically use templates to contact customers once a lead is received, which usually contain information about the dealership and its value proposition, along with an invitation to visit. However, far too often the first e-mail fails to contain the one thing that the customer is expecting – vehicle pricing. It’s important to consider the source of the lead when responding. In most cases, the conversion occurred because the customer was prompted to fill out a form to get the price. If you fail to give the price, customers can perceive your dealership as unhelpful and move on to your competition.

3.    Be agreeable – We all know that some customers tend to have unrealistic expectations when requesting pricing or payment information. It’s not uncommon to find ISMs engaging the customers with reasons NOT to buy. For example, a lead comes in with a customer wanting an unrealistic payment or price. Rather than inviting the customer in to work numbers, the ISM will explain that the requested price or payment isn’t possible. Always remember that sales are a numbers game. With the proper deal structure, a payment can be as low as any customer wants it.

4.    Be consultative – Many times the vehicle that the customer requested pricing for isn’t the one they end up purchasing. Always remember that customers are looking for information and assistance. Failing to provide information puts the salesperson in an adversarial position to the customer. It’s much easier to build rapport and get the customer into the dealership if the customer feels that you are sincerely trying to assist them in finding the right vehicle.

5.    Sell the appointment – When dealing with Internet leads, ISMs will all too often try to sell the car via email or the phone. The key to increasing show rates is to remember that the goal is to get the appointment, NOT to sell the car. Using sales skills and techniques focused on selling the appointment rather than working a deal can help increase appointments set and your show rate.

6.    Go above and beyond – When a customer requests information, always give them more than they asked for. If you are offering vehicle pricing, try including an example payment. If the customer requested information about a new vehicle, include several trim levels in your response. If they are interested in a used vehicle, you may try including some alternate vehicles in your response as well. By providing more information than requested, the customer will understand that you are truly trying to assist them and therefore more likely to choose to do business with you.

7.    Make them feel special/personalize – There’s a reason why many dealers are adopting video in their email responses. If a customer wants information about the condition of a used vehicle, it’s very simple to record a personal walkaround for the customer while mentioning their name. Personalized video responses are valuable for building rapport and help put a face with a name. It’s also much easier than taking 10 pictures of a vehicle and trying to email them to the customer.

8.    Consistent follow up – It’s very easy to understand why ISMs get frustrated trying to contact customers who submitted leads, but are then unresponsive. After days or weeks of emails and phone calls, many salespeople tend to give up on the customer and move on. Keep in mind that chances are the customer is being contacted by other dealers as well. And, those dealers have ISMs who are getting just as frustrated. By not giving up on the customer and continuing to follow up, you could well be the only dealership left doing so. This exponentially increases the chance that the customer responds and ultimately ends up in your showroom.

Regardless of whether your Internet department consists of commission based ISMs, or if it has a full-blown BDC, the right processes, personalized responses and attention paid to detail, rather than simply shooting off boring sterile templates, will show your customers that you are there to help. Consider adopting these techniques into your Internet lead process. I hope that you are able to contact more customers, make more appointments and see more of them show, resulting in more sales.

Identifying Customer Intent through Conversion & Incentives

Dealer websites today are filled with conversion widgets. In most cases, customers will choose only one form or call-to-action (CTA) to convert on. If the CTA that they chose was “value my trade,” then you can be pretty sure that the value of their trade-in is their hot button. Or perhaps they filled out a credit application. Those may be pretty low-funnel customers who, in most cases, will have some credit challenges that they may need help with. Most conversions, however, are from price-based CTAs. Whether the conversion happened because there was no price and they clicked “Get price.” Or, whether a price was present and they wanted more information, the majority of the leads any dealer gets will begin in this manner. That being said, we also know that many dealers have pop up specials or incentives they offer their website visitors. It could be a “$100 off coupon” towards a vehicle. Or it could be “Get a $25 gift card with test drive.” What does it tell you, however, when the same customer converts on both forms, one right after the other?

The customer’s intent when converting on your website is to move further down the funnel towards a new vehicle. Some may be simply pricing out vehicles and doing research. While others may be planning to go buy a car tomorrow… or even today. If your dealership has a special offer pop up on the website and you get a lead from a VDP, then immediately after get a conversion on the pop up, the sirens should go off. These customers want information and have taken the next mental step towards buying a car from you. Not only are they prepared to take you up on that $100 off or gift card offer, but they have, at the very least, narrowed your dealership down to one they plan to visit.

Most dealerships have canned templates for online inquiries - some better than others. I would suggest, however, that if you see conversion activity as described above, you should have a completely different process in place for handling these leads. Just think about what this consumer’s actions tell you about their intent. They came to your website, browsed your inventory, landed on a vehicle that interested them enough to give away the one thing that they control -- their information. Consumers don’t give this up easily. They understand that the moment they input their information and hit the submit button, someone at your dealership will be e-mailing and calling them. So, they decide to leave your website and are presented with an incentive. They’ve already filled out a form indicating interest. If they then stop and fill out a second form in order to claim an offer, they’ve just told you that they’re interested in the vehicle and doing business with your dealership AND, very likely, that they’re considering doing it SOON.

It is important to have concrete processes in place and consistent follow up with all of your internet leads - and I certainly don’t recommend cherry picking and ignoring any leads. However, the lead that comes in with a message that says “I want to buy a car from you tomorrow” will definitely perk up some ears and initiate some serious action by a dealership’s ISMs or managers. If you show offers and incentives to your customers and experience 2 conversions in a short period of time, one being your special offer, treat that lead exactly as if the customer had told you they were buying a car from you soon… because that’s exactly what their behavior told you, regardless of whether they typed it into the lead form.

Mobile Shoppers are Serious. Here's How to Connect With Them.

By David Metter

If your dealership has a mobile website, you are probably aware that 30 to 50 percent of your total website traffic are mobile users. You also know these mobile users are performing actions with their smartphones that are aligned with serious shopping behavior. In a recent study, Edmunds.com found that mobile users on its website engage in these five relevant behaviors: they shop, they view inventory, they click on ads, they submit leads and their page views rival those of wired shoppers.

Your mobile marketing strategy should include ways to connect with and convert mobile users as they engage in these key shopping behaviors. An effective strategy goes beyond having a responsive website. Many marketing tactics that work well for customers using desktops and laptops don't work with your mobile customers. It all comes down to how mobile shoppers use their phones. 

1. Shopping

According to the Edmunds.com study, 79 percent of mobile users are shopping, defined as viewing at least one vehicle. On dealership websites, mobile shopping activities include researching and comparing prices, reading reviews and calculating payments. It's important to keep in mind that although the average American spends three hours on their smartphone every day, the window of time you have to connect with these users is smaller than it is with your wired customers. Does your mobile website provide information on pricing, rebates and other special offers? Are your payment calculators and review pages mobile optimized? The more activities mobile shoppers can do on your site, the more time they will spend there.

2. Viewing Inventory

Mobile visitors view approximately nine percent more inventory pages than their counterparts using desktops and laptops. Are your vehicle display pages (VDPs) mobile-optimized? Mobile users watch a lot of videos; can your inventory videos be viewed on smartphones? Every mobile VDP should include a clear call to action right next to the product details, and text should be large enough to be viewed on a smaller screen.

3. Clicking on Ads

Edmunds.com found that mobile users are 2.5 times more likely to click on ads than wired site visitors, and they perform key shopping activities on the sites they click through to. This high level of ad engagement presents an opportunity for dealerships to convert shoppers into leads into showroom visitors. Mobile ads should provide a specific reason for shoppers to click through, such as a special offer or immediate incentive to come in and take a test drive--especially if they are in the vicinity.

4. Submitting Leads

The Edmunds.com study reveals a rapid growth in mobile lead submissions and their data shows these mobile leads close at the same rate as, or even better than, traditional leads. Higher lead counts are attributed to mobile optimization of lead forms and the ability to submit leads via text or "click to call" buttons.

To increase mobile lead submissions, create messages that give mobile users a reason to click or text now. Examples might include a "no pressure price quote," "easy payment quotes," or a gift card (similar to mobile advertising incentives). When it comes to mobile leads, it's also very important to have a process in place where the leads get an instant response. If a mobile shopper doesn't get the information they're looking for from your mobile website--quickly--they will move on. Next!

5. Viewing Pages

Even though mobile users spent less time on Edmunds.com than wired shoppers, they viewed as many or more pages during that time. What this tells me is that mobile users are looking for the same information and their shopping process is similar to shoppers using desktop and laptop computers. The smaller screens make it easier and faster to see whether information is available. The takeaway here is to ensure all relevant information and calls to action on your mobile pages are "above the fold" so mobile users don't have to scroll down to find what they're looking for.

The age of mobile is no longer just around the corner; it's here, and 30 to 50 percent of your potential customers are using mobile devices to shop for their next vehicle. Make it easy for them to connect and engage with your dealership, and you can easily convert these serious shoppers into leads and sales.

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