Automotive Marketing Seminar Illuminates Online Shopping Behavior

This past week I attended and automotive eMarketing brunch hosted by Kelly Blue Book.  Speakers at the brunch included industry veterans Ralph Paglia, Mark Burack and event host Rob Lange from KBB.   The topics covered in the seminar were outstanding which also included a presentation by Chad Goodson of Carfax.com.  Ralph is the founder of AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com and I am a member of that community. Mark Burack is the EVP of LiquidSales.com and they have some great tools fio for selling cars on eBay.

Rob Lange opened the seminar by sharing data from industry surveys that tracked the online behavior of new car buyers. The data identified important expectations that online car buyers had when visiting a car dealer website.  When various survey results were placed on a PowerPoint slide, the data made practical sense to everyone in the room.  There we no surprises but when you see data compiled on one page, I started to brainstorm.

As an automotive SEO specialist, I spend a lot of time driving traffic to websites who have designs that I do not control.  The motivations behind car dealer website designs at times are puzzling.  I’ve visited dealer websites that make it hard to get a price quote.  I’ve experienced sites that hang up my browser because they are so overloaded with flash.  Other auto dealer sites set-off my pop-up blocker with annoying “specials” or blast me with animated videos. There is obviously no consensus on what makes up a good website design.

The KBB seminar forced me to think about how we could create an optimal website design that meets the expectations of the online car shopper.  I don’t have any solutions to share immediately. I did however start to create a graphical representation of what I distilled from the first seminar topic.

Online car buyers want to be educated; over 83% of car buyers search the Internet for information before buying a car. Consumers want that information provided in a convenient format and I would like to add that they would like it in a format that is easily emailed, like a PDF. 

Online car buyers are expecting a simple process to obtain a price quote, the MSRP and features for any car a dealer sells.  They expect dealers to respect their privacy and send them information via email before they call.  And finally, online car shoppers want to feel that all this work resulted in a better -than- average price for the car they buy.  As Rob Lange put it “They want to win.”

If these expectations represent the average online shopper, then car dealer websites have a long way to go.  Not all auto dealers provide the same car data sheets as PDF files that are offered freely on the manufacturer’s website pertaining to car model specifications, options, and colors.  By adding basic educational materials to dealer websites, car buyers may be spending more time on local dealer sites and less time on third party lead collection websites.

If online car buyers have a choice on where to educate themselves about a car, the local car dealer that adds ample content on each car that they sell will have an advantage over their local competition.  According to one of the speakers at the seminar, if the dealer respects the consumers wish to receive and review the requested information before a call is initiated, the potential for a successful result will be optimized.

If you look at your website from a consumer perspective, you may agree that a few small changes could make a big difference in conversion rates of visitor traffic.  If you would like a free evaluation of your car dealer website, give Brian Pasch, CEO a call; 732-450-8200.

• Article Archives

Tags: AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com, car dealer website, Kelly Blue Book, LiquidSales.com, online car shopper