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Your website is supposed to attract, engage, and convert consumer traffic into an eventual lead. If you agree, when was the last time you involved your customers in the design process?

When was the last time you tested the impact on conversion with different website designs?

Car dealers see hundreds or thousands of consumers come through their doors each month depending on location.

I challenge dealer principals and dealership equity holders to step back and ask how they are leveraging those connections.  I challenge dealers to get involved in their online automotive advertising strategies.

No Shortage Of New Advertising Ideas

There are many new ideas being presented at 20 Groups, Automotive Conferences, Boot Camps, and on blogs on how to better connect with consumers. Is it SEM, SEO, Social Media, Banner Advertising, Re-Marketing, or something new?

There is a scarcity of documented automotive white-papers on grass roots consumer surveys. When was the last time you read a dealer generated white paper that asked consumers to share their motivations, processes, or influences in the car buying process.

Yes, the largest companies in our industry have case studies, but what about the dealers on the front lines of automotive sales and service? I would love to read local survey data from a dealership group that sees 2,000 customers a month in their sales and service channels.

Are you willing to share feedback from your store?

Industry experts, thought leaders, and peers are great motivators for change. Outside influences challenge dealers to consider looking at their businesses in a new way.

But why have dealers not asked their own customers for advice?

Dealers are asking consultants whether they should engage in Facebook. Did you ask you customers if they are regular Facebook users? Regular Twitter users? Foursquare?

Survey Your On-Site Customers

I just wanted to remind dealers that their local customer behavior is unique in many ways. By conducting regular in-store surveys over the next 30-60 days, you will get some data that can be monetized. You just have to define a process and start collecting data.

Here are some simple questions that you can ask your customers when they are in the store. Of course, you don’t have to ask them all of the questions at one time or visit:

1. Do you have a Google or YouTube Account?
2. Do you use Facebook? If Yes, how many times a week are you on Facebook?
3. Do you use Twitter? If Yes, how many times a week do you Tweet?
4. Have you ever used Groupon?
5. Do you use any of these mobile applications: FourSquare, Whrrl, or Google Places?
6. Did you visit Autotrader.com before coming in?
7. Did you visit Cars.com before coming in?
8. Did you visit our main website before you came in to purchase a car?

If Yes, How could we improve our website?

Don’t rely solely on out of town experts like me!

It’s your business so activate your local consumers to refine your marketing strategy.

Consider creating Point-Of-Sale (POS) materials to activate your customers to engage with your dealership online. Do you have any “Join Us on” Facebook, Twitter, or FourSquare desk cards, window stickers, or banners in the dealership?

Let’s get back to engaging our customers and collecting local marketing data that can be used to prioritize your digital marketing strategy.

Does the automotive industry need another three letter acronym?  Dealers have a long list of acronyms already:  SEO, SEM, PPC, IRM, CRM, and the grandaddy OEM.  Let me suggest that dealers may come to find DCS very helpful in comparing automotive advertising platforms.

Car dealers rely heavily on third party websites to advertise their car inventory. I will argue that a dealer’s inventory is their currency for business along with its brand reputation and customer service.

Since dealership inventory is their primary eCommerce asset, it is surprising to see that many dealers have not objectively inspected where and how their cars are being merchandised.

Expanded Choices For Inventory Syndication

In the past two years a number of new inventory advertising platforms have been created which has given dealers new choices for automotive advertising. I have been involved in the creation of one of those new choices with the release of the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN).  There are other new faces like CarGurus, EveryCarListed, and Vast that offer competition to the established heavy-weights like Autotrader.com and Cars.com.

This article is not about promoting my project, rather I want to start a dialogue on advertising design and how that impacts leads and conversion.

For some car dealers, their inventory is being syndicated by their inventory management companies. For other car dealers they subscribe to inventory advertising solutions directly.  Inventory syndication is part of all car dealer budgets but little has been written to help car dealers differentiate these many choices.

Creating The Dealer Centricity Score (DCS)

PCG Digital Marketing has created the Dealer Centricity Score (DCS) to start a discussion on the options dealers have to advertise their car inventory.  The DSC is a measure of which inventory advertising platforms are dealer centric and which platforms are more self serving. As competition increases, I believe that dealers will gravitate toward those platforms that are dealer centric and that have a strong return on investment (ROI).

Currently, millions of dollars of profits are being generated by advertisements that run on Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP) which showcase a car for sale at a local dealer. The search results, organic, pay-per-click, or through a menu search, are enabled by local dealer inventory. Dealer inventory is the actual “content” that powers the most popular automotive advertising platforms. Not many people have addressed this model but car dealers do not share in the revenue generated off their own Vehicle Detail Pages.

In fact, car dealers send their eCommerce currency (their cars) to companies that charge them for the opportunity to list their cars.  As a result of that relationship, the advertising platforms make millions of dollars in advertising dollars and commission fees that are not shared with the dealer.

This advertising model is not new. However when you ask a dealer which platforms are more dealer centric (less ads) vs. more vendor centric (more ads) they are hard pressed to know the difference. With more choices coming on the market that are providing calls, leads, and floor traffic I believe that the DSC rating will start to educate dealers on which platforms make the most sense and “cents” for their brand.

Advertising Leaks on Vehicle Detail Pages

The home page design or vehicle search pages vary on each advertising platform. The number of ads that show on these pages give an indication on the overall design and revenue goals of the advertiser. I have no issue with these pages however I do have an opinion on the design of the Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP).

When you get down to a specific car sold at a paid advertising dealer, my belief is that the platform should not cross sell or create brand leaks for the paying advertiser.

In Part One of this article, I will show you a number of Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP) from various advertising platforms.  I will point out the number of advertising regions that are displayed on a dealer’s VDP. I contend that the more ads and brand leaks on a VDP, the less leads, calls, and showroom traffic a dealer will receive.

This is based on the fact that many of their advertising distractions encourage consumers to look at a different car or a competing local dealer’s’ inventory.

Dealer Centricity Scores For Popular Websites

In part two of this article I will publish the Dealer Centricity Scores (DSC) for a number of popular automotive advertising platforms. The list will rank the automotive advertising platforms based on their dealer centric advertising practices.  The less advertisements on the VDP will receive higher Dealer Centricity Scores.

I would like your feedback on the Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP)  from popular inventory advertising platforms listed below. There is nothing unethical with any of the practices shown in the screen shots.  I challenge car dealers to ask themselves, if they have other options, is this the best way to advertise your cars?  Is this what an advertising partner relationship should be like?  If the net results of your monthly advertising investments are providing a strong ROI, then you may very well keep things unchanged.

Advertising Questions For 3rd Party Platforms

There are many questions that come to mind when you look objectively at the Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP) on third party advertising platforms:

• If you are paying for your cars to be listed on third party advertising platforms, that your competitors ads should not be displayed on your VDP?
• Does cross-selling on your Vehicle Detail Pages by OEM ads is reducing your conversion?
• Should dealers share revenue generated from offering insurance quotes or paid CARFAX reports on their Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP)?

Please take a moment to add your thoughts about the current state of our industry.  Keep in mind that dealers have the freedom to NOT advertise on any automotive inventory listing website.  Freedom of choice is increasing for car retailers so the DSC rating may become the way in which car dealers can measure the alignment of their advertising partners.

Autotrader VDP

Cars.Com VDP

KBB.COM VDP

EveryCarListed.com VDP

UsedCars.com VDP

CarGurus.Com VDP

CarDealerSale.com VDP

Automotive Advertising Choices

Do you agree that car dealers should have a third party measurement of the concentration of advertising and third party leaks on their Vehicle Detail Pages?  The Dealer Centricity Score (DCS) will create a standard to measure and compare the advertising designs of car inventory platforms.  I look forward to your feedback and I will be posting the second part of this article shortly.