Latest Study on Dealership Website platforms finds out...

[Jeff Kershner]

Brian and the PCG Research team have put together a report that outlines a new set of standards for dealership website platforms to consider.

Be prepared, the report is 30 pages deep. Thirty pages of valuable information that will help steer you down a more educated path of decision making while comparing some of the top selling website platforms that are offered to dealers.

I've highlighted several of the conclusions found in the report like

• Conversion tracking and attribution are still elusive metrics for many automotive dealers especially in regards to finance and fixed operations marketing investments.
  
  
• Third-party website plugins are masking true visitor conversion metrics in Google Analytics. The auto industry must collaborate to define consistent metrics and actions that define conversion for auto dealers.

Read more highlighted conclusions within my article over on the blog.

If you're at all considering on changing website platforms in the near future (even if you're not) do yourself a favor and take a minute to download the PCG Research report...

The Next Generation of Automotive Websites at http://bit.ly/PCGWebReport

After you’ve downloaded the report and read through the study, share with PCG Research and the DealerRefresh community on the key takeaways you found most interesting. We'd like to hear what you think.

 

[craigh]

A couple tidbits I pulled out that were interesting.

On the subject of mobile sites only having one phone number:

Mobile shoppers are seven times more likely to call a dealer than to submit a lead form. You would expect that the mobile website would display both phone numbers to correctly route the consumer to the best person to answer/service their needs.

This statement scares me a bit.

Unfortunately many website platforms do not provide eCommerce insights to make it easy for dealers to identify those vehicles in stock that are having merchandising/traffic problems.

 

[Alexander Lau]

IMO, and these guys came out of nowhere, what I see being developed at fusionZONE is pretty spectacular. Their interfaces are clean, usable and even the placement of 3rd party lead generation mechanism are unobtrusive. They might be a small company, but head to head with some of the big boys they match up really well.

Home Page Example: http://www.thomasvilletoyota.com
SRP: http://www.thomasvilletoyota.com/inventory?type=new
VDP: http://www.thomasvilletoyota.com/vehicle-details/new-2016-toyota-camry-se-4T1BF1FK0GU118540

I'll try and dig up a detailed analysis that I had done comparing and contrasting automotive website platform providers.

 

[Marty Minton]

@Alexander Lau ,

I took a screenshot to share my thoughts.

1. Where do you think the user focuses there attention first?
2. Which is the selling point? The carstory? the certified? the price?

The website companies in the industry are too forceful with trying to capture a lead.. Just look, Schedule a test drive, Get Pre-Approved, Check Availability, All those scream lead forms or a way for the dealer to get in contact. If we just tone these back the conversion would be alot higher.

 

[Alexander Lau]

Blast from the past! My eyes go to the upper right-hand corner with 'Check Availability' first and foremost, but I am slanted having working in the automotive field.

I would use an A / B company if I were you.

https://www.optimizely.com
https://vwo.com

 

[Ben_Adler12]

The website companies in the industry are too forceful with trying to capture a lead.. Just look, Schedule a test drive, Get Pre-Approved, Check Availability, All those scream lead forms or a way for the dealer to get in contact. If we just tone these back the conversion would be alot higher.

All that red hurts my eyes...

Recently I spoke to a GM who said their "schedule test drive" CTA doesn't get any clicks, so he moved it further down the page. It probably would be better to remove it entirely.

 

[Ben_Adler12]

Here's a site that isn't cluttered with CTAs.

 

[Marty Minton]

The call to actions are okay. I would rather see something like "Save $500 or more" above the "Get sale price" and remove the buy me button. Asking for their email is a big ask. Give them something in return.

 

[yagoparamo]

A couple opinions on this;

@Alexander Lau IMO A/B tests on a dealer's website are not only a waste of time but hugely dangerous.

1) The data sample is too small; dealer's traffic once broken by service, mobile, parts, internal (that can be fixed though), bots (that can be almost fixed), poor PPC (broad target campaigns like: OEM campaigns, association campaigns, etc).

2) It takes too long to really record "trends".

3) The business depends on too many factors: OEM could have a new offer, your used cars could be perfectly matched to the market because they were available at the auction, you lost some good recon guys and your used car prices just went a couple hundred bucks per unit, etc.

4) Who is interpreting the data? If it is you, my chances of success are probably high. If it is someone else... who knows. You get my point.

For data on what to do; have a conversation with your website provider:

1) Lets do a review on my site and give me recommendations. Tell me what can I change and the options on it.

2) Forget immediately the words "I like". No-one cares what you like (the dealer), we should really think and care about: "What would my customers like".

3) Make small changes at a time and continue to make changes based on the DATA on your website's back end and GAN.

 

[Alexander Lau]

A couple opinions on this;

@Alexander Lau IMO A/B tests on a dealer's website are not only a waste of time but hugely dangerous.

1) The data sample is too small; dealer's traffic once broken by service, mobile, parts, internal (that can be fixed though), bots (that can be almost fixed), poor PPC (broad target campaigns like: OEM campaigns, association campaigns, etc).

2) It takes too long to really record "trends".

3) The business depends on too many factors: OEM could have a new offer, your used cars could be perfectly matched to the market because they were available at the auction, you lost some good recon guys and your used car prices just went a couple hundred bucks per unit, etc.

4) Who is interpreting the data? If it is you, my chances of success are probably high. If it is someone else... who knows. You get my point.

For data on what to do; have a conversation with your website provider:

1) Lets do a review on my site and give me recommendations. Tell me what can I change and the options on it.

2) Forget immediately the words "I like". No-one cares what you like (the dealer), we should really think and care about: "What would my customers like".

3) Make small changes at a time and continue to make changes based on the DATA on your website's back end and GAN.

This is an old problem that's not going away anytime soon, but I disagree with a bunch of that (or maybe I am following you incorrectly). The data sample isn't necessarily too small, that's highly dependent on the dealership or top. It's a case by case basis.

A/B testing is cheap and definitely can assist, in fact I do believe Dealer Inspire has an Optimizely plugin pre-installed for dealers uitilizing their platform (what does that tell you?).

3 Ways Data Can Make Your Dealership Smarter - Dealer Inspire
https://www.dealerinspire.com/data-automotive-marketing/

A/B Testing is an effective way of testing how certain design changes (small or big) in the existing product can produce an impact on your returns. The main advantage of performing such a test is that you can compare between two versions of the same product where the difference in design elements can be as nominal as the color of a particular CTA button or as massive as being completely different from each other. On the other hand, if you’re looking for answers to questions like “Can users successfully complete the given task?” or “Is the navigation smooth as butter?” or “Do certain elements distract the user from their end goal?” - Basically, anything related to ease of use; Usability Testing is what you should go for. Unlike A/B Testing, Usability Testing provides insights into user performance metrics rather than establishing the fact which design (A or B) is better.

I suppose I left too much out of my initial post. I am referring to utilizing 3rd party technology (whether on your own or through a 3rd party) to understand better usability. Do you honestly think the powers that be in the automotive platform production business take the time to UX test / focus group their wares? Very few of them or they do it themselves / grading their own homework.

IMO, it's about finding the right group to do it for you or forcing your automotive platform provider to do it (good luck) or have them prove to you that they've done it. You're assuming that they actually know how to give you the proper recommendations.

From 1997, focus groups can be part of the usability testing, but that's on the dealer or their trusted agency to understand.
The Use and Misuse of Focus Groups
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/focus-groups/
Although focus groups can be a powerful tool in system development, you shouldn't use them as your only source of usability data. People with an advertising or marketing background often rely solely on focus groups to expose products to users. Thus, because advertising and marketing people frequently contribute to website development, focus groups are often used to evaluate web projects. Unfortunately, focus groups are a rather poor method for evaluating interface usability. It is thus dangerous to rely on them as your only method in a web design project.

UX Without User Research Is Not UX
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-without-user-research

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT FOCUS GROUP FOR USABILITY TESTING
http://intersog.com/blog/tech-tips/how-to-choose-the-right-focus-group-for-usability-testing-part-1