9 pics per vehicle??

[chad.bockius]

Craig - count aside, have you ever looked at optimizing sort? I believe if you get this right, the image count won't matter as you are serving the most relevant pictures first. For the consumers that want more, they can continue. For those that are just browsing, they get what they need and can quickly make a decision to reach out or not.

 

[joe.pistell]

Joe - just so I am clear, are you saying that leads caused by a gap in information are lower value to the dealer? Or do you view all leads as the same, regardless of what drove the customer to submit?

Hi Chad, sorry, it's not you, I often lose people. I'm exploring why so few shoppers submit a lead, and, for those that do submit a lead, why the majority never reply to the lead they sent in. Your study adds more depth to my journey.

thnx!

p.s. @craigh & I are going down the same path

 

[chad.bockius]

Great question...I wish I had the data to explore that in more depth. Analyzing leads, questions, response times and response rates across many dealers might uncover more clues. If we ever start to collect that data we will absolutely share the findings.

 

[carmudgeon]

Photo Quantity: How many does it take?

At the end of the month, Dealer Principles look at month end reports and see totals and averages, then approach their product photography by tweaking averages. This is where dealers lose site of the fact that, in actuality, they are selling ONE unique vehicle, to ONE unique customer, ONE at a time.

Having an arbitrary fixed number of photos on every vehicle, let’s say 30, results in over doing it on base model cars and under selling your most valuable cars.

A base model of any manufacturer should have less photos, 20-25, due to the fact that there are less features to take pictures of. A car shopper that is interested in a car that has manual windows, an AM/FM radio and a CD player will want to see a picture of the manual window handle, the radio and is contented with less photos because this shopper is interested in simplistic transportation. A vehicle that fits his or her needs will have less photos and that will satisfy… that shopper… on that car. A satisfied shopper becomes a buyer.

However, a shopper that wants a loaded vehicle will expect to see more of what they are paying more for. Vehicles with more features require more photos in order to convey and build the value of each feature on that vehicle. Vehicles equipped with AM/FM, CD player, MP3 player, Bluetooth, HD Radio, XM/Sirius Satellite radio, Navigation, Traffic Reporting, Backup Assist camera, USB, AUX plug-in, Cellphone connectivity, IPhone IPod and IPad Connectivity, DVD, TV, Wi-Fi, sunroof, trailer hitch, convertible top, spoiler, fog lights, heated seats, chilled seats, memory seats, push button start, etc. are more valuable. Each of these features is an added value and should result in an additional photograph. If it has all the bells and whistles, your listing should have photos of all the bells and whistles. If it requires 37, its 37. If it requires 52, its 52.

Your photos are a window into your dealership. Make sure that they are clean, clear and shows your shoppers what they are there to see. And more importantly, what you are here to sell.

 

[Digital-Dealer-Consultant]

Greetings all- My GM came back from a Ford Conference and apparently one of the presenters said that NINE is the optimal number of photographs we should have of our Vehicles.

To quote from the article, "Postings with nine images saw a 71 percent higher lead submission rate than those with 30 images"

Here's the full article: http://insidelane.dealer.santanderconsumerusa.com/2015/06/22/and-no...

Anyone heard of this? Anyone trying it? Thoughts?

Thanks- Kyle Hayden

Kyle,
There has to be other factors you are not considering -- The simple truth -- "The more photos you take the more sales you make" -- As discussed prior, by providing enough photos (40-60 at least)-with video indexed on YouTube -- This allows the buyer to take mental postilion of the car, and the opportunity to answer all their questions through the photos, this will certainly increase sales with the millennial buyer -- In conclusion, do not make it o difficult -- 4 things you can control as a dealer; 1.) What inventory you buy, 2.) How many pictures you take, 3.) Pricing your inventory competitively and lastly, 4.) Where you place your inventory on the internet and of course making certain you manage all your Google and social media accounts to give your dealership the dominance presence it deserves and requires to be competitive in this ever changing and more competitive current Automotive market space.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Photo Quantity: How many does it take?

At the end of the month, Dealer Principles look at month end reports and see totals and averages, then approach their product photography by tweaking averages. This is where dealers lose site of the fact that, in actuality, they are selling ONE unique vehicle, to ONE unique customer, ONE at a time.

Having an arbitrary fixed number of photos on every vehicle, let’s say 30, results in over doing it on base model cars and under selling your most valuable cars.

A base model of any manufacturer should have less photos, 20-25, due to the fact that there are less features to take pictures of. A car shopper that is interested in a car that has manual windows, an AM/FM radio and a CD player will want to see a picture of the manual window handle, the radio and is contented with less photos because this shopper is interested in simplistic transportation. A vehicle that fits his or her needs will have less photos and that will satisfy… that shopper… on that car. A satisfied shopper becomes a buyer.

However, a shopper that wants a loaded vehicle will expect to see more of what they are paying more for. Vehicles with more features require more photos in order to convey and build the value of each feature on that vehicle. Vehicles equipped with AM/FM, CD player, MP3 player, Bluetooth, HD Radio, XM/Sirius Satellite radio, Navigation, Traffic Reporting, Backup Assist camera, USB, AUX plug-in, Cellphone connectivity, IPhone IPod and IPad Connectivity, DVD, TV, Wi-Fi, sunroof, trailer hitch, convertible top, spoiler, fog lights, heated seats, chilled seats, memory seats, push button start, etc. are more valuable. Each of these features is an added value and should result in an additional photograph. If it has all the bells and whistles, your listing should have photos of all the bells and whistles. If it requires 37, its 37. If it requires 52, its 52.

Your photos are a window into your dealership. Make sure that they are clean, clear and shows your shoppers what they are there to see. And more importantly, what you are here to sell.

To summarize: take enough photos to tell the "cars story". How ever many that may be or not be. And let's keep the story telling for on our own dealer websites while.

@Chad Bockius thanks for chiming in, clarifying and sharing your findings. Most vendors in our industry don't take the time to interact with a dealer community (unless there's something in it for them). Especially when being challenged.

.

 

[chad.bockius]

Thanks Jeff. Always happy to help.

 

[jimbell]

Quality over quantity here.

I can post 30 crap photos, but man I've got 30 photos! But, what if I could give you 9 incredibly close-up and detailed photos...

NAILED IT! We dropped form 30+ down to 10-18 depending on trim. I couldn't believe the amount of crap shots we had. No change in volume at all since we dropped down several months ago.

 

[jimbell]

Quality over quantity here.

I can post 30 crap photos, but man I've got 30 photos! But, what if I could give you 9 incredibly close-up and detailed photos...

NAILED IT! We dropped form 30+ down to 10-18 depending on trim. I couldn't believe the amount of crap shots we had. No change in volume at all since we dropped down several months ago.

 

[carmudgeon]

NAILED IT! We dropped form 30+ down to 10-18 depending on trim. I couldn't believe the amount of crap shots we had. No change in volume at all since we dropped down several months ago.

What this says is 60 percent of the photos you were taking are as effective in absence as they are in their presence. Now that you have eliminated the "crap photos", amend the 10-18 high quality shots you have now with more photos of the same high quality.

15 years ago, I had a dealer send me, with a photo card full of one days work, to Costco. He had me print out every photo. When I got back to the dealership, he had me lay every photo out on a big conference table, one horizontal line per car. We then were able to see the photos in a much different light; as a collection, as a whole body of work. That experiment made me more conscious of the overall quality, the uniformity, and most of all, which shots needed improvement or elimination.

After he set the quality standard, we deduced to the fact that I only had about 18 photos per car. He allowed me to practice those 18 photos for a month. After a month, I got really good at taking those 18 and he then said "now my highline cars need more photographs and be sure to take good ones"

He has long since passed but today, as a result, I take a range from 20 photos to 52 photos based on equipment. Thanks to that Dealer(capitalized out of respect) I have car shoppers show up to the dealerships I service, and when they see me there with my camera, they come over and shake my hand and thank me for doing such a good job. There is no greater measure of my performance than that.

About a week ago, I had a another car buyer approach me and he thanked me for " taking such good pictures of my baby". His baby! Mind you, the baby he was referring to was a Hyundai Elantra... crickets... but to him it was his "baby"

We see cars all day long but, if we can keep in mind that this is someone's baby, we will match the customers enthusiasm about each car and that's just good for sales.