Percentage of leads from website vs. manufacturer

[JesseJ]

I'm sure this has been asked before but I was just running a report on Reynolds to take a look at how are leads break down. Honestly I've basically had to teach myself everything on the fly over the last few months since our internet department wasn't much to speak of before I started.

What I found was pretty surprising...

Going on this month alone (leads and traffic have been way down for some reason)

56 leads

28 Manufacturer (Ford Direct)
13 ZAG
9 Website (Dealer Connection)
3 Every Car Listed
2 Cars.com
1 Craigslist

Just to alleviate the sample size issue...here is last month (Very strong month)

203 leads

109 Manufacturer (Ford Direct)
35 ZAG
30 Website (Dealer Connection)
15 Every Car Listed
13 Cars.com
1 Craigslist

What should these numbers look like? Also, I'm sure it may be asked. 15 sales last month via internet. A few of last month's leads bought this month also. Only 4 so far this month.

Thanks!

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Are you comparing this MTD to Last Month of the same date or MTD?

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking.."What should these numbers look like?" - this could depend on a lot.

 

[JesseJ]

Sorry let me clarify. Obviously we have far fewer leads than last month since we are only halfway through the month. What I'm asking is what the ratio should look like. Is it a problem that in our best sales month so far this year, we only had 15% of our leads generated from our own website? That is a pretty typical percentage for us.

As far as I can tell our website is lagging behind in traffic generated and leads generated which is a reason we are considering a switch. I'm just asking if those numbers indicate a deficiency and should we be expecting more out of our website?

 

[danoneil]

I would not panic. You still have 14 selling days in the month of May (3 saturdays 14th,21st and 28th) and memorial day too.

You have 28 leads from Ford so far. Can you get 65 to 70 more by months end ? I would think so.

 

[Chris Cachor]

What's your average for unique visitors to the site?

 

[Mitch Gallant]

Jesse, there's no right way for it to look.

Your traffic is down and obviously plays a critical role. Take the peaks with the valleys and do the best you can with what you've got. Comparing month over month is counter productive if the only variable is traffic. If that sounds short sighted it's because getting more traffic isn't a short term play.

 

[joe.pistell]

for us, year in and year out, as soon as the weather breaks and shifts into warm weather, all internet stats drop.

 

[tomwhitejr]

I agree with Joe that the season can affect leads; however, there are things you can do to improve your lead count regardless of the time of year you are dealing with. PPC campaigns, email campaigns, and traditional media campaigns can add leads. If you are held hostage by organic traffic or leads from the traditional sources (factory sites, AutoTrader, Cars.com et al) you can always be doing something to drive traffic to your site and increase your lead count.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Tom hit it. We too often overlook the importance of establishing a consistent prospect and retention email campaign. Drop your re-marketing code into your emails and re-market these customers over the next several weeks with your brand and message or a targeted offer as well.

Never rely solely on natural traffic. Your best customer are your previous customers. Be sure to have a strong retention marketing program in place.

 

[JesseJ]

Well just as I said it, traffic increased this weekend. Over 20 leads between Saturday and Sunday. Nothing catastrophic, just what I'd like to see. The moral of that story is exactly what you guys said. There will be peaks, valleys, and outliers so I shouldn't read too much into that.

What my real question was however, is pertaining to our own website. Shouldn't the majority of our leads come from our own dealership website? It wasn't the lack of leads, but the type of leads that puzzled me. I could be wrong there also.