Uncle Joe's Makeover Diary 2.0

[joe.pistell]

Assessing metrics like cost per vdp view, cost per lead, and cost per sale is a smart approach to ensure you're getting the best value from third-party platforms.

Cause & Effect

Cause:

• 3rd party sites know dealers OBSESS about lead gen volume and...
• ALL OTHER DATA is not important to dealers... so...
• 3rd party sites know if can't produce lead volume, they die.

Effect:
3rd party sites know less product support data = MORE LEADS.

• Here is the Lead Gen Algo as seen from inside a 3rd party site:
  • Most shoppers are NOT product literate.
    • They have near zero trim hierarchy knowledge
    • They're unaware of the hundreds of feature choices
  • Use "Deal Rank" & price as the anchor of your Car Shopping Experience.
  • Drop/reduce/hide vehicle's features, lead gen goes up.
  • "Deal Rank" & photos becomes the shoppers anchor for product discovery

IMO, this is the CarGurus UX design Algo. LESS info is MORE Leads.

Summary: All car shoppers want a balance of finding the best car at the lowest price. From my seat, CarGuru's lead gen success forced AT and CARS to follow. CG intelligently used the dealer's inventory and the dealer's insistence on lead volume to give the dealers what they want. Leads, Leads, Leads. CARS and AT create a UX that is far more 'product centric' than gurus.

 

[joe.pistell]

CARS and AT create a UX that is far more 'product centric' than gurus.

Feature Review: AutoTrader vs CARS vs CarGurus

Used 2023 Toyota Tundra 1794 Edition CrewMax Cab 4WD
VIN: 5TFMA5DBXPX060540

THis is NOT a one off audit, this is how it is... BY DESIGN.

FACT: On CG, PRICE SELLS, NOT THE PRODUCT.

1. If you have a loaded up VIN that's not selling, you either discount the shit out of it, of, have your inventory team list all of the features in great detail.
2. Knee-cap your competitors. Have your UCM study Gurus from this P.O.V. and work that audience. If you sell a lot of F150's, find Trim's that can be loss-leaders. Place that loss leader on your F150 line and train your sales reps to demo how much better the other F150s are and sell against the loss leader. #Retail101

p.s. AutoMagic Labs system audit on this VIN: LINK
--104 noteworthy options from this VIN's Build Sheet.
--37 VERY High value options from this VIN's Build Sheet.

VDP links

Autotrader - page unavailable

https://cars.com/vehicledetail/90ec237e-720f-47b4-a689-2fee45962262/

Dolan Toyota - Reno, NV

Browse cars and read independent reviews from Dolan Toyota in Reno, NV. Click here to find the car you’ll love near you.

www.cargurus.com

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

I remember we had a product when we had VinSolutions that allowed us to see page by page views of AutoTrader searches by those who sent a lead from AutoTrader. One of the things I noticed from that was that people didn't really seem to search features (or trims for that matter). Mostly year, make, model, miles, and price.

 

[joe.pistell]

One of the things I noticed from that was that people didn't really seem to search features (or trims for that matter). Mostly year, make, model, miles, and price.

Good observation @BillKVMotorCo. Your observation connects to:

Knee-cap your competitors. Have your UCM study Gurus from this P.O.V. and work that audience. If you sell a lot of F150's, find Trim's that can be loss-leaders. Place that loss leader on your F150 line and train your sales reps to demo how much better the other F150s are and sell against the loss leader. #Retail101

 

[Carsten]

Uncle Joe Rocks!

That is a great info graphic!


I am a person who goes for a trim at times. One that I continually look at is the Jeep GC SRT trim. Most other cars I don't think as much about.

 

[joe.pistell]

Anyone in the Cars.com org, plz fwd this to Products and Analytics leaders.

CARS Commerce,
You have so much rich data that we cannot see. Your most progressive clients are looking for the data you have in silos. Consider giving your clients API and/or a report builder with access to the full dataset.

Visibility into engagement data like SRP/VDP ratios and more would be very helpful in connecting more deeply to the CARS audience.



This Linkedin Post uncovered this amazing data.

 

[joe.pistell]

Meeting coming this week

Anyone in the Cars.com org, plz fwd this to Products and Analytics leaders.

CARS Commerce,
You have so much rich data that we cannot see. Your most progressive clients are looking for the data you have in silos. Consider giving your clients API and/or a report builder with access to the full dataset.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

Meeting coming this week

Nice. I agreed with this sentiment in another post. We could help a guest more if we knew a little more information about their preferences rather than just receiving a template lead. I also made the point that at a time when people were getting more and more negative about 3rd party sources, people might be lured back in with access to more info WITHOUT having it upsold to them.

 

[joe.pistell]

From a recent COX survey of2,500 shoppers.

Takeaway: Improve your website, give your shoppers what they want:​

Give highest priority to:

1. Incentive Info
2. Monthly Payment Calculators
3. Finance Application
4. Finance Approval

note: #4 is unusual, it points to low credit scores fishing for approvals

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

From a recent COX survey of2,500 shoppers.
View attachment 8509

Takeaway: Improve your website, give your shoppers what they want:​

Give highest priority to:

1. Incentive Info
2. Monthly Payment Calculators
3. Finance Application
4. Finance Approval

note: #4 is unusual, it points to low credit scores fishing for approvals

I'm sure this is a familiar story, but we have found that the only people that convert on finance apps, DR tools, etc. are the credit challenged customers. 800 credit scores have 800 credit scores because they don't go submitting their info to strangers.

Question on your priorities: How do we give all of these without adding a million buttons on a page? Or without a DR tool? Do you have examples of someone you think is doing this well?