What's your policy on leaving sold units advertised online?

[ryan.leslie]

I'm thinking outloud here, but there is a non-automotive equivalent to leaving a vehicle in inventory until it is delivered. It is apples to oranges due to the length of the transaction, but a home for sale is marketed "under contract" for at least 30 days. Shoppers have the ability to compare it side by side with other like units knowing that it has a contract on it already. If they really like the marble vanity in the master bath and three car garage on the house under contract they might want to move quickly and make an offer on the home down the street that just hit the MLS with similar features.

I'm just asking the question, is there any place for badging or designating a vehicle "under contract" if it is waiting for delivery? Creating a sense of urgency is sales 101. Every other industry does something like this. Amazon lists the number of items available, eBay has a timer, Woot deals expire etc... Ever try to adopt a pet? Most of those poignant puppy listings have already "found their forever family" or are "on their way home." Can your 2012 Sentra be "on its way to a forever driveway?"

"The car you want to go home and think about today is the same car that someone else saw yesterday, thought about last night and is coming in to buy later today." This statement is truth. It is a sad reality, but the attempt to educate the consumer is often perceived to be a high-pressure sales tactic even when it is said with complete empathy. I wonder if providing insight into how many vehicles are "under contract" might help a consumer feel a legitimate sense of urgency when appropriate.

 

[craigh]

I'm thinking outloud here

We had a similar thought a while ago and added flags for vehicles so they can be highlighted better in the VLP for this reason.
That said, I believe Dealer Inspire and some others also have a "99 people have viewed this vehicle" function that helps as well.

 

[Chris Leslie]

I dont know why you would leave a car up that was sold. It's not your're ever going to restock that specific vehicle. Each VIN is unique right.

Keeping cars posted that are sold is creating roadblocks right from the start

 

[craigh]

I dont know why you would leave a car up that was sold. It's not your're ever going to restock that specific vehicle. Each VIN is unique right.

Keeping cars posted that are sold is creating roadblocks right from the start

I disagree. I think it's opening doors for the dealership.
I believe that getting that traffic is a good thing. I would much rather have someone click an old link and see a Sold sign then click an old link and see an error / redirect to nothing. Old links still have value.

 

[Chris Leslie]

Opening doors how?

Do you have anything to show the traffic they are getting isnt just bouncing as is actually a good thing?

What value do old links have besides saying "Hey look at what we used to have"

 

[Chris Cachor]

What value do old links have besides saying "Hey look at what we used to have"

If you're smart about how related vehicles are done, that is one way to generate interest. Second, if you're smart with the design and copy of those sold pages, you have a chance to land the customer that would otherwise look somewhere else. If you start thinking of sold listings as landing pages I think they can be quite valuable. Not to mention avoiding the frustration over "dead" links. It also signals to me that particular dealership is good at selling cars. "They get it" sort of thing.

 

[craigh]

Opening doors how?

Do you have anything to show the traffic they are getting isnt just bouncing as is actually a good thing?

What value do old links have besides saying "Hey look at what we used to have"

Did you read the first page of this forum post?
Why would you turn away free traffic?

For example, I have a 2014 Mustang GT that has 37 entrances in the last month.
This vehicle has a 62.27% bounce rate, 1.7 pages/session and an average session duration of over 2 minutes.
Happens to be the top viewed sold vehicle on the site last month, but it also has 2 Google goals and one actual lead tied to visitors landing on that page.

Cost: $0
Reward: 1 contact page view, 1 vehicle lead submitted and 14 website visitors, 6 of which were new visitors.

Why not? One of the best ROIs on visitor acquisition that I have.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Did you read the first page of this forum post?
Why would you turn away free traffic?

For example, I have a 2014 Mustang GT that has 37 entrances in the last month.
This vehicle has a 62.27% bounce rate, 1.7 pages/session and an average session duration of over 2 minutes.
Happens to be the top viewed sold vehicle on the site last month, but it also has 2 Google goals and one actual lead tied to visitors landing on that page.

Cost: $0
Reward: 1 contact page view, 1 vehicle lead submitted and 14 website visitors, 6 of which were new visitors.

Why not? One of the best ROIs on visitor acquisition that I have.

Sounds like you need to stock a few more used Mustang GT's

 

[Jeff Kershner]

We had a similar thought a while ago and added flags for vehicles so they can be highlighted better in the VLP for this reason.
That said, I believe Dealer Inspire and some others also have a "99 people have viewed this vehicle" function that helps as well.

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I take it this is all by manual process? Have you considered building out some automated ifttt logic?

If vehicle is newer than 10 days old highlight with new arrival.

If vehicle has reduced price of XX highlight with Reduced Price.

If vehicle is marked sold in DMS have a vehicle Sold.

 

[craigh]

I take it this is all by manual process? Have you considered building out some automated ifttt logic?

If vehicle is newer than 10 days old highlight with new arrival.

If vehicle has reduced price of XX highlight with Reduced Price.

If vehicle is marked sold in DMS have a vehicle Sold.

Right now it's automated, but not configurable. Each dealership can choose to have them on Auto or Manual - either option allowing Manual but the Automatic function allows them to automate Reduced Price, Low Mileage and New Arrival. We're working on some sort of configuration like we used for Problem Vehicle reports, just trying to build it out more IFTT like you suggested, rather than simple thresholds.