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Why are Car Shoppers are so Damn Invisible?

I've begun wondering lately if a great website would result in more or less leads.
Without the actual purchase taking place online, it's very possible that a great website would convince even more people to simply come to the dealership without submitting a lead, because the inventory photos, quality, comments, etc were so good that the customers actually had less questions to ask and less reason to submit a lead.

No idea how to test this yet, as I would actually have to be able to define "great website", which is entirely subjective in many ways.
 
Explain it? Sure. Car salesmen for decades have been annoying the heck out of potential car buyers. To the point the general population has a predetermined opinion of people once they find out they sell cars for a living. I mean, heck, Truecar's whole thing is based on taking the hassle out of car buying.
Neal. Your words lead me to believe you've never worked at a store before.

Am I correct?

I work with stores filled with happy customers, with hundreds of 5 star reviews online from good experiences. All my own car buying experiences (when I could get ahold of someone) were positive. TrueCar is about pricing more than hassle as well, at least in my opinion - it's also a touchy subject on these forums.

I think the pre-conceived ideas about sales people are more humour than actual perception of car sales people.
 
I've begun wondering lately if a great website would result in more or less leads.
Without the actual purchase taking place online, it's very possible that a great website would convince even more people to simply come to the dealership without submitting a lead, because the inventory photos, quality, comments, etc were so good that the customers actually had less questions to ask and less reason to submit a lead.

 
I asked a far simpler question: "If 85% of all car shoppers are on YOUR website prior to purchase, then why are they are so damn invisible?"

Joe,
I've seen your after sale survey, but do you also have a before sales survey that you do?
Do you have something the greeters use to get information from the visitors to determine where they think they saw you before coming into the dealership?
 
Joe,
I've seen your after sale survey, but do you also have a before sales survey that you do?
Do you have something the greeters use to get information from the visitors to determine where they think they saw you before coming into the dealership?

Tried it and it failed.
Buying a car is a like poker game. Any question that reveals their hand pisses them off. After the game's over... they LOVE to chat about their hand.
 
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Scenerio: If you sell 2,000 cars a year*, then roughly 100 sales p/month were to shoppers who were on your site 3x or more. Why aren't these shoppers making more noise... like redeeming coupons?

Some examples of efforts to -allow- shoppers to be more visible:
--HookLogic is aimed squarely at this challenge (offer an incentive to visit).
--One Price stores like CarMax are teaching their shoppers to relax & drop their guard (A New Dealer Model).
--Really unique dealerships like http://ridehomehappy.com/ (warm and fuzzy)
--Award winners?

For a reference FYI:

If 85% of all car shoppers are on YOUR website prior to purchase, then why are they are so damn invisible?

Can anyone explain it?
Is anyone doing anything about it?
Have you seen anyone doing anything about it (i.e. Lingcars.com)?


*Based on my Survey at Delivery research