I have faith. I know what car I want and where I want to buy it 12 months before I can afford it; I can't be the only one in that group.
Would happily order all my cars online if the website had Carvana's level of transparency and information.
Why are Car Shoppers are so Damn Invisible?
- Thread starter joe.pistell
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I have faith. I know what car I want and where I want to buy it 12 months before I can afford it; I can't be the only one in that group.
Would happily order all my cars online if the website had Carvana's level of transparency and information.
Visitors are invisible because our websites fail to connect the dots. Offline data is not matched with online currently to give us the proper view of our visitors. Vendors are slow, do not have the ability, or it isn't profitable for them to connect these data points. Retargeting data opportunities to sweeten the deal for repeat visitors or visitors being referred from other sites are not utilized. We can know a lot about the people and households coming to our websites, if our website partner's let us.
Calls to action are templated and generic.
If we give consumers something of value (ability to reduce time spent during purchase process for example) in a properly labeled, easy to use format, we will see more active hand raisers prior to them showing up. Creating more leads isn't a bad thing. Tricking people into giving us their name is. Giving up on creating more leads through landing page optimization and extending offers into inventory pages dynamically is a huge divide on our web site platforms. We simply don't connect the dots.
Calls to action are templated and generic.
If we give consumers something of value (ability to reduce time spent during purchase process for example) in a properly labeled, easy to use format, we will see more active hand raisers prior to them showing up. Creating more leads isn't a bad thing. Tricking people into giving us their name is. Giving up on creating more leads through landing page optimization and extending offers into inventory pages dynamically is a huge divide on our web site platforms. We simply don't connect the dots.
- Apr 7, 2009
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Beware the sound of your own wheels...
- Confirmation bias is a tendency for people to favor information that confirms their preconceptions or hypotheses regardless of whether the information is true.
Craig, I am not saying your not right, I am saying that the investment req'd to pull off your vision ain't cheap. Uncle Joe Rule #12 should help: "Just because is a good idea, doesn't mean it'll work". Lean Startup & Lean UX methods will get you there and keep your risks low
HTH
Joe
p.s. deeply consider removing away Carvana's million dollar photo booth from the UI. What do you have left? Then consider how different would the UX be from every other website out there.
I agree with all the points you made, but the cost is not necessarily always a factor.
I have a platform built that does all the external aspects of it, I just need to integrate it into the store and have them to do the in-store process.
Yes, that seems a bit naive, but I've had the discussions and it's certainly possible.
The key is that it doesn't replace the current process, it just adds a new option to that process.
I have, it was one of my first jobs in the real world. Climbed from porter to internet sales manager to consulting for dealers, dealer groups and now manufactures (9 years later)
I worded the message pretty harsh and while I am not in the trenches anymore, a quick google search "why do car salesman have a bad reputation" leads to hundreds of pages of results, heck my first result was a Forbes article titled that!
I don't doubt that you have had nothing but great reviews and accolades, but I also believe that all the people on here are also, IMO, at a higher level of competency then the norm. People who visit this site are trying to improve, innovate their business. I doubt many people from the now infamous J & R autosales are here, if ya know what I mean.
Pardon the english, working on my first coffee of the day now
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- Apr 7, 2009
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Thanks Joe, I have been asking your company to make me a website like this for 2 years (www.autoweb.com), it isn't perfect but it has huge steps in the right direction. I have even offered to pay your company for the custom build. You have the online data, we can send you the offiline, unfortunately, my dream I feel has died.
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I have, it was one of my first jobs in the real world. Climbed from porter to internet sales manager to consulting for dealers, dealer groups and now manufactures (9 years later)
I worded the message pretty harsh and while I am not in the trenches anymore, a quick google search "why do car salesman have a bad reputation" leads to hundreds of pages of results, heck my first result was a Forbes article titled that!
Excellent!
Let me ask you, what came first, the chicken or the egg? IOW, who negotiates first, the shopper or the dealer? Dealer's post a price, shoppers either pay it, walk or ask for a discount. Any way you slice it, this is pro shopper. Try asking for a lower price at the DMV, or at Tesla NOT HAPPENING
The evil dealers and the slaughter of the innocent shopper is an urban legend. You won't see an article about evil, blood thirsty, selfish car shoppers beating up on lowly car dealers, there's no ad revenue on that theme
. If a reporter really looked around he'd see evidence that the shopper's internet behavior is eating dealership profits, dealerships are slowly abandoning the old sales model because profits are thin and NEGOTIATION no longer creates PROFITS to offset the commissions.
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- Apr 7, 2009
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Wow. Great 1st impression. Lot's of great facet tricks that are on my drawing board too (i.e. shoppers don't know cars). Let's talk and share some thoughts. Private message me here, or, send me an email at joe[dot]pistell[at]dealer[dot]com
