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What do dealership websites make customers do that we’d never tolerate in the showroom?

Joe, I get what you mean now. I was reading “low quality user” as the shopper, not the level of experience they expect.

I agree though. Before we keep adding more tools, the basic shopping experience has to be really easy. Help me find the right car, show me what matters, and don’t make me work for it.

If we get that part right, the rest should feel a lot more natural.
 
Meaning we've got friction in the shopping system that's ahead of some of the more sophisticated concepts that you're talking about.
Wouldn't it be pretty easy to test?
  • Half see current homepage, half see the new entry point.
  • Don’t force the new path.
Something like:

What matters most to you?
  1. Family
  2. Towing
  3. Off-Road
  4. Daily Driver

It would test the entry point?
 

✨ AI Highlights

A dealer-side practitioner opens by asking why dealership websites subject customers to friction — repeated form fills, intrusive popups, disjointed vendor tools — that would never be tolerated in a physical showroom. The conversation shifts into a deeper product design debate, with Joe Pistell arguing that the biggest untapped opportunity lies earlier in the funnel: most shoppers never use SRP filters or save vehicles, so the priority should be frictionless discovery and need-based entry points before layering on sophisticated digital retailing tools. The key insight is that 'low-expectation' browsers who just want to be motivated and guided represent the majority of site traffic, and until the basic shopping experience serves them well, adding more conversion tools creates friction rather than value.

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