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Are you VOMITING on your VDP?

Jeff Kershner

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May 1, 2005
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What features should be included in a performing VDP?

Here are the many that most VDP's try to include...

Photos, Vide0, Pricing, History Report, Conditions Report, Text descriptions, vehicle features and optional package, Owners Manual, Online Brochure, Testimonials, Vehicle location (especially for groups, Vehicle awards and accolades, Alternative (like) vehicle selection, Legal disclaimers. Other stuff like interior and exterior 360-degree views, safety information, safety ratings, fuel performance ratings, environmental ratings and comparisons, and information about the store and its policies.

Lets not forget, what we think to be the most important - the CALL TO ACTION.

ultimatevdp_linkedin2-jpg.1945


Referencing to my comments around a discussion with Dave Page from eDealerProcess on linkedin (see screenshot above), I believe the VDP is essentially a landing page and should be treated like one, especially above the fold. IMO too many website services in our industry like to vomit all over the VDP with too much information (or on the wrong area of the page), while including too many PRIMARY call to actions.

We only have ourselves, to blame for this mess. We've tried our damnedest to turn the VDP to become a "lead whore” by including every possible call-to-action, hoping to increase the chances of a lead capture.

Have we placed too much focus on the lead form capture?

I’m NOT saying the VDP shouldn't focus on lead submission. I’m saying it should focus on the EXPERIENCE first. What influences your customer to engage, what persuades them to want to take action? Why does the forum submission have to be the only supporting performance metric we place value on?

So I ask you - What is the ULTIMATE Dealership website VDP?

Tell us, Share it or Show Us - but don't vomit on our post with your vendor-focused screenshots. If it's not dealer and community focused we'll delete it. Behave. Also - for the full article around this, you can find it here.
 

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Chris - it sure does. I've love to see the performance around their VDP's as they have always been my personal favorites. They seem to be a bit busy above the fold with their latest design. Their primary call to action somewhat drowns even with the yellow/orange background around the green "schedule appt" button.

Looking at your screen shot vs mine, they must be doing some A/B testing around this.

I appreciate how well they utilize the space below the fold.
 
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Uncle Joe Rule #61:
"Auto Shoppers make 2 decisions, WHICH car and WHAT dealer".
If 98% of your VDP real estate is all about the car, then you need to give your web vendor the smack-down and fight for VDP real estate to tell YOUR story.


Fantastic Joe. Enhance preference for the vehicle and the store. There was some extremely poor research that came out last month saying anything not related to the vehicle was distracting to the shopper. Don't you believe it.

Including testimonials on the VDP relevant to that vehicle is one contribution toward enhancing preference for the store.
 
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What software do you use to screenshot the whole page?

Uncle Joe,

In chrome, I used Awesome Screenshot:Capture & Annotate. They have a Firerfox extension. It is simple and works great! You will have ability to screenshot a selected portion, what's diplayed on the screen currently & the entire page. Joe, this one is right up your ally!
 
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Uncle Joe Rule #61:
"Auto Shoppers make 2 decisions, WHICH car and WHAT dealer".
If 98% of your VDP real estate is all about the car, then you need to give your web vendor the smack-down and fight for VDP real estate to tell YOUR story.


It is hard to argue with that statement, it seems so obvious. But I think thru experimentation we have seen huge increases on leads (depending on the brand, market, etc) from adding information and ways to communicate to the VDPs.

I would love to know what was the conversion rate for a website in 2000 when there was nothing but the car and nowadays.

Have we turned the VDP into a circus of irrelevant information or has it increased the website's performance over the years?