• This thread is just the tip of the iceberg.The people ahead of the curve aren't Googling for answers — they're already in here, having the conversations you haven't found yet. DealerRefresh is free.Get the full picture →

Are traditional website form submissions dead?

Are traditional online leads dead?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .
As a provider of straight-up "trade us your information for your trade-in value or estimated monthly payment" tools, I can say with certainty that website submission forms aren't dead. The website conversion stats have held roughly constant since TradePending's founding in 2014.

As a marketer, I work hard to ignore my personal biases (chat vs. email vs. form fill vs. phone) to provide as many means as possible for customers / prospects to engage with us in their preferred method, not mine.
 
Kevin Frye turned a lot of the CTAs into chat starters within the Wyler Auto Group site. He was speaking very highly about how well this worked for them at Digital Dealer this year.

One major issue occurring today is the dealership staff have become used to playing the "take it or leave it" approach due to such low supply. It isn't translating well to customers.
We moved the Contact Us CTA to open live chat on all sites last fall. I feel pretty good about the reaction so far and have not heard anything negative from our BDC. And believe me, they would certainly speak up. We are still trying to nail down the analytics/ROI on this change, but we'll get there.
 
Submitting forms on websites is a process that dates back to the early days of the internet. Although the methods and technologies have changed over time, the basic process of submitting a form has remained largely the same. There are both pros and cons to using website forms, and it ultimately depends on your specific needs and goals.
 

✨ AI Highlights

Dealers are questioning whether traditional website form submissions remain effective, as customers increasingly expect instant gratification and genuine service rather than lead-capture tactics. The thread consensus is that simply rebranding forms as "chat" without genuine live agent support or personalized assistance is worse than the original approach—and that the future belongs to dealers who prioritize customer value and helpful UI over aggressive lead collection. The key insight is that sustainable competition requires treating website interactions as customer service opportunities, not just lead-generation mechanisms, with tools like real-time CRM-integrated chat and context-aware, vehicle-intelligent assistance being more promising than gimmicky popups or disguised forms.

Replies Views 14 5,430 Started Last Reply