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AutoTrader.com BOB - What Has BOB Done for You?

Jeff Kershner

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May 1, 2005
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As Autotrader.com rolled out their new VDP display, they've added what they coined around the AutoTrader offices as BOB.

Big Orange Button.

Through studies and research, AutoTrader claimed to conclude that many consumers would visit the website of the dealership after finding the VDP of the vehicle of interest on AutoTrader.com.

Rather disturb the natural browsing habits of the consumer, AutoTrader figured they would not stand in the way of the shopper but rather make it easier for the consumer to get where they were going to end up anyways - on the dealership website.

This is how BOB was born.
bobbutton_Autotrader.jpg

After having the privilege in attending their national sales meeting and having the opportunity to see first hand some of the new products and offerings, I was able to see the value in BOB. Backed with the data and insights, it was obvious this was a great idea for AutoTrader to link the consumer to the dealership website right from the VDP. It made total sense and what dealer would be against getting in market shoppers straight to your dealers website? PLUS - this add an extra value to AutoTrader.

Has BOB made any difference? Let's see....

AutoTraderBOBReferral.jpg

Looking at the report above from my Google analytics account, we are seeing an increase in direct referral traffic from AutoTrader.com. Although, I really thought we would have seen higher increase in referral traffic. Not totally disappointed but was expecting more.

Yes, there are several factors that can sway these results...
I used my Toyota dealer for reference here. The inventory is consistent and the VDP views during this reported time frame kept a nice consistent average as well.

Conclusion: We've seen a slight increase in referring traffic since AutoTrader.com adding BOB but not the increase I had initially thought we would get.

What has BOB done for you?
 
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The reason for BOB is an answer to the results that Craigslist (CL) brings to dealers. As you can see in the screen shot, 9 times the traffic.

In the past it was in Autotrader's (ATC) interest to keep the custoemr as long as possible in their website. That just meant more clicks, traffic, phone calls, emails, etc. ATC doesn't measure how many cars you sell but how many calls they bring, therefore a customer that goes to ATC, finds a car, makes one call, and buys it, is a bad customer. The more research and grind they can produce the better is for their numbers.

CL changed that, and specially those banners that Joe Pistell didn't like, have created huge traffic for dealers. It has to be noted that we believed that the best customer is the one in your website (can't see anyone else's cars!) so we focused on driving traffic away from CL and into the dealer's website to capture that customer. It has worked pretty well since the phone call volume straight from CL didn't become less than without banners.

So ATC now offers a direct link from their website to the dealer's site, which is a very positive move. Note that the bounce rate on ATC is the best out of the entire list though. CL takes the volume.

This being exposed, means that while ATC still a very valid place to advertise, CL bought a perfect solution for car dealers: New ideas, new ways to connect customers, with the dealer, competitiveness, and if anything, price hikes checks.

As soon as BOB gets implemented in WA for a few months I will try to share info on the changes. Out of WA we mainly do CL for large dealer groups (Autonation, etc) and I don't have access to their analytics.


pgi_CL.jpg
 
Thanks for sharing Drew.

Like to see some more dealers share their results....

I visited an old friend that is a GSM for a large dealer group. I had noticed a great deal of marketing changes to his website. I also noticed that other stores in the group had implemented the changes to their websites. Impressed, I started pointing out the changes and he totally shut down. He was shocked that I had noticed. Even though we were old friends, he wouldn't discuss it.
 
BOB UPDATES ANYONE?
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As Autotrader.com rolled out their new VDP display, they've added what they coined around the AutoTrader offices as BOB.

Big Orange Button.

Through studies and research, AutoTrader claimed to conclude that many consumers would visit the website of the dealership after finding the VDP of the vehicle of interest on AutoTrader.com.

Rather disturb the natural browsing habits of the consumer, AutoTrader figured they would not stand in the way of the shopper but rather make it easier for the consumer to get where they were going to end up anyways - on the dealership website.

This is how BOB was born.
View attachment 448

After having the privilege in attending their national sales meeting and having the opportunity to see first hand some of the new products and offerings, I was able to see the value in BOB. Backed with the data and insights, it was obvious this was a great idea for AutoTrader to link the consumer to the dealership website right from the VDP. It made total sense and what dealer would be against getting in market shoppers straight to your dealers website? PLUS - this add an extra value to AutoTrader.

Has BOB made any difference? Let's see....

View attachment 450

Looking at the report above from my Google analytics account, we are seeing an increase in direct referral traffic from AutoTrader.com. Although, I really thought we would have seen higher increase in referral traffic. Not totally disappointed but was expecting more.

Yes, there are several factors that can sway these results...
I used my Toyota dealer for reference here. The inventory is consistent and the VDP views during this reported time frame kept a nice consistent average as well.

Conclusion: We've seen a slight increase in referring traffic since AutoTrader.com adding BOB but not the increase I had initially thought we would get.

What has BOB done for you?
 
hmmm...every answer leads to more questions!

AT_ref.jpg all traffic.jpg
ttl sales for referance: 110,136,138,127,139,102,106,133, 109

On the 16th of Jan. we left the beer and dart league for pricing...and have "bigger, better" auto comments (that is IF the sales manager sticks with the complicated tool)
More/Better pictures are on the "To-Do" list...

Is this rock moving?
 

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