Great discussion here and having been in the industry for 15+ years, and 10 years prior selling cars, knowing how to compare ourselves is the only way to know if we are succeeding or failing in certain areas.
Without some point of comparison, we really don't know "how we are doing" when the GM or owner asks.
There are some great stats here, and as you have noticed, they all come from a different and single source and perspective.
What I have learned, in starting an automotive web analytics company for the purpose of having a central, non-biased, independent source of web and autoshopper data...is that national averages really don't apply to any specific dealer. Web traffic and shopper behavior very so widely between regions,states, brands, dealer size etc, that national numbers only apply to a very small percentage of dealers. Although they are good benchmarks to know where the auto industry is, they can do little to help you push specific levers within your own dealership to make noticeable improvements.
Using regional or DMA averages, or even better, metrics from your own city or competitive market, give you a much better understanding of how you are doing compared to other dealers in your area.
We found that these DMA numbers very widely but are much more accurate in knowing what is going on in your own market.
Example; if you see a large dip in traffic or leads, you need to be able to see if this was a trend in your market overall, or just something specific to your website. Perhaps traffic to your site dipped 17%, but overall shopper traffic in your market dipped 25%, you are not doing as bad as you thought, and that dip probably had nothing to do with anything you did or didn’t do.
Example; LTV or lead to Visitor ratio is such a small number, it is very difficult to change by itself. So we break down that metric into smaller, more “trackable”and manageable metrics. We first look at Visitor to Shopper ratio, meaning of all the people who visit your dealer site, how many actually make it past the home page. The national average for home page bounce rate is about 60%, meaning of all the people that hit your home page, about 60% leave without doing anything. (the bail-out rate from a SRP or VDP page is half that, around 32%)
Again, being a national average, this varies widely among dealer sites. But you want to know what your bounce rate isand start by lowering that number by making the home page more conducive for shoppers.
Next, we look at shopper to active shopper, meaning, of all the people who do engage in the site, how many actually perform vehicles searches or look at details pages. This gives us an idea of how easy your vehicles search is and how effective your vehicle display is. This can then be addressed with your web provider to make the inventory listings, search criteria and details pages more attractive and simpler to use.
From here, we can then analyze active shopper to lead ratio, meaning, of all people who look at inventory, how many send leads. This is where the rubber meets the road. How easy is your lead form to complete, how many fields are required, where is the form located, etc.
By looking at these metrics individually, it will be clear where you need to focus your attention to get the most out of your website.
Without some point of comparison, we really don't know "how we are doing" when the GM or owner asks.
There are some great stats here, and as you have noticed, they all come from a different and single source and perspective.
What I have learned, in starting an automotive web analytics company for the purpose of having a central, non-biased, independent source of web and autoshopper data...is that national averages really don't apply to any specific dealer. Web traffic and shopper behavior very so widely between regions,states, brands, dealer size etc, that national numbers only apply to a very small percentage of dealers. Although they are good benchmarks to know where the auto industry is, they can do little to help you push specific levers within your own dealership to make noticeable improvements.
Using regional or DMA averages, or even better, metrics from your own city or competitive market, give you a much better understanding of how you are doing compared to other dealers in your area.
We found that these DMA numbers very widely but are much more accurate in knowing what is going on in your own market.
Example; if you see a large dip in traffic or leads, you need to be able to see if this was a trend in your market overall, or just something specific to your website. Perhaps traffic to your site dipped 17%, but overall shopper traffic in your market dipped 25%, you are not doing as bad as you thought, and that dip probably had nothing to do with anything you did or didn’t do.
Example; LTV or lead to Visitor ratio is such a small number, it is very difficult to change by itself. So we break down that metric into smaller, more “trackable”and manageable metrics. We first look at Visitor to Shopper ratio, meaning of all the people who visit your dealer site, how many actually make it past the home page. The national average for home page bounce rate is about 60%, meaning of all the people that hit your home page, about 60% leave without doing anything. (the bail-out rate from a SRP or VDP page is half that, around 32%)
Again, being a national average, this varies widely among dealer sites. But you want to know what your bounce rate isand start by lowering that number by making the home page more conducive for shoppers.
Next, we look at shopper to active shopper, meaning, of all the people who do engage in the site, how many actually perform vehicles searches or look at details pages. This gives us an idea of how easy your vehicles search is and how effective your vehicle display is. This can then be addressed with your web provider to make the inventory listings, search criteria and details pages more attractive and simpler to use.
From here, we can then analyze active shopper to lead ratio, meaning, of all people who look at inventory, how many send leads. This is where the rubber meets the road. How easy is your lead form to complete, how many fields are required, where is the form located, etc.
By looking at these metrics individually, it will be clear where you need to focus your attention to get the most out of your website.
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