Cars.com and Yahoo split? Someone please explain

[joe.pistell]

....The leads just aren't coming from Cars.com. When someone walks in the door theyre given a sheet of logos (cars.com, ebay, carsforsale...etc) and asked to circle which they had seen us on and check mark any other logo of a website they have even been on to look at cars. Since we started this practice 2 months ago, there has been ONE cars.com circle and TWO check marks. None of those three led to sales....

Ryan,

HOW and WHEN you ask a question is just as important as the question itself.

You state that you gather your survey "When someone walks in the door". You must consider that the automobile shopper is in a highly defensive mode, they are preparing for NEGOTIATION. Any probing question that may possibly compromise the shopper's leverage will be answered with a veiled response (aka white lies).

IDEA:
To clean up your data, consider a post sale survey. The negotiation is over and buyers have dropped their guard. You'll find your results will be far different than you have now.

My Post-Sale Survey FYI: http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f43/uncle-joes-make-over-diary-1683-13.html#post19931

I have 4 years of post sale surveys and the data is produces can be jaw dropping. In my case (only), my surveys find that 20% of all sales recall shopping at either autotrader.com or cars.com and that stat alone has kept me from chopping these Classified sites.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Hi Jerry. And I bet you are going to see that trend continue upwards for Craigslist and downwards for AutoTrader. The Dealer's websites is and probably will always be the premier player in the market. HOWEVER, remember that any good Craigslist ad sends the viewer back to the Dealers website for more information. So there is a bit of double dipping.

When my coaching staff listens to a call they select one lead source based on what they hear. We've been teaching salespeople to ask, "how did you hear about our dealership?" The bigger challenge is getting the salesperson to then ask, "what was it that brought you to our website?"

 

[AWW_Spencerport]

Ryan,

HOW and WHEN you ask a question is just as important as the question itself.

You state that you gather your survey "When someone walks in the door". You must consider that the automobile shopper is in a highly defensive mode, they are preparing for NEGOTIATION. Any probing question that may possibly compromise the shopper's leverage will be answered with a veiled response (aka white lies).

IDEA:
To clean up your data, consider a post sale survey. The negotiation is over and buyers have dropped their guard. You'll find your results will be far different than you have now.

My Post-Sale Survey FYI: http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f43/uncle-joes-make-over-diary-1683-13.html#post19931

I have 4 years of post sale surveys and the data is produces can be jaw dropping. In my case (only), my surveys find that 20% of all sales recall shopping at either autotrader.com or cars.com and that stat alone has kept me from chopping these Classified sites.

Very good points Joe. Thanks for the info!

 

[yagoparamo]

Very good points Joe. Thanks for the info!

There is a great number of customers that will check the car in different places at different times of the buying process. I do that too; I check Autotarder to see what the dealers have, then Craigslist to see what the independent dealers and private owners have, and sometimes even eBay to see how pricing goes everywhere else in the nation.

Often times I see dealers judging digital advertising JUST by the calls they get or by the customers input and these can be very deceiving. If your inventory is missing from one of the major advertising sources you may cut yourself from the buying selection process.