Nothing has been more enlightening in my career than becoming a customer. I look back at the stupid shit I did as a dealer in the name of making the process easier for my coworkers without regard to the customer experience and cringe. Every time I walk into a dealership, the signs of this approach blaze like fire. I see it everywhere. It is apparent on websites, too.
Let me be a little more constructive around online merchandising.
Photos are key. Period. End of story. Autotrader, Cars.com, and CarGurus work when you have good photos of NEW and used cars. No photo, no click. I will click on a VDP without a photo when I'm super low in the funnel. That means I have made a decision that I am going to visit your dealership in person and I'm trying to determine what OTHER vehicles you have for me to look at. You already hooked me with a car that had decent photos.
The part about decent photos is the thumbnail needs to be appealing in the sea of cars within a VLP. A 3/4 shot with the wheel turned is my preference. When it is a side profile or direct front view my scanning is disrupted and I find that annoying. I try not to reward that behavior by skipping past it. I don't like being annoyed, especially when I'm enjoying the hunt for my next car!
Interior photos! Take more interior shots. I just bought 2 cars and am still hunting for my unicorn "overlander." I'm always wanting to see the underside of the used car for any rust, what is the condition of all the seats (including a third row), what is the condition of the steering wheel, what buttons are on the car help me understand what package or options the car has.
What you should consider in vehicle photography:
- VIN explosions and data sources are different from one website to another. Autotrader may use Chrome as a vehicle decoder while another site will use DataOne. Those companies view data differently and how they give it back to the website tech needs to be interpreted. Interpretations can vary significantly between CarGurus and Cars.com or Dealer.com and DealerInspire. At the end of the day, those interpretations are made by humans with engineering jobs. They may have been on a deadline... who knows. The point is, you cannot rely on data to give a shopper any confidence. Photos sell your car for you.
- Your online shopper is an expert. Assume they have looked at dozens of cars online and know how to spot options and packages. By taking better photos of buttons you'll be helping these people in a big way. They will appreciate it! Yes, they will become dumb when they become a physical shopper.
- Take photos of the dash buttons on the left side of the steering wheel - these are missed way too often.
- Take photos of the buttons on the roof and if there are any in the second row (like around a DVD player screen)
- Take multiple photos of the center stack to include the radio, nav screen, climate control, seat climate control, center shifter, all the way to the center console.
- Always take a photo of the dash with the car on showing the miles
These bullets may sound like a lot, but I'm only talking about a few more interior images here. Try it, you'll find this ask isn't a big process change.
I need 5 more dealers to join in the beta and help me validate this. Anyone game?
