Exterior vs. Interior Inventory Photos?

[hnenni]

Interior photos vs. exterior photos -- which are more important?

I've noticed dealers seem to put a higher priority on exterior vehicle photos rather than interior photos. They're putting all of their exterior photos at the beginning of their scroller. I'm trying to understand why.

I recently purchased a vehicle and found myself buzzing through exterior photos just to examine the interior of the car.

Please give some opinions!

 

[Carsten]

Not a dealer but my guess:
The exterior excites people the most and it also gives customers an idea of the condition of the car.

For me personally, I inspect the seats how much gunk is on the dials and switches. I think this gives me a better idea of how well the car was maintained and how much effort the dealer put into getting the vehicle ready for sale. i also think the interior is more important and equate it to your bed mattress.

 

[Marc Freedman]

They're equally important. We provide photos for several hundred dealers and have never had one that wanted the interior pictures first. The online experience is generally designed to mimic the live in-person one that people are familiar with. You see a car in the showroom or lot and obviously first see the exterior first. The styling and beauty capture your interest. You take a closer look You zoom in on details. Is that a dent or ding? Is that black smudge streak damage, paint from another car, or just dirt? If you're further interested, you go inside and check the interior.

 

[CarData Support]

First 4 3/4 Exterior Photos (capturing entire exterior) then move to "selling" features of the vehicle no matter if Interior or exterior is what we consider best practice. This eliminates photo fatigue while; Can add more exterior photos after "selling" features are captured.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

First 4 3/4 Exterior Photos (capturing entire exterior) then move to "selling" features of the vehicle no matter if Interior or exterior is what we consider best practice. This eliminates photo fatigue while; Can add more exterior photos after "selling" features are captured.

We asked our customers and they unanimously hated the features being before the exterior photos or pictures of the seats.

 

[ggarvin]

About 10 years ago or so, I remember a dealer talking at Digital Dealer about how they were leading with an interior photo on the SRP. While it looks abnormal, it was generating more click throughs because it was abnormal. That seemed to make some logical sense... all the images of the exterior and then you see something different -- perhaps a consumer might click on it because it is indeed "different".

Otherwise, it makes sense to do exterior and then interior and then back again.

 

[pschnell]

Agreed. I changed our process a few years ago to 1 exterior "hero" and then 3-5 high-value features. Might be tech, moonroof, wheel/tire pkg, etc. Then the remaining 3 corners of the car followed by the rest of the interior, engine bay (if the detailer is good), tire tread depth gauge (used only), then any other shots the photog got. Those first 4-9 - depending on platform - better show the best bits of the car.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

Agreed. I changed our process a few years ago to 1 exterior "hero" and then 3-5 high-value features. Might be tech, moonroof, wheel/tire pkg, etc. Then the remaining 3 corners of the car followed by the rest of the interior, engine bay (if the detailer is good), tire tread depth gauge (used only), then any other shots the photog got. Those first 4-9 - depending on platform - better show the best bits of the car.

Do you have data showing this to be effective or do you just theoretically believe it to be effective? The reason I ask is that I also used to do this and truly believed in it. Then, I asked people on my Facebook what they thought. I had about 20 responses. Not one person liked it.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

About 10 years ago or so, I remember a dealer talking at Digital Dealer about how they were leading with an interior photo on the SRP. While it looks abnormal, it was generating more click throughs because it was abnormal. That seemed to make some logical sense... all the images of the exterior and then you see something different -- perhaps a consumer might click on it because it is indeed "different".

Otherwise, it makes sense to do exterior and then interior and then back again.

I could see this working on the dealer site with all of them being that way. On the 3rd party sites, it seems to me that people would see it as a mistake by the dealer and maybe that wouldn't be a good first impression. Just playing devil's advocate a little bit.

 

[George Nenni]

I agree with @pschnell and @ggarvin , capture 1-3 exterior photos, then get inside the car. I suspect when you see a 24-photo carousel, with 12 exterior, followed by 12 interior photos, you have a photographer that is trying to bang out a bunch of vehicles, and doesn't want to spend time getting in and out of the vehicle. Years ago I reviewed some Google Analytics events data, where they were tracking the percentage of shoppers that made it to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. photo, in a 24-photo carousel, and as expected it was a bell-shaped curve, with the top of the bell being photo #8-10. So knowing that most consumers will only make it to the first several photos, if the vehicle has rear-camera, navigation, heated steering wheel, optional 3rd row, I would want to make sure I put those pics in the first several. @joe.pistell is a pro at this, and goes beyond by adding descriptive text. Consumer on smart phones are swiping VDP photos like a Pinterest shopping experience. They are not reading the text, but they swipe through several photos to see how the vehicle is equipped. Great post Henry! @hnenni