Has anyone else seen a drop in the quality of Cars.com leads?

[Alex Snyder]

Alex,

I meant ....

Maybe I shouldn't quote or agree with you then Yago. I still have trouble understanding what you're trying to say. ESL right

 

[yagoparamo]

Maybe I shouldn't quote or agree with you then Yago. I still have trouble understanding what you're trying to say. ESL right

LOL, sorry.

I just get so frustrated when dealers blame a lower amount of leads to everything including different clouds in the sky that day, rather than the obvious and actual piece we have some control.

 

[Rdpatrick]

LOL, sorry.

I just get so frustrated when dealers blame a lower amount of leads to everything including different clouds in the sky that day, rather than the obvious and actual piece we have some control.

I agree with what you're saying but apparently I didn't make my question clear. I'm not at all concerned with the QUANTITY of leads. It's the QUALITY of leads that has seemingly dropped.

When we look at the response rate of our leads it seems like Cars.com leads are just very poor quality over the past few months. It reminds me of when I worked at a store that didn't price their cars online but instead made the user submit a form for an "E-Price". We received tons of leads but they weren't very qualified leads, because they just wanted a price. Maybe it's our vehicles, maybe it's our area, or maybe Cars.com has changed up their call to action a little?

 

[Casey Longest]

We get more chat requests than we do leads from cars.com. At least twice as many. My rep came by yesterday and spoke to me about getting reviews on cars.com and also trying to get us on the "used car specials". We are a CPO dealer so that would make sense if we saw an increase in leads. I'm told the customer stays on the "specials" page twice as long and the button appears on all of our inventory, lists inventory and has links to finance apps, etc.

One BIG concern I had is I recently did a test lead from a source (Truecar page that showed our inventory) which cars.com is pushing our inventory to. Also did a cars.com test lead from our inventory and found the next day and the following day cars.com was sending a follow up email with other dealers inventory that came close to my search. Most were a fair ways away in distace but a couple were in my back yard. My rep said she had no idea they were doing this and says she is checking into it. For what we are already paying per month, I can't see investing more $ to help other dealers advertise their inventory on my leads... I imagine if this has been going on it may be making the leads difficult to capture. Anyone else had this happen?

 

[yagoparamo]

I agree with what you're saying but apparently I didn't make my question clear. I'm not at all concerned with the QUANTITY of leads. It's the QUALITY of leads that has seemingly dropped.

When we look at the response rate of our leads it seems like Cars.com leads are just very poor quality over the past few months. It reminds me of when I worked at a store that didn't price their cars online but instead made the user submit a form for an "E-Price". We received tons of leads but they weren't very qualified leads, because they just wanted a price. Maybe it's our vehicles, maybe it's our area, or maybe Cars.com has changed up their call to action a little?

Pat,

Different strategies will yield different results depending on the site also. For example not putting your prices on Autotrader is usually a negative but doing that on CraigsList usually makes it work better.

None the less please also don't take this personally, I was speaking in general terms.

 

[Linda Bartman]

Linda Bartman from Cars.com here. Ricky, the form we use has stayed consistent, even with our new look. Though we’re always developing ways to improve the site, any update to the email form would be to make it easier for shoppers to use while maintaining the quality of leads submitted. We look to ensure that our dealer customers get not only great lead quality, but that we continue to grow our audience, generate awareness for your dealership and showcase inventory. The value we provide to our customers is more comprehensive than just leads. I encourage you to chat with your rep and take a look at our reports.

Casey, moving to your concerns about our follow up with consumers, we’re continually testing new ways to help shoppers move closer to purchase, one of which is the email you referenced. Before instituting the campaign, 58% of email lead senders were already returning to the site after submitting a lead, indicating that, for most, the process doesn't end after sending the initial lead. This email campaign is meant to provide shoppers who do submit leads the relevant information they need, while giving dealers new opportunities to influence the buying process. As a consumer-driven site, that’s important for us to keep in mind. Note that it goes both ways – consumers who may not have contacted your dealership directly may benefit from being exposed to your inventory during this process as well.

There’s probably one more important note here too….our job is to build audience, meaning more exposure for your dealership and inventory. Cars.com consumers engage with us for a period of up to six months when deciding what car to buy and where to buy it. While we do connect them directly to dealers, their use of our site often doesn't stop after purchase. One example of this is Dealer Reviews, where consumers come back to Cars.com to share their buying experience. So to say that a user is the property of a dealer because they sent a lead would limit the experience we provide shoppers and also limit our value to all dealers. Being consumer-centric means balancing the needs of both shoppers and dealers, and we make every effort to ensure it’s a win win for everyone involved.

 

[Kelly Wilson]

Rickey,

Something I've noticed with our Cars.com leads is that they are "lazier" leads. I've seen a slow progression from inventory specific leads to the type leads where the shopper goes into the Research/Configure a new car side of the site, they create a vague "I wanna ram" to a detailed "wish list" and ship it off to a number of dealers.

If customers are wanting dealers to do the legwork and present them with all of the information, what processes do you have in place for these types of shoppers?

 

[ddavis]

Kelly, some customers will ask question after question. They never provide a phone number, sucking the life out of you, and never buy. When I spot this customer, I give them my phone number and when they don't call, I drop them. I'm not going to type an encyclopedia.

 

[ddavis]

Ricky, glancing at your used car inventory, you have 60 units in stock. This is not a huge inventory. From that, you are carrying about a third with high mileage. I would guess, the late models are Enterprise Rental cars. Please don't take offense but edgy cars don't draw the same caliber leads that super nice cars do. Often, they cheat the book and make good special finance cars.

 

[Rdpatrick]

Ricky, glancing at your used car inventory, you have 60 units in stock. This is not a huge inventory. From that, you are carrying about a third with high mileage. I would guess, the late models are Enterprise Rental cars. Please don't take offense but edgy cars don't draw the same caliber leads that super nice cars do. Often, they cheat the book and make good special finance cars.

Yes, sir, that makes sense. We've absorbed some inventory from a sister store that failed and that is probably bringing in some lower quality customers.

We're not seeing this issue through our other lead providers, but the change in inventory coupled with Cars.com unique audience may be the culprit.

Thanks for the feedback.