Is The VDP a Good Landing Page?

[ed.brooks]

Shoppers have workflow.
1). Shoppers use google to find the best aggregator.
2). They then use the aggregator to narrow the results and make a decision

@JoePistell, I agree that many, indeed most, consumers use an aggregator to help with the decision making process, but the data shows that four times as many consumers START with the 3rd party aggregators compared to starting with a Google search. I'm not saying that Google won't be used at all at some point in the shopping process, but this is where many (Used Car) shoppers start.

* from the "2016 Auto Shopper Influence Study" by PCG

 

[Gayle Rogers]

Ed - Here is my first thought...I don't buy 4x the number of people START at AT.com, cars.com et. al. before searching "used toyota camry" in Google. It's counter intuitive. I'm much more likely to believe they made the above search and their first click was an aggregator. Do we believe all those aggregators combined have stronger branding than Google?

1. Do you actually believe those statistics?
2. Have you ever seen any other research to support that claim...or anything close to it? (BTW a cars.com rep saying that 100% of in-market shoppers will visit their website, does not count...((Yes, that really happened.))

I'm not saying it's impossible, just improbable. It's pretty far from what I would consider to be normal shopping behavior.

 

[Tallcool1]

Ed - Here is my first thought...I don't buy 4x the number of people START at AT.com, cars.com et. al. before searching "used toyota camry" in Google. It's counter intuitive. I'm much more likely to believe they made the above search and their first click was an aggregator. Do we believe all those aggregators combined have stronger branding than Google?

1. Do you actually believe those statistics?
2. Have you ever seen any other research to support that claim...or anything close to it? (BTW a cars.com rep saying that 100% of in-market shoppers will visit their website, does not count...((Yes, that really happened.))

I'm not saying it's impossible, just improbable. It's pretty far from what I would consider to be normal shopping behavior.

I called bullshit to that one too @Gayle Rogers . I just didn't few like arguing about it.

I believe that the aggregators are found via Google as well.

I believe this is just another example of how consumer surveys are difficult to base decisions upon. No I don't feel that off of those people were being dishonest. I feel that these customers just take their Google search for granted and likely feel their reference to Google to be irrelevant to the survey.

Just my opinion because that data just doesn't pass the smell test for me.

 

[jeffwallen]

Consumer surveys are gold when the questioning is formatted with the right intent. Trying to find out where a consumer starts the journey is like trying to catch your tail, rarely happens. Finding points that influenced the shopper gets a dealer closer to answering questions of what works. The largest segment of shoppers are trying to answer questions in the beginning of the shopping process. Asking what those questions were is when you get great data back from customers. Don't look for answers, look for the questions - that will then lead you into getting the answers YOU want. Learning the questions gives you marketing direction, it also gives the customer a reference point for recalling information - they are then able to recall impact points of their journey and tell their stories (a majority of the time). Most of the surveys I see in automotive are directly looking for answers instead of learning. That puts the customer in a foggy state of mind to recall the past without giving them a point of reference to start from...

 

[joe.pistell]

Speaking as a marketing dude, survey results are VERY easy to influence, so, you need to know who paid for the survey. This question is from Brian Pasch's study, so, it's safe to assume it's not paid byAT/Cars/KBB, etc.

Next, what I see is a flawed set of answers.

​

IMO the ANSWERS (above) will influence the audience and help create the results we see.

Observation #1: People don't read, they scan.
1st thing, 'the scanners' see 10 answers and will scan for a word that fits. And guess what's at the top of the list?
2 industry MEGA BRANDS that spends millions on TV ads (AT & Cars).

Observation #2: No other answers lead with brand names.
The 2nd answer never mentions GOOGLE. This means those with the 'scanning eye' and the reader never sees the word GOOGLE, so, it's not an answer. This ties to...

Observation #3: Many ppl don't know what a 'search engine' is.
"Search engine" is used 3x. This ties to...

Observation #4: These 3 answers are one answer... Google

​

Change to: "To begin my research, I started with google 1st to find everything"


Observation #5: Beware assumptions
We assume we're asking the internet researcher to 'mentally work backwards' and recall each site and go back to the beginning. IMO, you can ask a shopper to recall what happened, but, you can't make them think! All you can ask a shopper to do is recall high-level questions and don't ask them questions that they can fail. Examples:

Did you use the internet?
If yes,

• was it helpful
• did you use it often?

Did you use Google?
If yes,

• was it helpful
• did you use it often?

Did you use AT/Cars/etc..
If yes,

• was it helpful
• did you use it often?

etc...



The way you ask questions can influence the answers.

HTH
-Uncle Joe

 

[ed.brooks]

Ed - Here is my first thought...I don't buy 4x the number of people START at AT.com, cars.com et. al. before searching "used toyota camry" in Google. It's counter intuitive. I'm much more likely to believe they made the above search and their first click was an aggregator. Do we believe all those aggregators combined have stronger branding than Google?

1. Do you actually believe those statistics?
2. Have you ever seen any other research to support that claim...or anything close to it? (BTW a cars.com rep saying that 100% of in-market shoppers will visit their website, does not count...((Yes, that really happened.))

I'm not saying it's impossible, just improbable. It's pretty far from what I would consider to be normal shopping behavior.

@Gayle Rogers - A quick story before I dig in -- on my first day at AutoTrader in 2000, I was sitting next to a a guy named Bill in the orientation session. Bill was wearing a button down shirt over a tie-dye t shirt, so I thought to myself, "dotcoms are strange". An hour or so into the session, the trainer introduced the CFO. Wouldn't you know it -- it was the dude in the tie-dye. Bill stood up and explained that he was spending tens of millions of dollars to establish a brand. He fully intended to lose 100 million that year.

I tell the story to show that, while the 'big two' 3rd party sites don't necessarily have stronger branding than Google, they are nonetheless are pretty strong brand presences. We see well over half of our traffic typing our URL directly into the toolbar and while I don't have the current data from ATC, I suspect it's pretty similar.

Now, the biggest point; In many other verticals, "normal shopping behavior" most certainly includes well-branded, highly specialized, marketplaces and specialized search engines.

For Travel you have Expedia, Travelocity, etc.

For Jobs you have Monster, Indeed, etc.

For Real Estate you have Zillow, Trulia, etc.

And really for most shopping items I, like millions of others, go directly to Amazon. For example I just bought PetSafe Drinkwell Platinum Pet Fountain to keep my cat healthy and happy when I'm away. I searched, read the reviews, compared products and pricing -- all within Amazon. No Google needed. I also bought a tie rack, a couple of t shirts, a half dozen phone charger cables, and some shoe polish; all within the past 30 days.

Google is one tool used by car shoppers, it is not the only one. For many car shoppers, I think going directly to the well-branded, specialized "Automotive Marketplace" search engines is 'normal shopping behavior'.

 

[Gayle Rogers]

@Ed Brooks

I thought about the same thing. I recently wanted to shop for a new Camelbak and went to Amazon first. The difference, it's a low cost, low research, consumer good I can get shipped to my house (just like every thing you listed). I have an Amazon App that I shop on all the time for different things...People do not use AT regularly, nor do they use it for multiple purposes. It's comparing apples to airplanes.

All the other specialized search engines...It's the same concept. I don't doubt people visit those first or even Google Travelocity. The point is they are getting there through the search engine.

We haven't even crossed this bridge yet...Craigslist?? Ebay?? Please find me one person in the history of the internet that said, "Man I really want a Used 2014 F150, but I should learn more about them before I make my purchase. Where can I get some info? I KNOW! I'll go to CRAIGSLIST!

IMO, I think there are probably more people that go directly to AT that we would expect, but I agree with the other comments...The research findings are a little flawed.

 

[joe.pistell]

Some variables to consider...

Frequency of Use:

• Travel: rookie travelers don't know where to look, they start at Google, frequent travelers skip google go directly to their favorites. Thsi behavior can be seen in car shopping....
• Cars: Research begins on google. Weeks later, the car researcher goes right to their favorites.

TV:
If you got deep enough pockets and you've got the right product, it's common to use TV advertising to drive you right to your site (PriceLine, SouthWestAir, Trivago, AutoTrader, WayFair, etc).


Summary: AT & Cars carpet bombs media to get ppl to go directly to their site. It works.

 

[Chris Leslie]

Lets just go ahead and settle all of this real quick..

Go Vote -> https://www.wedgies.com/question/5797ad243f42b816005856a3

 

[Seth Winterer]

Does anyone have metrics from using LotLinx? From what I've been told, it's a flat CPC for VDP visits. I searched the forum and could only find one screen shot from a GA profile from LotLinx traffic that was showing a pretty low time on site from each visit. Any examples would be appreciated.