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Lead wall on your website

Alex Snyder

President Skroob
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May 1, 2006
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@joe.chura was speaking yesterday at Pasch’s AAAS event, and said they have seen a 90% increase in lead submissions with a 150% increase in sales on those leads when forcing the customer to enter lead info to get a piece of info they crave. Like a price.

It is so contrary to how I would shop.

However, it must be stated our industry struggles to attribute all the channels that helped move a car over the curb. So the closest attribution point we have is the last touch point on a lead submission.

Because of our technical problems does it make sense to construct a “pay wall” for our customers?

P.S. yes, I am bringing up an old topic again.
 
Because of our technical problems does it make sense to construct a “pay wall” for our customers?
Those are nice increases to get a price, with those conversion %'s it must be presented well to the customer as added benefit too, like: Save your information for later, get price alerts, speed up your delivery/store visit process, get configure/payments, etc.

Any shopper attribution data to go with it?
 
Interesting and kudos to Joe and the team for trying something unconventional.

I'm with you @Alex Snyder, that doesn't appeal to me as a consumer either. I have an email address and Google voice number specifically for "pay walls." I monitor that email address if and only if I am expecting an email verification link, and I don't think I've ever even read a voicemail transcript on the Voice number. Once I get what I want, I'm gone.

I'd guess in this case the consumer converts quickly because they liked what was behind the wall, or they never do.
 
I have an email address and Google voice number specifically for "pay walls." I monitor that email address if and only if I am expecting an email verification link, and I don't think I've ever even read a voicemail transcript on the Voice number. Once I get what I want, I'm gone.

That's you, but 90% of the shoppers aren't that in tune with the process. And we all know how horrible leads are that come with an email address. I'd rather have a lead with a text opted in cell phone number all day long.
 
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Alex, we were surprised too. To be clear- I first advocated for testing as I believe every dealer and every market is different. To say there is one way to do things is definitely not the message. As a consumer, I too would not want a gate in anything but I have also subscribed to Business Insider because there was value on the other side of that gate, despite the reality that the web is full of free content. However, in both Online Shopper and Conversations, we have included an option to put a lead gate upfront or collect the lead at the end. We recently tested a larger auto group and used simple conversational logic to ask for information upfront (much like how a phone call would go) and we saw a surge in 19/20 stores. One store, which was a Highline, was lower. In short, whatever your goals are I'm an advocate for testing to drive the outcomes you want. The upfront lead gates will likely drive a higher quantity of leads but lower quality. The net is important and can vary so please test.
 
I'm not surprised by this at all. But as @joe.chura points out, lead gates will likely drive a quantity over quality. In order for this to be productive, many variables come into play.

Are leads answered and followed-up by an effective BDC?
What's the process after the lead is received?
Are additional incentives being used to help lure the customer in the door?
Are you presenting price only or are payments included?

It doesn't surprise me to hear that the results were different for the highline store. I deal with this, and everytime I'm confident something is going to work I'm proven wrong.