My Rant about DealerInspire.

[Rick Buffkin]

Hi Dan. It's on both our Toyo and CDJR site. Looking deeper and further into it, it appears they are using Measurement Protocol (MP) to push events into GA for all leads that occur on the site (including Conversations and OS as well) and I assume that is the default browser that script inserts. This does give the Analytics team the option to use page destinations and/or events as Goals in GA. I don't know why they need to use MP for this though. We have destinations setup as some goals, CTC Events and they could easily use cross domain measurement via the analytics.js for OS. My biggest question to your team would be, are they creating new sessions, Client ID's, etc... via the MP push into GA or are they using the same session data. It appears they are creating some new sessions when they push the events.

 

[Dan Schroeder]

Hi Dan. It's on both our Toyo and CDJR site. Looking deeper and further into it, it appears they are using Measurement Protocol (MP) to push events into GA for all leads that occur on the site (including Conversations and OS as well) and I assume that is the default browser that script inserts. This does give the Analytics team the option to use page destinations and/or events as Goals in GA. I don't know why they need to use MP for this though. We have destinations setup as some goals, CTC Events and they could easily use cross domain measurement via the analytics.js for OS. My biggest question to your team would be, are they creating new sessions, Client ID's, etc... via the MP push into GA or are they using the same session data. It appears they are creating some new sessions when they push the events.

Thanks Rick, this does look to be specific to leads from OS. We are gathering some more details and then we will give you a call to discuss. I want to make sure we have the right people to address your concerns on the call and see what we can do to avoid any interference with your GA reporting.

 

[Rick Buffkin]

Here we are again. A Lightning inventory issue. It works great as long as you don't use a filter and have to text the link to a customer. With this URL structure you can forget about texting inventory links to your customer once you apply a filter (ex: trim, bodystyle, color, etc..). The text messenger apps don't seem to like links with arrays and positions in them!
https://www.beamantoyota.com/new-ve...]=SE&_dFR[type][0]=New&_paymentType=our_price

This is what shows up in your text messenger app on your phone. Notice how the link is broken (how many ppl are using mobile??)!! Something else you need to think about when you're looking at these products. As far as I can tell, there is no fix for this unless you simply go with the traditional inventory layout. @Dan Schroeder, do you guys have any solutions for this issue???

 

[craigh]

You need to use URL encoded versions of square brackets. The standard was changed due to IPV6 and they should update to reflect that. When you text the URL you need to escape [ with %5B and ] with %5D.

[type] will be %5Btype%5D

Ref: RFC 2732 https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2732.txt

You can write a tool to encode it for you before sending, as annoying as that is.

 

[Rick Buffkin]

Thanks @craigh. They should seriously think about putting you on payroll bro. It just baffles me that everyone one talks about mobile first this, mobile first that. You're behind times if you're not thinking mobile first. Yada, yada, yada... Here we are with the basic of basics. I want to text a link to a customer for a filtered search result for a model and trim level and I can't. Why does it matter how fast the inventory loads if the links don't work. It's a lightning halt.

 

[Chris Cachor]

Props @craigh!

 

[Dan Schroeder]

iOS devices properly encode those URLs, but it looks like Android’s messenger is not doing so.

However, we are making a change to escape the brackets in the address to solve the issue.

In the meanwhile I’d recommend using bitly or something similar to shorten and encode the URLs and use those links to share with customers, but this should be updated shortly.

We appreciate this type of feedback, so please feel free to contact Bruce or myself anytime to discuss snags!

 

[Rick Buffkin]

Thanks @Dan Schroeder. This has been a major thorn in the side. Not just with Text Messaging but with email as well.

 

[digital_gangster]

Hmmmm, this has me a little concerned. Even though I read through much of this thread, I really want to believe that a Wordpress based platform is a good option for our group sites.

We transitioned one right now and even though I have not dug into it 100% yet, I am excited to be on a platform that I have 10+ experience with, compared to DCC that seemed to be loaded with road blocks everywhere I turned.

We'll see how it goes. I am sure the overall experience is different for each different type of dealership and its site. Thanks for the good read.

 

[Bruce E]

Hey John! Please don't be concerned. @Rick Buffkin started this post because he was trying to do some advanced page building on his site and didn't have all the tools he needed. Traditionally we do basic training with dealers on the platform at launch. Rick needed a bit deeper dive as he's a power user. After a phone call to learn more about what he was trying to do I sent him everything he needed.

If you've got 10+ years of Wordpress dev under your belt, you're going to love the DI platform.

I know you're just starting to get familiar with the platform but if you find yourself needing some advanced-level training, we'd be happy to help. my email is [email protected] and my cell is 630.614.1961 in the event you ever need it.

Bruce Etzcorn
VP of Customer Service
Dealer Inspire
[email protected]
630.614.1961