Question on Digital Retailing.. Could displaying payments on your website scare off customers?

[John V.]

Here is where I think DR would come in handy- Pipe Dream of mine but I think this would work if it were "penny perfect"....... Keep it hidden off of your website and keep it as an ace up your sleeve for people like this (see below - they are becoming more and more frequent) - Make the damn customer pencil their deal and put parameters on it all available facets. Make it cheesy/fun as well so if they discount too far or put an apr in that is unrealistic a face or or text pops up - "I don't think so" - "Try again" - "Let's be realistic" etc. etc.

Basically send a link to someone like this and tell them - fine, you win. Once you get that best price from a dealer 250 miles away punch into this tool and it will tell you if we can do that deal or not."

I mean what else do you do with people like this??????

"Comment: My wife has chosen this specific configuration/color for her new Jeep. I have found it at 6 Jeep dealers in the southeast. This is an RFP for the best price available. We will buy NLT 11/21/2019. I will be asking $13k trade-in on my existing 2012 Suburban with 114,000 miles on it. (Good Condition). Please contact me with your BEST price for consideration. I will not negotiate but choose the best price within a 250 mile radius for purchase. Thanks in advance."

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Manufacturers offers specials and payments, why wouldn't you. Matter of fact, you should be advertising the same lease specials the manufacturers offer. Sean Stapleton and Eric Miltsch could talk more about this since they play in this arena daily!

 

[John V.]

Manufacturers offers specials and payments, why wouldn't you. Matter of fact, you should be advertising the same lease specials the manufacturers offer. Sean Stapleton and Eric Miltsch could talk more about this since they play in this arena daily!

Everyone advertises the OEM specials on their website or better offers in some cases. But in most cases, that price is not the actual price. Doesn't include accessories, doc fee, tax, etc. and usually only applies to a price leader stripped out car. Still advertise the lease special on a slider and specials page but you cant just go advertising that same special on every car in your inventory - its not going to match.

 

[Eric Miltsch]

Manufacturers offers specials and payments, why wouldn't you. Matter of fact, you should be advertising the same lease specials the manufacturers offer. Sean Stapleton and Eric Miltsch could talk more about this since they play in this arena daily!

@Jerry Thibeau is absolutely correct. National, regional, & branded offers & incentives are always available. The problem has always been the same: How do you consistently publish those offers to your website and other digital marketing channels.

Current situation: Nearly 90% of all vehicle sales are financed (via lease or loan) - How many times have you ever bought something without knowing the price? How often do you see Amazon product pages that don't show the price? This nonsense of showing prices & payments will "scare shoppers off" has to stop. Besides, when shoppers don't see the prices or payment (& only get a "Call for price" message) they automatically think you're the highest price.

Major problem: It's been impossible for dealers to merchandise their vehicles and include current lease & loan offers. Anyone who has ever tried to manually update website offers and search/social media/email campaigns knows that it can't be done successfully at scale.

Solution: Dynamic merchandising efforts, that include payments/offers/incentives, drive more clicks, lower the cost of PPC campaigns, improve page engagement & increase conversions. I can say this based on the data from over 1 million campaigns that include accurate, current price elements within paid search ads, on-page content, social media campaigns & email campaigns (a truly omnichannel approach). The secret sauce is leveraging marketing automation vs trying to do this all by hand.

Here's an example of a dealer who shows the transactional price elements shoppers are looking for - and helps move them further down the buying process.

 

[Tarry Shebesta]

@Jerry Thibeau is absolutely correct. National, regional, & branded offers & incentives are always available. The problem has always been the same: How do you consistently publish those offers to your website and other digital marketing channels.

Current situation: Nearly 90% of all vehicle sales are financed (via lease or loan) - How many times have you ever bought something without knowing the price? How often do you see Amazon product pages that don't show the price? This nonsense of showing prices & payments will "scare shoppers off" has to stop. Besides, when shoppers don't see the prices or payment (& only get a "Call for price" message) they automatically think you're the highest price.

Major problem: It's been impossible for dealers to merchandise their vehicles and include current lease & loan offers. Anyone who has ever tried to manually update website offers and search/social media/email campaigns knows that it can't be done successfully at scale.

Solution: Dynamic merchandising efforts, that include payments/offers/incentives, drive more clicks, lower the cost of PPC campaigns, improve page engagement & increase conversions. I can say this based on the data from over 1 million campaigns that include accurate, current price elements within paid search ads, on-page content, social media campaigns & email campaigns (a truly omnichannel approach). The secret sauce is leveraging marketing automation vs trying to do this all by hand.

Here's an example of a dealer who shows the transactional price elements shoppers are looking for - and helps move them further down the buying process.

View attachment 4460

If I'm a competitor of said dealer and I have a customer in my store, I can point to that ad and tell them I can beat it by $X if you sign right now. Why? Because the ad above is restricted to a payment based on OEM MAP.

This primarily pertains to new vehicles.

OK. The key issue with showing generic payments or even specials is "Webrooming" (look it up).

Dealers are shooting themselves in the foot with incorrect monthly payment quoting. The two main culprits are (among others):

1) OEM MAP restrictions = higher payments
2) Allowing customers to self-credit = wrong rates

The only way to show accurate payments is to know who the customer is. This allows you to use the real price of the vehicle and the customer's real credit to calculate real "penny-perfect" payments. In response to Mike's question.

YES! Dealers are losing potential sales to Webrooming!

 

[Carluminati]

Well if you actually had a dealer website with an extensive FAQ, which articulated the nuances of buying a car and the relationship to payments, you might not ever have this problem... if you were honest with the customer about what their damn car is going to cost them per month! It astounds me why this industry is so slow... So sloooooow, at getting the customer up to speed with reality. The bottom line is if you scare somebody off, That's probably the right thing to do.

 

[Marc Lavoie]

Well if you actually had a dealer website with an extensive FAQ, which articulated the nuances of buying a car and the relationship to payments, you might not ever have this problem... if you were honest with the customer about what their damn car is going to cost them per month! It astounds me why this industry is so slow... So sloooooow, at getting the customer up to speed with reality. The bottom line is if you scare somebody off, That's probably the right thing to do.

The thing is, having a section/page with FAQ or Best Tips to Buy a Car will get next to 0 traffic. You'll have to push it to your customers, as it is not natural to find that information on a dealership's website.

If you want to take that route, you must do a really good job of explaining to customers through text and/or video why and how it works in this industry.

For me, I'd rather get the highest conversion possible and start working towards that goal vs. displaying a ton of information on my site.

It's quite impressive how people interpret the info you can place on a website sometimes.

 

[Tallcool1]

Well if you actually had a dealer website with an extensive FAQ, which articulated the nuances of buying a car and the relationship to payments, you might not ever have this problem... if you were honest with the customer about what their damn car is going to cost them per month! It astounds me why this industry is so slow... So sloooooow, at getting the customer up to speed with reality. The bottom line is if you scare somebody off, That's probably the right thing to do.

People won't read FAQ's.

Scaring someone off is NEVER the right thing to do.

Just my opinion.

 

[kimberlyvo]

I selected "no," because I believe it's important to let shoppers know what they might be paying, and if they can't afford it, then yes, of course, it'll scare them off. However, I do believe that allowing them to see the various options (lease and finance) gives them a chance to see if they can afford it. It's important to include a disclaimer saying that the pricing is reliant on their credit and taxes aren't included yet.

I see a lot of dealership websites display "SEE E-PRICE!" or "SEE TODAY'S PRICE!" and I do understand that this is supposed to generate a lead and get them to come in. However, I believe that providing a special offer or incentive via email can get you that lead and you can further discuss pricing or set up an appointment with the shopper after getting in contact with them. But like most replies to this post, I do agree that the inaccuracy of payments and pricing after taxes can hurt the brand and your dealership.