Used Vehicle Descriptions/Comments

[Nick Spolec]

Remember learning about haiku in 5th grade? Well, we decided to plow through our used car inventory and write haiku for the vehicle descriptions of the 99 vehicles that needed used vehicle descriptions.

...SNIP...

Well, that is definitely a unique and catchy idea. Though I do not think it would work for everyone --- I believe it comes down to the "persona" you/your dealership strive for. If your dealership is going for a unique, "fun" and/or ironic atmosphere, then haiku comments are perfect. Maybe it's a millennial thing?

I think we have yet to see what millennials are really going to gravitate towards when it comes to shopping for cars. Maybe all this talk of setting different standards and trends in the market place will evaporate, and the "best practices" will emerge as the way we've been doing it all along.

 

[KevinO]

Nick: Your first few sentences should be what makes this vehicle better than the others!

if your comments are also exported to AT then you need the first 250 characters to be the best.

Example of a generated description writing program.. Magnetic Metallic exterior and Black interior, XLT trim. EPA 23 MPG Hwy/17 MPG City! Turbo Charged, Trailer Hitch, Overhead Airbag, Bluetooth, 4×4, REAR VIEW CAMERA W/DYNAMIC HITCH ASSI… XLT CHROME APPEARANCE PACKAGE CLICK ME!

would anyone want this to show in the AT search results pages as..
"Magnetic Metallic exterior and Black interior, XLT trim. EPA 23 MPG Hwy/17 MPG City! Turbo Charged"

If it were me I would start with...

Just Traded Here: One Owner, Always Serviced (Have Records), Top of the Line, 4x4 Turbo W/ XLT Chrome Appearance Package, Rear View Camera,

It really comes down to selling value!



i

 

[craigh]

If it were me I would start with...

Just Traded Here: One Owner, Always Serviced (Have Records), Top of the Line, 4x4 Turbo W/ XLT Chrome Appearance Package, Rear View Camera,

Valid point. Whenever I have a client wanting to use the automated comments I always recommend they at least pre-pend them with something legitimate that personalizes the car and makes it unique.

 

[Joe Johnson]

Good stuff. I'd like to add that some customers (like myself) don't trust the feature list and rely soley on pictures and descriptions to verify which equipment a vehicle has. A typed description usually means someone put their hands on the car and any features mentioned in that section should be accurate. Good pictures that point out the options are also nice.

 

[BillH]

While I don't write the actual comments anymore, our 2 stores do much better with used cars when there are quality comments and they are pictured up. I hired a lot photo company for both of our stores, our guys were not getting done at the store that I was not doing. Getting the comments to be of decent quality is the challenge. They are just starting to see the value.

Our cars have a default comment with value added info, free oil changes etc. then the vehicle specific details are added in front of this. That way, there is some info in place until the car gets what I call "dressed". Photos, custom comments, tightened up.

I sent Autotrader's comment tips to our 2 guys that are doing the comments. Useful.
http://weworkforyou.com/insights/insights/view/telling-your-value-story-with-custom-comments

Bill

 

[JessicaRuth]

Awesome new article around custom comments

"In fact, we recently analyzed millions of used vehicle listings across numerous used car marketplaces and found that fewer than 50% of them included any seller comments at all – whether they were customized or auto generated. Clearly, customized comments will let you highlight what makes a particular car unique and will help you move it off the lot."

 

[craigh]

Awesome new article around custom comments

"In fact, we recently analyzed millions of used vehicle listings across numerous used car marketplaces and found that fewer than 50% of them included any seller comments at all – whether they were customized or auto generated. Clearly, customized comments will let you highlight what makes a particular car unique and will help you move it off the lot."

What I want to see is an accurate survey of customer behaviour that shows whether or not they read the comments. Should we focus more on keyword stuffing, personalization or an actual "story"?