Why are Car Shoppers are so Damn Invisible?

[joe.pistell]

Explain it? Sure. Car salesmen for decades have been annoying the heck out of potential car buyers.

Neal, this is a great observation. I think you've nailed the single most important reason why shoppers are so... damn invisible.

Cars, trims, packages, prices, trade, financing, etc, is so complex, the shopper wants the visit into the store to be a natural extension of their internet shopping. Ideally, they want the sales rep to be a trusted product specialist to help them close gaps on their internet work.

#Trust
#ShopperNeedsShouldbeYourGoals

 

[Chris Cachor]

I have faith. I know what car I want and where I want to buy it 12 months before I can afford it; I can't be the only one in that group. Would happily order all my cars online if the website had Carvana's level of transparency and information.

I'm the same way. I think younger buyers prefer this model for new vehicles (new only). Whether its a car, snowmobile, motorcycle, or boat. Pick out the car, pick out the dealer, line up financing, and I'll come pick it up. It's not for everyone (ex. my parents) but its an important enough trend that some OEMs are behind it.

Explain it? Sure. Car salesmen for decades have been annoying the heck out of potential car buyers.

Car salesmen aren't annoying the heck out of potential car buyers - BDC's are.

I agree with all the points you made, but the cost is not necessarily always a factor. I have a platform built that does all the external aspects of it, I just need to integrate it into the store and have them to do the in-store process. Yes, that seems a bit naive, but I've had the discussions and it's certainly possible.

Cost is the least of the worries. There's a lot of resistance to introducing this process into dealerships and rightly so. I just hope that dealers themselves recognize the change in consumer behavior and collectively build their own processes/models rather than someone like TrueCar, Edmunds, AutoTrader, etc.

 

[Tallcool1]

There are a couple different reasons that I can gather as to why customers are so damned invisible:

1. They don't trust us. Why should they? What have WE done as a collective group to encourage anyone to trust us?

Is it the bullshit advertising that some of us choose to do that promises the outrageous and ends with a disclosure that may as well say *We really can't fulfill this offer but it sure made you look!

Is it the BDC that relentlessly chases a customer to the point that they are given no choice but to go into a witness protection plan and take on a new identity so that they can finally answer their phone again?

Maybe it is the wonderful visits to F&I that leave them hoping that they can afford the vehicle that was clearly within their budget when they walked in and is now $75/month above that number when they leave?

As a group, we really used to suck, and quite frankly a great deal of us still do. Now many of us are going through the awakening process and the customer's don't buy it. They don't buy the fact that we are willing to do business in a way that is driven by THEIR experience. We are willing to listen to them. We care about what it is that they want. The problem is, there has never been a time when the customer WASN'T trying to tell us how they wanted to be treated. We just didn't listen. Now the customer is in the position of power. They don't feel that they need us until the very end of the process. Hell, they really DON'T! We will just keep trying (to the best of our ability) to scoop up the low funnel buyers.

2. They CAN be invisible. This is really nothing new. Hello Mr and Mrs Customer. Welcome to xyz Motors. We really just want to look around. We will come in and get you if we see something that we like. But now, the customer has the luxury of being invisible.

All of this is just a fact of what our industry has become.

My question is this. What can I do to convey the attitude of my store? How can I get people to believe me? (We all have a different way of doing business, but we are all telling the same story about customer service etc.) How can I get my happy customers to tell other people about their experience? (We post customer pictures all over the internet and via our customers Facebook. We offer referral fees. We send all of the follow up material.) I have reviews splattered all over the internet! I have happy customers. (The dirt bag down the road pays some outfit to wash all of their shitty reviews and to google bomb with bogus review sites) I fix problems on the rare occasion that they arise. Our entire business model is built around over delivering, right down to the way that we work payments with our finance customers and present our vehicles on our website. We really ARE different. I am not convinced that they believe it. This is my challenge, and like others here have posted, I have faith! I will not give up. I realize this is a journey, not an event. I would also take any and all advice along the way!

 

[craigh]

My question is this. What can I do to convey the attitude of my store? How can I get people to believe me? (We all have a different way of doing business, but we are all telling the same story about customer service etc.) How can I get my happy customers to tell other people about their experience? (We post customer pictures all over the internet and via our customers Facebook. We offer referral fees. We send all of the follow up material.) I have reviews splattered all over the internet! I have happy customers. (The dirt bag down the road pays some outfit to wash all of their shitty reviews and to google bomb with bogus review sites) I fix problems on the rare occasion that they arise. Our entire business model is built around over delivering, right down to the way that we work payments with our finance customers and present our vehicles on our website. We really ARE different. I am not convinced that they believe it. This is my challenge, and like others here have posted, I have faith! I will not give up. I realize this is a journey, not an event. I would also take any and all advice along the way!

I think we first need to identify what percentage of customers care most about a good experience.
I believe many purchase and dealership decisions are driven by other factors.

1. Incentives - FREE iPad with every car!
2. Facility - New facilities always seem to draw in new customers organically
3. Price point displayed online - these customers haven't seen your dealership in person and have never spoken to a sales person. The only impression they have is your website and the prices
4. etc

 

[joe.pistell]

Dealer's biz profile matters alot! From an old DR post, here's a snippet below:


Off the top of my head, here are a few factors that can swing conversion metrics, that have nothing to do with the website...

• Franchise
• Inventory Profile
• Dealer's distance from it's major market.
• Dealer's Marketing footprint
• Dealer's Marketing/Merchandising message
• Competition
• Size of Sample

Franchise Matters.
Different Franchises attract different clientele. Their brands also set up expectations. Kia franchises create more leads than Audi (several hundred percent higher). Kia shoppers are price and credit sensitive, where as Audi shoppers (luxury shoppers) have high service expectations, are more brand loyal and more dealer loyal (than other brands).



Inventory Profile Matters.

• Ratio of New vs Used.
• Age and price range of used.
• Franchise(s) covered.
• Width and depth of avail inventory.
• Scarcity of Inventory (100 toyota camrys vs 100 diesel Audi's)

http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/threads/how-important-are-email-lead-conversions.3100/#post-27839

 

[Tallcool1]

I just completed a 90 day survey that I asked my site visitors to complete.

I asked "What is your #1 factor considered when making a vehicle purchase?"

Fuel Efficiency 25%
Reputation of Dealership 14%
Price 39%
Availability of Financing 22%

These numbers have changed dramatically during the last month of the survey. During the final month, nearly 75% of the surveyed visitors selected Price. Before that, Availability of Financing was first by a big margin. It seems as if the closer my survey period got to tax refund season, the more the results moved toward price.

I am not exactly sure what to do with this information yet, but I have it!

 

[craigh]

I just completed a 90 day survey that I asked my site visitors to complete.

I asked "What is your #1 factor considered when making a vehicle purchase?"

Fuel Efficiency 25%
Reputation of Dealership 14%
Price 39%
Availability of Financing 22%

These numbers have changed dramatically during the last month of the survey. During the final month, nearly 75% of the surveyed visitors selected Price. Before that, Availability of Financing was first by a big margin. It seems as if the closer my survey period got to tax refund season, the more the results moved toward price.

I am not exactly sure what to do with this information yet, but I have it!

What is the total sample size?
Any idea what % of visitors presented with a survey actually filled it out?

 

[Tallcool1]

I do NOT know how many times the survey was presented, so I don't know the percentage of visitors that completed it.

The survey was REJECTED meaning the pop up was closed 585 times.

The survey was COMPLETED 135 times.

The site visitors had to stay on one page for 60 seconds before the survey appeared. I wanted to survey visitors that were actually "engaged" with the site. 60 seconds may seem excessive, and very well may have been. There was nothing significant about the 60 second number. It was just a time that I selected.

The site visitors could ignore the form because it did not interfere with their navigation. It was a small pop up in the lower left corner of their screen. They could close the survey, or they could complete the survey.

I am working on a new survey that will appear in 10 seconds. I want to attempt to understand my customers that do not stay on a page very long. Is it the presentation, the vehicle, the layout, etc..

I don't know enough about survey presentation to say that I did it right or wrong.

 

[joe.pistell]

"Dealer's biz profile matters alot! "

Clint's an independent used car store. 55 units on the ground. Here's his popup survey:

http://www.luckyorange.com/features.php


My Thoughts:
Its a single answer only (any way to make it multiple choice?).
Fuel Eff is the top question, top question may get 1st click (consider randomizing)


JIC, if you'd like to expand your questions, here are some. They're NADA's presale survey questions, ranked in order of results

1 Trustworthiness of dealership
2 Professionalism of salesperson
3 Ease of negotiation
4 Lack of sales pressure
5 Availability of the vehicle they want
6 Reputation of dealership
7 Prices and incentives
8 Quick delivery of the vehicle they want
9 The test drive
10 Brand of vehicle
11 General atmosphere of the dealership
12 Ease of financing
13 Location of the dealership
14 Personal relationship with a salesperson
15 Ease of buying other products and services
16 Used the dealership in the past
17 Dealers website​

HTH
Joe

 

[Tallcool1]

"Dealer's biz profile matters alot! "

Clint's an independent used car store. 55 units on the ground. Here's his popup survey:
View attachment 2326
http://www.luckyorange.com/features.php


My Thoughts:
Its a single answer only (any way to make it multiple choice?).
Fuel Eff is the top question, top question may get 1st click (consider randomizing)


JIC, if you'd like to expand your questions, here are some. They're NADA's presale survey questions, ranked in order of results

1 Trustworthiness of dealership
2 Professionalism of salesperson
3 Ease of negotiation
4 Lack of sales pressure
5 Availability of the vehicle they want
6 Reputation of dealership
7 Prices and incentives
8 Quick delivery of the vehicle they want
9 The test drive
10 Brand of vehicle
11 General atmosphere of the dealership
12 Ease of financing
13 Location of the dealership
14 Personal relationship with a salesperson
15 Ease of buying other products and services
16 Used the dealership in the past
17 Dealers website​

HTH
Joe

I really like Lucky Orange for some of the features it offers. There are however significant limitations when it comes to the surveys. I do not have the ability to do any type of "ranking survey", or to allow for a visitor to select more than one answer. I can see how that would be valuable information.

Excellent advice!

Thank you. I will figure out how to put this to use in my next survey.

Thank You.