Why do CDK lead forms need Zip Code?

[George Nenni]

We know that an increasing percentage of shoppers say they prefer the shopping journey to occur on mobile, so why are mobile lead conversion percentages lower vs. desktop? They are, I see it in GA for dealers across the board, paid search converts at a lower % vs. desktop/tablet.

I get it, people don't want to fill out forms on mobile...maybe. More likely it's because the experience and the lead submittal experience stinks. Let's start with this one. Why do CDK websites default to require both zip code and phone number? (image below) Zip code? Why not also ask what county and school district? Come on, let's get lead forms submitted with a minimal amount of information, so we can begin engaging with the shopper with minimum hassle. I actually would be ok with first name (or nickname/handle) and email address.

 

[Ryan Everson]

We know that an increasing percentage of shoppers say they prefer the shopping journey to occur on mobile, so why are mobile lead conversion percentages lower vs. desktop? They are, I see it in GA for dealers across the board, paid search converts at a lower % vs. desktop/tablet.

I get it, people don't want to fill out forms on mobile...maybe. More likely it's because the experience and the lead submittal experience stinks. Let's start with this one. Why do CDK websites default to require both zip code and phone number? (image below) Zip code? Why not also ask what county and school district? Come on, let's get lead forms submitted with a minimal amount of information, so we can begin engaging with the shopper with minimum hassle. I actually would be ok with first name (or nickname/handle) and email address.

What OEM? Often the OEM will force a website provider to require certain crazy things like that.

For example up until about a year ago, GM required a street address on every lead form. Luckily now neither an address or zip is required on GM CDK sites. Although I'm still not a fan of CDK and it's "Next Gen" platform.

I don't believe a simple form field is entirely what's causing the difference between mobile and desktop conversion rates, there are many more factors at play:

1) Screen size. When I look at my analytics, my conversion rate increases as the screen size increases.

2) Browse vs Buy. E-commerce experiences the same thing, consumers tend to browse on mobile and then buy on desktop. Some of this does have to deal with ease of use.

3) Speed. Websites tend to load slower on mobile, every extra millisecond of load time decreases the likelihood someone will convert.

4) Distractions. A mobile user is much more likely to be distracted by real life happening around them or an incoming cell phone notification.

5) Mobility. Search intent tends to be different on mobile vs desktop. Users searching for "car repair near me" are looking for an instant solution to their query and will convert in-store instead of online.

 

[George Nenni]

OEM is GM, specifically Buick GMC, Chevrolet, Cadillac, across the board on zip code, phone number not always. You make great points Ryan, I'm sure there are many other behavioral/situational factors at play. But assuming those exist, for those potential hand-raisers, don't you agree to make it the least path of resistance?

 

[Ryan Everson]

OEM is GM, specifically Buick GMC, Chevrolet, Cadillac, across the board on zip code, phone number not always.

Hmm I would try reaching out to a CDK rep because I checked a handful of my gm sites and zip code isn't even a form field.

You make great points Ryan, I'm sure there are many other behavioral/situational factors at play. But assuming those exist, for those potential hand-raisers, don't you agree to make it the least path of resistance?

Definitely agree, always focus on improving the mobile experience anywhere you can. I would say speed is the #1 factor followed up by ease of use. Unfortunately we're often at the mercy of our dealership website providers.

 

[Ryan Everson]

I will tell you that it is possible to achieve a higher conversion rate on mobile vs desktop. It CAN be done but is extremely difficult and rare to see.

A lot of it has to do with the messaging and type of advertising you're driving to the site. As you can tell the majority of traffic on this site is mobile.

(and to answer everyone's question, yes the only goals I'm counting are legit form fill leads and yes it's a car dealership)

 

[Jason@nabthat]

I actually would be ok with first name (or nickname/handle) and email address.

I would be okay with just an email address since most email addresses have a name contained within them. However, CRM's are not very good at displaying this information and sales people will tend to ignore these leads because they assume that a person with just an email address is less likely to buy a car or is harder to reach than a lead with name, email and phone. It is a question whether the site and lead forms are their for the consumer (in which case lead forms should be simple and efficient) or for the salesperson (in which case digital retailing would be best, if it worked).

We developed a lead button that allows a consumer to enter their information without a large lead form pop-up or 3 clicks to submit or having to fill in their info one field at a time (our fields will auto fill). It is fully responsive too! The lead form will send user details to the CRM with the specific vehicle details (I am surprised when I see leads coming in from a website that have no vehicle information even though they came off of a SRP/VDP).

Here is a sample of our "Unlock Our Best Price" (fully customized, works on any website/make)

 

[Jason@nabthat]

Mobile users are extremely important and do convert utilizing lead forms. We see it on our sites, with mobile converting higher than desktop on VDP Pages.

The reason why mobile users should be considered your most important demographic is because they are "active" shoppers. They are actively searching for information or a product and have a high tendency to make a purchase. To support this claim, mobile traffic represents 70% of Dealer SEM traffic.

Adding to @reverson factors at play:

Speed - definitely a variable that can hurt you more than help you and consumers have a tendency to be more patient for sites to load than they are on desktop. Speed will definitely kill traffic and conversion if the load time too long (4 seconds or longer).

Browse vs Buy - True, consumers do have a tendency to browse on mobile and buy on desktop but that is primarily for electronics, clothing and some other markets. These markets, however, do not normally experience mobile traffic as high as what we see in automotive. KPMG released a great report on digital consumer behavior across Baby Boomer, Millennials and Gen X that shows that the higher a product type has with regard to mobile traffic = the higher propensity of that product being purchased physically.

Screen Size - This is a resolution, CSS, Wordpress, Website Vendor issue. Most dealer sites have 3 responsive designs, some only 2 and others 4 at most. This is why larger screen sizes will tend to convert higher. This is more of an experience issue. Consumers want an experience when visiting a site and unfortunately most (maybe all) do not adequately provide a good experience. We hand code all of our dealer sites with state-of-art coding language and responsiveness, we currently support 6 different responsive CSS experiences. Tablets, Mobile and Desktop will have specific features, look, UI, etc. while visiting the same site.

When you provide an experience, Bounce Rate decreases, Conversions Increase and Store Visits Go Up:

 

[Alexander Lau]

We know that an increasing percentage of shoppers say they prefer the shopping journey to occur on mobile, so why are mobile lead conversion percentages lower vs. desktop? They are, I see it in GA for dealers across the board, paid search converts at a lower % vs. desktop/tablet.

I get it, people don't want to fill out forms on mobile...maybe. More likely it's because the experience and the lead submittal experience stinks. Let's start with this one. Why do CDK websites default to require both zip code and phone number? (image below) Zip code? Why not also ask what county and school district? Come on, let's get lead forms submitted with a minimal amount of information, so we can begin engaging with the shopper with minimum hassle. I actually would be ok with first name (or nickname/handle) and email address.

The most logical answer, for their own benefit (data) and/or OEM compliance.

 

[DrewAment]

Hmm I would try reaching out to a CDK rep because I checked a handful of my gm sites and zip code isn't even a form field.

You can actually turn ZIP - and a few other "required" fields - off on your CDK site. You can rename them too... for example I usually rename "Day Phone" to "Contact Phone". It varies by OEM, but most fields are open to change to whatever you want.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

@DrewAment thanks for the screenshots and for helping the DealerRefresh community.