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TRANSACTIONAL DEALERSHIP WEB SITES; IS IT TIME TO START SELLING CARS ONLINE?
By Ralph Paglia
A long time ago, when I worked for my father’s wholesale produce company, he told me that the key to having a successful business
was to be able to see where the market is going and get there first.
With that said, here is my question for the automotive professionals reading this newsletter:
"ARE INTERNET LEADS (and the strategies, tactics and gimmicks used to generate them), AS GOOD AS IT IS GOING TO GET for
manufacturers and dealers selling vehicles on online?"
Here are a few of the current tactics I see being used to generate Internet leads for car dealers:
Welcome to my website animations
Life-Style car videos
Walking & Talking Virtual Assistants
Build-a-car configuration applications
Virtual Test Drives (VTD)
Third party lead sources
Instant Click-To-Call (CTC)
Online Live Chat Sessions
Photos of every square inch of the vehicle
360 degree tours
Value your trade
Get Pre-approved for Credit in Seconds
Site Performance Optimization (SPO)
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Micro-Sites
Stealth Sites
SEM Landing Pages
Deep Links
Blogs
URL redirects
Spanish, French, Korean, Portuguese, Arabic etc. sites
Pay-Per-Click or Cost-Per-Click (CPC) campaigns
Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM) bid Site Targeting
Banner Ads
Basically, anything that attracts a consumer to your dealership’s web site, micro site, landing page or deep link and gets them to identify
themselves qualifies as a lead generating technique. Important stuff, but what about actually letting a car buyer… buy a car!?!?!?!
Then back at the dealership, we talk about operating efficiencies and arm ourselves to the teeth with all manner of technology, people
and processes to handle all these expressions of interest, which we call Leads. Examples include:
Business Development Centers (BDC's)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools
CRM Administrators using DMS/CRM/Lead Manager software
Internet Sales Specialists
Internet Sales Managers
Call scripts
Email Templates
Automated email scheduling
Results Based Activity Triggers
New Lead Autoresponders
RFID devices implanted in the buttocks of be-backs
Anti-Skating devices that electrocute cheating sales staff
Business Process Outsourcing and so on…
There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of this, (as long as the RFID is sterilized first) but if I see one more Professor Gadget
designed auto retail “Solution” that doesn’t actually make it easier to sell of buy a car, I think that a seizure may be imminent. Car
companies and the dealerships they supply exist to design, build, distribute, market and sell cars. The disconnect I see is that for the last
20+ years, we have used the Internet as if it were some type of billboard on what we used to call the Information Superhighway (does
anyone remember that phrase?).
We have limited our use of this amazing two-way channel to something along the lines of: "Here we are! Drive to our showroom RIGHT
NOW… Or, call this phone number RIGHT NOW… Or, if you must, you can fill out this form and your reward will be an obnoxious,
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pushy and poorly trained car salesman will call you… Maybe right away, maybe tomorrow, or maybe never. .. C’mon, go ahead and fill
out this form and don’t forget to click on the SUBMIT button!”
J. D. Power and Associates reports that for the past 4 years the number of online car buyers who are able to resist the above value
proposition has been consistently around 80%... There is a profound message that car buyers are telling us about the current obsession
we have with “Leads, Leads, Leads are the most wonderful fruit, the more you eat, the more you…”
Frequently, I come across ridiculous claims designed to give consumers all the power, usually communicated by setting expectations for
"unbelievably low prices." To me that is a violation of consumer trust. Car dealers all buy their cars from the same place, so what is
really being said? For some customers, what they hear is; “We are happy to make less profit... or “We'll gouge it out of the poor saps
walking in through the showroom…” or “We’ll get it out of YOU some other way! (The $999 Desert Protection Package is required). The
fact is, dealers are required to generate a profit in order to stay in business. Cars and trucks must be sold and adequate gross profit
margins must be generated... Shown below are some statements I came across this past week that provide some insight into where I
believe digital marketing in automotive retail is going:
Digital Dealer Magazine... Shaun Raines:
"...The underlying theme... is that auto retailers, who have not been particularly adept at the speedy adoption of technology, risk
everything by maintaining a nostalgic attraction to the past... “I can go online and order a $3,300 computer, see the price and have
nothing held back, add other features, purchase insurance, see different shipping options and pay, all from home while completely
avoiding the mess of going to a mega store,” says Raines, who goes on to say in his interview; “But when I get it delivered and get it set
up and go online to a car dealer Web site, all I can do is call them or fill out a form. The problem with that is it doesn’t meet the
expectations of what consumers want.” - Shaun Raines, Digital Dealer - Thursday, August 2, 2007
iMediaConnection Newsletter... Mark Hayes:
"Online automotive shopping, an example of the research-online purchase-offline pattern, starkly contrasts with shopping cart-based
ecommerce." – Mark Hayes, iMedia Connection - August 06, 2007
My Quotes
Create, compare and get approved with our on-line DealBuilder.
The ADP Digital Marketing team has a product to empower car dealers with transactional eCommerce web sites. Cars get sold directly
from the "Deal Builder" function within “My Quotes” which includes credit, tiered interest rates, trade-in values, tax, title, fees,
accessories, extended service contracts, protection plans, disclosures and accurate monthly payments. Dealerships get the selling
opportunity regardless as to which step in the process that each consumer feels comfortable completing… Each ADP “My Account”
created generates a highly qualified and genuine lead.
Personally, I like leads. Good, high quality ones. Leads from online car shoppers that feel they've been treated fairly, have engaged with
a more fulfilling automotive shopping web site, and who then respond to communications from the dealership... However, I am
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profoundly aware that “leads” are NOT the end-all, be-all complete automotive digital marketing strategy for the Internet era. Internet
Leads will never be the Silver Bullet… I should know, having consistently generated over 5,000 leads per month in a single-point Chevy
store. Sure, our team sold a LOT OF CARS, but the leads were the symptom, not the cause.
I still like the blend of traditional media with digital messaging that I call “Integrated Marketing”. How does this marketing message
sound:
“Attention Car Buyers: Would you like to be able to shop for a new or preowned vehicle from the comfort of your own home or office and
be able to get the actual, rock bottom, best prices? And, be able to choose from multiple loan and lease terms that have been approved
by major lenders BEFORE you go to a dealership? At ABC Motors you can create your secure online account and complete your entire
vehicle purchase transaction online… All that you have to do is select from whether you want the vehicle delivered, or will pick it up at
the dealership!”
Seems like an unfair competitive advantage… But, how will it play in Peoria? How about for those segments of the car buying public that
are most dissatisfied with the most common car buying experience… Women, Gen X, Gen Y, Echo Boomers… How about busy working
professionals?
Here's a quote from F&I Magazine:
"I thought I'd put it to the ultimate test... what did my wife think? She's pretty crafty you know. She selected the Camry and breezed
through the rest of the process... She got a kick out of how the avatar's eyes followed the mouse and how it changed facial
expressions... Now my wife has purchased a vehicle before, but it sounded like this was the first time she completely grasped the
itemized breakdown of the deal."
How would you like to read the above on one of your Customer Satisfaction surveys? Would it bring a smile to your face to be secure in
your future knowing that you not only had a customer who felt that way, but was happy to pay a fair price for a great hassle-free online
car buying experience?
Shopping cart ecommerce has become a major force to be reckoned with in every other industry. In the early days of ecommerce,
"disintermediaries" (i.e. Amazon) entered the market. As shopping cart ecommerce markets mature it is brick and mortar retailers adding
a click and mortar strategy that carry the day. Is automotive ready for such a trend? Or is automotive retail absolutely and forever
unique? What about Test drives? Thos pesky Trade in appraisals? These issues were dealt with long ago by eDealers like Courtesy
Chevrolet in Phoenix, Anderson Honda in Palo Alto and Jay Wolfe Toyota in Kansas City.
At ADP Digital Marketing we have seen consumers buying directly through a dealer’s web site after we installed eCommerce features
using our “My Account” capabilities. Clearly more car buyers will discover how easy it is to buy a car as the shopping cart ecommerce
model becomes more prevalent among dealership web sites. I believe that both the DMS integrated and DMS agnostic hybrid
approaches developed by ADP Digital Marketing will be around for a long time as a means to maximize results from a retail digital
marketing strategy.
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