This document discusses understanding customer shopping behavior to help merchandise vehicle inventory. It emphasizes using data on how customers interact with specific vehicle identification numbers (VINs) online to guide advertising, photos, and merchandising. Analyzing metrics like views, time spent on pages, and models considered can reveal the customer journey and help connect more shoppers to the right vehicles.
This document discusses understanding customer shopping behavior to help merchandise vehicle inventory. It emphasizes using data to guide merchandising decisions and knowing the customer journey and interactions with specific vehicle identification numbers (VINs). Metrics like views, time on various pages, and conversions can help predict what will lead to sales and determine which marketing tactics are most effective for each VIN. The goal is to connect customers to the right vehicles for them through easy browsing and highlighting key vehicle details.
Engaging The Online Shopper at J.D. Power and Associates Automotive Internet ...Kelly Automotive
The document discusses how building trust online is important for engaging car buyers and discusses best practices for online advertising and reputation management. It recommends including quality photos and accurate information in listings to build buyer confidence. It also suggests monitoring online reviews and addressing any negative feedback. Certified pre-owned vehicles and vehicle history reports can help provide buyers peace of mind. Dealers should promote their reputation, values, and expertise to establish themselves as a trustworthy seller online.
This document announces the results of an intro contest, naming DanielMysterio as the winner. It also announces upcoming contests for outros, logos, graphics, and theme songs. Participants in the intro contest are ranked, with DanielMysterio taking first place, Fertogo second, 85DigitalGirl2006 third, and xRobinnxx fourth.
A contest was held with a winner being selected, the winner was Keenan who had requested a red velvet cupcake prize. The host thanked another participant for their patience and hinted at holding another contest in the future.
A girl on the bus asked a man if he was G, and he jokingly replied that yes he was quite gangsta. She said she thought he was gangsta because of his tattoos and bullet necklace. He humorously remarked that only gangstas ride CCT.
As humans, we never fail to think that we are highly intelligent beings, and that we are mentally superior than any other creatures found on Earth.
Well, that...... may be true.
However, we can be equally stupid and dumb too.
Worse still, we don't even realize it - in terms of how we can make erroneous judgments, decisions and choices, based on how our mind processes and filters information, as well as how our belief system works.
As intriguing and exciting this topic is to me, I find it difficult to illustrate the concepts involve, and that took me nearly 6 months to complete this work. (The Planning Fallacy in play?!) Throughout writing this deck, I've made a total of 8 major revisions before coming to this final piece.
I hope you'll find this deck both interesting and useful!
This document provides an executive summary of the 2003 Manufacturer Web Site Evaluation Study - Wave 1 conducted by J.D. Power and Associates. Some key findings include:
- Hyundai's website scored highest overall. Top-rated sites included Saturn, Toyota, Lexus, Ford, and Honda.
- Successful websites had intuitive navigation, relevant information presented clearly, and high-quality photos of vehicles.
- The study evaluated websites based on navigation, appearance/presentation, and relevance of information. Navigation and relevance were more important than appearance.
- Changes to the study methodology aimed to better represent actual website visitors by focusing on brands respondents were considering purchasing.
This document discusses understanding customer shopping behavior to help merchandise vehicle inventory. It emphasizes using data to guide merchandising decisions and knowing the customer journey and interactions with specific vehicle identification numbers (VINs). Metrics like views, time on various pages, and conversions can help predict what will lead to sales and determine which marketing tactics are most effective for each VIN. The goal is to connect customers to the right vehicles for them through easy browsing and highlighting key vehicle details.
Engaging The Online Shopper at J.D. Power and Associates Automotive Internet ...Kelly Automotive
The document discusses how building trust online is important for engaging car buyers and discusses best practices for online advertising and reputation management. It recommends including quality photos and accurate information in listings to build buyer confidence. It also suggests monitoring online reviews and addressing any negative feedback. Certified pre-owned vehicles and vehicle history reports can help provide buyers peace of mind. Dealers should promote their reputation, values, and expertise to establish themselves as a trustworthy seller online.
This document announces the results of an intro contest, naming DanielMysterio as the winner. It also announces upcoming contests for outros, logos, graphics, and theme songs. Participants in the intro contest are ranked, with DanielMysterio taking first place, Fertogo second, 85DigitalGirl2006 third, and xRobinnxx fourth.
A contest was held with a winner being selected, the winner was Keenan who had requested a red velvet cupcake prize. The host thanked another participant for their patience and hinted at holding another contest in the future.
A girl on the bus asked a man if he was G, and he jokingly replied that yes he was quite gangsta. She said she thought he was gangsta because of his tattoos and bullet necklace. He humorously remarked that only gangstas ride CCT.
As humans, we never fail to think that we are highly intelligent beings, and that we are mentally superior than any other creatures found on Earth.
Well, that...... may be true.
However, we can be equally stupid and dumb too.
Worse still, we don't even realize it - in terms of how we can make erroneous judgments, decisions and choices, based on how our mind processes and filters information, as well as how our belief system works.
As intriguing and exciting this topic is to me, I find it difficult to illustrate the concepts involve, and that took me nearly 6 months to complete this work. (The Planning Fallacy in play?!) Throughout writing this deck, I've made a total of 8 major revisions before coming to this final piece.
I hope you'll find this deck both interesting and useful!
This document provides an executive summary of the 2003 Manufacturer Web Site Evaluation Study - Wave 1 conducted by J.D. Power and Associates. Some key findings include:
- Hyundai's website scored highest overall. Top-rated sites included Saturn, Toyota, Lexus, Ford, and Honda.
- Successful websites had intuitive navigation, relevant information presented clearly, and high-quality photos of vehicles.
- The study evaluated websites based on navigation, appearance/presentation, and relevance of information. Navigation and relevance were more important than appearance.
- Changes to the study methodology aimed to better represent actual website visitors by focusing on brands respondents were considering purchasing.
E-Mail Marketing_ Hyundai aims for 'dialogue' with buyers - Advertising AgeJames Fabin
Hyundai USA is launching its first email marketing campaign to start a gentle dialogue with consumers and gauge interest. The initial emails will be sent to 100,000 to 150,000 past customers to promote a sweepstakes and online game. The goal is not to directly sell cars but to test consumer response and determine who may be open to future communications. Hyundai hopes the campaign and EchoMail technology used to analyze responses will help identify interested buyers to potentially target in the future.
Autobytel's video division, CarTV, has launched a new state-of-the-art video player and over 350 automotive videos for online shoppers. The videos include test drives, reviews, crash footage, auto show coverage and news. The video player allows high quality streaming on any PC to provide a richer online car buying experience through visual information. CarTV videos are integrated into Autobytel's websites to help shoppers evaluate vehicles and make purchase decisions. The new video player ensures quality viewing across different internet browsers and connection speeds.
An online study by Lightningcast and Dynamic Logic found that Hyundai internet commercials increased awareness of the Tiburon automobile by 80% and increased the likelihood of purchasing the Tiburon by 46% compared to a control group. The online ads also led to 14% more favorable impressions of the Hyundai brand. The study demonstrated that online video advertising can significantly boost brand awareness and purchase intent.
The document discusses best practices for optimizing vehicle listings based on a study of how car shoppers browse dealership inventories online. Some of the key findings include that shoppers prioritize seeing actual photos of vehicles and information about the specific vehicle rather than general dealership promotions. It also found that elements like price are less important to shoppers initially than features like color. The summary provides guidelines for dealerships to present inventory in a way that better connects shoppers to individual vehicles.
Hyundai MSN Oscars Final Report FINAL [Repaired]James Fabin
- Hyundai sponsored the MSN Guide to the 2003 Academy Awards to promote its brand and models, especially the new XG350 launching at the same time. This provided opportunities for advertising across MSN properties and helped build Hyundai's aspirational image.
- Research found the campaign significantly increased brand metrics like awareness and favorability, especially for the target audience. It generated more leads for Hyundai dealers than previous periods. Traffic to Hyundai's website also reached record levels.
This document provides recommendations for optimizing a dealership's content strategy across different devices. It discusses testing content placements and messaging alignments with dealer volunteers. Key findings include identifying the "sweet spot" on pages that receives 90% of clicks, combining related content, and designing content that scales effectively on mobile. The recommendations emphasize aligning content with the dealership's overall marketing strategy, leveraging the sweet spot, removing distracting elements, and testing the site from a consumer's perspective across devices.
Get Creative With Your Content StrategyJames Fabin
I know you’ve heard the lament from marketing pioneer John Wanamaker: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Wanamaker surely didn’t conceptualize digital marketing around the turn of the 20th century; today we can measure the effectiveness of ad spend like never before. If you’ve been in the automotive industry for some time, you may recall struggling with things like newspaper ad placement – Should I put my used vehicle ad in the Sports section or the Business section? Should I do a single columnar ad or a standard 4x4? Because years ago, we had no idea how placement impacted customer behavior, except on an outcome basis: if they cut out the ad and brought it with them to the dealership, well, it must’ve worked!
In my presentation at the 17th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas (2 PM on September 24th), Get Creative With Your Content Strategy, we’re going to share several takeaways with you so you can ensure both halves of your ad spend are working!
One of the key concepts we’ll unpack is engagement mapping. While there are a variety of tools that allow you to measure clicks and scrolls, few measure much beyond that. Our Engagement Map lets us see not only how people are moving on your website, but also what draws their attention, in what order, and how consistently. All this helps us dramatically with placement effectiveness, which drives greater shopper engagement and ultimately, more bodies to your showroom.
Speaking of placement effectiveness, we’ve identified five concise Content Strategies we’ll share with participants – in other words, what is the primary emphasis of your website? What are you most trying to accomplish when someone visits? Here are two to give you a little insight:
1. Promotion-Focused. Your website is largely about ‘the deal’ – special offers, rates, packages and inclusions. When customers visit, they are immediately drawn to something you offer that your competition may not.
2. Customer Loyalty & Dealer Branding. This website is predominantly customer-centric, with a focus on positive reviews, community involvement and loyalty.
Are your wheels turning yet? Well, you know the deal: you’ll have to attend my session to find out the other three Strategies, along with some specific plans for how to make your site reflect exactly what you want it to say to your visitors!
I’m delighted to be speaking at the Digital Dealer Conference again, and I’ll look forward to seeing you there… remember, September 24th at 2 PM local time, so mark your calendar - let’s get creative together!
E-Mail Marketing_ Hyundai aims for 'dialogue' with buyers - Advertising AgeJames Fabin
Hyundai USA is launching its first email marketing campaign to start a gentle dialogue with consumers and gauge interest. The initial emails will be sent to 100,000 to 150,000 past customers to promote a sweepstakes and online game. The goal is not to directly sell cars but to test consumer response and determine who may be open to future communications. Hyundai hopes the campaign and EchoMail technology used to analyze responses will help identify interested buyers to potentially target in the future.
Autobytel's video division, CarTV, has launched a new state-of-the-art video player and over 350 automotive videos for online shoppers. The videos include test drives, reviews, crash footage, auto show coverage and news. The video player allows high quality streaming on any PC to provide a richer online car buying experience through visual information. CarTV videos are integrated into Autobytel's websites to help shoppers evaluate vehicles and make purchase decisions. The new video player ensures quality viewing across different internet browsers and connection speeds.
An online study by Lightningcast and Dynamic Logic found that Hyundai internet commercials increased awareness of the Tiburon automobile by 80% and increased the likelihood of purchasing the Tiburon by 46% compared to a control group. The online ads also led to 14% more favorable impressions of the Hyundai brand. The study demonstrated that online video advertising can significantly boost brand awareness and purchase intent.
The document discusses best practices for optimizing vehicle listings based on a study of how car shoppers browse dealership inventories online. Some of the key findings include that shoppers prioritize seeing actual photos of vehicles and information about the specific vehicle rather than general dealership promotions. It also found that elements like price are less important to shoppers initially than features like color. The summary provides guidelines for dealerships to present inventory in a way that better connects shoppers to individual vehicles.
Hyundai MSN Oscars Final Report FINAL [Repaired]James Fabin
- Hyundai sponsored the MSN Guide to the 2003 Academy Awards to promote its brand and models, especially the new XG350 launching at the same time. This provided opportunities for advertising across MSN properties and helped build Hyundai's aspirational image.
- Research found the campaign significantly increased brand metrics like awareness and favorability, especially for the target audience. It generated more leads for Hyundai dealers than previous periods. Traffic to Hyundai's website also reached record levels.
This document provides recommendations for optimizing a dealership's content strategy across different devices. It discusses testing content placements and messaging alignments with dealer volunteers. Key findings include identifying the "sweet spot" on pages that receives 90% of clicks, combining related content, and designing content that scales effectively on mobile. The recommendations emphasize aligning content with the dealership's overall marketing strategy, leveraging the sweet spot, removing distracting elements, and testing the site from a consumer's perspective across devices.
Get Creative With Your Content StrategyJames Fabin
I know you’ve heard the lament from marketing pioneer John Wanamaker: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Wanamaker surely didn’t conceptualize digital marketing around the turn of the 20th century; today we can measure the effectiveness of ad spend like never before. If you’ve been in the automotive industry for some time, you may recall struggling with things like newspaper ad placement – Should I put my used vehicle ad in the Sports section or the Business section? Should I do a single columnar ad or a standard 4x4? Because years ago, we had no idea how placement impacted customer behavior, except on an outcome basis: if they cut out the ad and brought it with them to the dealership, well, it must’ve worked!
In my presentation at the 17th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas (2 PM on September 24th), Get Creative With Your Content Strategy, we’re going to share several takeaways with you so you can ensure both halves of your ad spend are working!
One of the key concepts we’ll unpack is engagement mapping. While there are a variety of tools that allow you to measure clicks and scrolls, few measure much beyond that. Our Engagement Map lets us see not only how people are moving on your website, but also what draws their attention, in what order, and how consistently. All this helps us dramatically with placement effectiveness, which drives greater shopper engagement and ultimately, more bodies to your showroom.
Speaking of placement effectiveness, we’ve identified five concise Content Strategies we’ll share with participants – in other words, what is the primary emphasis of your website? What are you most trying to accomplish when someone visits? Here are two to give you a little insight:
1. Promotion-Focused. Your website is largely about ‘the deal’ – special offers, rates, packages and inclusions. When customers visit, they are immediately drawn to something you offer that your competition may not.
2. Customer Loyalty & Dealer Branding. This website is predominantly customer-centric, with a focus on positive reviews, community involvement and loyalty.
Are your wheels turning yet? Well, you know the deal: you’ll have to attend my session to find out the other three Strategies, along with some specific plans for how to make your site reflect exactly what you want it to say to your visitors!
I’m delighted to be speaking at the Digital Dealer Conference again, and I’ll look forward to seeing you there… remember, September 24th at 2 PM local time, so mark your calendar - let’s get creative together!
4. IT’S A TRIP
In Transit
Arrives at Dealer
Photo Shoot
Video
Display Ads
Sold
Trade-in Service
Marketing
Display Ads
Marketing
Paid Search
On Website
Lead
Third Party
Site
5. YOUR VINS HAVE A LOT OF INTERACTIONS
Email Lead
Sold!
Display Ads
Details page
Views
Website
Promotions3rd party
sites
Tier 3
Vehicle Search
Results
Tier 2
Inventory
Search
Website
Promotions
Tier 3
Vehicle Details
page
Tier 2
Inventory
Search
8. “I have no idea where
to look for white”
“I want to sort by
color first”
“I don’t see where I can choose white”
“I don’t see anywhere where
I can look for color”
“There’s no color
choice”
12. EACH VEHICLE IS
UNIQUE
Researched for 5 Months
4 Dealers Shopped
6 Models Considered
Never Submitted an Email
Lead
Researched for 3 Weeks
Clicked a Banner Ad
2 Models Considered
Never submitted an Email
Lead
Researched Only 1 Brand
76% of Research on Tier 1
2 Models Considered
Called to Setup a Test Drive
20. KNOW YOUR
VINS BEFORE YOU
TAKE ACTION
Turning on Advertising
increases VIN exposure by .30%
More Views = Sold Faster
21. CONNECT CUSTOMERS TO VEHICLES
Help
Category
Shoppers
Find VINs
Leverage
Vehicle
Details to
Highlight
This VIN
Alway
s Use
Real
Photo
s
Video
Drives
Desire
Editor's Notes
The Vehicle Engagement Perspective
Now that you've got the scoop on your shoppers, here's the inside story on your inventory. Learn how to let data drive your merchandising decisions when we unveil the digital voyage of your VINs. You'll never look at a VDP the same way again
Your Audience
Dealers who are more engaged than average with their websites. They know their site is important and they want to leverage it to attract, engage and convert more shoppers. They want to know what they should be doing so that they can stay at the front of the pack.
It all starts with the VIN Journey
We know about the consumer journey, but did you know each VIN also takes a journey?
The journey starts as the vehicle is in transit to your dealership – the first time it could be live on your website and attracting interest
The journey continues at your dealership and includes the advertising you’re doing to drive interest, VIN views, leads it generates, your responses to those leads, specials and pricing adjustments, and so much more.
The journey doesn’t end when the vehicle is sold – its future journey continues through service and maintenance all they through to the vehicle returning to a lot as a pre-owned vehicle where the cycle continues.
When you look at it – you’re VINs have a lot of interactions.
Display Ads
Google Ad Words
Website Promotions
Tier 3 Vehicle Search Results
Tier 3 Vehicle Details Page
Tier 2 Inventory Search
3Rd party sites (Autotrader, etc.)
So your VINs have a lot of engagement points that help drive shoppers to them. Let’s now take a look at how shoppers engage with your VINs
Inventory Engagement Behavior (surprising user testing findings).
We recently completed usability testing with real in-market car shoppers to determine how they engage with your inventory while researching. We had some pretty surprising findings.
Methods (share elements you feel are important with the audience)
This usability study took place at the Cobalt offices in downtown Seattle during the week of June 17, 2013. Two conference rooms were converted to a make-shift usability lab, one room for the participants and another for the observers.
10 external participants3 (3 men, 7 women) were recruited to participate in this usability study. Participants were recruited from the local Seattle area and consisted of people currently in the market for a vehicle, and likely to use the dealership website to locate vehicles of interest.
Participants were interviewed individually for 90 minutes each. During this time, participants were given both structured and unstructured tasks using a current dealership website (www.burienchevrolet.com and www.billierrechevrolet.com) and a prototype webpage of the vehicle search results and vehicle details pages. Participants completed a total of 12 tasks on each site. A complete list of the tasks used in this study can be found in the appendix.
Usability of each site was evaluated using a combination of standard metrics and methods, which included task-specific measures, an overall assessment of the website, and the use of verbal protocol.
All participants completed the same set of tasks on both sites. To account for learning, the order that each site was tested was counter-balanced between participants.
Participants were given a gratuity in the amount of $100.00 for their participation in the study.
All participants – 100% - made color a top priority! They wanted to see the actual color in the search results listing and be able to search and filter by color. While searching your inventory color was more important that features – customers want to see all your Red cars and will then filter to the features.
And when they see your cars, they don’t want to see stock photos which make every car a carbon copy. They want to see the REAL photos of THAT car - photos that make THAT car UNIQUE and special.
Shoppers read your vehicle descriptions – this is really important to them and they will take the time to read it. But every participant in our usability test was confused about why they had to read about the dealership – too many dealers load up the vehicle description with information about their dealership and not about the vehicle.
Most participants reacted negatively to dealership information and where frustrated because it took up space that should have told them about the vehicle and helped them understand what sets THIS vehicle apart from others like it.
Speaking of vehicle information, category shoppers are not that familiar with the model names and trim levels of your vehicles. All category participants knew they wanted an SUV, but not all knew which model names where SUVs.
When it came down to trim levels, everyone was unaware of the differences from trim to trim. We all work with cars every day, we know the LS3 package adds Navigation and a backup camera – but most shoppers don’t. This is the type of information is what shoppers are expecting when they read the description of a vehicle.
It’s important to not forget about category shoppers. Add links to your homepage to See all your SUVs, See all trucks, etc.
And what did these shoppers have to say about the vehicle search results pages? It was very informative - the information and links provided on the VSR has a direct impact on VDP views. Text links to learn more about a vehicle where not used by less experienced online shoppers, whereas clear buttons where used by everyone. Conversion from VSR to VDP also increased when LESS information and distracting logos appeared on the VSR. Shoppers want to see the basics:
Exterior & Interior Color
Transmission Type & Number of Gears
Engine Size & Cylinders
Wheel Size
Number of Doors
Fuel Type & Drive Train
Price
This allows shoppers to shorten their search quickly to just the cars that meet their primary needs while driving to the VDP.
As you can see – shoppers want to know MORE about each of your vehicles, they are getting more engaged and intimate with your vehicles. They want to get to know a vehicle, see actual photos of THAT vehicle, and see quickly what makes THAT vehicle different. You can’t think of your inventory as a bunch of similar vehicles, each one is unique and your shoppers are looking at them that way.
Also, the shopper is in control - YOU CAN’T CONTROL the process! You can’t force them to shop by model name or hunt for the differences between trim levels. by knowing how the shopper shops and what’s important to them, you can take advantage of this behavior and connect them to a VIN.
Remember the adage “the feel of the wheel is the key to the deal”? You need to make them feel it from their couch by creating an emotional connection to each and every VIN.
So how do you take advantage of this behavior - you Use Data to Guide You!
Did you know that VDP views and time spent on VDP’s are 2 of the top 4 online sales predictors!
When we look at other KPI’s your accustom to tracking we find:
Total visits vary widely with your marketing strategy.
Web form leads, although valuable, should NOT be the ONLY measure of qualified opportunity.
Inventory Engagement signals focus and intent!
When you start monitoring VIN activity you’re going to find that it is amazingly insightful.
By looking at VIN activity data you can find answers to many of your everyday questions, like:
What I can move faster
What isn’t moving
What I need more of
What I need less of
And best of all – this data isn’t impacted by browser security settings or search engine limits. VINs do not have privacy – you own the VIN and have complete visibility into its exposure.
Know Your VINs
By knowing your VINs you can see which vehicles are getting the VDP views and identify and merchandise low performers BEFORE they have to go to wholesale. In addition, VDP views will tell you which vehicles you can stand firm on pricing and increase your gross and which you can be more flexible on.
Vinfluence
When you put this all together – knowing your VINs, letting Vin Activity influence your decisions, treating each VIN as a unique vehicle and helping consumers see them that way - you get something we like to call Vinfluence.
What drove interaction with a specific VIN – I want to do more of that!
What actions did I take that didn’t drive interaction – I want to do less of that.
Which VINs are getting a lot of attention is a short amount of time – no additional special needed.
Which VINs are not getting much attention on my website – I need to do something to connect my consumers to it.
What you need to be doing today
You’ve all heard a lot of concepts today and believe me, I know how challenging it can be to remember everything. I’m hoping you remember everything I just touched on, but just in case you don’t, here are the three things I want you to take away from out time together…
The VSR & VDP KPI
Look beyond phone calls and email leads. Accept that Inventory engagement is a key indicator of whether a vehicle will sell. Make VSR & VDP views a KPI you track.
On Average, VDP’s with 20-30 pageviews spend 29% less time on the lot
On Average, VDP’s with more than 30 pageviews spend 44% less time on the lot
Know your VINs before you take action
Let VIN activity determine actions (pricing, advertising, etc.)
Use specials to drive views to select VINs, the right VINs – if a VIN is getting a lot of attention is a short amount of time, it probably doesn’t need a special.
Don’t sell “Inventories” – connect customers to vehicles
Think like the customer to help them find THE VIN they want – I doubt anyone has had a customer walk in and tell you they want to buy an “Inventory” – NO, they come in wanting to buy the Red SUV with the Nav system they saw on your website.
Make it easy to find what they need to connect to vehicles – leverage the vehicle details information to differentiate THAT vehicle, not to talk about your dealership.
Don’t rely on stock photos for your vehicles – use real photos to create the perception that THIS vehicle is unique, not one of a million stock VINS.
Leverage video to help build that emotional connection to a vehicle.