news - Blog - Automotive Internet Sales - BDC - Free Training Resources2024-03-29T07:36:44Zhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/newsSTUDY: Seniors like hybrid cars for STATUS (just seniors???)https://automotiveinternetsales.com/profiles/blogs/study-seniors-like-hybrid-cars-for-status-just-seniors2013-10-14T14:56:00.000Z2013-10-14T14:56:00.000ZTom LaPointehttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/members/TomLaPointe<div><p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474237?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474237?profile=RESIZE_480x480"></a><span class="font-size-4">It may not come as a surprise</span></strong><span class="font-size-4">, but paying extra bucks to “go green” in a hybrid car may pay off in self-esteem and image for older drivers, as well as give a healthy boost to the environment, according to a Baylor University study.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>This may help fuel cynics'</strong> view that people are far from green when they park a hybrid in front of their 3,000-5,000 square-foot home with an Olympic pool and Lexus SUV in the garage. But at least the trend has money moving through the economy...</span></p>
<p><strong>PRESS RELEASE:</strong></p>
<p>Newswise — Paying extra bucks to “go green” in a hybrid car may pay off in self-esteem and image for older drivers, as well as give a healthy boost to the environment, according to a Baylor University study.</p>
<p>The finding is significant because some segments of the older-consumer population control a considerable share of the discretionary income in the United States, and the population size of the “mature market” is growing rapidly, researchers said.</p>
<p>The study is published in the journal <i>Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing and Service Industries</i>.</p>
<p>“If I want to pay $5 for a ‘green’ detergent or sponge, I’ll know that I’m helping the environment. But those things aren’t highly visible. Other people aren’t going to notice,” said Jay Yoo, Ph.D., an assistant professor of family and consumer sciences in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474257?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="460" class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474257?profile=RESIZE_480x480"></a>Researchers analyzed a national cross-sectional survey of 314 consumers age 60 and older who had bought hybrid cars. The study showed that their satisfaction was influenced by social values — including pride and prestige — as well as quality and price, not only in vehicle purchase but in future savings on gasoline expenses.</p>
<p>Those three variables — social value, price and quality — are significant in building senior citizens’ customer loyalty as shown by repurchase intention and positive word-of-mouth, Yoo said.</p>
<p>Emotional values — such as excitement – did not significantly influence their purchase intention or satisfaction, according to the study.</p>
<p>“The findings suggest that elderly consumers are concerned about how they appear to others when driving a hybrid car,” the researchers wrote. “They believe that driving a hybrid car builds a positive self-image of the people who drive them.”</p>
<p>“This knowledge can help as a marketing tool,” Yoo said. “Hybrid cars have increased in visibility because of their environmental consciousness. So people may be willing to pay an extra $5,000 or so in order to think, ‘I’m great, and this is good for the environment.’” Previous research has shown that older consumers are more inclined to behave in a pro-environment way than younger people are, he said.</p>
<p>Other researchers were Won-Moo Hur of the School of Business Administration in Pukyong National University in Busan, South Korea; and Jin Hur of the Yonsei School of Business, Yonsei University, in Seoul, South Korea.</p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474280?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474280?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="330"></a>Tom LaPointe</strong> <strong>CarChat24</strong> Interactive Media Manager / Industry Analyst</p>
<p><a href="http://www.carchat24.com/" rel="nofollow"><b><font size="2">www.carchat24.com/</font></b></a> <b><font color="#222222" size="2"><font color="#222222" size="2"><i>24/7 Interactive Automotive Dealer Website LIVE CHAT Solutions</i></font></font></b> <font color="#222222" size="2"><font color="#222222" size="2"><i>Hosted or In-House Options – FREE web chat software <b>727-638-0195</b></i></font></font></p>
<p></p>
<p><em>Tom has an MBA in Marketing and is an automotive writer and author with more than 15 years experience in virtually every aspect of the retail auto industry. He has been a performance leader in everything from sales and service, to web development and viral marketing.</em></p></div>How to Train Your Facebook News Feedhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-train-your-facebook-news-feed2012-12-16T09:34:10.000Z2012-12-16T09:34:10.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/members/JDRucker<div><div class="entry"><p>The one thing that Facebook does exceptionally well from a technology perspective is operating and modifying their news feed algorithm. Learn how to take advantage of it to display exactly what (and who) you want to appear on your news feed.</p><hr/><p><img style="margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px; border: 2px solid black;" title="Training" src="http://i.imgur.com/Rs857.jpg" alt="Training" width="750"/></p><p>Facebook does a lot of things wrong. They often don't listen to their users. The site is built on an antiquated technology that is currently being held together by duct tape and chewing gum. They haven't the foggiest idea how to build mobile apps. They don't quite get the whole "public business" thing.</p><p>With all of these negatives, the site that's approaching a billion users worldwide does one thing exceptionally well. The algorithm that drives our news feeds is top notch. It knows us. It learns about us. It adapts to us.</p><p>The news feed algorithm is a technological work of art in many ways. One of the best parts about it is that you can train yours to present you with the right content from the right people. Here's how:</p><p> </p><h3>Check Your Friends (and particularly the order they're in)</h3><p><img style="float: right; margin: 5px; border: 2px solid black;" title="Facebook Friends" src="http://i.imgur.com/lhErb.jpg" alt="Facebook Friends" height="375" width="500"/>When you got to your list of friends on Facebook which you can find at facebook.com/username/friends, you should see the most familiar faces right at the top. While it's not an exact listing in perfect order, it's a loose interpretation of how Facebook feels you rank your friends in order of importance. The order of the list changes often based upon who is posting lately, whose posts you've liked lately, and anything that you've shared or commented on.</p><p>The key here is "lately". The algorithm adjusts very quickly to your actions. The more often you like someone's posts and comments, the higher they'll appear on this list and the more preference their posts will be given in your news feed.</p><p>It's not as simple as "most", however. The algorithm takes other things into account such as friends of friends liking friends' posts (sounds confusing but read it again and again until you get it), the amount that they post, and the type of content they're posting. You'll see that those of your friends who post mostly images or text status updates will appear higher than those who post mostly links or videos.</p><p>There's the tool component as well. Facebook favors posts sent through either a Facebook native mobile app or Facebook.com itself. There's nothing wrong with using tools, but Hootsuite, Buffer, and other tools appear slightly lower than those that are posted through the native programs.</p><p> </p><h3>Classifying Your Friends</h3><p><img style="float: right; margin: 5px; border: 2px solid black;" title="Facebook Friend Classification" src="http://i.imgur.com/i35oL.jpg" alt="Facebook Friend Classification" height="468" width="500"/>This is the easy part. Facebook makes it very simple to classify the people in your life into various groups (don't call it circles or Google will get mad).</p><p>Simply hover over their name. Their profile information will pop up. Then, hover over the "Friends" button and your lists pop up. Facebook gives special treatment to "Close Friends" and "Family", so the important people in your life should be classified as such.</p><p>You can take it a step further and add them to other lists. You should do this with all of your friends whenever possible, particularly if you use Facebook a lot and for different reasons such as work, politics, etc.</p><p>Creating lists and classifying your friends and family may seem like a tedious and somewhat impersonal task, but it's worth it if you want to streamline your time on Facebook. Nowadays, anything that can make Facebook more manageable is a good thing.</p><p>You'll also notice that there's an option for "Show in News Feed". Most of us have people we list as friends who we do so out of politeness. They might have met us at a party or something and added us to their Facebook, so we added them back so as to not seem rude. By de-selecting "Show in News Feed", they won't clutter your feed and you won't seem like a jerk for not reciprocating.</p><p> </p><h3>Like Sculpting</h3><p><img style="float: right; margin: 5px; border: 2px solid black;" title="Sculpting" src="http://i.imgur.com/HJIwG.jpg" alt="Sculpting" height="560" width="500"/>Now that you understand how it works, it's time to train your profile. Again, the Facebook algorithm is extremely sensitive. It puts a lot more weight on what is happening today and right now more than what has happened in the past.</p><p>Select the friends and family members who you really like a lot. It's not necessarily a comparison to real life; if Uncle Dweezil is your favorite but he posts incessant pictures of his dogs and marijuana plants that you don't want to see all the time, don't include him.</p><p>Once you have your winners, open their profiles and start liking away. Stay true - don't just randomly click on everything they post just for the sake of sculpting. If they're posting enough and they're truly people you want to follow, you should be able to find things that they posted that match your interests. If you don't, perhaps it's time to reconsider the friendship.</p><p>Remember, it's not just a matter of volume. Percentage of posts liked plays a major role, so if you have a loosely active friend who you want to see in your news feed, you can like several of their things and they should always appear on top when they posts. In other words, those who aren't Facebook-addicts can still get preferential treatment in your news feed.</p><p>Lastly, do the same thing with Pages. The posts on the pages you've liked in the past will never appear in your feed if you don't like some of what they post. This is a good time to go through all of the pages you've liked and unlike the ones that you don't really follow anymore. The ones that you do want to follow - like away! Some of the best content on Facebook comes from active pages.</p></div></div>AutoUSA Introduces Payment ProSM Powered by DriveItNow®, Payment-Qualified Website Leads for Auto Dealershttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/profiles/blogs/autousa-introduces-payment-prosm-powered-by-driveitnow-payment-qu2012-07-31T15:00:32.000Z2012-07-31T15:00:32.000ZSean V. Bradleyhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/members/SeanVBradley<div><p align="center"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1473163?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1473163?profile=original" width="250" class="align-full"></a></b></p>
<p align="center"><span class="font-size-5"><b>AutoUSA Introduces Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup> Powered by DriveItNow<sup>®</sup>, Payment-Qualified Website Leads for Auto Dealers </b></span></p>
<p align="center"><span class="font-size-5"><b> </b></span></p>
<p><b>Fort Lauderdale, FL – July 31<sup>st</sup>, 2012 –</b> AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions (<a href="http://www.autousadealers.com">www.autousadealers.com</a>) today introduced Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup> powered by DriveItNow<b><sup>®</sup></b>, a payment-based conversion tool for auto dealer websites. Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup> is a service that provides online shoppers with instant, real car loan payments based on individual credit and inventory eligibility, generating pre-qualified, first-party leads from dealer websites.</p>
<p> With Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup>, consumers click on a button showing real payments on any vehicle listing on a dealer’s website. A form appears that the shopper fills out, but no social security number or birth date is required. Based on the individual’s entered criteria, the system determines their credit eligibility without impacting the consumer’s credit score, instantly displays personalized monthly payment options, and delivers the dealer a dramatically-enhanced lead.</p>
<p>“Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup> is good for the dealer because it shifts the shopper’s focus from what the lowest price is to what they can afford every month,” said Phil DuPree, President of AutoUSA. “The leads generated from these inquiries open the door for immediate engagement and more seamless negotiations.”</p>
<p>Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup> offers auto dealers the following benefits:</p>
<ul>
<li>Converts more traffic on dealer websites because consumers want to know monthly payment options based on their credit.</li>
<li>Generates the industry’s first dealer-website lead that includes the customer’s credit eligibility and desired payment from dealers’ own websites, resulting in high-closing prospects.</li>
<li>Eliminates wasted time showing customers vehicles they can’t afford, as well as time spent negotiating.</li>
<li>Puts dealers in charge of setting their own prices and financing terms, unlike lead services that force dealers into price wars in order to deliver the lowest price for the consumer while lowering gross profit margins.</li>
<li>Shifts consumer focus to monthly affordability, giving dealers more flexibility in pricing and negotiations.</li>
</ul>
<p>Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup> is a new service powered by DriveItNow’s patent-pending technology. “We chose to partner with AutoUSA because of their tremendous industry reputation of bringing best-in-class tools to the market to increase Internet sales for automotive dealers,” said Tarry Shebesta, President of DriveItNow. “The launch of Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup> shows they understand the value of producing high quality leads and the need for payment quoting.</p>
<p>Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup> is available immediately for auto dealer websites and mobile sites. To learn more, visit <a href="http://www.paymentprodemo.com">http://www.paymentprodemo.com</a> or contact your AutoUSA sales representative at 1-800-243-9935.</p>
<p><b>About AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions</b></p>
<p>AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions brings the best-in-class tools to increase Internet sales and lower costs for automotive dealerships. Leading products include Payment Pro<sup>SM</sup>, a payment-based pre-qualification tool for dealer websites; ShowPro<sup>SM</sup> incentive program, proven to turn more leads into shows; Leads&Listings<sup>SM</sup>, providing the highest quality, new and used car email and phone leads from 100+ sites; PowerListings<sup>SM</sup> 2.0, helping dealers increase traffic to—and leads from—their social media sites; and AVA Virtual Sales Assistant, helping dealerships manage more leads at a reduced cost. AutoUSA products are currently benefiting thousands of active dealers all across the U.S.</p>
<p>For more information, visit AutoUSA’s web site, subscribe to our blog at <a href="http://blog.autousadealers.com">http://blog.autousadealers.com</a>, follow us on Twitter @AutoUSALeads and “Like” us on Facebook at /AutoUSADealers</p>
<p><b>About DriveItNow (<a href="http://www.DriveItNow.com">http://www.DriveItNow.com</a>)</b></p>
<p><br> DriveItNow is a patent pending payment marketing technology service of Automobile Consumer Services, Inc. (ACS). ACS leads the industry with innovative proprietary technology, superior customer service, and over twenty years of auto financing and leasing experience.</p>
<p> </p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;"><span class="font-size-4"><b> </b></span></p></div>TrueCar, Yahoo end exclusive partnership - Jason Steinhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/profiles/blogs/truecar-yahoo-end-exclusive-partnership-jason-stein2012-07-06T19:45:10.000Z2012-07-06T19:45:10.000ZSean V. Bradleyhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/members/SeanVBradley<div><p><a href="http://www.dealersynergy.com">http://www.dealersynergy.com</a> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><span class="font-size-5"> TrueCar, Yahoo end exclusive partnership</span></strong></p>
<p>TrueCar Inc., an online car-shopping service, has ended after just six months its exclusive relationship with search engine Yahoo to send auto shoppers to auto dealerships.</p>
<p>Yahoo Autos plans to keep TrueCar and sign other sales-lead generators, Yahoo confirmed in a statement.</p>
<p>Under TrueCar's original deal with Yahoo, TrueCar agreed to pay Yahoo a huge sum -- $50 million per year for three years -- to be Yahoo's exclusive auto-shopping partner. Shoppers on Yahoo Autos were referred automatically to participating TrueCar dealerships.</p>
<p>Under the revised deal, TrueCar's payments to Yahoo will be triggered when TrueCar receives a minimum number of leads and a minimum number of high-quality leads from Yahoo Autos, according to a TrueCar source. Terms of those minimums were not disclosed.</p>
<p>In a statement, TrueCar said: "The new relationship has been forged as a result of a better understanding of both parties' capabilities and aligns economics and services around a vision of mutual success."</p>
<p>The original deal, signed late last year, said Yahoo would deliver 10 million auto shoppers to TrueCar each month. It's not clear if Yahoo delivered that total, and statements from both companies did not address the issue. The exclusive partnership began Jan. 1.</p>
<p>Under the new arrangement, TrueCar will appear as a button that can be clicked on Yahoo Autos. Yahoo says it is opening Yahoo Autos to "multiple dealers and third parties."</p>
<p>Today, though, TrueCar was still displayed prominently on Yahoo with the phrase "Y! Autos in partnership with TrueCar."</p>
<p>Calls to Yahoo for more information on how shoppers will navigate the revised site were not returned.</p>
<p>Under the revised deal signed June 29, Yahoo Autos can sign other lead generators immediately, a TrueCar source said.</p>
<p><span><br />
Read more: <a href="http://www.autonews.com/article/20120705/RETAIL01/120709928#ixzz1zsCbUUL2">http://www.autonews.com/article/20120705/RETAIL01/120709928#ixzz1zsCbUUL2</a></span></p>
</div>Honda fights TrueCar's prices (Re-Post from Automotive News December 12th 2011 By Ryan Beene & David Barkholz)https://automotiveinternetsales.com/profiles/blogs/honda-fights-truecar-s-prices-re-post-from-automotive-news-decemb2011-12-14T04:02:59.000Z2011-12-14T04:02:59.000ZSean V. Bradleyhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/members/SeanVBradley<div><h1>Honda fights TrueCar's prices</h1>
<h1>Below-invoice online discounts frustrate some dealers and automakers</h1>
<p> </p>
<p>Honda, leery of brand-eroding discounts, has warned its dealers to stop offering prices below invoice on TrueCar.com and other Internet shopping sites.</p>
<p>The discounts jeopardize payments that Honda sends to dealers for local marketing, the automaker told dealers in October. Industrywide, the payments range from $300 to $600 for a $30,000 vehicle, one dealer said.</p>
<p>TrueCar is a leading player in the growing online retail industry that channels Internet leads to dealers. TrueCar CEO Scott Painter last week criticized Honda's position.</p>
<p>"They're trying to say Hondas are worth more than invoice, but if everybody's paying less than invoice, that's not true," Painter said.</p>
<p>The dispute highlights frustration among some dealers and automakers who say third-party Web sites such as TrueCar are eroding their power to set transaction prices.</p>
<p>TrueCar publishes recent transaction prices on its Web site and offers what it calls guaranteed low prices to shoppers. Dealers who sign up with TrueCar agree to pay the company $299 for each new vehicle sold from a TrueCar lead and $399 for each used vehicle sold.</p>
<p>Honda spokesman Chris Martin said that the automaker considers TrueCar an advertising medium. And Honda does not permit dealers to advertise prices below invoice, in part because it erodes Honda's brand equity. Dealers who do so jeopardize per-car payments from the factory under Honda's dealer marketing allowance.</p>
<p>But Painter said Honda is ignoring the realities of the marketplace, in which dealers compete aggressively on price.</p>
<p>In response to Honda's actions, TrueCar last week began warning Honda shoppers with a banner on its Web site that they might not get TrueCar's low price.</p>
<p>Upfront price guarantees are a key part of TrueCar's pitch to shoppers. And the prices listed for vehicles on TrueCar's Web site often are below invoice.</p>
<p>For example, a TrueCar search near Ann Arbor, Mich., for a 2012 Toyota Camry SE with automatic transmission and four-cylinder engine returned three guaranteed prices from local dealers, two of which were for less than the car's $22,075 invoice price. One dealer was offering the car for $21,875, another for $21,025 and a third dealer listed a car at the invoice price.</p>
<p>In TrueCar's terminology, the invoice is several hundred dollars above the cost of the vehicle to the dealer because the price does not include such factory payments to dealers as the holdback allowance.</p>
<p>Painter said Honda sales via TrueCar have declined since October because of Honda's warning.</p>
<p>He said the 278 Honda dealers under contract with TrueCar sold 2,389 vehicles in November. TrueCar's Honda dealers sell an average 8.6 new Hondas per store per month, and leads from the Web site generate 12.2 percent of the total sales volume of TrueCar's Honda dealers, he said.</p>
<p>"They could be doing twice as many sales through our platform than they are right now," if Honda revoked this policy, Painter said.</p>
<p>Painter was careful to add, though, that he was not picking a fight with Honda.</p>
<h4>More clout</h4>
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<div class="article_photo_cap">Painter: The stats don't lie.</div>
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<p>On Jan. 1, TrueCar's role in auto retailing will grow. That's when TrueCar becomes the exclusive online vehicle shopping partner for Yahoo.com. Traffic to TrueCar's Web site is expected to jump from a couple of million unique visitors per month to 20 million per month as a result of the deal, Painter said.</p>
<p>Now, though, TrueCar leads account for a small slice of U.S. auto sales. TrueCar-participating dealers are expected to sell about 250,000 vehicles from TrueCar leads in 2011 either from shoppers on the TrueCar Web site or through agreements with more than 100 large associations, such as USAA and AAA.</p>
<p>Painter said he wants to almost double the number of dealership franchises that participate with TrueCar to 10,000 next year and facilitate the sale of about 500,000 vehicles.</p>
<p>USAA, a financial services association for military families, has asked Honda to reconsider its TrueCar action on behalf of its 8 million members who did 500,000 searches for Honda and Acura vehicles this year, according to a recent letter from David Bohne, president of USAA federal Savings Bank, to John Mendel, executive vice president of American <a title="Body link"><u><b>Honda Motor Co.</b></u></a></p>
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<h4>Protecting profit</h4>
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<div class="article_photo_cap">The Toyota Camry SE: In Michigan offers of $1050 below the invoice price.</div>
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<p>Mike Warwick, director of digital marketing for the seven-store Kelly Automotive Group in suburban Boston, agrees with Honda's policy toward TrueCar.</p>
<p>"Honda's trying to protect the gross profit in selling a car and trying to protect the salespeople who are the backbone of the industry," Warwick said.</p>
<p>Kelly, with a Honda store and two Nissan stores among its holdings, dropped out of its TrueCar contract this month after just three months as a participating dealer, Warwick said.</p>
<p>In November alone, the group was inundated with 700 leads from TrueCar customers who took a guaranteed vehicle price that Kelly offered, he said. But the stores closed on just 20 of those deals and only three were profitable given the discounts negotiated, Warwick said.</p>
<p>The vast majority of customers went elsewhere, using the deals negotiated on TrueCar to get lower prices for vehicles at other non-TrueCar dealers, he said. Meanwhile, Kelly had to follow up with all 700 customers, Warwick said.</p>
<p>Few Honda dealers, he said, would be willing to risk their dealer marketing allowance for the additional volume that TrueCar can bring.</p>
<p>Industrywide, that type of quarterly allowance is 1 to 2 percent of the sticker price for every vehicle sold, Warwick said. On a $30,000 vehicle, that would be $300 to $600.</p>
<p>Other dealers, though, like TrueCar. Taylor Chevrolet in suburban Detroit is eager for TrueCar's tie-up with Yahoo to begin, said Jeff Kotlarek, Taylor Chevrolet's Internet sales manager. He gets about 15 new-car sales per month from TrueCar.</p>
<p>He said Taylor Chevrolet offers vehicles to TrueCar shoppers at $100 below invoice and still makes money on the vehicles by upselling on warranties, accessories or additional options. The store sells about 175 new vehicles total per month.</p>
<p>In a recent speech, AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson said of TrueCar: "The good deal that they're pitching to the consumer is lower than average. So to the extent that everyone goes with the TrueCar price, it moves the average down.</p>
<p>"It's a death spiral, and the question is whether they are powerful enough to unleash that dynamic in the U.S. marketplace."</p>
<p>AutoNation's COO, Mike Maroone, sits on TrueCar's board of directors, but neither he nor AutoNation has financial ties to TrueCar.</p>
<p><em><a title="Body link"><u><b>Amy Wilson</b></u></a> contributed to this report</em></p>
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Read more: <a style="color: #003399;" href="http://www.autonews.com/article/20111212/RETAIL07/312129951%3Cmeta%20name=#ixzz1gTgvrikX">http://www.autonews.com/article/20111212/RETAIL07/312129951 <meta name=#ixzz1gTgvrikX</a></div>
</div>The Internet Trilogy - Strategic Insights for Auto Dealers from DealerOn.https://automotiveinternetsales.com/profiles/blogs/the-internet-trilogy2010-10-29T19:00:00.000Z2010-10-29T19:00:00.000ZSean V. Bradleyhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/members/SeanVBradley<div>Received this ebook today from DealerOn! So much information for everyone reading Automotive Internet Sales I had to share it.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">The Internet Trilogy - Strategic Insights for Auto Dealers<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<br />
<br />
Table of Contents<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Automotive manufacturers are developing more immersive digital offerings to attract and<br />
convert the 90% of potential auto buyers who begin their new vehicle purchase with online<br />
research. It’s imperative that auto dealerships follow the lead of these consumers by<br />
connecting with—and motivating—those people to visit their showrooms and buy their next<br />
car.<br />
<br />
<br />
In order to achieve continuous momentum for sales cycles, dealerships need web solutions<br />
and tools that enable them to interact with auto buyers online in the most dynamic manner<br />
possible, or risk losing them with a static informational push that doesn’t engage them<br />
personally. The number and variety of vendor solutions can make the process of improving<br />
online success confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. By developing an online marketing<br />
strategy based on the Internet Trilogy of Interactivity, Intelligence, and Impact, dealerships<br />
can get the best results for their investment.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Internet Trilogy keeps dealer ISMs focused on reaping the technology benefits available<br />
today, as well as positioning them for future industry developments so that they never miss a<br />
step. The new rules for building online relationships that improve revenue generation from<br />
Internet programs are based on three fundamentals:<br />
<br />
Interactivity, Intelligence and Impact.<br />
<br />
<br />
Consumers today want to control the buying process. They want to be dealt with on their<br />
terms. The Internet has drastically shifted the way people access and use information,<br />
pushing salespeople to the back-end of the process. Until a buyer is ready to raise their hand<br />
and interact with your website, it’s possible you’ll never know they’re even considering<br />
purchasing a vehicle. Achieving this interactivity is a critical fundamental for every single<br />
online initiative a dealership undertakes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
People want to be educated via an experience that’s enjoyable. They want to feel<br />
comfortable with their decisions—the higher the level of financial investment, the more<br />
critical this level of comfort becomes. This means they want to learn what they need to<br />
<br />
<br />
know to make a choice that works for them, how to evaluate their options and which<br />
alternatives are available. Finally, buyers want to feel certain that their personal image will be<br />
maintained or, even better, improved.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In this first section of The Internet Trilogy series, we’ll explore the Interactivity<br />
fundamental. We’ll discuss:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• The difference between static and dynamic website experiences and how this is<br />
affected by the roles and applications online incentives play.<br />
<br />
<br />
• The importance of and opportunities to reach beyond your buyers’ initial attention<br />
to generate engagement.<br />
<br />
<br />
• How to put incentives and engagement together to drive conversions.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Chapter 1<br />
<br />
Interactivity<br />
<br />
<br />
The concept of interactivity is indicative of two-way dialogue. The purpose of your website has<br />
changed from an informational push to a relevance pull for your potential buyers. One of the<br />
biggest challenges for today’s auto dealerships is that they have to re-orient themselves to the<br />
buyer being in control of the conversation.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Your dealership website is the starting point for online engagement. People are used to clicking<br />
from site to site, and if they don’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll move on to another<br />
search term or another website. Your website solution and tools should be flexible and be easy<br />
to update so that you can continuously improve your content.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The interactivity fundamental focuses on using incentives, engagement and conversions in your<br />
online efforts.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Incentives<br />
<br />
An incentive works in concert with the buyer’s belief about the benefit they’ll receive from<br />
taking advantage of a call to action.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
An incentive is an explicit or implicit promise made by your dealership. An explicit promise<br />
may be a coupon that offers a website visitor something they find valuable in exchange for<br />
their contact information. In addition to a monetary inducement, an incentive could be a<br />
<br />
Every single page on your<br />
website should have a call<br />
to action.<br />
<br />
<br />
more implicit promise like a quick turn-around of a credit application, or an immediate<br />
valuation of a trade-in. In its most basic form, this is a concrete offer – save $250 dollars off<br />
the price—or something similar that the prospect values enough to provide his or her<br />
contact information.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
When evaluating the incentives your website uses to generate interactive activity, assess how<br />
easy they are to understand, and make sure you actually deliver what you’re promising.<br />
<br />
Call to Action<br />
<br />
A “Call to Action” is simply a visual cue (a button, a link, a phone number, a form, etc) on a<br />
website page, in an email, or a part of other marketing efforts to which you want your<br />
customer respond. For instance, on a vehicle details page, you want a customer to call the<br />
phone number for your dealership, submit a contact form, or search for another vehicle. Its<br />
important that every single page on your website has a call to action and that you understand<br />
why you want your customer to take that action.<br />
<br />
To clarify, calls to action don’t necessarily mean form submissions. They could be “Watch<br />
This Video,” “Click to Look at Features,” “Find Out About Financing,” or “See Our<br />
Specials.”<br />
<br />
It’s important for you to ensure that your website content motivates your visitors to interact<br />
with it and that when they do, that it provides the content they expect. If they land on your<br />
site on an internal page, it should be immediately clear why they’re there.<br />
<br />
In a buyer-controlled process, your dealership is only as good as the last impression you<br />
make with a potential buyer. Your website must set and deliver on your potential buyers’<br />
expectations. That means that all of your incentives must exist seamlessly within the content<br />
on your website. They should feel like a natural extension to whatever your website visitor is<br />
involved in doing when they are asked to take action.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Consider the following content on your website:<br />
<br />
• Links – What will they get when they click on the wording in hyperlinks or on<br />
buttons? Are the descriptions leading to them clear?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Web Page Objectives – Evaluate the purpose of each page and its incentives<br />
around calls to action. Are they consistent?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Coupon Offers—Do the offers you’re making match your customer profiles? Are<br />
they meaningful? For example, a $250 cash incentive will not sway a luxury car buyer,<br />
but would entice a first-time, or sub-prime, buyer for an entry-level vehicle.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Specials Pages—Specials pages are some of the most visited pages after your<br />
inventory pages. Maintaining these pages with up-to-date manufacturer and<br />
dealership incentive offers should be a key focus. Pay attention to the vehicles<br />
getting the most attention on your website. Can you create a related special that stirs<br />
motivation for a showroom visit?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Contact Forms—Evaluate your forms. Do you actually need all the information<br />
you’re asking for or can you eliminate fields in the form to increase completion rate<br />
and then gather this data via email or a phone call? Is what you’re offering in return<br />
spelled out and positioned to be a worthwhile exchange for the customer?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Finance Applications—Have you made it clear what they can expect after they fill<br />
out the credit application? Will they be contacted by email or by phone? How long<br />
will it take? What’s the expected benefit of taking action? Is your application process<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Incentives come in many forms and will differ in effectiveness based on the buying stage of<br />
your website visitors. You need to think creatively and leverage unexpected incentives to<br />
motivate your website visitors and prospects to take incremental actions. Here’s a hint: not<br />
all effective incentives are not about financial gain. Buying is a process. Creating an<br />
incentive strategy that pulls your potential customers forward one step at a time will deliver<br />
consistent improvement in Internet-related revenue generation.<br />
<br />
Engagement<br />
<br />
Engagement is the ability for your online showroom to capture a website visitor’s initial<br />
attention, and then extend their interaction with your dealership by providing information<br />
they want via an experience they enjoy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
You’ve probably heard the word “sticky” used in relationship to website properties. Sticky<br />
refers to the likelihood that your prospects will not only visit your website and interact with the<br />
content, but then will also return to the website and eventually go to your dealership as they<br />
move through the buying process.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
A recent study conducted by R.L. Polk & Co. found that 38% of car buyers completed the<br />
purchase from beginning-to-end in one month. This means that your website needs to quickly<br />
“stick” your buyers by providing the content and information they need. Your dealership<br />
website has engaged the prospective buyer when the experience on your website is compelling<br />
enough to become the standard that all other online research efforts are compared against.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But it’s not just about the information; it’s about how you present it. Widgets, video, virtual<br />
assistants, your website’s layout and the ease of navigation paths are all examples of<br />
engagement components. The more involved your visitors become, the higher their<br />
engagement. Think about how you can improve the experience your potential buyers have<br />
<br />
38% of car buyers completed<br />
the purchase from<br />
<br />
end-to-end in one month<br />
<br />
<br />
while building their next car, completing a credit app, or heightening their emotional<br />
attachment to that smooth ride they’re eyeing via video.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
While engagement begins with an incentive or other website activity, whether its extended is<br />
dependent on your follow-up actions. If you promise a prompt response to a contact form,<br />
but don’t actually call them until the next day, you’ve broken your promise and diminished<br />
their level of active engagement with you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The following components of your website are keys to engagement:<br />
<br />
• Graphics – Do graphics outweigh other content? For example, if a button is not big<br />
enough for your visitor to notice, they may not take the most important Call to<br />
Action on the page. Are any people in your graphics markedly different from your<br />
customer demographics?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Widgets—Widgets are plug-and-play modules that help your visitors interact with<br />
your website. Examples include a video player, synchronized image rotation, virtual<br />
assistant, specials scrollers, and quick navigation. The beauty of widgets is that they<br />
can be adjusted and moved as you evaluate their effectiveness.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Content – Consider the words you use on your website, how your visitors will<br />
interpret them, and the overall style and tone of the website. Is your content generic<br />
or designed with specific relevance for your customer base? Does it appeal to your<br />
dealership’s target buyer segments, or is it for a general audience? The way you<br />
present your content provides a prime opportunity to differentiate your dealership<br />
from your competitors.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Uniqueness—Do you offer your website visitors something they cannot get<br />
elsewhere or display your content in a more accessible format than they’d find on a<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
competitor’s website? Is your credit application presented in easy, modular steps<br />
when other dealers use one comprehensive page that overwhelms buyers?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In order to increase the engagement necessary for lead conversions, it’s imperative that your<br />
content do more than sit there on your web page. People researching their next vehicle<br />
purchase online are presented with a growing array of informational options to choose from,<br />
so the words you choose and the interactive options available will contribute to your<br />
dealership’s ability to build engagement that motivates these buyers to take the next step and<br />
visit your showroom.<br />
<br />
Conversions<br />
<br />
A conversion is the act of a prospective buyer taking a prescribed step forward in their vehicle<br />
purchase process with you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
No matter what else you do in online marketing, if you’re not getting your web traffic to convert<br />
to leads for your dealership that then convert to revenue-generating customers, you’re in trouble.<br />
To get the best results, you’ve got to break this over-arching goal down into manageable<br />
objectives you can both measure and manage for incremental improvements. Conversions<br />
happen every time a potential buyer takes a step forward in their buying process with your<br />
dealership. The cumulative process of these steps is your sales conversion funnel.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
At the top of the sales conversion funnel is the process of your potential buyers finding you.<br />
The two most common ways that this happens are through search engines and 3rd party<br />
website listings or advertisements. Once a prospect has arrived on your site, it’s your<br />
website’s job to motivate them to take the next step and incent them to reach out to your<br />
dealership by providing some contact information and become a lead in the conversion<br />
funnel.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Once the potential buyer has transitioned from an anonymous website visitor to an<br />
identified lead, the focus is on getting them to come to your dealership and drive the vehicle.<br />
<br />
Conversion is king—both on<br />
the Web and in the<br />
showroom<br />
<br />
<br />
Unless your site supports online sales, the primary purpose of your website in the new car<br />
sales process is to generate leads for your sales team.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
When your prospective customer arrives at your showroom the focus shifts to the more<br />
traditional in-store sales process. Once they’ve taken a test drive and their interest level has<br />
escalated, the focus shifts once more to closing the sale.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Each of the steps in the sales process is a micro-conversion. The less time buyers spend in-<br />
between these micro-conversions, the shorter your sales cycle. The less leakage from the<br />
process you employ to move prospective buyers through those conversions, the higher your<br />
close ratios.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
As an Internet marketing professional, you may not control the conversion funnel once the<br />
buyer takes an in-store visit, but you need to track the entire conversion cycle in order to<br />
understand the quality of leads you’re providing to your sales team.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If the in-store visits that your online marketing process is driving are not quality leads, then<br />
it’s like trying to fill a bucket that has a big hole—putting more water in faster will still not<br />
fill the bucket. The same is true with each step of your conversion cycle. If just one of the<br />
steps is broken, the entire conversion funnel will be affected. You need to pinpoint the<br />
leakage in your funnel to maximize its effectiveness.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Analyze and optimize each step in your conversion cycle:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Search Engine Optimization – Make sure your title tags, keyword phrases and<br />
meta descriptions are as effective as possible to ensure your website can be found.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Website Interactions – Are there enough interactive opportunities and calls to<br />
action? How clear are they?<br />
<br />
<br />
• Navigational Preferences – Your high-value content needs to be as easy to find as<br />
possible.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Form Expectations – Is it clear to visitors what will happen after completing a Call<br />
to Action? What are the benefits for doing so? Is this clear?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Response to Inquiries – These need to be prompt and worthwhile for the reader.<br />
Are you sending what was promised? Are they personalized? Are there links back to<br />
your website?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Appointment Setting – Whether done via email, online, or on the phone, make<br />
sure the process is easy for the customer and gets confirmed through the medium it<br />
was scheduled.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Test Drives – Ensure that those arriving for a test drive are greeted personally and<br />
that the vehicle they are interested in is ready and waiting.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Sales Negotiations – Take care of as much of this process as possible online to<br />
make the time spent in-store minimal. Does your website have an easy to use credit<br />
application? Do you have all of the contact information you need?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Customer Feedback Loop – Always gather insight to improve your sales process.<br />
Take stock in what the customer has to say, and if appropriate, consider making the<br />
changes suggested.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Each step in the conversion cycle needs to operate in synch with its predecessor and the<br />
subsequent step. If you do this well, you’ll have a wide sales funnel that creates momentum<br />
by consistently moving customers through the process. Never lose track of the expectations<br />
you set for your buyers. If you manage your conversion cycle well, you’ll rapidly increase the<br />
leads and sales from your Internet marketing strategy.<br />
<br />
From Interactivity to Intelligence…the next step in the journey.<br />
<br />
<br />
Interactivity is no longer a nice-to-have component, but a necessary element of your<br />
dealership’s online marketing portfolio. By integrating the Interactivity elements, you’ll build<br />
a solid foundation for online lead generation, lead qualification and accelerated online<br />
marketing driven sales. Incentives, Engagement and Conversions all work together to help<br />
you accomplish those strategic objectives.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In Review:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Incentives: An incentive works in concert with the buyer’s belief about the benefit they’ll<br />
receive from taking advantage of a call to action.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Engagement: Engagement is the ability for your website to capture a visitor’s initial interest<br />
and then extend their interaction with your dealership by providing the information they<br />
want via an experience they enjoy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Conversion: A conversion is the choice of a prospective buyer to take a prescribed step<br />
forward in the sales conversion process with you.<br />
<br />
But achieving interactivity is only the start. By incorporating the elements of the Interactive<br />
fundamental, you’ll be exposed to a growing amount of information about both your<br />
potential market and your actual leads. Gathering that information is great, but it’s how you<br />
use it that plays into the Intelligence of your online marketing efforts, the second<br />
fundamental of The Internet Trilogy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Chapter 2<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Intelligence<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Interactivity is an essential fundamental for an effective Internet marketing strategy, but<br />
without the Intelligence derived from the interactions you’ve generated, it’s all a shot in the<br />
dark. We’ve talked about your customers taking control of their buying process and setting<br />
the terms for engagement and conversion. To widen your sales conversion funnel, you need<br />
to leverage the insights derived from their behavior and respond accordingly. Incremental<br />
improvements are best achieved when you know what’s working and what’s not.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Intelligence is a two-layer fundamental. It can help you improve how you improve your<br />
marketing programs to increase your leads and sales. In this case, it refers to the data and<br />
information dealerships gather about potential buyers. But, Intelligence is also about the<br />
value your prospective customer ascribes to the information you’ve provided—based on<br />
their expectations. You can measure and learn what is working by the rate at which they<br />
convert at each step of your conversion funnel.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The steps you need to take to leverage Intelligence for your dealership are 1) Analysis, 2)<br />
Insights and 3) Action.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Intelligence fundamental has two levels. On the first level, Intelligence refers to the data<br />
and information dealerships gather about potential buyers. On the second level it<br />
encompasses the content needs of your potential buyers—from their perspective. The right<br />
mix of Intelligence components will move buyers through their purchase evaluations and<br />
help them arrive at the right decision—the choice to buy their next vehicle from your<br />
dealership.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The use of technology to enable online marketing programs has essentially changed what’s<br />
possible for ISMs and the dealerships they work for. In the first section of this eBook,<br />
<br />
<br />
Interactivity, we showed you how the elements of incentives, engagement and conversions<br />
all work together to create a continuous stream of leads with a higher propensity to<br />
transition to customers. While Interactivity is the basis for longer-term engagement in our<br />
increasingly digital world, the driving force behind incremental improvements in the<br />
marketing process relies on the application of Intelligence.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The online behavior of your leads, as they interact with your website(s) and email nurturing<br />
programs, contains a wealth of information about what prospective buyers want, what stage<br />
of the buying process they’re in, and how well your programs are delivering on their<br />
expectations.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
There’s an old saying about relationship building which goes something like this: You’re only<br />
as good as your last impression. Internet marketing is the embodiment of that statement. You are<br />
already aware that your leads have no real barrier to abandoning your dealership in favor of<br />
another where they find their online experience more interesting and enjoyable.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Leveraging this second fundamental of The Internet Trilogy can keep that from happening.<br />
If you’ve applied focus to utilizing Interactivity in your marketing programs, the way to gain<br />
traction with those elements is through Intelligence.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In this second section of The Internet Trilogy series, we’ll focus on:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• How to develop and assess metrics with meaning for marketing programs.<br />
<br />
<br />
• What you should learn from the actions of prospects as they interact with your<br />
website and email marketing.<br />
<br />
<br />
• How to take action based on the insights gathered from informational analysis.<br />
<br />
Analysis<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Analysis is the process of measuring the impacts of your marketing efforts to generate<br />
actionable information that allows you to improve your marketing tactics.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Gathering statistical data is great in theory, but if you aren’t gathering information in an<br />
intentional, prescribed method so that you can act based on the data, then you reap little<br />
benefit from that intelligence. This is why it’s critical to evaluate all of your online marketing<br />
efforts for calls to action and the resulting interactions those calls produce. You may say that<br />
your goal as an online marketer is to generate X number of sales per month. But that goal is<br />
too broad to measure how you’re getting those sales. You need to define specific metrics,<br />
tied to your specific marketing efforts to be able to generate actionable information.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
By gathering intelligence about actions taken during specific steps of the conversion cycle,<br />
you stand a better chance of gaining insight that can lead to measurable improvements. This<br />
is not to say that general statistics can’t be helpful, but if you cannot think of how a resulting<br />
piece of information would cause you to change your marketing efforts, than its questionable<br />
as to whether that piece of data is truly useful.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
For example, imagine that you have 5,000 unique visitors to your website in one month. Out<br />
of those visitors, you received 250 inquiries. That puts your website visitor-to-conversion<br />
ratio at five percent. But this broad form of intelligence won’t tell you why you only<br />
converted five percent, or how to improve that ratio.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Knowing your overall conversion ratio is a good benchmark, but for you to impact that<br />
performance level, you need to know what pulled those inquiries in and what didn’t.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The following are some suggestions for how to develop & analyze online metrics:<br />
<br />
• Website Conversion Points – Which pages or forms were used by the leads who<br />
identified themselves? Of those, which were the most consistently completed vs. the<br />
forms that showed high exit rates without completions? Evaluate the lesser<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
For analysis to be useful it<br />
must be focused on the<br />
why of cause-effect<br />
lead activities.<br />
<br />
<br />
performers for improvements. What differences are evident?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Web Page Bounce Rates—Which of your web pages are being abandoned at the<br />
highest rate (that is number of abandons divided by number of visits to that page? If<br />
your entrance pages have a particularly high bounce rate (over 25%), there must be a<br />
reason. If those visitors came from search engines, analyze the keywords that people<br />
are using to come to your site and make sure that those phrases are visible and obvious<br />
on your page.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Lead Nurturing—If you use an automated campaign tool to keep in touch with your<br />
leads, analyze which leads are responding to specific communications. Can you A/B<br />
test the subject line to improve your open rates? Is a certain type of customer likely<br />
to click through to your website? Do you have an action plan when someone does<br />
respond to an email (like have a sales person contact them)?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• CRM Progression—Once you’ve identified leads, you’re probably entering them<br />
into your CRM system for sales activities. Measuring the length of time at each<br />
stage, the number of interactions required to produce sales and identifying which<br />
activities motivate the best response can help you pinpoint areas for improving the<br />
sales process.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
These are only a few ideas. Remember to focus on a behavior or action, and look for cause.<br />
Analytics provide the best intelligence when they can be evaluated for cause vs. effect.<br />
<br />
Insights<br />
<br />
Insights are the intelligence that comes from analyzing the cause-effect behavior of your<br />
potential buyers produced by your Internet marketing programs.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Analysis action-by-action<br />
allows you to see where<br />
marketing programs work—<br />
and where they don’t.<br />
<br />
<br />
In order to get productive insight knowledge, you have to look for incremental improvement<br />
opportunities. You won’t achieve your online marketing goals simply by deciding you need<br />
to generate more leads. Breaking your analysis down action-by-action allows you to see<br />
where marketing programs work—and where they could be improved.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Web solutions and tools that are designed to provide dealers with a complete view of the<br />
sales conversion funnel make discovering insights for improvement easier. But, imagine if<br />
you had a system that not only generated the reports and analysis for you, but also provided<br />
recommendations. Solutions that perform this feat are available today and can make<br />
gleaning insights much less time intensive as well as taking the guess work out of which<br />
actions to take.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Whether or not you have automated reporting or analyze your statistics manually, there are<br />
additional things you can do to leverage your insights about the recent activity and results<br />
driven by your Internet marketing programs. The key is to make incremental changes that<br />
can be measured to ensure they improve the outcomes you’re focused on.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Consider the following opportunities to apply insights:<br />
<br />
• Form Submissions—If your forms aren’t converting as many leads as you’d like,<br />
try adjusting your fields. Do you really need their address, city, state, zip code at the<br />
lead identification stage? Do you actually think they want to give you their work<br />
phone number? Require as little information as necessary for your website visitors<br />
to decide to identify themselves. Try changing one form on your website and<br />
measuring the change in conversions for a period of time. Follow those leads and see<br />
if the difference in the information you collect hinders your ability to motivate them<br />
to follow-through and make an in-person visit to your showroom.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Specials—Last month you had 3 offers advertised on your specials web page, but<br />
only one of them produced a steady volume of leads. Assess each of the two that<br />
didn’t perform against the one that did. Does that car appeal to your target market<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
more than the others? Is the description about the vehicle more enticing than the<br />
text on the other two offers? Did the manufacturer do a big push for the better-<br />
performing offer? The more intelligence you have about external influences the<br />
better able you will be to decide if the problem is the content, the buyers’ orientation<br />
or outside event influence.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Homepage—Auto dealership homepages are filled with options. How effective are<br />
all of your calls to action? What would happen if you shifted one call to action from<br />
below the “fold” to above it, or from the left to the right side of the page, or<br />
removed one of them? If your visitors play the featured video, do they have other<br />
options from the video to get further information about that vehicle or to contact<br />
you? Or do they have to go back to another page and search for those things?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Email Communications—Whether or not you use an automated email campaign<br />
tool or send each communication manually, you can learn a lot by your leads’<br />
responsiveness. You need to have visibility about when they are opened, how many<br />
times they’re viewed, if the links you provide are clicked upon and if they generate a<br />
call back or an email reply. If your analysis shows that particular messaging generated<br />
the most response, evaluate the messaging against the worst performing messages<br />
and look for improvement opportunities. If the email replies you receive are all<br />
asking for the same additional information, you should make including that<br />
information standard.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Navigational Paths—After analyzing the click paths of your website visitors it<br />
should be obvious if they’re struggling to find something that you can deliver to<br />
them more easily. Look for patterns and then go try them yourself. By clicking<br />
where they did, you can simulate their experience and determine if there’s an issue to<br />
be addressed. Something as simple as a contact link or phone number display on an<br />
inventory page can be the difference between generating a lead and losing one.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
There are many more opportunities to glean insights from your analysis of the online<br />
<br />
<br />
behavior of your website visitors, but remember to look for the things that can make a big<br />
difference.<br />
<br />
Action<br />
<br />
Action is what you do with the insights that you’ve gained from your analysis.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
When you apply the intelligence extracted from analytical insights, stay focused on<br />
improving Interactivity. Applied Intelligence is only as useful as the actions it inspires auto<br />
buyers to take. When combined, a dealer’s actions and their potential customer’s behavior<br />
should generate forward momentum in the sales process.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Your ability to easily take actions you determine will produce desired improvements depends, in<br />
large part, on your website platform. You need a Web solution that offers you the flexibility to<br />
modify your content presentation, and, sometimes, even your template’s look and feel—without<br />
a major development overhaul.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The ability to change your website quickly and easily is one of the most important factors in<br />
selecting a solution. The longest lever an online marketer has is the ability to test, analyze, and<br />
then take action to iteratively improve their website, email, or other digital media. If you cannot<br />
change your website quickly and easily, you lose the most important tool you have in<br />
optimizing your online marketing efforts.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The following actions are suggestions for applying intelligence to improve online marketing:<br />
<br />
• Generate Customer Profiles—Utilize current customer knowledge to help you<br />
update your content to meet buyers’ needs and expectations. If your words appeal to<br />
Baby Boomers and your customers are Gen Y – you have an obvious disconnect.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Applied Intelligence is<br />
only as useful as the<br />
actions it inspires auto<br />
buyers to take.<br />
<br />
<br />
• Update Conversion Cycles—Look for patterns of behavior that indicate a shift in<br />
your conversion cycle and then modify your actions to address it. This could mean<br />
adding more nurturing steps, responding faster or adding incentives at a pivotal<br />
point.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Modify Your Website—Be flexible about making changes to your homepage to<br />
consistently entice your prospective buyers to spend more time with you. Getting<br />
them to the information they want quickly is imperative. Attention spans are short.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Evaluate Calls to Action—Given what you’ve learned about how receptive your<br />
website visitors are to your calls to action, which of them can be improved? Try<br />
changing the wording, moving the links and make sure every page has a call to action<br />
that flows naturally from the intention behind your potential buyers’ visits.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Tap into External Influences—Stay aware of your manufacturers’ promotions—<br />
both on, and off the Web. Creating content that ties in with themes they’ve already<br />
put a lot of push behind can help you pull more local buyers your way. Don’t forget<br />
about social networking activities that invite customer reviews and referrals. You<br />
can gain insights that help you align the words you’re using with the words they’re<br />
using to gain credibility. They can also affirm what’s working and indicate areas for<br />
improvement.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Automate Repeatable Steps—One of the most important traits a buyer looks for<br />
in a dealer is responsiveness. By applying technology to streamline repeatable<br />
processes—like inquiry response by phone or email—you can increase the time you<br />
have available for other tasks. Just be careful to make sure that you keep insights<br />
about your customers in mind when you do so. Faster will only have the result you<br />
want if what you speed up works in the first place.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Much of the ability to take actions is dependent on your website platform. If your website<br />
infrastructure is too rigid, or your tools don’t “play nice” with the rest of your system your<br />
ability to impact your Internet marketing results may be somewhat limited.<br />
<br />
From Intelligence to Impact…the next step in the journey<br />
<br />
Intelligence can become your road map for improving the performance of your online<br />
marketing. The power of the information available from today’s technology is in the<br />
granular capability of reporting and your ability to analyze the metrics to determine the<br />
actions you should take.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In Review:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Analysis is the process of measuring the impacts of your marketing efforts to generate<br />
actionable information that allows you to improve your marketing tactics.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Insights are the intelligence that comes from analyzing the cause-effect behavior of your<br />
potential buyers produced by your Internet marketing programs.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Action is the steps you take after arming yourself with the insights gained from analysis.<br />
<br />
Thus far in The Internet Trilogy series, we’ve covered the fundamentals of Interactivity and<br />
Intelligence. You’ve now, no doubt, developed a variety of ideas about how you can apply<br />
these fundamentals to your online marketing programs. But there’s still more to come.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Once you are focusing on two-way interactions that help you build trusted relationships,<br />
you’ll see an increase in customer acquisition driven by your programs, and you’ll want to be<br />
able to consistently repeat that process while improving it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In the next section, Impact, you’ll see how the successful execution of online programs<br />
occurs when your dealership’s efforts have an impact on momentum, transition and<br />
<br />
<br />
outcomes during the buyer’s journey. By harnessing the power of the Internet Trilogy, your<br />
dealership will create a consistent, closed-loop process with built-in levels of assessment that<br />
enables you to improve and innovate to keep increasing revenues attributable to the<br />
effectiveness of your web marketing and related sales strategy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Chapter 3<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Impact<br />
<br />
<br />
The Internet Trilogy fundamental that weaves together Interactivity and Intelligence into<br />
quantifiable results is Impact. The beauty and, sometimes, the curse of Internet marketing is<br />
fluidity. You have the ability to create interactive experiences and collect intelligence about<br />
what online visitors are doing on your website or how they’re responding to your Web tools,<br />
but the real benefit is in the Impact you have on vehicle sales.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
As an Internet Sales Manager for an automotive dealer, you can implement interactive<br />
strategies and act on intelligence, but if your tactics aren’t firmly aligned with your marketing<br />
goals, then you risk failing to deliver on your lead and sales goals.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In the past, your marketing programs may have been measured by identified lead conversions,<br />
but the application of and expectations for online marketing are changing. The future, which<br />
may already be surfacing at your dealership today, dictates that technology should make<br />
marketing results measurable. And once you can measure this impact on the dealership, you<br />
need to show growth to validate that your department is contributing to dealership revenues.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
This means you need a plan. You need to be ready to respond to each lead’s needs as fluidly<br />
and dynamically as possible. This type of execution is difficult to pull off if you haven’t created<br />
a strategy for each stage of the buyer’s journey, and made advance preparations for how you’ll<br />
respond to them regardless of the stage they’re in.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In this third and final section of The Internet Trilogy, the focus is on Impact. This will combine<br />
all you’ve learned in the first two sections and explores:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• How you determine and advance the momentum of your leads.<br />
<br />
<br />
• The progression from anonymous website visitor to customer.<br />
<br />
<br />
• Creating outcomes that validate your marketing programs.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Impact is all about setting goals and achieving successful outcomes from every Internet<br />
marketing program. Because the Web is dynamic, the better your infrastructure, tools and<br />
strategy, the faster you can shift on the fly to deliver what your prospective customers want.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But Internet marketing programs are not just about speed and immediate outcomes. The<br />
current month’s sales figures are obviously of critical importance to your dealership, but so is<br />
the long-term outlook for the reputation, brand and loyalty to your dealership from existing<br />
customers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Impact is about increasing lead generation momentum, transitioning leads from online<br />
dialogue to showroom conversation and executing on both short and long-term objectives.<br />
<br />
Momentum<br />
<br />
Momentum is the rate of recognizable action buyers take to extend their engagement with<br />
you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
While engagement depends on keeping your lead’s attention , momentum is all about<br />
forward progress. If your leads remain engaged, but don’t take action, then you will struggle<br />
with converting them into customers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
It’s imperative that the actions you take based on intelligence increase momentum.<br />
Motivating website visitors to begin a dialogue with your dealership is the first step for<br />
engaging new buyers, but increasing the commitment of existing customers to return for<br />
parts, service and re-purchase is also dependent on the momentum of the relationships you<br />
build.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The way to improve momentum is to consider the fundamentals of the Internet Trilogy as a<br />
closed-loop cycle for continuous learning and improvement. Just as poor, ad hoc marketing<br />
programs start and end abruptly because there is no natural flow, so will the attention you<br />
command from your potential leads. But, by focusing your efforts on continual<br />
improvements you can measure and revise, your momentum will increase substantially.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Because momentum is the planned outcome of Interactivity and Intelligence, each activity<br />
you undertake in regards to those components should have forward progression as its goal.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
To Impact momentum, consider the following:<br />
<br />
• Incentives—Consider the flow from one incentive to the next. Building momentum<br />
from incentives means that each step should be obvious and engaging to prospective<br />
buyers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Engagement—Without engagement there is no momentum. Focus on capturing their<br />
initial attention and then on what it takes to keep them. Look at presentation of the<br />
informational resources on your site.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Conversions—Momentum increases depending on how many of the steps in the<br />
conversion cycle you can get website visitors to take. Make the flow natural.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Analysis—Visibility into specific incentive responses, engagement with various<br />
content resources and website visitor activity patterns can direct you to specific<br />
improvements.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Insights—Focus on how each insight may impact your potential buyers. In order<br />
for insights to drive momentum they need to correct or improve the buying<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Iterative improvements are<br />
the key to increasing the<br />
impact of online<br />
momentum.<br />
<br />
<br />
experience for your prospects. Simplicity is of paramount importance.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Action—Creating interactivity and generating reports is great, but you also need the<br />
capability to take action that improves conversion performance. Create a strategic<br />
action plan and evaluate each modification based on its estimated impact to<br />
momentum. Make sure the changes are fluid for your website visitors.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Momentum is a critical focus for improving the performance of your Internet marketing<br />
programs. The components above are all integral to achieving lead generation, as well as<br />
inspiring current customer loyalty for continued business.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Transition<br />
<br />
Transition is the process of progressing through the sales conversion funnel--starting when a<br />
prospect engages with your website as an anonymous visitor through his or her final<br />
conversion into a customer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Once you have momentum going, your focus needs to be on achieving transition. Once a<br />
lead has identified themselves via an inquiry, improving the process for transitioning them<br />
from online dialogue to in-person showroom appearance is critical.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
This is likely a two-pronged exercise that includes both email and outbound telemarketing<br />
campaigns. Transitions can be accelerated or halted based on the methods you use to<br />
transition your prospects through each stage. If your email messaging is disconnected from<br />
their experience on your website, then customers will stop to re-evaluate whether or not<br />
you’re the dealer they want to do business with. Unfortunately, it’s often the initial<br />
inclination of buyers to believe the worst of auto dealers, so work to establish your<br />
credibility by delivering on the expectations set during their online experience with your<br />
dealership.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Average Lead Closing %:<br />
<br />
Website leads – 16.6%<br />
<br />
OEM leads – 8.9%<br />
<br />
3rd Party leads – 6.7%<br />
<br />
<br />
Because website leads have a higher close rate than OEM or third party leads, your ability to<br />
execute on Transition by combining website activity with outreach opportunities can have a<br />
huge upside.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Automated nurturing and response activities in combination with proper messaging can<br />
impact the online-to-showroom progression to produce a noticeable bump in your close<br />
ratio. Buyers want instantaneous recognition and response. Research shows that the faster<br />
you can connect with the buyer, the better the opportunity you have for transition.<br />
<br />
Leveraging a Web tool that instantly connects you by phone with the lead will make a lasting<br />
impression about their importance to your dealership.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Transitions are best accomplished when your focus is on serving the customer, not on<br />
selling the vehicle. Buying is an emotional process. Honor the customer by responding<br />
quickly and competently to build trust. Trust is a key emotion that reaches beyond the logic<br />
of business transactions—especially when the personal financial investment is high. The<br />
advantage online marketers have with website-generated leads is that the person already has<br />
an investment of time with your dealership and is responding to you, not to an<br />
advertisement or an anonymous contact submission to a 3rd party site.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
To capitalize on Transition opportunities, consider the following:<br />
<br />
• Incentives—Transition opportunities convert better when the payoffs are perceived<br />
as valuable, so make sure each incentive has a perceived important payoff for the<br />
customer. Focus on these cause-effect interactions to transition leads.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Engagement— Since transition is directly related to your leads’ attention level,<br />
ensure that the online experience you are providing them is memorable and<br />
consistent.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Conversions—Address each step in your conversion cycle to improve the natural<br />
flow. Transition potential diminishes if the path isn’t clear or the effort expended too<br />
high.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Analysis—Gather metrics about website activities you have the capability to impact.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Insights—Look for opportunities for improving the usability of Web resources.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Action—Ensure that your website platform and the tools you use are not only easy<br />
to use but provide the capability for interactive modifications. If you can’t act on<br />
insights, you’ll lose transition opportunities.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Momentum—Impact momentum by focusing on your prospective buyers’<br />
perceptions. Transitions that are intuitive are acted upon when momentum impacts<br />
engagement.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Transitions are the ultimate goal of Internet marketing. You have zero opportunity to<br />
engage, convert or transition prospective buyers who are not incented to interact with you<br />
based on the experience they have with your website and outreach communication<br />
programs. Transitions are the outcome of all the steps taken during the conversion cycle that<br />
produce customers.<br />
<br />
Outcomes<br />
<br />
Outcomes are the measurable Impact that validates your dealership’s Internet marketing<br />
programs.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Return on Investment [ROI] is a common term. But, ROI comes in many flavors and can<br />
impact decisions about the online marketing programs your management empowers you to<br />
make. Showcasing the business achievements produced by your Internet marketing<br />
programs is just as important for management endorsement as it is for continuous<br />
improvement gains.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Based on the types of interactivity made available on your website and the nurturing and<br />
outreach programs you run, you will have choices about how you evaluate outcomes. As<br />
previously stated, conversion is king, but measuring other outcomes is also important.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Your Internet marketing programs have two purposes: driving conversions for the 30-day<br />
window (short term), and building brand, reputation and credibility for longer-term<br />
relationships with your existing customers for longer sales cycle buyers (over 60% of new car<br />
sales are completed outside this 30-day window), repeat purchases, and parts/service<br />
opportunities.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The following measurements validate short-term Internet marketing goals:<br />
<br />
• Lead Conversions—Although the industry average for website lead conversion is<br />
around 2%, marketers who embrace the Internet Trilogy fundamentals see<br />
conversions averaging from 5—12% and have reached 26%.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Sales Conversions—Since 1 in 6 website leads become customers, improving your<br />
lead generation will have concrete impact on revenues. Isolate the outcomes from<br />
every step in the conversion cycle to determine specific performance improvement<br />
options.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Traffic Increase—70% of those start their research with a search engine, so your<br />
opportunity to bring new leads to your site is directly related to the quality of your<br />
search engine optimization. Focus on local search opportunities to attract highly<br />
qualified customers in your market.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Specific Conversion Activities—Measure the outcomes for each conversion<br />
activity on your website. Incremental performance improvements will have the most<br />
Impact. Knowing where and how visitors convert will provide much more insight<br />
than merely knowing the number of leads your site generates.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Incentive Campaign Conversions—Incentive offers acted upon tell you about the<br />
preferences of your lead base. By responding to them in context, you have the<br />
opportunity to impact your sales conversion outcomes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Response Timing—Response timing for inbound inquiries is a key to upping your<br />
lead-to-customer ratios, as is measuring their response to your email outreach,<br />
nurturing communications, and showroom appointment reservations.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
These are just a few possibilities for short-term outcome assessment. Benchmark and<br />
compare the results consistently to gauge improvements. Keep an eye on longer-term<br />
outcomes as well.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The following measurements validate longer-term Internet marketing programs:<br />
<br />
• Customer Satisfaction—The propensity of your existing customers to return to<br />
your dealership for service is indicative of their satisfaction levels. Measuring<br />
conversions on special offers made through digital outreach, as well as survey<br />
campaign results can provide a good indication of customer satisfaction.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Customer Loyalty—In addition to returning for service, do your customers return<br />
to you when buying their next vehicle? Your Internet marketing programs should<br />
include specific offers for new lease and purchase options at relevant intervals.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Customer Reviews—Social media is increasing the ability for your customers to<br />
publish their views about your dealership. Putting an outreach program together<br />
that asks them to share their stories can provide useful feedback and testimonials for<br />
your website that improve your brand and increase your credibility.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Measuring outcomes can be accomplished in a variety of ways. This is only a sample of the<br />
outcomes you can monitor to validate the investment made in your marketing program.<br />
<br />
<br />
Chapter 4<br />
<br />
Putting the Internet Trilogy to Work for Your Dealership<br />
<br />
Leveraging the Internet Trilogy produces valuable results and outcomes. The following are a<br />
couple of examples of how embracing Interactivity, Intelligence and Impact have produced<br />
successful outcomes for DealerOn customers:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Bryon Casler had been the Internet Director at Williams Automotive Group for<br />
several years before partnering with DealerOn. When he began leveraging<br />
DealerOn’s tools his conversion rates rose dramatically. Now his website conversion<br />
rates range from 8% to 15%. The monthly average conversion across all five websites<br />
is over 9 percent. He and his staff of 10 are actively selling more than 1,000 leads per<br />
month from their online programs.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• “DealerOn makes our websites engaging, thereby increasing our number of quality<br />
leads and ultimately aiding our dealership in selling more cars. Of the 3,700 leads that<br />
we anticipate this month, 70 percent will come from our own dealer website."<br />
- Pat Hayes, Internet Director, Victory Automotive Group<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
As online marketing becomes the most effective marketing channel for your dealership,<br />
creating a strategy to engage with and learn from your customers will become a core<br />
competency for dealership growth. To get the best possible results, you need a vendor who<br />
has the expertise and innovative outlook to help you consistently generate returns into the<br />
future.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
DealerOn is a vendor with a lot of firsts. They were the first to develop a coupon-based<br />
incentive campaign tool with the option to schedule a test drive, the first to create a virtual<br />
assistant, the first to build the technology for an instant lead-to-phone connection, and the<br />
<br />
Mastering theInternet Trilogy<br />
will become a core competency for<br />
dealerships who want continuous<br />
growth from their online<br />
marketing programs.<br />
<br />
<br />
first to develop a virtual inventory program. But DealerOn doesn’t rest on their laurels.<br />
They continue to be passionate about innovation.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Take a look at what’s coming in their v3.0 platform upgrade release:<br />
<br />
• Video, lots of it!<br />
<br />
<br />
• Video test drive reviews for all new vehicles<br />
<br />
<br />
• Virtual Assistant 2.0 – Video driven interactive experience<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Upgraded Google Analytics engine for website statistics<br />
<br />
<br />
• Smart Reports™ – Revolutionary new reporting platform that makes intelligent<br />
website update suggestions and is F&I integrated<br />
<br />
<br />
• Impact Specials™ 2.0 – Automated intelligent creation of specials<br />
<br />
<br />
• The absolute best Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Platform in the industry<br />
continues to improve with the following enhancements<br />
<br />
<br />
• Dedicated city pages increasing geographic specific content relevance and<br />
visibility<br />
<br />
<br />
• Custom page names for ad-hoc content guaranteed to index better<br />
<br />
<br />
• “Breadcrumb” navigation for even better indexing and usability<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
• Widget Vault™ expansion to include more interactive conversion tools<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The real consideration when you begin to implement a strategy based on The Internet<br />
Trilogy is the access you’ll have to high-value expertise helping you take full advantage of<br />
your Internet potential. DealerOn‘s account managers and customer support teams have<br />
expertise in online marketing best practices to help you grow your online business.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But it gets even better. DealerOn will pro-actively review your website performance and give<br />
you actionable feedback on strengths and weaknesses. They’ve made it their mission to<br />
learn what works in online automotive marketing for their customers. The DealerOn team<br />
is committed to continuously developing and refining online marketing tools that deliver<br />
results that far surpass industry averages.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
There’s never been a better or more opportune time to take advantage of the benefits the<br />
Web can deliver to your dealership. DealerOn invites you to learn more about how<br />
Interactivity, Intelligence, and Impact can deliver online success beyond anything that your<br />
dealership has ever achieved.<br />
<br />
<br />
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Please contact our DealerOn sales team for more information and to take a look under the<br />
hood of our Web platform. Dial Toll free: 800-381-6604 and press 1 for sales.<br />
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<br />
About the Author<br />
<br />
Navid Azadi is one of the founders, and the CEO of DealerOn, Inc. Navid is a ten-year veteran of<br />
the web and technology industry. His career has included consulting and employment positions<br />
with Fortune 500’s: Verizon, HP, and Peugeot. Working with the Internet since its infancy has<br />
provided Navid with pervasive knowledge about best practices in website design, optimization,<br />
and marketing opportunities for a variety of companies that have gained strategic growth through<br />
embracing online opportunities.<br />
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<br />
<br />
About DealerOn, Inc.<br />
<br />
Since 2003, DealerOn, Inc. has been helping automotive dealers gain the edge they need to drive<br />
success through online marketing channels. By leveraging DealerOn’s website design and hosting<br />
services, our suite of web tools and professional services, our customers produce higher online<br />
lead engagement and conversions. DealerOn was founded by auto industry veterans to provide<br />
expertise to automotive dealerships that empowers them to get closer to their customers by<br />
harnessing the Internet with the latest web technologies.<br />
DealerOn provides auto dealers with an in-depth understanding of consumer behavior, web<br />
analytics, and automotive trends to develop and sustain an online profit center for the long<br />
term.<br />
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Visit our website at <a href="http://www.dealeron.com">www.dealeron.com</a> and our BLOG at <a href="http://www.dealerrevenue.com">www.dealerrevenue.com</a>.<br /></div>
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