What makes a best practice online presence?

Having an effective online presence is vital in this competitive and digitally enhanced market. The latest research indicates that 83% of customers conduct online research before purchasing a car. However, as with all departmental operations, there are staggering differences between an average online presence and a best practice dealership online presence.

Your online presence is as critical as your physical one. If not managed carefully, professionally and to the expectations of your customer, your dealership will be missing out on enquiries and profit opportunities.

 

Holistic online presence!

The majority of dealerships now have a dedicated website. According to our CRM benchmarks, this dealership website is the most popular lead channel for new vehicle enquiries, with 29% of all new vehicle enquiries arising from this channel on average.

Despite this popularity, it is important for dealerships not to restrict their online presence to this website only. Dealerships should instead adopt a holistic online presence that also incorporates social media components (such as Facebook and Twitter) and online video channels (such as YouTube).

When used correctly, these additional online components can drive online traffic to your dealership website as well as engage a broader demographic. More traffic means more enquiries which can then be converted into sales.

 

The customer experience remains paramount

One saying that rings true on both the dealership showroom floor as well as online is that the customer experience remains paramount. Customers will not warm to your online presence if it is difficult to navigate, cumbersome and uninformative.

 

Examples of contemporary actions that we have observed which have improved the customer experience include:

• utilise video content (both embedded and via a dedicated YouTube channel)
• ensure that your dealership has online service booking functionality
• ensure that your website design is simple and easy to navigate – include a search function and site map
• ensure that vehicle information can be compared – consider including functionality that allows users to compare and contrast the features of various models on a side-by-side basis
• avoid information overload and bombarding customers, particularly with electronic marketing - consider the frequency and timing of mailouts (e.g. avoid campaigns at end of month)
• keep a running list of most common FAQs, both from a sales (e.g. explain how the trade-in process works) and service perspective
• consider offering free guides such as how to change a flat tyre, how to jump start your battery – customers will thank you for sharing useful information and will keep you in the front of mind for future requirements
• consider sending out customer satisfaction surveys via online portals rather than mailouts

 

Align online presence with overall dealership marketing and CRM strategies

The online presence of your business should align with your overall marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) strategies. Not only is it important to ensure that communications to your customers are consistent, but this will also strengthen and reaffirm the messages that your dealership is broadcasting.

Your online presence and strategy should reflect the nature, traits and competitive advantage of your dealership. It should be genuine and honest. Customer reviews and testimonials should be incorporated wherever possible.

Further, ensure that website can be easily found via the national franchise website.

 

Integrate social media presence with website and other online components

The online presence of your dealership must be unified. Furthermore, it should also be interlinked. Be sure to include links to your website and social media components on any electronic direct marketing (EDM) sent out by the dealership as well as more broadly on any online presence.

 

Your dealership website should remain the definitive piece in your online strategy. The purpose of other components (such as social media and video channels) is twofold:

• to enhance your online presence
• direct traffic to your website.

Online components are tablet and smartphone compatible

It is more important than ever for your dealership’s website to work just as well on a smartphone or tablet as it does on a desktop. This is particularly the case when customers are mobile and out conducting their research on the showroom floor or yard.

Recent statistics show that society is increasingly turning to smartphones and tablets for internet usage. According to Walker Sands, the percentage of total website traffic coming from mobile devices stood at 24% in Q1 2013, up 78 percent from the same time in 2012 and 109 percent since 2011. Furthermore, 41% of all emails were opened on mobile devices for the second half of 2012. If the online components of your dealership are not already compatible with these formats, your customers (both current and prospective) may be unable to view and access your online platforms, thus pushing them away.

Compatibility can be achieved by either redirecting traffic to a mobile-specific site or adopting the primary site’s content to the phone’s smaller format.

Not only could incompatibility be contributing towards customers being unable to view your online presence but it may also have further impacts in the not too distant future. Only this week, Google stated its intentions to begin punishing websites that are not mobile and tablet compatible by lowering their placement in the search results (click here for article).

 

Content and keywords are optimised for major search engines

The phrase ‘I don’t know, Google it’ has become ingrained within the English language and the very principle extends to purchasing decisions also. The latest figures by AYTM Market Research indicate that more than 94% of consumers use Google in the buying process.

As such, it is vital that the key content and terms relating to your dealership are optimised for major search engines. Search engine optimisation (SEO) will push your online presence further towards the top end of search engine results rankings. This is vital in achieving higher online traffic as, according to Shimmer Digital Media, a webpage that ranks on the first page of an online search receives 3-8 times more search traffic than a webpage listed on the third page.

Search engine optimisation is also important for vehicle sales websites such as carsales.com.au and eBay.

 

Content is relevant and continuously updated

Content remains king for all online platforms and dealers must ensure that their content is both relevant and continuously updated. This is particularly the case for social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Examples of solid content ideas include:

• Ensure that you have the latest inventory listed for both new and used vehicles accompanied by multiple photos and videos – even consider a ‘best or hot deals’ section.
• Have a ‘history’ or ‘about us’ page – this is your opportunity to state the nature, traits and competitive advantage of your dealership and support these statements with any awards and recognition received.
• Be contactable! Ensure that your ‘contact’ page has a location map with a link to directions. Consider adding an online chat function attended to by your reception so long as you can ensure that responsiveness is maintained.

To ensure that the image of your dealership is upheld, it is important that the dealership keeps abreast of customer reviews posted on online blogs and review sites such as Google Places. An automated Google Alert for the name of your dealership or franchise may be useful to this end.

Finally, be aware of the impact of digital disruption. Only last year, the industry was exposed to direct online sales of the Subaru BRZ. Given the popularity of this online campaign, this trend is expected to continue in future years. Smart has recently announced that it will also be utilising an online sales platform (click here for article).

Use data analytic tools to track and measure online performance

Data analytic tools, such as Google Analytics, can be used to measure, report and manage the effectiveness of your online presence. The use of such tools can ensure that online traffic routes and click through rates are optimised and that customers are accessing the information you are providing. This will ensure that the return on your online investment is maximised.

 

Website leads are handled identically to other leads

An online lead deserves a similar level of responsiveness and attention as any other lead. Dealerships need to ensure that they have suitable processes and systems in place to achieve this. Our benchmarks dictate that the response time by dealership staff to online enquiries is less than 10 minutes.

 

Conclusion

A successful dealership in 2013 requires a strong online presence. This presence needs to be holistic and continuously managed. Nevertheless, the ultimate test of the success of your online presence is whether this presence converts online browsers into online leads and eventually customers.

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