Digital Dealer - August 2018 - 45

and insist that they get an
oil change. Any conversion
opportunity on your website
should utilize customer data
to optimize timing so that
engagements appear at relevant, helpful times. Then,
they should record customer
feedback in your CRM for
continual improvement for
future shoppers.

THEY'RE NOT
PERSONALIZED

In a similar vein, the tools
on your website should
be personalized to each
shopper's interest. Consider a customer who keeps
returning to the same VDP,
intrigued by a vehicle but unsure if they can afford it. In
this case, a well-timed special offer could be what gets
them to move forward. On
the other hand, if a first-time
visitor is looking for service
and that same offer pops
up, it's not only not helpful- it actually alienates that
customer: 74% of shoppers
get frustrated with non-personalized website content.
However, on the flipside,
with personalization, 77%
of customers will choose,
recommend, or pay more
for your brand. Tools that
personalize content for each
shopper provide the experience customers expect.
Even better, personalization
tracks user behavior more
efficiently, providing your
follow-up team with richer
lead data in the CRM.
THEY'RE REDUNDANT

The first type of redundancy to avoid is multiple
tools that all offer similar, or
even identical, opportunities. It's still very common
for dealership websites to

feature various text and
chat tools simultaneously.
The goal is to give customers more opportunities
to engage, but ultimately,
the effect is the opposite: it
overwhelms the consumer.
If a shopper wants to chat,
they're now faced with the
friction of having too many
choices for doing the same
thing. If the shopper is not
looking for one-to-one help,
this can feel like multiple
pushy salespeople. And,
if a shopper does engage
with more than one of these
interactions, your dealership
receives repetitive or "bad"
data. Better to encourage
a wider variety of digital
touchpoints that both help
customers progress and
send you richer, precise
data. Seeing different customer touchpoints- when
they engaged chat, when
they looked for an e-price,
when they booked an
appointment- will provide
more valuable data for better
follow-up and strategizing.
A second redundancy is
when customers are asked
for information they have
already submitted. For
example, let's say George
converts on a limited-time
offer, filling in his name
and contact info. Then he
decides to click a "Value My
Trade," only to have to enter
the same information again.
This is roughly equivalent
to calling customer service,
being passed to different
representatives, and having
to repeat yourself multiple
times. It gives the impression of a disjointed process,
instead of what customers
are actually seeking - one

that's smooth and seamless. Look for tools that
are streamlined and avoid
repetition.

THEY ASK A LOT BUT
DON'T PROVIDE ENOUGH
VALUE IN RETURN

Customers are actually
willing to provide their personal information- as long
as they feel they are getting
real value in return. The
problem is when the value
doesn't balance out the ask.
Again, the key here is to
think about what the customer wants to accomplish. A
shopper clicks on an e-price
button, hoping for efficiency,
privacy, and a solid answer.
Too often, though, the form
takes forever to fill out and
the numbers still elude. Or
consider chat. It's designed
to answer questions, but
does it actually answer
them? How fast is it? Does it
require personal information
right away?
Any time you ask for
something, it has to be worth
the customer's while; make
it quick, relevant, and easy.
THEIR CTAS ARE
CONFUSING

Conversion tools should
be effortlessly easy to understand. This means they
should have clear language,
consistent CTAs, and helpful
images. I recently saw
a Value Your Trade CTA
with the text "Learn More."
Someone valuing their trade
doesn't want to learn more-
they want to know their
trade value. Here, a CTA
of "value my trade" or "get
estimate" work much better.
The clearer your CTAs, the
more likely customers are to
convert because the buttons
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

should directly relate to the
action intended.
So, now you've gone
through your list of vendors and ticked off all the
boxes. What about the
final question- results? If
your conversion solutions
provide a great experience
for your customers, that's
half the battle, but at the
end of the day, they have to
prove concrete value to your
dealership. So, be sure to
assess your tools' performance by setting goals and
benchmarks together with
your vendors and evaluating
at regular intervals. Verify
that you have access to the
data you need to assess
ROI accurately, including duplicate leads, traffic source
and user behavior on your
site. Streamline your data
into a single dashboard or
location so you can analyze
it accurately. And use your
data to constantly optimize
your tools- or decide they're
not worth your while.
At the end of the day, your
conversion solutions need
to serve your customers,
and they need to serve you.
Demand the best and keep
only the ones that improve
your customer journeys,
help you provide a seamless
experience, and give you
the greatest value.
ILANA SHABTAY is an expert
in sales, inbound marketing,
and business development. She
is constantly thinking about how
to perfect conversion funnels
to build brand awareness and
turn leads into sales. As director
of business development at
AutoLeadStar, Ilana works to
build relationships and find
mutually valuable partner
solutions. EMAIL:
ilana@autoleadstar.com

AUGUST 2018

45
http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - August 2018
