# MOBILE AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL UX AUDIT — v4.2
## Dealer vs. Carvana Comparative Audit With Guided User Intake

THIS PROMPT is a hot mess. I deleted it.​

--new prompt added, see post below--​

DealerInt said:

the number that lands in the P&L still isn't the number the merchandising earned. The desk happens in between. Buyer came in ready for $42k, drove off at $39,200, and every upstream metric logged a win.

The Early Majority doesn't just need ROI proof. They need ROI proof that survives the desking layer — otherwise you've just moved the attribution gap six steps to the right. Does D.I.S.C. go that deep or is the scope intentionally front-of-funnel?

Click to expand...

great insights.
Keeping to the thread theme "Vehicle Photography and Virtual Showrooms", and mapping GA4 to DISC...
From a 1st principles POV, merchandising strategies (aka UX strategies) can improve gross by improving the average quality of the up it creates. This 'improvement of traffic quality' happens on both ends of the measurement spectrum. #1. Ups that need more 'selling' to get to the sale. #2. Ups that need less 'selling' to get to the sale.

@DealerInt , I contend that a merchandising strategies mission is to produce a body of up traffic that is quicker to close, with less discounting.

Here's a side by side of two dealer VDPs selling the same 2025 Toyota Sequoia Limited Sport Utility 4D


Both dealers have the spinny car thingy.
The shopper views both VDPs as a completely stand alone UX. Carvana sells the benefits, the DDC site pukes icons with zero context on the page.

Using common sense (aka 1st principals), we all know that a small share of all VDP viewers are 'very engaged', and this is the short list of 'interested shoppers'. We can measure these ppl with engagement metrics. One would assume that great merchandising strategy will produce a larger share of the audience engaging more deeply than w/o the merch strategy. I also contend that a hallmark of the merchandising strategy is LESS LEADs WITH MORE SALES (aka higher closing ratio).


SO, in summary, my vision falls far short of yours ("The desk happens in between. Buyer came in ready for $42k, drove off at $39,200, and every upstream metric logged a win.") My vision is to get a higher yield with the shoppers that are onsite now.

@douglaskarr your vendor list sparked a 4 hour research exploration. Wow. Ck it out...

What if we commissioned AI to go car shopping on all of these sites and return score or a report on what it found? I made a 1st pass, It's limited to what it can see, it's buggy, but, directionally, this is very interesting.

Dealer.com website:

1. Mobile SRP​

Score: 2.5 / 5​

What it does well​

The page gives shoppers the basics:

• used inventory entry point
• filter and sort access
• category shortcuts like used trucks and used SUVs (reymore.com)

That means the shopper can start the search.

What it does poorly​

The page does not show strong vehicle-card selling power in the evidence I could verify.
What I see is:

• generic inventory structure
• lots of dealer text below the listings
• weak proof that each vehicle card helps the shopper decide fast (reymore.com)

For a dealer, this means:
The platform helps shoppers search. It does not clearly help them shop better.


That is a big difference.

Dealer takeaway​

A strong mobile SRP should help a shopper reject bad fits fast.


This one looks more like:
“Here is our inventory.”


Not:
“Here is why these few units deserve your attention.”

---

2. Mobile VDP​

Score: 2.0 / 5​

What it does well
The page gives some basic information and calls to action:

• quote
• test drive
• text me a link
• send to friend

That means the page is lead-ready.

What it does poorly​

This is the bigger problem.

The page appears overloaded with:

• forms
• modal actions
• repeated lead tools
• legal text
• dealership marketing copy

That hurts the shopping mission on mobile.

A phone shopper wants:

1. what is this truck
2. why should I care
3. what do I do next

Instead, the page feels like: lead form first, shopping second.

Also, the copy is broad model copy:

• Silverado is strong
• Silverado can tow
• Silverado is versatile

That is not the same as selling this exact truck.

Dealer takeaway​

This page may help generate leads.

It does not do a strong job helping a shopper believe:
“This is the right truck for me.”


That is the miss.

All of the back and forth aside, just to throw my opinion out there: This will be solved by AI.

The compliance will still be a thing until laws changed and some guy in California will still keep suing dealers for not having screen reader compliance, but I have to assume that those who use these tools are going to move to new AI solutions that can read, manipulate, respond and interact with websites of any type at any time. Once you start using Claude Co-Work, OpenClaw or Perplexity Computer you really start to see the near future where the website becomes far less relevant.

Do I go to travel websites to book trips anymore? Nope.
Do I use the documentation site for my programming frameworks to figure out how they work? Nope.
Do I shop for electronics by going to Walmart, BestBuy, Amazon and ShopBot to compare prices? Nope.

Did I try shopping for a used car using AI? Yes. Did it work? Absolutely not.

Whoa @DjSec - I think you are misreading Joe. He is trying to help you. Maybe reread what he is saying to you without any malice in his tone.

The rest of us are reading your tone as passionate to the point of insanity or someone who thinks he is being greatly attacked.

I can see how one could take a sentence from Joe as a slight attack, but the overall message certainly is not.

If you can change your tone, it would be great to get into the topics you’re trying to educate us on. As Joe is pointing out, you’re the expert on this.

joe.pistell said:

DJ, all vendors see problems thru the lens of "how my products fix this".

Click to expand...

DJ, I am no upset, your reply is stuck in self validation, turn your narrative to helping the community. Example:

DjSec said:

Or better yet prove not being ADA compliant doesn't matter!
Prove people don't get sued!

Click to expand...

You own this topic, NO ONE here owns this topic like you do. Create insights to assist dealers to see what needs to be fixed and tips for them to DIY this topic. Turn your narrative to actionable tips and tricks and use this community service to talk about your ADA toolset.

Thanks for the post, Gregg. We are aware of these things and agree with you. It is the way we have done things for 20 years and have outlasted everything that ever came up.

Although I think the real secret to our success is that DealerRefresh is not a business. We take sponsorship money to keep the lights on.

We are trying something new out. We are allowing a little more promotion. And it will be a fluid change as we figure out the right balance.

DjSec said:

The fact that there is only one link makes it look more like spam than a real post, a moderator should remove the link and stop all the Parasite SEO!

It will kill the forum!

Click to expand...

Dj, I 100% love that post that @douglaskarr compiled and shared. Its very helpful for dealers and vendors.

DjSec said:

How many of these providers actually care about your dealership?

Click to expand...

Really? Are you saying that only you care? Beware using virtue signaling as your narrative.

Dj, love your passion, but c'mon dude...
your reply SELLS ADA compliance and SPEED and your reply is selling your business.

To flame @douglaskarr while mounting your white horse is a tad bit self-serving.

DJ, all vendors see problems thru the lens of "how my products fix this". May I suggest that you follow @douglaskarr's lead and post ways that the community can profit from your domain knowledge and experiences.

DjSec said:

You should set it up so no one can post a link until they have over 100 post ... in my humble opinion

Click to expand...

That's a really good idea! @Jeff Kershner check out the brains on Gregg (too bad you aren't a Brad for that Pulp Fiction quite).

We will be figuring this out.


Edit… Jeff already saw this. Duh to me.

DealerInt said:

Dealership analytics are historically terrible at this. We can easily track a lead form submission (a blunt metric), but it is incredibly difficult for most dealers to measure how a specific merchandising strategy impacted the final transaction speed or the retained margin.

If the chasm exists purely because there is a lack of ROI proof, doesn't that mean the next big breakthrough won't actually be a new merchandising tool, but rather the analytics/attribution infrastructure that can actually translate that 'buyer confidence' into hard dollars and cents for the Early Majority?"

Click to expand...

I have a mental model that attempts to identify: Does It Sell Cars? (aka D.I.S.C.)

MVP in the cooker. Beta will follow fast.

He doesn't look spammy anymore because I removed all his links

Phytockst said:

without looking spammy.

Click to expand...

Oh the irony!

This bot spammed multiple threads with hyperlinks.

Greg_Gifford said:

who cares if coop can only be used on a garbage site?

The new sites are an unimigated disaster. They've tanked every available metric for SEO for every dealer we've seen. If the OEM is going to require dealers to switch to a new platform, they need to be sure that SEO is considered. The new platform is horrible for SEO, and the fact that they didn't transfer most of the content from old sites makes things evern worse...

Click to expand...

The Oadd sites were DOA on arrival.

Also experienced it firsthand and saw dealers make the fastest possible change back. Those screenshots gave me the shakes, @MattCopley.

Alex Snyder said:

Do you know any more about the new owners?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no - Charlie or Gary probably can though...

Jeff Kershner said:

Someone should SNAG that URL!

Ahhhh the good'ol days of #DSES. I agree @Ryan Everson it was one of the better conferences. Me and @ryan.leslie presented together at a few of them back in the day.

I used to follow Jarred on FB, but I don't get on much anymore.

Click to expand...

@Jeff Kershner - That's where we originally met! I always enjoyed DSES. I believe there were 13 of them and spoke at 10 of them. Good times, and I met so many incredible industry people that I'm thankful for and still have relationships with to this day! (@Alex Snyder included!)

Greg_Gifford said:

@csabatka1 has it 99% right... The only real change that needs to be made is that it's incorrect to do the schema to list departments on the home page. The home page should only be AutoDealer schema... the Service department schema should be on the man Service Department page, and the Parts schema should be on the Parts Department page.

Each GBP needs a unique phone number and unique URL. The primary GBP should link to the home page, the Service GBP to Service, and Parts GBP to parts. It's also incredibly important that the categories on each are unique - the main GBP should only have sales-related categories, the Parts GBP should only have parts categories, and Service GBP should only have service categories.

It's also important to connect with Google support or a vendor that knows what they're doing to get the service/parts GBPs "nested" under the primary profile. If it doesn't show the explicit nesting of departments, Google can sometimes get confused about which is the primary profile

Click to expand...

Our homepage is a group organization -> market organization ->autodealer. The site is a 3-dealer child site (city market) as part of Anderson Auto Group organization. We have 2 other market sites as well as a group site.

Organization (Anderson Auto Group)
└── Organization (Anderson of Lincoln)
├── AutoDealer (Ford South)
├── AutoDealer (Mazda)
└── AutoDealer (Ford North)

DealerInt said:

Since the Innovators and Visionaries are already bored with the photo booths... Given your such a vast experience in this space, what do you think they are playing with right now that actually has a real chance of surviving the 30-day reset and crossing the chasm?"

Click to expand...

1st, limit the focus to merchandising only. Sooo many ppl know what it is when they see it, few know how to identify it or define it.

Next, the innovators commit to experiments based on their understanding of the marketplace, they KNOW there is no data to support experimenting in new areas, they commit time and $$ to it because it's logical to them. Innovators intuitively understand Dr Clayton Christensen's "Jobs To Be Done" (JTBD) modeling. The 'see' shoppers trying to accomplish tasks that fuel confidence to make a decision.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CHASM... are the early majority, they're interested in new ideas but they need to see results (SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!). The chasm exists only if there is no proof of performance (i.e. no ROI).

DealerInt said:

Curious on your take: Do you think dealers are leaning so hard into these photo booths/AI tools because they're being sold on 'operational efficiency' and cost-cutting, or do they genuinely believe this sterile look is what modern buyers want?"

Click to expand...

Dealers are masters of getting sh*t done. They are the Sargent that leads their men to take that hill. They dont need or want a generals view of the battle field because their mission is so difficult to accomplish (they reset back to zero every 30 days).

They are franchise operators, they look to their peers to see what's working (or not).
The 'crossing the chasm' chart (by G. Moore) is the perfect model to see the car dealer universe.

SUMMARY:
THe innovator and early adoptor dealers enjoy innovating while their competitors are up to their armpits in trying to take the hill. As time passes, the 'early majority' dealers see what the early adoptiors are doing anf copy them. Then the late majority jump in.

Photo booths are in the late majority stage.
The Innovators are hanging with the Dealer Refresh crazies to see and talk about what's coming next.

DealerInt said:

I’ll offer a contrarian view here: Don't chase the studio look.

Click to expand...

Beat ya.

joe.pistell said:

This is how car shoppers see photo booth photos.

Click to expand...

Curious what you didn't like in the ones you tried.