Mobile Visits to your Dealership are on the Rise

This isn’t news. We know that more and more mobile devices are accessing the web on a daily basis. What might news to you, however, is the coming mobile tidal wave reports are predicting. Cisco’s spring 2011 study cites 2010 mobile data traffic nearly tripled (2.6x) for the third year in a row. A Tech Crunch article states mobile traffic is expected to rise 40x in the next 5 years. Fortune’s August 2010 article sums it up: “The numbers don’t lie: Mobile devices overtaking PCs.”

The coming tidal wave of mobile devices is turning into a tsunami. As such we need to evaluate how mobile users are engaging with our virtual storefront.

Your Mobile Visitors

Have you looked at your site’s mobile traffic? Here’s how to with a Google Analytics account:

1. Log in to your Analytics account.
   
2. Once logged in, you need to look on the left hand column for “Visitors.”
   
3. Under “Visitors,” click on “Mobile.”

You will then see statistics of people who viewed your site with mobile phones.

Chances are you’ll be surprised at the number. Even more interesting – look at how that number has increased over the last few months. DealerRefresh focused on this topic in May of 2010 – read the comments section from participating dealers.

Hosting a weekly video series “Mobile and the Dealer” allows me to chat with dealers around the nation. Dealers are consistently reporting 15-20%+ of total web traffic coming from mobile devices. This has increased ten fold for some over the last 12 months!

Bouncing or sticking?

Take a look at how mobile visitors are behaving on your site. Specifically look at bounce rates of mobile visitors and compare them to traditional visitors. If you’re like many, you’ll see sky-high bounce rates on your mobile visitors. In this podcast: Eric Hanson talks about mobile visitor bounce rates of vegas.com and how optimization strategies effectively lowered those stats.

Understanding Mobile Visitor Behavior

More and more reports are showing different behavior patterns for mobile visitors vs. desktop. This only makes sense, but we are now seeing data to back it up. What’s clear: giving a mobile user a desktop experience results in bounces and decreased conversion, if any.

Time on site metrics for traditional desktop users continues to be higher than metrics for mobile devices. Mobile visitors are on the go. They consume information many times in sections rather than a single sitting. The essence of being on the go doesn’t allow for prolonged spans of attention. An interesting study by ClickTale, puts some numbers to the speculation that mobile users don’t like to scroll. Long loading times, scrolling, zooming,: – all of these functions are turns off and contribute to bounces for a desktop formatted website.

Capturing Mobile Visitors

Top dealers are providing a mobile-optimized experience for their customer. These dealers are using mobile sites and mobile apps designed to capture the customer, providing first the information they are seeking, then spurring them to action. If you buy a mobile site or mobile app from a quality vendor serving the dealer market, you’ll see a lot of attention has been placed on channeling the customer through a specific set of processes.

Now that dealer apps can be downloaded right from the dealership website, dealers are using apps to create long-term relationship channels with the customer from pre-sale to post-sale service and incentives.

As mobile device traffic increases, make sure your marketing strategy doesn’t forget your mobile customer.

What is your dealerships mobile marketing strategy for the near future?

HookLogic To Expand to Meet Rapidly Increasing Demand for E-Commerce Media

NEW YORK – September 8, 2011 –HookLogic today announced a $9.5 million round of financing from Bain Capital Ventures. It is the first institutional investment accepted by HookLogic after six years of profitable growth.  The funding will be used to expand the organization and further innovate its proprietary Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that has underpinned the company’s unprecedented growth in the first half of 2011, including its market-leading automotive business.

HookLogic’s targeted incentive programs and partnership with lead-scoring solution provider RL Polk have helped clients achieve an average 20 percent increase in close rates by converting more consumer leads into showroom visitors.  Clients include MileOne Automotive, Germain Motor Company, Suburban Collection, Herb Chambers Auto Group, Younger Auto Group and AutoTrader.  Its timing concurs with a hugely successful first half of 2011 in which it signed a channel partnership agreement with AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions, the premier independent Internet lead provider, to power its ShowPro suite of products.

"We have made very selective and profitable investments in the automotive software space,” says Deepak Sindwani, principal at Bain Capital Ventures.  “HookLogic has a proven business model, loyal clients, and provides an amazing return on investment to automotive marketers.  We’re thrilled to be a partner in scaling the business.”

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Bain was the primary investor in vAuto, an inventory optimization software company that was recently acquired by AutoTrader.

"We see this as a validation of our business model from one of the smartest, most demanding investors in the world," says Opdyke. "Today, automotive dealers and marketers generate an amazing number of leads, but there is a clear gap when it comes to converting those leads into showroom visits.  We’re successfully bridging that gap and helping our clients win more business and grow marketshare.”

Opdyke pointed out the financing announcement builds on the company’s recent hire of David Metter as president of HookLogic’s automotive division. Metter is one of the foremost experts in automotive digital marketing and has been a driving force in the adoption of many new technologies, including HookLogic.

With its new funding, HookLogic plans to aggressively expand its business across the automotive sectors in North America and Europe.

 

 

About HookLogic’s Incentive Solutions for the Auto Industry
HookLogic powers targeted incentive programs that drive in-market shoppers to auto dealerships and other lead-driven businesses. HookLogic solutions are easily implemented, work with nearly any marketing medium and enable end-to-end reporting and optimization. Headquartered in New York City, the company has offices in Ann Arbor, MI, Atlanta, GA and Manchester, UK. Clients include Trader Media Group, MileOne Automotive, Germain Motor Cars, Suburban Collection, Acton Toyota, and AutoTrader.com. Learn more at http://www.hooklogic.com/auto-dr/

About Bain Capital Ventures:
Bain Capital Ventures is the Boston-based venture capital affiliate of Bain Capital, which has approximately $65 billion of assets under management worldwide. Founded in 1984, Bain Capital and its affiliates havemade more than 300 investments. The firm’s history of investing in early stage companies also dates back to 1984, having made over 125 venture-stage investments since inception including such companies as Gartner Group, SunGard, Experian, Archer Technologies, SolarWinds, DoubleClick, Instinet, Staples, ProfitLogic, Regulatory Data Corporation, Shopping.com, Taleo, and LinkedIn. In 2001, Bain Capital Ventures was formed as a separate arm of Bain Capital tofocus exclusively on growth investments.

Except for a telephone greeting along the lines of “Thank you for calling (Dealer Name). How can I assist you?”, there is one word track your people use almost as much..

“Sorry, my computers running slow.”

Does your computer suck? Does it really?Is it the Internet speed of which your desktop operates? Is it the crappy Internet service your dealer has signed up for? It very well may be and if it is, tell your dealer to step out of the dark ages and get you the proper technology so you don’t have to keep throwing that poor, defenseless computer under the proverbial bus in front of your customers.

“Internet is going really slow to day. (sigh and a plea) C’mon. (twenty seconds later) “There you go. Yes, it looks to be in stock.”

I don’t think your computers are always the problem, but you have no problem blaming it on the computer when a customer calls. It can’t ALWAYS be the computer. Sometimes it is the user that is causing the error.

One thing is for certain, your computers take a verbal beating and I’m here to stick up for them.

Get your desk in order. Stop answering the phone if your websites aren’t up, screens aren’t open, DMS isn’t at the ready, and your dealership CRM isn’t front and center. If your monitor is prepared for the call, then you can get the answers out quicker and stop making it look like your dealership operates on Dot Matrix machines. It is often the people and not the programs so blame yourself. If you don’t have the skills to capture the customer’s information and set an appointment without logging into your computer then it is your job to have it ready to go for the customer and stop using your inability to navigate the machine as the primary obstacle in the call. Have you no feelings for your poor, sad computer?

Let the customer think that you are 100% in control of your work station, able to answer their questions within seconds rather than forcing them to listen to awkward silences while you verbally abuse your desktop and Internet service. They will think you are more professional and hold you in higher regard.

It is not your computer’s fault that “give me a few seconds. It seems to not want to work for me. Haha. C’mon. C’mon. Here it comes. No. Shoot. This computer always does this to me. Here it is. Wait. What kind did you say? That’s right. The 1500. And… it looks like…. Hold on a second. Running so slow today” you are the slow one.

Firm Behind Facebook, Groupon Closes Recapitalization Investment; Partner Todd MacLean to join Dealer.com Board

Burlington, VT, Aug. 25, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dealer.com (www.dealer.com), the global leader in automotive internet marketing solutions, today announced that Accel Partners, the global venture capital and growth equity firm and early investor in Facebook, Groupon and Rovio/Angry Birds among others, has made a minority investment in the company. Todd MacLean, Partner at Accel, will join the company’s Board of Directors, replacing the seat previously held by Don Hall.

"We are excited by the opportunity to partner with one of the world’s most successful technology investors," said Mark Bonfigli, CEO of Dealer.com. "We view the backing of Accel Partners as a vote of confidence in Dealer.com’s mission to become the preeminent digital marketing partner for the automotive industry and look forward to their guidance and counsel as we continue growing and developing valuable solutions for our customers."

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"We are thrilled to partner with Mark, Rick and the rest of the team at Dealer.com and look forward to helping them continue to grow an exceptional company," commented Todd MacLean, Partner at Accel Partners. "Over the past year and a half, we’ve come to know and admire the company and its core values. While we are clearly impressed by their industry-leading technology platform, it is the ability and passion of the team and the incredible culture they’ve built over time that truly differentiates Dealer.com in our eyes.

"At Accel, we believe that with continued expansion of new distribution channels and increasingly decentralized decision-making, the key to a software company’s success today has very much reverted to basics - building truly great products that customers love to use. In this regard, Dealer.com’s long list of "raving fans" and industry awards is great testimony to its historic success.   Perhaps more importantly, we believe the Company’s emphasis on building a deep-rooted culture - which allows it to attract, retain and motivate great people - will drive continued, repeatable success in the future."

In the last several years, Dealer.com has seen rapid acceleration in sales, customers and product introductions. Revenues reached $85 million in 2010, an increase of over 60 percent from 2009 and more than triple the 2008 level, and the company increased R&D spending more than 100 percent while adding key retail and OEM client relationships to its portfolio.

Bonfigli concluded: "As the online and social media landscapes continue to evolve at an increasingly rapid pace, our partnership with Accel will strengthen our ability to transform the experience in the automotive industry."

About Accel Partners

Founded in 1983, and managing nearly $9 billion in capital, Accel Partners has a long history of partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses.  Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London, New Delhi and Bangalore, as well as in China via its partnership with IDG-Accel.

Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful technology companies, many of which have defined their categories, including AdMob, Alfresco, Atlassian, BBN, Brightcove, ComScore, Etsy, Facebook, Gameforge, GlamMedia, Groupon, Imperva, Infinera, Interwoven, IronPlanet, JBoss, Kayak, Macromedia, metroPCS, OPOWER, Polycom/PictureTel, Playfish, Portal Software, QlikTech, Quidsi (Diapers.com), Rapt, Real Networks, Responsys, Riverbed, SupportSoft, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, Wily Technology, Wonga, XenSource and Zimbra. For more information, please visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com, or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/accel

About Dealer.com (www.dealer.com)

Dealer.com is the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, providing award-winning SaaS-based e-marketing solutions to OEMs, auto dealers and media companies. Headquartered in Burlington, Vermont with a satellite office in Manhattan Beach, California, the company’s innovative websites and integrated online tools include advertising alternatives that significantly lower the cost of customer acquisition, enhancing dealers’ efficiency and profitability.

Recent national and international accolades include placing No. 14 on Outside magazine’s 2011 list of Best Places to Work in America and receiving two Stevie Awards from the American Business Association for Best Overall Company of the Year and Fastest Growing Company of the year in 2011. Dealer.com has also by honored by Inc. magazine as one of the 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces in addition to securing a place on both the Inc. 5000 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 rankings in 2010. Dealer.com wasalso ranked first in SEO effectiveness among auto dealer website providers for the third consecutive year in 2011 by Sorgenfrei LLC.