The Ego....errrr....Dealership Home Page

[Joe Pistell]

oooo Bruce, we're on the same wave length. I'll take it a lil' deeper.

The cover of the magazine has a title (Life, Sports Illustrated, etc...), the big a** picture tells us what the magazine has inside AND your invite to the 1st article “The Secret to losing 10lbs in 10 days” is nested on the cover.

The picture can connect broadly to the theme of the magazine, or, the cover pic can feature the 1st article...“The Secret to losing 10lbs in 10 days”

Also,, you can reduce the size of “The Secret to losing 10lbs in 10 days” to a give it a less dominant role on the cover where it shares space with other "sub-title" merchandising hooks, all designed to take you inside.

Any way you slice it or dice it, “The Secret to losing 10lbs in 10 days” is an extension of the table of contents, its just placed on the front cover.

 

[Joe Pistell]

Bruce writes "...Magazines use their cover to pull you deep into the magazine, your home page should be the same it should direct people where YOU want them to be not where they want to wind up."

ahh... where did that come from? You can't strong arm in marketing or merchandising... only in sales... oh, that's where you get that from!

Give me one example of how you think you can sell more cars while taking them further away from "accomplishing their goal".

Marketing and Merchandising has a job. It's job is to find shoppers, help them satisfy their needs, then hand the shopper off to sales.

Sales and marketing are on the same team but have very different skill sets.

 

[Joe Pistell]

ohoh...

"...Give me one example of how you think you can sell more cars while taking them further away from “accomplishing their goal”."

Open mouth.. insert foot.
New and Used Chevy Dealer | Chevy Dealer in Terryville | Terryville Chevrolet
Nice Job Bruce. VERY VERY creative cover. Kudos!

On your landing page http://www.terryvillechevy.com/WebSiteSurvey I wish you had more space to hammer home the features and benefits of your cash for clunkers program (call to actions, expiration, etc...)

Great work!

 

[Craig Belowski]

Bruce,

I agree your homepage should have offers that compel people to dig further into your site......however where we seem to go in another direction is in making that experience match why they are looking. Not to pick apart your site/store.....but if I was a customer looking at your site I would find an offer for "2010 malibus for $17998." hey sounds good let me look at that, I say and click. Turns out those vehicles must either be sold or I am supposed to forget about that offer and pay the $21310. you really have them for.......O.K so maybe a Malibus not in the cards today, let's take a look at the "Cash for Clunker" special offer page. Great all I have to do is provide every piece of my personal information to have a Manager call me to tell me if I may qualify for a trade towards a something, excellent sign me in!

Like I said I don't want to tear into your site or business philosophy.......but, I'd rethink the "offer them something to get em in and we'll grind it out when they get here" at least appearance of how deals are done at Terryville.

Just my 2 cents, Craig

 

[Bruce Novicky]

Joe - I tried the passive "marketing" "branding" approach with our homepage and it got us nowhere in terms of leads. So now I try to have a few things that pull certain crowds right into the thick of things, while letting those further out still poke around. It has actually worked REALLY well, I never expected so many people to send through requests seeing if we would give them "up to" $3,500.

Craig - If you had a 1991 hunk of junk, you would be very curious and WANT a manager to call you to tell you he can give you thousands more than it is worth. Obviously it is not your situation so it does not appeal to you. As for the $17,998 Malibu button, that is also aimed at a specific crowd that is obviously not you. It is no different than a newspaper ad advertising a $16,995 Chevy Silverado, everyone knows it is a stripped 2WD but it builds the price leader image and the customer thinks they can then get a rock bottom price on the trim of their choice. I want someone to call me asking how they can buy a $17,998 Malibu the key their is BUY one not confirm they could SHOP for one on my website.

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Bruce - sure sounds like you're going after the suckers. Old school bastardizing that gives us all a fantastic name....thanks!

 

[Dara (blog)]

As a designer of automotive websites the content of the homepage is something I am constantly battling (for lack of better terms with the dealer). There are many out there with the mindset of the more on the homedeck the better oh and don't forget it all needs to be above the fold. I have to walk that very fine line everyday. One side is gently guiding the dealer towards a quality website, one where the user interface is welcoming and easy, the navigation is clear, and simply an enjoyable experience all around. While the other, is delivering the dealer a product that they will be happy with, even if it means I need to give them a huge neon orange specials banner if they are set on it. But again that goes back to the fact of do they want to be educated about how the customer will interact with their site or are they set in what they "think" will sell more cars.

I am the first to admit I am guilty of producing some (what I think) are pretty ugly dealer websites out there, along with what I consider stunning ones as well. But you know what at the end of the day the dealer is happy with the end result. And honestly, if the dealer is happy with their website and proud of it they will promote it every chance they get, and in return sale more cars. At the end of the day isn't that what it's all about?

 

[Bruce Novicky]

Alex - I just happened to be going after price shoppers this month. Nothing sleezy about it I really could sell a Malibu LS for that price and I really can give up to $3,500 for a clunker. It is no different than Checkered flag pushing you to click on "Last Chance Deals" you are going after the bargain hunter.

Next month I have a promo that will push 2011's on the surface but is really all about creating urgency on the 2010's. Nothing sleezy about it, I really do have truckloads of 2011 vehicles showing up and they really are not making any more 2010's.

We really did give some good money and take a hit in order to get some folks who had not bought a car in 10+ years out of their "clunker" and back into the buying/service cycle.

 

[Joe Pistell]

Let your visitors tell you what they like.

Run this software for a few thousand visits. Crazy Egg Website — Optimization | Heatmaps, Recordings, Surveys & A/B Testing

What happens? 1st, look at my home brew indie site: http://www.usedcarking.com/

Form your opinions about it... C'mon, be honest >:-/

then compare your opinions to2 days, 8hours and 10 mins of traffic, see it at:
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-Yg7lix-ly6...

A picture tells a thousand words...

 

[Joe Pistell]

Same goes for all classes of pages, here is a VDP analysis:

sample:
http://www.usedcarking.com/2008-Ford-Escape-4dr-S...

test:
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-Yg7lix-ly6... (use the zoom feature on the right)

What do I see?

BAD: Navigation errors. People clicking the home button to too often.

BAD: Photo advance buttons not used.

BAD: Specifications tab is clicked, most likely people looking for options (placed too low on page)

BAD: Clicks to Store hours and directions takes us AWAY from bright shiny yummy object of desire. Not smart.

WHY?: Why do they click on price ($2000 down). They looking for a finance calc? Looking for the calcs used in that payment?

(test = 150 visits, 502 clicks over 12 days 22 hours )