Automation doesn’t beat the human touch

I’ve noticed a change is dealer listings lately. Part of my job is to look at listings day in day out, and here at AutoBase & Trade Me I think it’s safe to say we’re pretty versed in what makes a good listing. The proof is in the pudding – good listings get more views, and this information is available to us and all of our clients. Lately I’ve noticed a couple of trends on listings, and they seem to originate from listings being purely automated, with no human input.  

It’s not all about you

The first trend that dealers are cramming their listings full of information about their yard, with very little about the vehicle for sale. Some Vehicle Management Systems allow you to duplicate standard text about your dealership automatically to every listing. It is definitely great to include information about your yard, such as hours, deals, finance options etc – but it should be a balance so make sure you are also adding enough information about the vehicle for sale for potential buyers to search for, and find. People are looking for specific vehicles, and when you come across a listing for a vehicle you like the look off which has little or NO information about that vehicle – it puts you off and you move on to the next. It’s simply just annoying.  For example:

Private Sellers work the system

We know that listings with about half about the car and half about the yard work well. Last year we published an article about privates vs dealers. Privates Private sellers make up 70% of used automotive sales, dealers 30%.  As we see it, there are 3 main factors that distinguish private sellers from dealers that in reality, dealers should be up to play with. Time, Motivation and Emotion. Private sellers spend the time to put blood, sweat and tears into their listings with loads of information about the vehicle for sale. They only have 1 vehicle to sell so can put everything into it.  They will think of every single benefit and feature to mention in their listing to promote their vehicle. It sounds basic, but so many dealer listings lack much of the following information that privates do so well:

·         Selling points

·         Why are they selling

·         How does the car run

·         Prior maintenance

·         Mention modifications

·         Highlight good mileage

·         Highlight special features

Private sellers also tell a story about how great the vehicle has been, how well it runs, and how well they have looked after it. This is what potential buyers want and need to know. A listing with just “Black Ute, 4 wheel drive” in the comments is not going to motivate a potential buyer to contact that yard – there are plenty better listings available at the tip of their fingers to look at.

No info – no sale

People like to use classified sites such as Trade Me because it is easy to search for exactly what they want. My friends and I tend to plug in a keyword into one of the search bars, and go from there e.g. “economical automatic Toyota”, “black Suzuki Swift” or “X5 leather interior”.  Recently I watched a friend search online for a Mazda Atenza.  He was particularly interested in a leather interior. He did a search based on price, year, transmission and KMs. The first Atenza he found was from a local dealer, but only had only 2 images (both exterior), no features and hardly any information about the vehicle, let alone any information about the interior. He grunted and clicked onto the next listing. I asked him why he didn't just contact the dealer to ask for more information about that particular vehicle - he said he couldn't be bothered when there were so many other similar vehicles with more info in his list. That dealer lost a sale and he ended up buying from private seller, who had a listing for a slightly more expensive vehicle, but it showed him everything he wanted.

Keywords Keyword Keywords

If a listing has few keywords or information about the vehicle, it won’t be picked up in some search criteria. We can’t recommend enough that the more keywords you use, the better. Keywords are searched from the top to bottom of your listing on Trade Me Motors - therefore a key word in the features list OR comments 'free flow' section will be picked up in a browser's search. All the keywords below in yellow will be picked up in search results.

Here are some interesting facts:

·         80% of searches include 1 to 3 filters

·         Almost 50% of searches include a keyword

·         49% of viewers search for a car make  

·         Around 41% of searches include a price option. 

The most popular filters used when searching Trade Me Motors are:
1. Make
2. A keyword (e.g. manual, v8, 4x4, leather interior, economical etc)
3. Body style, Price or Year

Another trick to use

Here is a trick that we know encourages people to view tour listings. Instead of just having the Model Detail, this dealer has added *REDUCED* to draw attention to the listing.

You can see for yourself how effective it is at getting attention. You get 25 characters to play with, and they all show up within the search results headline for that vehicle, e.g: ** NZ NEW **, **SPECIAL** or ** Drive Away Price **. Use this information wisely - don't say anything in the headline unless it’s true and relevant to the vehicle being advertised. 

At the end of the day, Vehicle Managements Systems are a great way to get lots of stock loaded quickly but make sure you are reading your listings that are going out, and making sure that they have enough relevant information. Jump onto your classified website and search for your own listings – are they easy to find? There is a lot of competition on the Internet, so make sure you spend a little bit of time and effort to make the best of your listings to stand out from the crowd. You might just make more sales.

The View From The Cheap Seats

When you live and breathe the internet and emerging trends each day it is easy to forget that from the outside it can seem ever-changing and confusing.  Sitting in the back row of the recent Autotalk Digital Dealer conference in Auckland and listening to the presenters and feedback from the floor, you can see why sometimes messages can appear to be a bit mixed.  However, when looking at the essence and trends presented, they were all very similar and relativity easy to understand.  Let me step through a couple as I saw them.

The internet and online selling is becoming more and more competitive and as a dealer you need to take two clear basic steps to ensure that you remain successful.

 

Step one is your overall web presence and for most of us this is centred on a company website.  As we all know a website alone means little without customers viewing its content.  To drive the public towards your website there are a number of options; two options which were discussed during the Digital Dealer were:

·         Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - This allows any search engine like Google to view and understand the content of your website. The better search engines understand your website the more chance you have of being found by customers searching for content, or in most cases, vehicles or company details. Don’t be scared to ask your current website host about SEO and how they have optimised your site. The answer should not sound complicated.

·         Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – This is generally “paid-for” promotion of your website through the use of Google Adwords where your website is listed as an advertisement above or beside the organic/nonpaid search results. To not waste money on SEM you really need to seek expert advice or do a lot of research. The tools available are very good but can take a while to get your head around.

 

Step two is leveraging a market place like Trade Me to drive customers towards your website and ultimately in the door.  Just like the broader internet, Trade Me is highly competitive but there are a number of simple tools and features that can be used to guarantee a strong presence.  To achieve a similar result as SEM gives you on the web, products like Super Features guarantee top of search presence at a fixed priced with a large format.  As per any sales cycle, from this point you need to start closing the options down for the customer. This was presented by AutoPlay in that moving the customer back to your own more controlled website with the offer of additional information or video is advantageous.  By making this a simple link you remain far more in control of the customers experience.

 

Neither of the two steps above can be run in isolation and how you balance your spend across both is a tactical decision for your business and one it would be difficult for me to be seen as unbiased on.  In essence it comes down to calculating the best value for money and if you are an AutoBase customer ask your Account Manager for a full breakdown of your listings statistics to understand what traffic your spend is driving. Your website provider should also be able to similar information.

Is your business 24-7 or 9-5?

What happens if someone contacts your yard after hours? Do you have systems in place to answer and follow up with that lead, be it an email, text message or phone call?

Texting and emailing dealers rather than picking up the phone is more common place these days.  As our GM David discussed in our previous Autofile article, more people spend after hours relaxing watching telly as well as surfing the web at the same time.  There are currently more than five million mobile phones in New Zealand – that’s more than the
entire population!

35% of mobile phones in New Zealand are Smartphones

 

Kiwis are using their Smartphones to surf the net. When researching vehicles if they see something that piques their interest, contact is usually a click of an email, call or text away.  Customers are after instant gratification, and the internet provides this.  

I was chatting to some dealers recently about the trend in people texting them after hours re. vehicles. The general consensus was that short one sentence texts re. a vehicle are possibly from time wasters or tire kickers, and that texting on a weekend evening was a little rude. However, one dealer said he was home watching telly on a Saturday night when he received a text from lady re. a vehicle at 9.30pm. He thought that was a little weird, but decided to reply. Long story short – that lady was on the yard the next morning and bought the vehicle. A quick survey amongst my friends aged approximately 25-35 showed that they would rather email or text a dealer than call because they think that they will be “sold to” on the phone. 

Last year a US study¹ concluded that 88% of adults ages 45 years and younger prefer text message communication over a phone call or email.

Not only is texting non-confrontational but often, people are at work and can’t talk on the phone. Even at weekends you have shift workers and those who work unusual hours surfing the net but unable to pick up the phone and call a dealer.  Given that by the time a person actually makes contact with the dealer they are way down the research process and ready to test drive and buy, these emails, calls and texts are GOLD. Dealers must be open to texters.  Continuing to remain competitive in an age of increasing text-based communication means that dealers need to be accessible, as well as comfortable communicating in this way.

9-5 dealers aren’t only competing with those dealers operating ’24-7’, but also with privates. If a private seller gets a call, email or text about their vehicle for sale at any time of the day, you can bet they will reply immediately and move heaven and earth to arrange a meeting with the prospective buyer. They are motivated to sell and therefore put blood, sweat and tears into their listings and into following up on every single lead.

There is now software available to capture appointments with potential clients that can be lost be not being able to answer calls or emails after-hours, dealers are using online service scheduling software. This means that customers who don’t have to wait on hold to get someone to speak to and can immediately lock in an appointment with the dealer at a time that is available and suits them – job done.  Un-answered calls largely go to voice mail, and the customer hangs up. By offering customers the ability to schedule appointments, this avoids the potential loss of a sale - plus keep the customer happy.

To stay ahead of the game there are a few key tools to ensure that your dealership is operating 24-7:

1.       Make your website mobile

Websites are 24-7.  Stats show that by 2013, 50% of web traffic will come from mobile devices. Mobilising your website will make it easier for customers to search your stock, find the vehicles they like, and contact make contact. 

2.  Have an after-hours contacts available

More and more customers are surfing the net at weekends and after hours and when they call a mobile number, they expect a response. Make sure your website has options where customer can contact you after-hours.

3.  Treat all Leads as valuable - don’t dismiss texts or emails to Facebook or tweets.

It is worth bearing in mind that 75% of adult Internet customers use social media – you may get leads from your company Facebook, Twitter or YouTube accounts. Is someone from your company checking interaction with your social media websites?

4.  Have a good Lead Management  process

It’s fine having an after-hours contact, but make sure that these after-hours enquiries are being checked, and actioned, before the customer gets tired of waiting for a reply and moves on to the competition, be it another yard, or a private seller.  Website visitors need to be converted into qualified leads wherever you can.  

5.  Keep your stock up to date

Update your stock regularly, keeping information fresh.

Stay ahead of the game and embrace the technology that your customers are using. Remember:

 “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, 

you're part of the road.” 

 (Stewart Band, Creator The Whole Earth Catalog)

1.        Potratz Partners Agency

Choosing a Domain Name for your Website

1. What is a Domain Name?

A domain name acts as a unique address for your website E.g. www.acmecars.co.nz. No two domain names can be the same. Once you've registered your domain name it's yours for as long as you keep paying the yearly renewal fee (usually around $60 per year). Th­e only way it can be taken off you is if you've managed to register a trademark name like www.nike.com.

2. What's the best name to get?

For example, if you’re selling a BMW Compact, you could use words in your Comments box like ‘small, sporty, safe hatchback’. ­This will mean that if someone searches for a ‘safe hatchback’, your listing will have a chance of showing up even though they haven’t specifically requested a BMW.

Using your Business Name (e.g. www.BobsCars.co.nz)

For your average business it's usually best to stick with your business name. Especially if you're going to be advertising your website mainly through offline advertising like building or vehicle signage, business cards, print adverts. ­This will help reinforce your businesses brand and if your customer remembers your business name then they can easily find your website.

Using a Generic Industry Name (e.g. www.usedcars.co.nz)

Another common option is to choose a well known word that explains what the business does. While this can be short and simple, don't be fooled into thinking that people will remember it just because it's obvious, like www.builder.com. Generic names are often forgotten faster because the customer doesn't make a conscious effort to try to remember it.

One benefit of a generic name is that it may help you get placed higher in the search results. For example, the words 'used cars' are pretty much the most common words typed into search engines by people looking to buy a used car. If you have the name www.usedcars.co.nz, you've got a head start at being 1st in the search results.

Note: Th­ere are many more things you need to do to be found by people using Search Engines, but a good domain name definitely helps.

Avoid using Abbreviations

If your business name is too long, avoid using abbreviations. For example if your business is called 'Bob's Quality Plumbing Services', resist the temptation to use www.bqps.co.nz. Just because it's short, doesn't mean people will remember it. You'd be better off using something like www.BobsQualityPlumbing.co.nz, it's not too long, and it uses most of your name.

Avoid Hyphens and Underscores

If your business name (or the name you want) is already taken, avoid using hyphens. For example, if your business is 'Quality Plumbing' and www.qualityplumbing.co.nz is taken, don't get www.quality-plumbing.co.nz.  Nine times out of ten, people will forget to type the hyphen and you'll lose that customer to whoever owns the domain name www.qualityplumbing.co.nz.

One benefit of using a hyphen is if you're trying to do everything possible to get your website found in Search Engines. If you wanted to have the words 'Used Cars' in your domain name, the Search Engines will recognize them better with a hyphen, (E.g. www.used-cars.co.nz) and show your site higher up the list of results. If you're going to do this, always make sure you have the non-hyphenated version too.

3. What Dot?

Should you get .co.nz or .com. All domain names end in dot-something. Most countries have a specific ending, for example New Zealand is .co.nz, and Australia is .com.au. While the .com ending is essentially related to America, it's widely accepted as an international ending that can be used in any country. Basically, if your customers are local or national, go with .co.nz, because it shows that your business is also local (or at least operates locally). If your customers are global, then go with the .com ending as it has a bit more respect in the international marketplace.

Avoid the second-choice endings

For your average business it's always best to get the main domain ending for your country. For example, in New Zealand .co.nz is the main ending used. This is what people will naturally type in if they are trying to remember your domain name. Also available are endings like .net.nz, .org.nz and many others, but if you use these you will lose visitors to the business who owns the .co.nz version.

A Winter Focus

In the past, the change of seasons and the move into winter saw a dramatic change in shopping behaviour.  Nowadays this change is less pronounced, as potential customers are doing more and more shopping from the couch without braving the weather.  What this winter will see however is the growing trend in what has been coined as ‘the second screen’.  This trend has huge benefits for the industry and now is a good time to review if you are ready and optimised to take advantage of this to maximise those winter sales.

So what is the second screen? Over the years we have all been bored to death with TV and have generally understood that keeping up with a Shortland Street storyline only requires 1% of a person’s mental capacity.  Now most people are using the other 99% to surf the web with only one ear and eye on the TV.  In our house it’s Facebook, Pinterest and Trade Me for her and watching the daily tech news on You Tube for me.  Laptops and the widespread adoption of personal home based WIFI networks started this trend and now with cheap tablets and smartphones which require no time to boot or connect to the internet this trend has accelerated.  People also prefer using tablets (like an iPad) because booting a laptop up makes you feel like you are still at work.

Taking advantage of this captive audience should be no harder that reviewing your current online strategy and ensuring that it is sharp and focused.  The questions to ask are these: 

• Am I maximising my current spend and how is it split?
• Is my spend giving me the maximum online exposure to potential customers?

The split of this spend is very important and depends on your overall business strategy and brand value.  If you are a highly branded business with high brand awareness, you can justify a larger spend on Search Engine Marketing (SEM).  This is rather a huge topic, but at the core, if you do gain a position on the first page of a search, there still needs to be a drive for the person to click on your website link, and generally this is the power of your brand over the others listed.  For example, I could spend a fortune on Google AdWords and SEM to become listed on the first search page on Google for banks, however due to the fact that David’s Bank has no brand recognition, few people will click on my link.  SEM can be very effective if done right and the correct search terms selected but it does put you up against the big boys in the industry with generally a little more resource.

Next is the spend in open online market places like Trade Me.  These sites are highly competitive and to a point can be manipulated in a very similar way as SEM works on the wider web.  Like SEM, it is no secret that the more you pay the more you get; the main difference is that you are leveraging the value and appeal in the vehicle along the positives that purchasing from your dealership brings.  You do not need to have high brand recognition to be successful.  I am not saying that having a successful brand on places like Trade Me is not an advantage - it is, but as a second step when it is more relevant to the buyer.  As I have just got off the phone to Richard, I will use his company as an example:  I have found a list of Toyota Vitz’s I like, one is with Richard Howell Motors.  A while back I lived in Taradale and Richard is well known and respected within the local community; now at this point his brand is really starting to work its magic.  In this case also, a little more has been spent on the listings within Trade Me to also make it standout.

If you are not sick to death about hearing about the importance of mobile and mobile web sites, you will be by the end of this year.  Last year was the year of the mobile, this year is the year it really matters for business.  Not only should you have a smartphone now for handling enquiries at 10pm on a Saturday night, I hate to say it, but you have to have a mobile web site for your business.  Many articles have been written quoting mobile usage statistics, but don’t waste your time reading them - it’s here now.

Finally ensure that you do keep your online presence updated with any marketing or sales initiatives you have planned during winter and take advantage of that second screen your prospects are holding during Shortland St!

How to write a good listing

You may be the best salesperson on the yard and be able to talk about a vehicle until the cows come home – but many salespeople struggle when putting pen to paper. Here is a checklist to help you construct an effective online listing.

Use your VMS to list the basics:

1.       Stock number

2.       Rego

3.       Make

4.       Model

5.       Year

6.       Price

7.       Transmission

8.       Mileage

Features:

Most VMS systems give you tick boxes to list features, so do load these up. However, leaving your listing at this point and adding nothing more will create a listing with nothing on it except for a list of features - most of which are stock standard - which will not entice viewers to contact you. An example of a scant listing with little information is below.

A buyer usually has a mental checklist in mind when they are looking for a car. Make a list of the things about the car you would tell a buyer on the yard, e.g.:

·         Reiterate the transmission – Auto/Manual

·         Reiterate the Colour

·         Leather seats

·         Low kilometres model

·         Economical

·         Reliable

·         Clean interior

Also tell the viewers what they should or might like to know about the car, and why they should buy it:

·         Has this car been AA appraised AA odometer verified

·         Has this car been serviced?

·         Are the on road costs included?

·         Is this car on special or reduced?

·         Does this car come with any extras?

·         How does it drive?

·         How is the exterior – any scratches, marks?

·         How many owners has it had?

·         Do you accept Trade Ins?

·         Do you offer finance options?

·         Do you help with freight if out of town?

Take these key words and points to construct a written description about the car. The key words you put into your description, as they will get picked up in Trade Me search results.

Also:

·    Load at least 5 photographs, front, back and interior/close ups

·    Don’t use capitals – IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING, is hard to read and puts people off

·    Balance information about your yard with information about the car – don’t fall into the trap of cramming your description with text all about your yard only

·    Avoid  abbreviations or industry terms that viewers may not understand to describe the car

If you do need more help, please remember your Account Manager is here to help. Email us here.