Auto Dealer Monthly Magazine is the daily operations publication serving the retail automotive industry. This automotive publication serves dealer principals, officers and general managers with the latest best practices.
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formation, credit application or price request. Tere's no easier way to increase your website's conversion rate than to move all your lead forms above the fold. 6. Simplify Your Lead Forms: Another way to get more website visitors to submit their information is to make your website's lead forms easy to use. Don't require information that isn't absolutely necessary for you to do your job and follow up with each customer. Every feld you require a consumer to complete lowers your lead volume to a degree, so make sure that you need and are actually going to use every piece of information you require in your lead forms. Avoid reversed type or large graphics. Research has shown that consumers typically overlook these types of text and information. 7. Add Compelling Calls to Action: Your website visitors aren't just going to f ll out a lead form because you put one on the page. Consumers submit their lead information to get something in return. Make your calls to action actual benefts. Examples would be: "Get Your Financing" or "Schedule a Test Drive." Put more than one call to action on each page, when appropriate, and ensure there is at least one above the fold. 8. Have Relevant Content: Visitors getting to your site via a search engine or paid ad use a keyword that lets you know what they are looking for. Website visitors coming from a link on another site also have an idea of the information they will f nd upon arrival. When someone visits your website from a search engine, make sure they are landing on a page that refects the search terms used. Make it a point to check where your referral trafc is coming from. Is this trafc being sent to a page that refects what those visitors are expecting to f nd? 9. Optimized for Mobile Visitors: According to the Google Analytics installed on each DealerOn website, trafc to dealership sites is roughly 60 percent desktop, 30 percent mobile and 10 percent tablet. According to a study conducted by Nielsen, xAd and Telmetrics, roughly half of mobile automotive searchers were looking to make a purchase within a day of their search. Also, 44 percent of online shoppers are looking for your dealership location, 43 percent are comparing prices and 36 percent are looking for a phone number. If your website isn't optimized for the 40 percent of your trafc that is seeing your site on a mobile device, you're missing out on the opportunity to convert that trafc. 10. Make Sure Your Content is Current: Your dealership website is a virtual representation of your store, and the content should refect that. It is extremely important to have things like specials, inventory, staf, and contact information up to date on your site. Specials, vehicle photos and a fantastic, complete staf page are all building blocks of a great website. However, out-of-date specials, missing photos, and blank staf pages are worse than having nothing — they make your dealership look bad. Customers aren't going to notice a special that you never created, but they will notice one that's been expired for four months. Having outdated information will upset customers and could expose your dealership to f nancial risks like having to honor specials that are no longer running. Visit Us at These Upcoming Events SEPT 4-6 BOOTH 612 SEPT 16-18 BOOTH 213 SEP TEMBER 2013 • AUTODE ALE R MONTHLY.COM 25