Those that know me or read my professional blogs know that I'm a GREAT believer in processes, and that I consider that many, many dealerships' profits would increase dramatically from just making THOSE EXISTING PROCESSES WORK FOR THEM.  And we never want process to fail us, sure, but it's especially painful when we've gotten a customer in from a call, landed them on a car--and our process blows up in, say, finance.  And they walk out.

Well, we need to consider our web conversions ARE JUST AS PAINFUL IF NOT MORE.  We do SEO, PPC, integrated marketing campaigns, email, etc. . . . spend many thousands of dollars a month on all that . . . to get the shopper on to our website.  And that visit somehow still blows up on, say, online pricing.  Or website usability.  Or unanswered questions and no one to talk to.  And they click out.  We call that "bounce rate", as in "We need a low bounce rate!!!".

Except what we should be saying is:  "We need a high conversion rate!!!"

My mantra for 2011 for all vendors, consultants, and 3rd parties I deal with who want a dealership's business:  "Shut Up and Help Me Convert!"  Or go home and come back when you can.

Your website better be fewest clicks to inventory and get the shopper to submit a lead.  You better support easy landing pages for a PPC campaign that offer incentives to convert.  Your chat better offer a great experience that leads the customer to give up contact information.  And your ability to drive phone calls from the web better be second to none.

I am not kidding.  You had better shut up and help me convert, or get the hell out of my way, for the rest of 2011.

by Keith Shetterly, Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
keithshetterly@gmail.com    www.keithshetterly.com