It’s May and there are plenty of EOFYS (End Of Financial Year Sale) ads already appearing. Along with January when buyers are looking for “last year’s” vehicles, May/June is a big time for car buyers. There are a number of things you should be thinking about as a result.
Get ALL your cars online. Still today, too many dealers think about only publishing one of each of their new cars as “they’re all identical”. Make your new cars unique. There are many ways to do this. Included servicing; roadside assistance; free carwash for life; extended warranty; free loan car; EOFYS special deals; etc. Consumers are looking for value, not cost. Differentiating your cars from the others in your own stock and from those in other dealer’s stock, is a great way to attract buyers looking for value. And remember, new cars get old too. Tell consumers you are happy to do a deal for them on a car that’s been in stock for longer – simply generically listing your cars without making them a compelling value proposition, is almost as pointless as listing cars without photos.
Talk about why May/June is a great time to buy. This applies to used cars as well. Updating your comments; re-shooting photos; keeping your ads “fresh”, gives you many more opportunities to find qualified buyers.
Autogate in recent months has had an enormous number of enhancements. One of the keys you should be taking advantage of is the ability to market additional features and benefits. These extra fields of information are highlighted on your ads and are a great way to get your car appearing in common keyword searches. BNCIS (Brand New Cars In Stock) goes even further allowing you to promote “Top 10 Features” – again, a great way to make your car unique without simply changing price.
Another great Autogate enhancement is the Sales Funnel. These insightful funnels display for both new and used cars. While we’ve done a good job in making the information look very simple, it contains key, compelling performance information you should take advantage of to improve the performance of your inventory. The three metrics are:
- Results Views (an analogy of ‘the drive by’) – these are the number of times your car has appeared on a search results page looked at by a consumer.
- Detailed Views (the online equivalent of a ‘walk in’) – the number of times your car has been selected by a consumer for a detailed look.
- Leads – they have given you (typically) their name and phone number and vehicle of interest.
With these three metrics, you can quickly determine if your ad is “working”. For more information on making your ads work harder, speak to your carsales Performance Manager.
Have a great May.
Greg Roebuck