Archive for the ‘Fixed Ops’ Category

Dealer e Process Sweeps 2011 Auto Website Awards In Las Vegas

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Las Vegas, Nevada – October 4th-October 11th – Dealer e Process is proud to be the recipients of the most glorified awards in the auto industry during a recent trip to Las Vegas on October 4th through October 11th 2011. Dealerships looking to adapt to changes in their marketplace and incorporate better solutions should take a hard look at the solutions being provided by Dealer e Process, a leading website provider in the United States & Canada.

Dealer e Process Automotive Website Awards 2011

Dealer e Process Wins Highest Award – Search Marketing Category

PCG Digital Marketing today announced that Dealer e Process was chosen to receive a ‘Pinnacle’ 2011 Automotive Website Award (AWA) for search marketing. Dealer e Process is also 2010 AWA ‘Pinnacle‘ winner.

The Pinnacle award is the highest recognition the AWA provides in the Search Marketing category. Dealer e Process and the companies receiving this award have designed and delivered search compliant websites that stood above their peers. Pinnacle Platform winners deliver outstanding digital marketing platforms for car dealers and show an unprecedented attention to detail in live production. Members of this elite group of website design professionals have demonstrated that their products deliver outstanding results for clients.

Dealer e Process Wins Technology Award – Fixed Ops Revenue – Virtual Service Consultant

PCG Digital Marketing today announced that Dealer e Process was chosen to receive a 2011 Automotive Website Award (AWA) in the Technology category for Best Fixed Ops Website Marketing Software.

Car dealers looking for new ways to increase Fixed Ops revenue need to start with the basics. Dealer e Process took a hard look at the traffic that is already coming to service pages on dealer websites. They decided that they could increase the conversion experience by rethinking the appointment process. The result of their conversion and engagement study was the creation of the Virtual Service Advisor (VSA). The software replaces boring service appointment forms and interacts with consumers by providing live pricing and service suggestions for their vehicle. The end result is a 300% increase in service leads through this online scheduling tool when compared to service appointments booked with traditional “boring” forms.

Dealer e Process Win Most Leads Per Inventory Page Views

Dataium, the largest aggregator of internet shopper behaviors for auto dealer website, announced on October 5th, 2011 during Digital Dealer 11 that Dealer e Process was chosen to receive the 2011 Award for Most Leads Per Inventory Page Views.

With each click, search, and submission, consumers leave behind valuable and insightful data and statistics about their habits, interests, and future behaviors. Like footprints in the sand, these behavioral events leave behind digital footprints—data. These footprints, when collected, aggregated, and analyzed, provide important information regarding online purchasing behavior and activity, consumer trends, interests, and intent, and the effectiveness of promotions and web design.

Dealer e Process Win Most Leads Per Vehicle Details Page Views (VDP’s)

Dataium, the largest aggregator of internet shopper behaviors for auto dealer website, announced on October 5th, 2011 during Digital Dealer 11 that Dealer e Process was chosen to receive the 2011 Award for Most Leads Per Vehicle Details Page Views.

A VDP occurs when the shopper selects one of your vehicles to explore further. Dealer e Process websites outperformed all other websites providers when it comes to conversion to a lead.

According to Dave Page, owner of Dealer e Process, “This award represents a metric that is the key to success for auto dealers today.  The inventory for an auto dealer is the bloodline to their success. Dealers must ask themselves, why is my website not generating opportunity/leads for me when customers are on the website?  Is it the website design or the fact it looks like everyone else’s in my market? Lack of engagement?  Typical lead forms that don’t convert? “

About Dealer e Process
Dealer e Process is a leading company in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, providing award winning automotive dealer websites to auto dealers and media companies.  The company’s focus on innovative websites and integrated online tools engage consumers and produce more opportunity and conversion for auto dealers than any website provider in the industry.

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Posted in Auto Dealer Internet Marketing, Auto Dealer SEO, Auto Dealer Websites, Endorsement, Fixed Ops, Press Releases | 1 Comment »

Autodealer Service Websites – Dealer e Process

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

I had an epiphany the other day. The number one concern that people have when doing business with a dealership is that they are going to be taken advantage of. People are afraid of the car buying process and even more concerned when bringing their vehicle in for service. My epiphany concerns the later.

Minimize the “fear” and uncertainty for a customer visiting a service department and you can only increase business. It’s that simple. Where do you start? With your website!

With a few simple steps you can not only lead the horse to water (your website/service department) but you can also dramatically increase their likelihood of drinking (setting an appointment to visit your service department).

Statistically 83% of customers who buy from a dealership do NOT return the vehicle to that dealerships service department after the sale. That is a lot of lost service opportunity for a store.  A sure fire way to increase service traffic off of your sold units and capture some of that 83% is to drive these people to your website and reiterate to them the benefits of servicing their vehicles with you. In order to do this effectively there are a few steps you can take to lead the horse to water and to make him drink. Here are a few recommendations:Lead a Horse To Water

1)      48 hours after the sale have an email sent (another incentive to get this from the customer as they are buying!) from the Service Director introducing their department and directing the customer to the website for all future service needs. Provide sold customers an online incentive to visit your service department. For instance, provide that first oil change at a discounted or no charge rate, offer a free car wash, etc.  In other words, make it worth their while to come back.

2)      Remember service clinics? When was the last time you had one at your dealership? What a perfect time to cover the vehicle and its needs and explain to them the new way you do business, ONLINE.

3)      Have a dedicated web page exclusively representing your service department; better yet invest a little money in a auto dealer service website. Divert a few bucks from your ad budget to drive traffic to your service department. After all isn’t it your service department that keeps your dealership afloat during stormy weather?

4)      Make sure that you have a live chat option so that visitors can ask questions as they navigate through your service page or site.

5)      Create an intuitive experience- an experience that gives the visitor a sense you KNOW the vehicle they are driving as well as the preventative care it requires in order to be well maintained. Perhaps a Virtual Service Consultant.

Dealer e Process Virtual Service Consultant

When a customer visits your service website and puts his or her information in to start an investigative or appointment setting process, provide manufacturer maintenance recommendations and/or dealer recommendations and services for their specific vehicle.

6)      Create a fear relieving experience for your service “shopper”. Post awards, testimonials, and community involvement information along with printable coupons and incentives to visit your store.

7)      Provide a comparative price schedule for regular maintenance needs. For instance create a matrix that outlines, oil change, tire rotation, brakes, A/C checks etc. and a list of local aftermarket shops/competitors such as Midas, Firestone, Jiffy Lube. Give your shoppers what they need so they do not have to leave your site and possibly not return.

8)      Do not be afraid to quote a price. We overcame this fear with cars shoppers and we need to do the same with our service shoppers.

It is time that we dismiss the perception consumers have regarding our dealerships service departments. Our advisors, writers, techs and mechanics are highly trained and more qualified than the aftermarket place down the street. It is time that we take back what we gave away by leading the horse back to the water and making them WANT to drink it. You can most cost effectively do that starting with your internet marketing. Make these tweaks today and watch your service appointments start to increase tomorrow.

Dealer e Process

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Posted in Fixed Ops | No Comments »

Redheaded Stepchild

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Recently I had a candid conversation with a dealer regarding his “weathering” of our recent economic storm. He emphasized that he was able to keep his stress level to a minimum due to his experience and forward thinking and execution of a sound plan in good times.

He shared with me that the 5 years prior to this recession he put his past experiences to work and created a plan to cultivate and maintain a strong service department. As he put it “I had seen as a young professional in this industry the power of a strong service department in tough economic times and its ability to carry a store until the storm had passed. I took that first-hand experience and when I obtained my own store made that part of my long term business plan and it worked again, just as it had in the past”

As I listened to his strategy in a nutshell; marketing, advertising, appreciation of solid service employees and follow up along with his monetary investment in building the service side of his dealership- there was not even one mention of his using his website as a service revenue generating tool. He used the standard old school techniques which in the grand scheme of things capped him from an affordability standpoint on the size of the market he could capture. Old school advertising and marketing using print, radio and mail could not reach the size audience he could have reached using the Internet. In spite of this though, he was successful. I can only imagine how much more successful he could have been had he placed priority on using his website as a service revenue generating tool.

This got me to thinking- how many dealers out there really give the marketing, advertising and development of their service departments the attention they deserve? When you take into consideration that 20% of people who walk onto a showroom floor buy and 100% who walk into a service department buy- might make sense to pay this red headed stepchild of a store a little attention. Red Headed Step Child

When is the last time you saw a dealership website emphasize it’s service department on the Internet and focus on driving traffic in with it? For grins, go to Google and search “oil change” or “brakes” or “automotive repair”…….if you find what I found you will be hard pressed to find a dealership on the first 1-2 pages and most likely not at all in sponsored links. You might as well have a banner in the desert at this point, considering 87% of all Internet shoppers never go past the first page, 4.4% will go to the second and less than 2% will flip to the 3rd page on a search engine result page.

When you search these keywords or key phrases you will see nothing but aftermarket service providers, Jiffy, Midas, Merlin…these are the guys that are taking your service business and doing quite well with it thank you very much. As a dealer, you have the advantage with a customer who has bought a vehicle- and statistically you keep 11% of your sold customers as service clients. REASON- the only thing the general public has ingrained in their heads is that a dealership charges more and takes more time than an aftermarket “service providers”.

Time to change that, give the attention to your service department that it deserves after “carrying” you more times than not. Market, advertise, educate consumers as to the value, features and benefits of using your service department versus one of those “other guys”….and whatever you do- USE YOUR WEBSITE…that’s where consumers are looking and from what I have seen that’s exactly where your competition is corralling them to their bays…….while maybe yours sit empty…

Just a thought.

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Posted in Auto Dealer Websites, Fixed Ops | No Comments »