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10 Easy Ways to Increase Conversions on Your Dealership Website Today

Nick Askew, Space Auto – Chief Executive Officer

Boost Your Dealership’s Website Conversions with These Proven Strategies

As the CEO of Space Auto (and former multi-store digital director), I understand the challenges that car dealerships face in converting website visitors into leads. But one thing is true with all customers, no matter how they got to your website… they’re there to shop.

With the right strategies, you can significantly increase your website conversions by providing excellent digital customer service and avoiding tacky tactics. Here are ten actionable steps to help you drive more traffic and get more leads into your CRM:

Digital Customer Service is Key.

Digital customer service is a crucial component of any successful conversion strategy. It’s about treating your online customers with the same care and attentiveness you would in person. By anticipating their needs and acting accordingly, you create a seamless and satisfying experience that encourages them to take the next step. Whether it’s providing easy access to vehicle history reports, ensuring quick load times, or offering a transparent and straightforward shopping experience, focusing on digital customer service helps build trust and drives conversions.

It’s simple: treat your digital interactions with the same importance as face-to-face ones, and you’ll see the results.

1. Allow Customers to Shop by Payment

This may seem simple… but allowing customers to shop by payment helps you speak their language. According to Experian’s Q4 2023 data, the average monthly car payments are $738 for new vehicles, $606 for new leased vehicles, and $532 for used vehicles. Showing accurate payments can drastically increase the conversion rate because you’re appealing to a customers actual financial needs, and not a seemingly arbitrary number such as total price.

2. Retargeting Customers That Visit a Second Time

Implement a “snackbar” (our fun term for native onsite vehicle retargeting) feature to retarget customers who visit your website a second time. Showing vehicles that were previously seen, with their last configured payment terms can lead to a 9% increase in lead conversions. These ads can be displayed to customers for up to 30 days after their initial visit. We’ve implemented these on dealership websites across the country, and as simple as it sounds, if people are coming back to your site a second time… the chances are – they’re interested in something they’ve seen before.

Fun Fact: We put a little timing bar on the bottom to give the illusion that this will not be available after a certain amount of seconds – this increases urgency and adds to the conversion rate significantly. If you see the report below, for one of our users in a single month it generated an additional 97 Leads…the clickthrough rate is approximately 19.10%, and the conversion rate is sitting at a whopping 9.40%.

3. Implement a Non-Intrusive Top Bar

Use a removable top bar to showcase your biggest needs, such as “instant trade values.” This approach aligns with your dealership’s business goals and increases conversions without annoying full-screen popups. This can be configured to be dismissed if it is not relevant to your customer, but still, allows the dealers goals to be met without annoying your customer or creating a disruptive user experience.

4 & 5. Create a Sense of Urgency and Always Show a CTA

Use tactics like showing when pricing may update due to market price can create a sense of urgency. In addition, Ensure that a call-to-action (CTA) is always visible, especially on mobile devices. For instance, implement a sticky CTA on the vehicle description page that stays at the bottom of the screen regardless of scroll position. This means customers always have a place to convert no matter their location.

6. Provide a Fast and Properly Crafted Mobile Experience

Speed is everything. Actions that take less than 100ms feel instantaneous to the human brain. Ensure your website loads quickly and provides the information customers are looking for, such as MSRPs, car photos, vehicle history reports, reconditioning receipts, and brochures.

7. In-Inventory Ads

Showcase ads within your website inventory to align with your business goals. Good advertising is about delivering the right message to the right people at the right place and time. Highlight your offerings on the most popular parts of your website. If 78% of your customers (Space Auto Average) are going to your website to view vehicles, then showcasing your ads where your customers are going can be an incredible way to showcase your ads.

8. Ads at the Top of Your Search Results Page

Display ads at the top of your search results page to showcase irresistible offers. Highlight your incredible warranty, delivery, or buy-online service to increase conversions before customers make a buying decision. These are a little more “in your face” than the in-inventory ads, but if you want to ensure that all customers get to see the top reasons to do business with you (besides your incredible inventory)… then showcasing this can be a big help.

9. Allow for Complete Online Transactions – True Digital Retail

Remove obstacles to allow customers to build a deal online. Provide accurate taxes, rates, trade values, and more to enable customers to create penny-perfect payments and appointments directly on your website. Customers don’t want to be blocked from exploring a deal, they want to make a buying decision. We always remember no-one likes to be sold to but everyone loves to buy.

Remove all the obstacles and get the customer down the funnel as quickly as possible. Accurate taxes, rates, trade values, and more are an added bonus that will give your customer a top-notch experience.

The number one cause of a bad customer experience is unmet expectations, if you can showcase the most accurate representation of your product and price online – you’ll create more happy customers.

Nick Askew

10. Provide an Incredible Mobile Experience

Ensure your website works like an application on mobile devices. Optimize the mobile experience to be fast, ultra-usable, and delightful. Features like instant click-to-call and seamless navigation for vehicle search and filtering can significantly increase conversions.

Transform Your Digital Customer Service to Drive Conversions

Space Auto websites are built to convert by engaging in a simple philosophy: digital customer service. To increase conversions, focus less on getting customer information and more on allowing them to explore deeper into the funnel. Provide the customer service they deserve online, just as you would in-store.

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