Nick Hummer presents "Turbocharging Your New Car Sales" at the Innovative Dealer Summit in Denver, CO.
In his presentation Nick discussed the promising outlook for new car sales, as well as ways to differentiate your store's brand through online reviews. With insights related to social, local and mobile shopping behavior, this deck is intended to help you craft your marketing efforts to align with the needs of today's consumers.
2. About Me
Nick Hummer
• Director of New Car Strategy
• Nearly10 years of online automotive
industry experience
Connect with Me:
dealers.cars.com/facebook
dealers.cars.com/twitter
Nick Hummer on LinkedIn
nhummer@cars.com
3. Objectives
New Car Building Measuring to
New Car Drive
Shopper Your
Landscape Performance
Needs Brand
4. New Car Sales on the Rise
Pre-recession
Sources: Reuters, NADA , J.D. Power & Associates, Polk
5. Shoppers Have More Choices
Vehicle Make & Model
Combinations on Cars.com
1408
1367
2009 2012
Cars.com Internal Reporting 2012
6. They’re Less Brand-Loyal
Brand
3 brands in 2008 Loyalty
down
15%
5 brands in 2011
Source: Cars.com Internal Reporting;
Sources: AT Kearney 2012
7. They Use More Sources
18 25
If younger
on average than 34
Source: Google
8. Objectives
New Car Building Measuring to
New Car Drive
Shopper Your
Landscape Performance
Needs Brand
9. New Car Shopper Needs
The information they want…
Delivered the way they want it…
From a dealer they can trust to deliver a
great experience
9
10. What New Car Shoppers Want
New car shoppers view
more pages and spend
more time on site than used
car shoppers by 40%
Source: Cars.com Internal Reporting
11. What New Car Shoppers Want
Cars.com new car shoppers cross
shop an average of 5 makes
Source: Cars.com Internal Reporting
12. What New Car Shoppers Want
80% of Cars.com new car shoppers
access dealer-specific information –
not just inventory.
They’re 2x as likely to filter
results by Dealer Reviews
13. Your Web site
• Are you giving shoppers what they need
to make a New Car Decision?
• How are you standing out from their
other options?
• Are you giving them the tools they need
to make an informed vehicle, brand and
dealer decision?
13
14. Today’s Shopper is SoLoMo
• Nearly half of U.S. online
adults follow a retailer via
Facebook, Twitter or a blog
• 83% of mobile car shoppers
own a smartphone, and 28%
own a tablet.
• Consumers want to read as
many as 10 reviews before
choosing a local business
Sources: Shop.org Social Commerce Study, BrightLocal
Annual Consumer Review Study, Cars.com: Mobile Web
& App Usage for Automotive Shoppers, Nielsen
15. Reach Shoppers Where They Are
Nearly 40% of Cars.com’s
total new-vehicle searches
comes from mobile
devices.
Source: Cars.com Internal Reporting;
Cars.com/Synovate, 2010
16. A Better Mobile Experience
Provide the info
mobile users want
Make sure it can be
seen on all devices
Don’t forget service!
Tip - Visit howtogomo.com
to see how your dealership’s
website looks on a mobile
device
Wired Site Mobile Site
18. Objectives
New Car Building Measuring to
New Car Drive
Shopper Your
Landscape Performance
Needs Brand
19. Your Brand Matters
Building Visibility
80% of new-car shoppers access
dealership-specific information –
not just inventory.
Building Trust
Cars.com users searching
for a new vehicle are 7x
more likely to contact a
dealer with reviews.
20. Do You Have a Brand Strategy?
Brand (n. ˈbrand The set of
):
expectations, memories,
stories and relationships
that, taken together, account for a
consumer’s decision to choose
one product or service over
another.
– Seth Godin,
entrepreneur and
marketing guru
22. Is Your Brand Consistent?
You only get one chance to make a first impression, and
a shopper’s first encounter with you isn’t when they walk
into your store – it’s an online review they read, a vehicle
listing they clicked on or an ad they saw… Overall, we
make sure our branding and promotional strategies are
consistent across our advertising.
Ryan Esler
George Matick Chevrolet
23. Claim What’s Yours
Other places to
claim your listings:
• Facebook Places
• Foursquare
• Google+
• DealerRater.com
• Angie’s List
24. Managing Your Reputation is Good
For You!
7x
New-car shoppers on Cars.com who read reviews are 7x
more likely to contact a dealer.
Consumers who read reviews on Cars.com are
2x more engaged: they spend twice as much time on site and
view twice as many pages.
Think beyond sales – 91 percent of new-car shoppers want
91% to read service reviews when considering a dealership.
Source: Cars.com Internal Reporting,
DriverSide/Kelton Research Study, April 2011
25. Four Steps to Five Stars
Gather feedback Share feedback with
Monitor from all sources,
Web and beyond
your entire
dealership
Correct any
Reply to ALL
Respond feedback
potential issues
at the store
Every team member
to deliver a great Every customer for
Ask customer their feedback
experience
Share all reviews Reward your team
Promote with prospects and
past customers
for their progress
and success
26. Address All Reviews
...This is still totally a man's dealership. …He assured me that the
I HATE being called sweetie by a male or vehicle was right in front of
a female. When I was told how much I'd him as we spoke… When I
be offered for my car, it was in a very got there, no car, it was “sold
condescending tone and as if I had no this morning.” They did have
idea what the value of my own car is. a few 2011s they wanted to
get me in though.
First, the salesman
I would readily choose tried to get me to
another repair facility if sign a blank loan
it were not for warranty form...
work.
28. Discuss with your store& answer the following
questions about your process:
Who… What…
o should monitor? o additional action should be taken?
o should respond? o impact can your response make?
o can benefit? o improvements, if any, can you make?
How can you apply this to all areas
of your business? New, Used,
Service?
29. Making Your Response Meaningful
Directly address customer’s concern
Take the conversation offline
Remember that your response influences
current and future customers
30. Take it Offline
Listen &
Acknowledge
Take the Conversation
Offline
31. Reaching Shoppers with Social Media
Nearly 1 in 3 shoppers who
use Facebook added a dealer
to their consideration list
based on info received via a
social media source
Dealer.com/DriverSide/Gfk: THE RISE OF
LOYALTY, ADVOCACY & INFLUENCE, 2011
32. Have a Social Media Action Plan
6 Tips for Social Media Greatness
1. Set (realistic!) goals and develop a
strategy to attain them.
2. Set guidelines for your staff.
Check out www.charleneli.com
3. Have a plan to build your audience. Tip: Participate
4. Content is king! in the
Conversation
5. Social Media is not just about addressing
Customer Service issues
33. Objectives
New Car Building Measuring to
New Car Drive
Shopper Your
Landscape Performance
Needs Brand
34. Define Your New Car Strategy
What are your goals?
▸ Increase brand presence Metrics
online?
▸ Improve your reviews ratings?
Strategy
▸ Grow your social media
followers? Goal
▸ Heighten staff performance?
▸ Improve service efficiency?
36. Or Is It “Business As Usual?”
1998 2000 2008 2009 2011
37. The most important point in this deck
Selling New is different than
selling Pre-Owned
37
38. Get Started Today
• Do an audit
• Marketing channels targeting new-car shoppers
• Process & training specific to new-car customers
• Begin adapting your new-car strategy and
processes
• Think big, but start small
• Define your new-car metrics
• Set goals collaboratively (new-car sales manager, service
manager, leadership team)
• Choose to collect metrics that impact new-car performance
• Incentivize for success
New car sales are up and advertisers are poised to be in the market in a big way, but it’s important to consider that shoppers are different than they were pre-recession
Total number of make, model and trim combinations today compared to three years ago has increased has increased to 1,408 in 2012 vs. 1,367 in 2009Brand loyalty is down 15% over the last decade and the trend is expected to continue1New vehicle owners exhibit less brand loyalty as they retain their vehicle longer2New car shoppers are considering more makes on Cars.com –three makes in 2008 vs. five in 20113
Total number of make, model and trim combinations today compared to three years ago has increased has increased to 1,408 in 2012 vs. 1,367 in 2009Brand loyalty is down 15% over the last decade and the trend is expected to continue1New vehicle owners exhibit less brand loyalty as they retain their vehicle longer2New car shoppers are considering more makes on Cars.com –three makes in 2008 vs. five in 20113
So what does all that mean in terms of car shopping? So-Lo-MoMore engagedOver-index on reviews (they read more reviews – use stat about reviews?)Over-index on MobilePrice matters – but it’s not a race to the bottom. Your dealership brand matters, and meeting their needs matters.
So what does all that mean in terms of car shopping? So-Lo-MoMore engagedOver-index on reviews (they read more reviews – use stat about reviews?)Over-index on MobilePrice matters – but it’s not a race to the bottom. Your dealership brand matters, and meeting their needs matters.
So what does all that mean in terms of car shopping? So-Lo-MoMore engagedOver-index on reviews (they read more reviews – use stat about reviews?)Over-index on MobilePrice matters – but it’s not a race to the bottom. Your dealership brand matters, and meeting their needs matters.
Facebook stat - http://www.shop.org/press/20110527Reviews stat – brightlocal (see reviews infographic) Mobile stat – cars.com/nielsen
Here’s how Cars.com’s wired site, on the left, looks compared to our mobile site. Both look pretty, of course, but the one on the right has been optimized for the mobile consumer.Wired site: difficult to read on a small screen, “click” areas are too small for fingers, etc.Mobile site: very easy to read on a small screen, “click” areas big enough to tap on, menu options correspond with how we’ve learned mobile consumers want to shop for a carGoMo: GoMo was launched by Google in November to help businesses optimize their website for mobile. Take a look at how your site looks currently on a mobile device using the GoMoMeter, get recommendations for improving it and check out great examples from other businesses.Service application:Some dealers offer an app giving customers the ability to schedule an appointment, then drop the car off at the designated time, avoiding a wait in the service lanes.When the shop wants to share the repair-order estimate with the customer, the app pushes a notification to the customer’s home screen. If OK with the quote, the customer pings back approval.Customers can often pay their bill through the app as well – all they have to do is pick up their keys.Apps can also notify a customer of recalls and expiring factory warranties, offer service and sales specials and display full vehicle inventories
New Car shoppers who view dealer review pages consume over 2.5X more page views per visitSpend 2.5x more time on siteConsumers are 5x more likely to contact a dealer with reviews (can we cut this by New Car?)XX% of new-car shoppers found their dealer online – higher than “previous purchase” and “recommendation from a friend or family member”On Cars.com…New-car shoppers are 2.5x more likely to select “Group By Dealer” in inventory search resultsThose who grouped by dealer were 3x more likely to contact a dealerNew-car shoppers are nearly 2x more likely than used-car shoppers to filter by Dealer Reviews.
Consistently? (is the way you’re showing up consistent with your promise? i.e. e-mail addresses that go nowhere, incorrect info on business directory pages, etc.)Sound familiar? These are some of the most widely recognized brand promises. What do your customers want?What are you saying that makes them believe you can deliver on it? do you meet their needs better than your competitors? (saying that you do isn’t good enough)handising, make your website easy to navigate. optimized presence for mobile)Opportunity for audience participation: what do you tell customers they can expect from you?
Tie this back to the first formula in the worksheet – this is contributing to the increase in sales due to reviews.
Bottom line: reviews drive more conversion, more engagement and are what consumers want.
You may leave this slide up on the screen while the participants do the activity.
Set (realistic) goals and develop a strategy to attain them. Automotive retail is among most ROI-focused industries out there, so it’s important to understand this point from the start – social media will help you sell and service more cars, but it’s unlikely you will be able to quantify its true impact upon your bottom line immediately. Set your goals accordingly. Social media can promote better brand awareness, foster customer loyalty and generate word-of-mouth advertising, among other perks. Determine what you want to accomplish, and then put a plan in place that assigns accountability within your staff, sets guidelines for developing content and establishes how the success of your social media program will be measured. Set guidelines. Put into place policies and best practices for your staff – check out the work of Charlene Li, a social media expert with experience helping corporate leaders foster an enterprise that supports social media. “controlled openness” – creating the structure, policies and procedures to create an environment that supports social media while maintain brand integrity and other considerations.Have a plan to build your audience. Creating a Facebook page or Twitter feed won’t do your dealership much good without an audience of fans and followers. Include links to your social media pages in your e-mail campaigns, and invite visitors to your web site to “like” or “follow” you. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and most other social media platforms provide widgets that can be placed on your web site to make this process easy. Also consider running a promotion to build your audience, such as offering a free oil change or entering new followers for a chance to win a prize (be sure to check your state’s legal requirements for such promotions beforehand). Content is King! Chances are you’re already using social media on a personal level – take what engages you as a user into account as you develop content for your dealership. Communicating with your customers through social media should be more than marketing copy. Engage them with news, promotions, maintenance tips, new product information and news about what you’re doing for your community, and make them feel valued by posting service coupons and other “perks” just for Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Tip: Don’t recreate the wheel. Repurpose information published on the social media pages of your OEMs, automotive enthusiast publications like Cars.com’s Kicking Tires and other consumer content providers.Participate in your own conversation! Social media isn’t just another way to push information out to your customers – they expect the experience to be interactive. Respond to wall posts, comments and tweets to drive the conversation and open it up to others. If you see a customer post something positive about you on their own page, thank them! And on the off chance they have something negative to say, reach out to them privately to make it right – they’re likely to share the story’s happy ending as well, putting you in a good light.