Lines between Internet customer and Regular Customers

The lines between internet sales and old brick and mortar buildings are becoming increasing blurred as the internet passes from “novelty” to “tool”. Since high speed has become more reasonable in price, demand on time at work and social obligations have increased. Shoppers have found increased value in shopping online.

Based on statistics and studies done by independent researchers, more and more prospective customers are performing research on the internet before buying or even going out to the dealerships to either close the deal or actually test drive the vehicles purchased today. Competing with dealers across town now increased to competing with dealers across states! Saving upwards of 20% is routine compared to just 5 years ago.

Current predictions are that in less than 3 years current “brick and mortar customers will be Internet customers”, rough estimates already indicate that current trends are rising to as much as 27% from year to year on average, in purchases made from internet sources. Large dealerships are dedicating new departments to manage these leads and trends, “it's a new area to market in, much more profitable by comparison to print ads”. New and emerging trends are hard for smaller dealership to track because of resources.

Either way the road to the internet gets wider and increasingly traveled each day. still many dealerships still aren't measuring or managing their Internet traffic as effectively as they should, few are realizing the benefit in leads generated by internet traffic, few that is except the larger dealerships that is, this has been nailed down to a new level of marketing.

Estimates are that few if any customer are not “internet customers”, there is little difference in what was considered “internet geeks and savvy shoppers” these days. still the power and convenience to shop online has not completely eliminated walk ins, but studies conclusively determined that we will be seeing a greater number of customers that have completely researched the purchase before ever stepping into a dealership.

For example more customers are prepared for and expect

• Competitive price - customers know what everyone else is selling for and what they should be paying because they've done the research.
• Good service - if you don't provide it, they'll find someone else who will.
• Respect for time - they want it now.
• No Q&A sessions - they've done their homework and the salesperson should have too.

A J.D. Power & Associates' survey says almost 80% of all vehicle purchases are researched online prior to stepping into the dealership, while other estimates are less positive with online shoppers only being 66%, still a rise from just last year. Yet more interesting data concludes that shoppers are researching purchases between 90 and 120 days before making a purchase, and yet another study shows that 33% of all leads result in vehicle purchases with in 90 days.

Capturing the on-line shopper from the start is key to closing the sale. "You have to be able to develop the relationship quickly” says Primeau. Answering emails and creating living databases that monitor the sales leads are increasingly helpful.

Dealers need to post current and timely changes in inventory, not always possible until now. More dealerships find it easy to forward inventory list to online stores to update. Keeping staff costs down while growing sales is still a huge concern. Dealerships are finding it increasingly easier due to online marketing.

Another topic of debate seems to be “Should Web content ever include pricing?” web savvy dealers think it should and studies conclude that online responses are improved with more details. On top of selling price, most have also found that posting invoice cost has also improved responses. Battling over price is neither productive for seller or buyer.

A salesman for over 30 years claims that “gross profit is directly related to customer satisfaction”, capturing the attention of Internet shopper takes fast and persistent follow up. Research has proven that the first one to respond to customer inquires will often close the sale, nevertheless dealers fail to respond consistently and quickly to email leads.

Funny how customers now measure quality of response in minutes compare to what was acceptable just a short time ago. The internet has created not only smarter shoppers but also less tolerant ones. Dealers should respond quickly and with relevant information. If responses are delayed or returned in days then they shouldn't bother.

Not all sales leads come in the form of email responses, most walk in or call the dealership armed with the information collected off the Internet, Blurring the lines even more. Dealerships need to improve and kick old habits of relying on customer contact as being at face value, improving on tracking tools and getting accustomed to collecting data and compiling it into manageable bits of information for marketing expenses. Gauging value merely by email responses is without a doubt flawed. Those dealerships will inevitably guess wrong, and fail at what is a proven media in a new market for sales leads.

Eventually dealers will use one way to manage all of the leads coming into the dealership, use multiple ways to track where the leads are coming from and one process to manage them. Dealers can start simply by asking walk ins customers and callers if they have been online shopping? Or to start identifying such data as to what vehicles are selling and which aren't, improving inventory restocking decisions!

Dealerships should place multiple pictures of each vehicle on-line, providing VIN numbers so a Carfax report for the shopper can be displayed is even more helpful, building confidence with a shopper will improve sales.

Used vehicles have changed the entire profit model for dealers who have taken the challenge to invest on line. Just for 2002 alone more than $2.2 billion worth of vehicles and accessories were sold.

Interesting data concluded that the average vehicle online will receive only 8 responses before being purchased. And even more interesting statistic is that nearly 70% of online sales are concluded by out of state customers!

Steven Primeau

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