Whether they use it to look up your address or scour it to compare you to your competition, your website is the most public face of your dealership today. Websites have become company gatekeepers, the deciding factor for many customers when choosing who to turn to when making a purchase. However, many times, companies don’t take advantage of this valuable resource, throwing together an obligatory website haphazardly and then neglecting it. Or worse, dealerships might invest heavily in a site, but their focus is on all the wrong elements. In both cases, what results is a website full of consumer “pain points” — areas that annoy customers or make websites so convoluted, clients find the site to be of little use. How can you tell if your website needs an update? Here are three major pain points to check for, along with some solutions to get your website back on track.
#1: Your Website Isn’t Phone or Browser Friendly
It could be that when the World Wide Web was born, you were the trendsetter who jumped right on board and made a splash by being the first dealership in town to put up a website. However, if you haven’t had an update in awhile, you may have lost that edge.
Today, most users will either access your site via their phones or their computers. Check to see if it comes up quickly and clearly when using a mobile or when surfing the web using the newer web browser versions of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. If you have a hard time doing so, then chances are your customers are having difficulty as well. And if they’re having a hard time getting to your site, they’re probably not bothering to visit it at all. Quick Fix: Call an IT company to update your site, so it runs smoothly on all mediums.
#2: It Looked Good…In the 90s
As salespeople, we know that looks are everything. Customers are drawn in first by what they see. This principle applies to websites as well. If your website’s font, design, and pictures look dated, it’s a good bet potential customers aren’t staying long to see what you have to offer. Quick Fix: Spend some time looking at other dealership websites. Keep a list of what you like about your favorites. Then, choose a few of the best design ideas to incorporate in your site. If your site is in need of an overhaul to bring it into the 21st century, consider hiring a web designer. You may also want to have a professional photographer come and take some pictures for your site, to replace any grainy or dated ones. It’s an investment, but a worthwhile one.
#3. It Takes Longer to Find Information Than it Does to Buy a Car
A major pain point for shoppers are websites that are full of words to sift through. Today’s shopper is visual, and less is often more when it comes to text. If your page immediately opens up to long passages of text that have little to do with the shopping experience, then you’re likely scaring shoppers away. You want the essential information to be accessible right up front. Quick Fix: Save the dealership history for the About Us page. Instead, have your contact information front and center right when clients land on your Home Page. On the landing page, you should also prominently include sales and other useful information, like links to insurance forms or chatbots, so that customers have quick access to the information that will expedite the buying process. Your website is your partner in selling cars, so let it be a salesperson right from the start. Bonus Tip:  When it comes to any promotional material, keeping your key demographic in mind is always fundamental. If you’re looking to improve your website, invite a few people who fall into your main audience to try the current site out and give you constructive feedback on what would make it more enticing for them to use it.
