how to capture the mind and heart of the online shopper

8/9/2019 How to capture the mind and heart of the online shopper

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Dealertalk: How to win the mind and heart of the

online shopper

Wednesday, 14 July 2010 10:33 | Written by Peter Aitken | | |

The online shopper! Ten years ago most of us only had a very vague idea of whatconstituted an online shopping experience. We may well have thought at the time thiswas a very risky process and confined to only those foolhardy enough to trust their creditcard information to that big black hole within the World Wide Web.

Somewhat different today! With little hesitation we will book and pay for airline travel,accommodation around all corners of the globe and purchase high priced consumerdurables such as residential property and motor vehicles, often sight unseen.

Online shopper practices and preferences continue to mature at almost exponential

pace. No longer do they limit their enquiries to a number of competing websites for aselected product or service, they will now often secure advice from internet listedexperts in a particular product or service sector.

Alternatively, they may drill through customer feedback ratings to secure confidencefrom the experience of other purchasers.

In a very short space of time they have sufficient information to form a pretty thorougharms length view of the seller or provider of services. If they do not like what they readthen they simply move on until they find a seller or provider that ticks all their selectionboxes.

In the past two years the social media have evolved to offer yet another vital mediumwhereby the online shopper is able to link with either or all of their LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter communities to gain feedback from their followers about a certainproduct or service they intend to purchase.

They are also increasing likely to use these communities to securefeedback about thebusiness ethics of an individual or business seller. Even the customer feedback ratings ofsellers listing with Trade Me can be regarded as a social media collective view.

Online shoppers typically have two questions they want answers for:

(1) Do you have what I am looking for?

(2) How much is it?

If a dealership is regularly able to develop and communicate compelling reasons for anonline shopper to place an enquiry for their used car over a competitor used vehicle, thenthe odds increase for the dealership to gain appointments and in turn covert these leadsinto sales.


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ona howroomor e ar a e proce e

honline hoppe r

he ealer ale people whohandle

he internet enquir needtode eloptheir

illsinhow toinfluence the sale There is a needtoinfluence theshoppersperceptionsof the dealership as a reatplace todo usiness.

In essence there is a requiremen ttoimpartthisunseen utquite transparent aura oftrust etweendealership andthe online shopper.

How oudothaton a consistent asis for each and e er online shopper enquir isdependenton a wellthoughtoutonline consistent communication and cu stomerhandlingprocess.

Inthe er earlystagesof ar

eting ! " there is anoftquoted reference tothephrase # You are whatyou appear to e " .

e can readily recognise thismar

eting comparisonin a ric

s andmortar e $ ample withtwo competingdealerships closelylocatedto eachother inthe same street. Itis as easyfor anyonline shopper to carryoutthissame mar

eting !

e aluationof two competingdealershiponline offerings whentheylandonyour we site frontpage.

% o what are some of the

e ystepsyou canta

e to e olve your online presence projectthismagicalpersona of trust and confidence winthe mind andheartof the olineshopper andmostimportantlyincrease enquiry and convert a highpercentage of thatenquiryintosales?

The followingpointssetout a number of

eystepsyou canta

e #

Ensure your dealer website front (landing) page canbe speed read with ease

Your usedstoc

page locationisbold and readablyidentifiable asthisisyour primarysource of internetsalesgrossprof it

&

llphotographsonbothyour dealer website andthose listed withTrade e or otherinternetthirdpartylistinggroups are identical,ideallyupto ' ! shots

If youhave the courage tovideothen certainlytryyour hand atthismedium as a moving( 6 ! degree panorama hasthe abilityto addlife tothe sale process

&

llphotographsshouldbe ta

eninidenticalsequence for allvehicles

&

ll e $ ternalshots are ta

en against a common well-litnon-reflective bac

ground,often awallinyour wor

shop willsuff ice. If youneedhelpinsettingupthe idealphotographlocation andlightinginthe dealershipta

e advice from a professionalphotographer

) escribe allvehicles e $ tensively,donotskimpondetail. If youhave a staff membercapable of painting a picture throughthe skillful applicationof wordsthen engage that


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person. Remember youneedto capture boththe mind andheartof the online shopper -they are thirsty for detail

Tell a story andpaint a picture of the proventrack recordof the dealership with reference to recent franchise awards and community/sportinginvolvement. Rememberyouseektoimparttothe shopper valid reasons whytheyshould consider your

dealership asthe best with whichtodobusiness. Importantly, achieve thisposition witha fair degree of humility asthisisnot a 0 beatingthe chest forum

Putinplace animmediate automated email response thankingthe online shopper fortheir enquiry andsummarily covering anoverview of the keydealershipbenefitsorunique sellingpropositio ns

1 onot reference price inthe automated response butimportantlysetthe scene forfurther communication.There are groupsoutthere who can advise youon a professionalsequence of automated andpersonal responsesover a definedperiod

The follow upprocessshouldbe planned and created for atleast a 9 2 day wellthoughtoutsequence of responses,youmay ask why aslong as 9 2 days?

Researchinthe U 3 markethasshownthe daystopurchase of a typicalonline shopperspreadis:

y 45%of online shoppersth at eventuallybuy willdoso 4 4 -9 5 days after the leadissubmitted

y 32% e 6 tendbeyond 9 7 days

The questiontobe askedis: How manydealership follow upprograms e 6 tendbeyond30days?

Percentage of Purchasers

8 ay 9 -10 24.0%

8 ay11-20 11.0

8 ay21-30 8.0

8 ay31-60 15.0

8 ay 61-90 10.0

@ ver 90 32.0


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Personal follow up responsesshould come from a member of the salesteam, either adedicatedinternetsalesperson(s) or from a range of salespeople

A

hile individual responses canportray anindividual stypical communicationstyle itisimportanttheir responses follow anidenticalstepbystepprocess.

B

gainthere aregroups whospecialise inthisprocess who can assistthe dealershipsetthese up

There are alsosoftware providers who can add another dimensions for your initial emailresponse,thatof a voice over commentary fromyour salespersonlinkedto a movingphotographstoryboardof the vehicle the shopper has enquired about -smarttechnologythat adds a verypersonaldimensiontothe response

You could alsosend a 360degree YouTube videoof the vehicle inquestion,thise C change againislikelytoimpressthe shopper of your dealerships abilityto addthatpersonaldimension and create a D wow response

E houldyou wishtounderstandmore abouthow you can effectivelyuse F acebookinyour

businessthenkeyinto www.HotSpot.com andyou candownload a 22page usersguidewhite paper free of charge.

Best regards

PeterB

itken

www.clearedgenet.com

how to capture the mind and heart of the online shopper

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