Used Car Shoppers Should Be Your Evangelists

Posted on January 18th, 2013 by Max Katsarelas in + Inventory Management   Email This Post Email This Post

Curl my metaphorical mustache and call me crazy, but dealers have the best opportunity to make evangelists out of used car shoppers. These are the people that will rave about your store to friends and family, post on their Facebook page or even write you a nice review on Yelp.

It starts with high quality pictures. Look at the way carmakers advertise new cars or trucks on their website or at auto shows. They’re sparkly, they’re pretty, they’re seemingly perfect. But wait, you’re probably thinking, that’s not the way it works with used vehicles. You’re right, every used car is different and they have dull paint, wear, imperfections.

Sometimes you can’t make the car look beautiful, but you can still take beautiful pictures. Make the pictures look so good that someone online can’t help but call up your store. Think of it this way, pictures of your inventory are a reflection of your dealership. Bad, blurry and inconsistent photos are just unprofessional and lazy. Would you sell a car wearing cargo shorts and a NASCAR t-shirt too?

During qualitative testing, used car shoppers have expressed over and over and over they love great pictures. Pictures can fill in the data that is sometimes missing in descriptions like what type of transmission a vehicle has or trim package. It keeps shoppers engaged on a vehicle’s page longer and hopefully they will click through to a dealer’s entire inventory. It also means your sales team isn’t stuck answering questions for low quality leads instead of selling.

Even if the car doesn’t seem like something anyone would want, it is for the right buyer. If someone has a $12,000 budget, they want to buy the most car with that $12k. Make that customer’s experience amazing. Treat them the same way you would treat someone buying a 5-Series or any fine luxury vehicle. Make them feel special. Make them feel like your only priority. If you do, you’ll turn that car shopper into your dealership’s evangelist. And to think, it all starts with quality photos.

Max Katsarelas is the Marketing Manager at Mojo Motors responsible for community management, marketing strategy and customer experience. Mojo Motors is a used car website that lets car shoppers 'Follow' cars at local dealerships and receive alerts as prices change.

You can email Max at mkatsarelas@dealer-communications.com


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