Auto Dealers: How to Maximize Your Lead Generation Practices

Most auto dealerships have some kind of lead generation tool on their website. That said however, they are not capturing as many leads as they would like to. A slight change in their process and execution can make all the difference in the world. Golfing is a great illustration of this concept.  

In golf, the difference between striping the ball 280 yards straight down the fairway and slicing the ball in the woods is often two or three degrees’ variance in angle of the club head striking the ball. Golfers will understand this concept easily. Non-golfers can grasp this concept easily too…  if the club head is flat when it meets the ball, the ball will go straight. If the club head is facing left or right, it will cause the ball to spin when in flight and the ball will sail into the woods and out of play. The fix on this is simple, a 2-degree change will add distance and take strokes off your game. This is a great analogy for auto dealer marketers.

Capturing More Leads

In the context of auto dealer marketing, here is the fix. First, Instead of using a long form that consumers must fill out to apply for credit, dealers should use a short 5 line “soft pull” form. The reason they should use a short soft pull form is because a shorter form mitigates the bounce rate for consumers filling out the form. Moreover, a lot of dealerships miss out on leads because a prospect will start filling out the credit app on the dealer’s website then stop abruptly because filling out a long form is a cumbersome task. Auto dealers still receive a full credit report on the consumer when using a short form, it just is more simple and effective.

Second, auto dealers should give consumers easy access to the form on their website. After all, what is the use of the short form if website visitors have a hard time getting to it, or even worse, never see it at all. Auto dealers should put a button labeled “get pre-qualified now” or the like everywhere on their website. More specifically, for every car’s subpage in the dealership’s inventory, there should be a pre-qualify button next to it. This simple change to the  site will generate significantly more leads than dealer’s who do not market their pre-qualification form appropriately.

Lastly, dealers who use social media to market cars should place a hyperlink on each individual post leading to the credit report soft pull form on their website. Because the form is mobile friendly, users of Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook will convert at a much hire rate.

For more information, feel free to give us a call at 760-579-6171, email us at info@americancreditsystems.com or visit the our soft pull page on our website.  

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