I Need 10 Dealers To Inspect Their VDPs

Dealers must develop a keen eye to spot confusing or unnecessary call-to-action (CTA) messages on their website product pages (VDPs) and take action to simplify the website designs to promote the utilization of their remote retailing tools. The dealer's entire website must educate, direct, and assist consumers through their modern retail process.  

Dealers, does your website accomplish these objectives? Let’s do a quick inspection of your website using the table below. Here is the link to download the Excel spreadsheet.

List all consumer call-to-action (CTA) events or buttons on your Vehicle Detail Page (VDP). I define a CTA event to be a clickable link to get information that may not be a button. Popular CTA events include mobile click-to-call phone numbers, downloading a CARFAX report, or download a window sticker.

For example, if you had a button labeled “Get ePrice” that popped up a standard website form, you would list the CTA Button name in the second column as “Get ePrice” and in the third column you would write the word “Form”. If the “Get ePrice” started a chat session the answer in the third column would be “Conversation”.

Keep in mind that if the VDP has a phone number listed at the top of the page, that is a CTA event and should be listed in the table. A click on a mobile click-to-call number would be a Conversation. If you also have persistent chat/text on each VDP, those should be listed as CTA buttons/events in the table as well.

Before you conclude that your table is correct, ask someone else from the dealership to review your work. Many times CTA events or buttons are missed because we scan pages too quickly due to familiarity!

Here is an example from a Toyota dealer that was sent to me:

Looking at this table now, does your website give the consumer the impression that your virtual showroom is staffed? Which CTA buttons are functions of your digital retailing tool that could be eliminated? What would you like the experience on your website to be?

I hope you will share a screenshot of your completed table and post it in the comments. Let's start a discussion on the ideal CTA design for VDPs.

We will also be discussing remote retailing strategies at DMSC Virtual Livestream in July. Check out the amazing agenda: https://digitalmarketingstrategies.org/virtual-conference-agenda/