Are We Designed To Fail?

Now that NADA is in the rearview mirror, I have had time to reflect on the feedback we received from dealers visiting our booth. I also wanted to share some of the challenges we had in communicating our vision for automotive retail.

Before I get into the details, I was pleased to see that our current vision for automotive retail is correct. Vendors at the show made announcements which replicated, reinforced, and confirmed many elements of our Connected Retail Platform (CRP) message which started over a year ago.

Designed To Fail: Identity Resolution

Now that identity resolution is becoming table stakes for automotive websites, few industry leaders understand the challenges associated with connecting all consumer touchpoints on an automotive retail website into one identity resolution tag.

Orbee was the first company to attempt to fix this problem and one of the reasons why we support their framework for shared clients. So, what is the problem?

Since iframes are popular for chat, digital retailing, service schedulers, trade tools, and credit tools.....placing one identity tag into all these iframes is not a simple task.

Vendor politics also limit dealership efforts to build an unbroken view of the consumer's online journey, providing only a partial view of online engagement and conversions.

With our Everest platform we can provide automotive dealers with a robust set of retailing tools (i.e., chat, credit, trade, digital retailing) which are all built on one identity resolution framework.

Dealers can also add their own identity tag if they prefer. This is a big deal for larger dealer groups with a Customer Data Platform.

Everest eliminates politics and roadblocks for dealers who want to unlock the full potential of their Customer Data Platforms (CDP).

DEP also supports the complete ASC specification for events for GA4 across all our retail tools. Every action taken by a consumer on our CRP can be used to optimize Google Ads or other advertising platforms.

DEP has significantly reduced the roadblocks which can limit identity resolution frameworks. If you know, you know.

Designed To Fail: Website Optimization

Each year, we work with our customers to improve online engagement and conversion rates. DEP websites have great scores for engagement and conversion when we are benchmarked in competitive OEM programs.

Despite these scores and our ability to customize websites for our clients, we have skeletons in our closet. In fact, all website companies have similar skeletons.

Clients are often in love with an old web design that is no longer following current consumer trends for website design, and we get "dinged" for that choice.

Anyone who builds websites knows that for some clients, they will die with their current website design. Despite repeated attempts to upgrade website SRP / VDP designs, we will be told that the existing design is perfect.

Test Me

I want to offer a challenge to dealership managers who are shopping for a new website platform. Do you expect the best customer support in the automotive industry? If you want the best design and best support, give us a call.

Do not look at our current customer websites and think that is all we have available.

Not all dealers want to be the first to try a cleaner, easier website design. Not all dealers want to simplify what is shown on an SRP. For other dealers, whitespace is associated with a lack of creativity despite case studies that show less CTAs are better than more.

Don't get me started on website speed tests.

DEP is challenging the automotive industry to embrace the data that supports faster, cleaner, and more engaging website designs. If we continue to let emotions govern our website designs, we will be destined to fail.

It is not easy to communicate our commitment to excellent service and design especially since dealers have grown skeptical of NADA promises.

Designed to Fail: Integrated Marketing

Dealers were very interested in our video advertising offerings on the Amazon platform at NADA as well as our ability to deliver multi-channel marketing messages with identity resolution insights. We even recently enhanced our marketing offerings with targeted email campaigns for anonymous shoppers.

Many vendors offer similar services, but rarely are they configured properly. It may seem like a very small point, but actually it is a very big competitive advantage.

DEP fully configures and supports the products that we sell and service.

This is another topic that is difficult to communicate.

If a dealer is using DEP for websites, trade, credit, chat, and call tracking, they should know that all of these products will be fully visible and configured in GA4. This allows our advertising campaigns to be properly optimized and personalization to occur in all website tools.

The alternative is a dealer using another website provider with 2-3 marketing partners and multiple website widgets for trade, digital retailing, chat, and credit. In these cases, the vendors all point fingers at each other.

No one takes responsibility for tracking website events and conversions in GA4.

The end result? Failure to fully optimize advertising campaigns and thousands of dollars in advertising waste.

End The Cycle of Failure

These are just three examples of failures that continue to hurt automotive dealers and the customer experience. If you are ready to test the latest in website designs and the power of Everest, give our team a call.

We are not designed to fail. We are designed to win in the years ahead.

We are designed to partner with our clients to deliver unprecedented success and support.

Isn't it time to get the support you need and find a partner that can help you achieve your retail vision?