When talking about the car buying experience it’s important to remember that, in the modern day, shoppers start their search on your website. An online shopper, or eGuest, should feel just as welcomed, excited, and engaged as when they drive onto your lot and walk through your dealership’s doors. A well thought out video experience and strategy is essential in creating this emotional, immersive response.
Luckily, creating a strategy isn’t rocket science. It’s as easy as the age-old adage: “Sell Yourself, Sell the Dealership, Sell the Car.”
1) Sell Yourself
People buy from people they like, and words on a screen simply don’t properly convey the personality of your sales team. A person can never feel as much of a connection with a text or an email as they can seeing a face and a personality. Humans are built to communicate face-to-face: seeing facial expressions, reading body language, and hearing tone of words are how we have built connections and formed trust between each other for thousands of years.
Utilizing video, you can replicate the impact of face-to-face communication. To start off, simply include videos in your texts and emails rather than trying to convey emotion through text. When someone reaches out regarding a car, immediately start building a trust relationship by sending them a video answering their questions, showing your personality and that you’re someone they can trust. When someone wants to see what the entertainment center of a car looks like, hop on a video call with them and show them. The possibilities of video communication are endless, and the emotional impact is profound.
2) Sell the Dealership
Your shopper can go anywhere to purchase a car. Some aspects of the car buying experience are universal: everyone wants something in their budget, something reliable, and/or something they can be proud of. A shopper can find those things in any number of places. So, what makes your dealership unique?
Your website should always include banners, and videos, of current incentives, rebates, warranties, etc. But, consumers are inherently “tribal.” Meaning, when all things are equal, they will go with a brand that feels most like themselves; a brand they connect with, feel they share beliefs with, or any other personal emotional attachment. For example, when you get down to the basics there aren’t substantial differences between an iPhone or an Android. However, people split into two separate camps and will defend their respective brand tooth and nail, because each represents something they identify with.
So, stand out from your competitors and connect with your shoppers emotionally. On your website, you should have videos on your community involvement, charities you support, “Why Buy Here”, meet the staff, customer testimonials, anything that sets you apart from a dealership down the street.
Sell your dealership, and make a shopper want to be a part of your tribe.
3) Sell the Car
Getting shoppers to become emotionally attached to a car online in the same way they would on your lot takes more than just pictures and descriptions.
The key is to incorporate videos and 360s onto your SRPs and VDPs. Interactive content displays the same information as pictures and text, but in a more compelling way to the human brain. With voiceovers and overlays describing the car and its features, along with music in the background, videos are a recipe for stimulating more parts of the human brain that promote emotional response and attachment.
And 360 spins show a similar effect. 360s simulate being in front of a car in real life: a shopper is able to “walk” around a car at their own pace, spend more time on particular aspects that interest them, and even zoom in on highlighted features that stand out. They provide an almost tactile experience, virtually.
But the single most important part of selling the car doesn’t change just because the shopper is on your website: the test drive is still king. There is no better way to get a customer to take mental ownership of a vehicle than putting them behind the wheel, and your in-person strategy already reflects that importance. Your virtual strategy should as well. Going back to video communication, you can utilize live video calling to take your shoppers on a “virtual test drive”. In real time, take them to their desired car and show them everything that is important to them at their pace. Answer their questions and show them what makes this car unique. Virtual test drives are second best to the real thing, and can create mental ownership before a shopper ever walks through your doors.
Overall, it is important to realize that the same aspects of selling a car in person apply online. Creating an online video strategy doesn’t need to be hard. Shoppers are human, and humans are tribal and emotional – so give them an experience that suits that. Your on-the-lot sales strategy can be easily converted to video, so you can sell yourself, the dealership, and the car before a shopper ever opens your door.
