It’s a constant debate in the automotive industry: the debate over whether a custom-built landing page or a vehicle display (or details) page (VDP) brings in more traffic and conversions on a website.
While both certainly have their merits, here’s why we think that having specific vehicle landing pages is key to converting viewers to customers.
Why Landing Pages are So Important
The Traffic Institute reported that 70 percent of people are undecided when they start the vehicle shopping process. The addition of specific information to your website—in the form of informative, interesting landing pages—creates an opportunity for personalized service and recommendations.
General traffic will flow in and out of your website daily, but when viewers are targeting your landing pages, it’s a sign that they’ve gone beyond browsing and want to dive deeper into the model in question.
While a VDP is a good way to display a lot of information about a specific model, it can be a bit overwhelming to look at for someone who might not know much about the specifics of cars (such as the engine or transmission type along with the stock and VIN numbers).
A custom-built landing page displays the vehicle information in a consumer-friendly way—with conversational, narrative paragraphs that tell the reader the features and benefits of a specific model, and how it would fit into their lifestyle.
A Jeep Cherokee page, for instance, might talk about the fantastic off-roading capabilities the vehicle has, along with its roomy interior that’s perfect for fitting friends or luggage for those who love to take adventures. The page might highlight the various trim levels of the Jeep Cherokee, along with what tech features, performance capabilities, and accessories packages are available for it. A custom landing page highlights many of the technical details that a VDP does but in a user-friendly manner.
Customers ultimately want to be able to picture themselves driving the vehicle they are researching. Does this car fit into their lifestyle? Will they be happy driving it to and from work every day? Does it have enough interesting features to keep their children entertained on long road trips? Will they be happy looking out into their driveway and garage for years to come and seeing that vehicle sitting there?
“By 2020, growing digitalization and advancements in technology will have increased the automotive industry investments to $82 billion,” Forbes writer Daniel Newman noted.
People do want the nitty-gritty technical details of their potential car-to-be, but most people (especially when first researching models) don’t want to dive right into long lists of plain-text information. While they may look for this information later on in their search, at first, most people just want the basics (such as gas mileage, driving modes, and trim levels).
Customers are seeking a digitally-enhanced experience from start to finish when shopping for a vehicle, Newman explained. This includes all stages, from conducting research before buying to making a purchase, and later on when they are operating or repairing the vehicle.
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It’s important to have custom-built landing pages not only featuring vehicle highlights, but for your service and parts departments, your finance center, and your “About Us” pages, as well. Customers want to get to know you and your business, and having specific, user-friendly pages that cater exactly to what viewers are searching for is key to customer engagement.
Interlinking these pages where appropriate is also a best practice to keep in mind. (Include calls to action buttons on each page; for example, on your service page, have buttons linking to your parts department and “About Us” page, and vice versa.)
Having these buttons makes it easy for viewers to toggle to the pages they need, and also increases their time spent on your site (if they’re finding all the info they need in one place, they have no need to exit your webpage).
So What’s the Verdict?
A landing page can influence car shoppers by being an essential marketing tool, working to help finalize sales and generate regular website traffic. Customers want products that work for them—the more detail and specificity you can provide, the better off you’ll be.
Individual landing pages not only help customers hone their decision-making process but also allow dealers to learn more about the sales funnel so you can improve your tactics. They also make for a softer landing for customers visiting your site.
Show your work.
We took a moment to check out our landing page design traffic performance against a dealer’s VDP page performance and the proof is definitely in the pudding! Check this out…
Above is a screenshot comparing the organic traffic of a VDP for a Mazda CX-5 and a custom landing page that Dealer Authority built for the same model.
As you can see from above, the bounce rate is 7.14%, with 5.32 pages per session and session duration of 4 minutes and 10 seconds. The landing page far outranks the VDP in traffic performance.
Now just imagine the traffic (and new lead) possibilities if a budget was added behind these pages with a pay-per-click or Facebook Ads campaign. Get ready for epic results!
Interested in custom-built landing pages for your dealership’s website? We’ve got you covered! Give us a call today to see exactly how our strategy will work for you.