Quality Video Content Converts Online Car Shoppers
There’s no doubt that video has become an invaluable commodity to businesses across the world for everything from product showcasing to employee Q&A sessions. The stats don’t lie: According to Hubspot, 54% of people want to see more video content from marketers, and Wyzowl states that 96% of people say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
In fact, a new study by Google shows that 55% of consumers use online videos for shopping research. After surveying over 24,000 people in ten countries and conducting 125 in-person interviews, the company has discovered the top reasons why people pursue video more than any other marketing medium when embarking on their shopping journeys.
If you want to maximize sales for your dealership, here are the most crucial aspects regarding the best ways to utilize video marketing for your business.
1. Video Gives Consumers Confidence.
When someone has a question about how to do something (such as how to check the oil level in their car or what the timeline is to bring their car in for regular service appointments), more often than not, he or she will turn to video to help them. “I know a little bit more about what the mechanic knows, for example,” says one person in the Google study, “and it makes me feel more comfortable.”
Showing the behind-the-scenes at your dealership can help people get to know your employees and your operations more. Posting video content showing how to change a tire or detail a car will all boost your consumers’ confidence and trust in your business.
2. Video is Often Used as a Shopping List.
Consumers often use the information found in videos to guide them on what to get at the store and beyond.
More than 40% of shoppers who watched a video about cars or trucks visited a dealer as a result.
One person told Google: “I’ll look back at a video to remind myself which product a vlogger spoke about. I need to find the exact moment they said, ‘This is my recommendation.’”
You can use this same tactic for your dealership. If you make a vehicle maintenance video outlining the steps someone should take when checking their car’s oil level, consumers watching will easily be able to follow the step-by-step process.
And, since trust has been built, if the consumer finds that he or she needs an oil change at the end of their check, they very well might head to your dealership to get that handled in person.
3. Video is the Tiebreaker.
There’s a reason there are many “This Car Make/Model vs This Car Make/Model” on the internet—brands recognize the power of comparison when presenting their vehicles to consumers. Google’s research showed that more than half of shoppers say online video has helped them decide which specific brand or product to buy.
Consumers want information in bite-sized pieces they can quickly digest and help them come to a conclusion, and video is the perfect medium for this.
4. Millennials and Gen Z are Making Up More of the Market
Millennials range in age from 26-41, and Gen Z ranges from 10-25, making up a large portion of the car-buying and soon-to-be car-buying population. And with both of these groups gearing toward video as their preferred means of information gathering on the internet, it’s safe to say that video marketing has truly become a front-and-center strategy in digital marketing.
These two generations watch videos for specific reasons. HubSpot notes that “Even when it comes to learning about a new brand or product, these age groups prefer video explainers, product demos, or other marketing videos to simply reading about a company online.”
They are more likely to search for short-form content, such as tutorials and short video clips, and wouldn’t mind being inspired or entertained along the way.
The three major platforms that currently draw the most views from both Millennials and Gen Z are TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, so having a presence on at least one of those sites is ideal. Facebook has quickly risen as a contender in 2022 with the adoption of Reels, a video publishing feed trend that originally launched on Instagram.
As you are planning your video marketing strategy you will want to keep in mind which channels you plan on promoting your content on and the limitations that come with it. If at all possible, film vertically and horizontally so that your content can encompass as many channel formats as possible.
5. Consumers Don’t Care if Your Video Looks “Big Budget”
This is especially true for the millennial and Gen Z generations, who were polled by Google about their video-watching habits and ranked “high production quality” and “famous actors” (what one usually thinks of for high-quality video content) lower on their list of important video qualities than things such as “teaches me something new” and “allows me to dig deeper into my interests.”
This is important to note because it means that consumers are more open to user-generated content (read: homemade videos), especially if it is teaching them something that relates to their interests.
Go ahead and film those hand-held walkaround videos and don’t be afraid to let your employees’ personalities shine through on-screen. Who knows—you just might gain new followers.
Other ways you can optimize the use of video include:
- Creating Unboxing videos for consumers to see you unveil new models right when they arrive at your dealership
- Having an employee review the features of a specific make/model in a walkaround
- Conduct interviews with your employees so that consumers can see and learn more about the people in your dealership and what they do (thus building trust)
- Film events you host at your dealership, a happy customer gushing over a new purchase, and positive customer testimonials to further invoke confidence in consumers
- Uploading these videos not only onto your YouTube and website pages but also your Facebook and social pages and custom-made vehicle landing pages as well
Video is and will continue to be an important part of car marketing. Make sure your dealership maximizes your sales potential by keeping these tips in mind when creating and posting videos. And if you want more information on not only video best practices but on how to elevate your entire digital marketing strategy as well, our expert team at Dealer Authority is ready to help tailor the perfect solution for you.