In today’s digital world, having a well-designed website that is functional and user-friendly plays a crucial role for an auto dealer. The automotive retail and sales business has always been very competitive, and these days most consumers have started car shopping online, thus making websites necessary for modern businesses.
A website can act as a virtual showroom that gives your dealership critical information to potential customers, helps increase your credibility, and generates more sales. In this blog, we will guide you through everything you need to know when building a website for auto dealers, from planning, launching, and subsequent maintenance.
What Is an Auto Dealer Website?
Car selling websites are specific automotive websites for any automobile dealership to enable people to surf the inventory of new and used vehicles. Moreover, the dealerships can communicate with customers, and inform them about services such as financing, trade-ins, and repairs.
It is a virtual extension of the dealership’s physical location, giving online ground from which potential buyers can browse different options. Moreover, the buyers can compare, schedule an appointment for viewing, and even initiate the purchase.
What Are the Features of a Website for an Auto Dealer?
The best car-selling sites have the following features:
1) Vehicle Inventory Display
Every car, truck, SUV, and other vehicle in your inventory should be listed on the site. Every listing must have photos, prices, specifications, mileage, and in-depth descriptions, for people to browse and compare without visiting the dealership.
2) Search and Filtering Options
To further add to the value of consumer experience, auto dealership websites often have a search bar and filters. These allow visitors to narrow down what they seek by make, model, year, price range, body type, fuel type, mileage, or other characteristics. Hence, users can quickly find these vehicles with specific requirements.
3) Vehicle Detail Pages
Usually, every single car in the car dealer inventory website has its own webpage with several high-quality photos taken from different angles, along with videos if available. It contains detailed specifications including the engine type, horsepower, and fuel economy. Moreover, buyers can check the prices along with available discounts and financing options.
4) Contact and Appointment Scheduling
Buyers can easily reach out to the dealership through contact forms, live chat, or contact number. Online car sales sites can also include online scheduling systems, so users can book an appointment for test drives, maintenance, or consultation with a sales representative.
5) Customer Reviews and Testimonials
Most car dealership sites offer reviews or even testimonials of other customers who have previously purchased from them. It is a way to establish trust and credibility with new visitors. Moreover, positive reviews can play a major role in helping people decide whether to purchase from you or not.
What Are the Benefits of Websites for Auto Dealers?
The following are the benefits of having online car-selling websites for dealerships:
1) Increased Sales Reach
A website will allow dealers to reach a much wider audience compared to a brick-and-mortar dealership. It helps customers in various locations view the inventory, compare models, and even initiate inquiries online. Moreover, this increased scope inspires potential buyers who are less likely to come to the dealership in person. In fact, research by Google suggests that 92% of buyers research online before they purchase a car.
Besides, by integrating all marketing tools like SEO, social media, etc., you can attract more traffic to increase visibility and generate more sales for your dealership.
2) Easy Accessibility
The best used car websites are accessible to any customer, 24×7, no matter the circumstances. Your customers can visit your offers at any time that is convenient for them. As modern buyers seek out information about a vehicle, especially after working hours, you must make your website easily accessible to them. It increases the number of requests, visits, and deals.
3) Lead Generation
An auto dealer website is indeed a lead-generating machine. The test drive scheduling forms, the trade-in valuation tools, and the financing applications let potential clients engage with your digital dealership, show interest, and provide contact details.
Your dealership can then reach out to such prospects with customized offers, answer their questions, or book appointments with them. A successful website brings about a higher conversion rate for a dealership.
4) Brand Credibility
A professional, well-designed website enhances the credibility and brand image of the dealership. A dealership with a sleek, modern design that is easy to navigate, makes your brand feel premium and more trustworthy.
In addition, showcasing customer reviews, service details, and inventory to customers makes them realize that this dealership is worth trusting. It also portrays that the dealership is reliable and serious about serving its customers with excellence, which increases customers’ confidence.
5) Convenience to Customers
A car dealership online also provides convenience for a customer as one can see the available vehicles, compare the models, and look over financing options all from home. Furthermore, the buyer can find specifications, prices, and promotions without visiting the dealership physically.
They can also book test drive appointments or seek answers to their queries, saving precious time in the buying process and making it easier and more enticing to the tech-savvy customer.
6) Cost-Effective Marketing
The website marketing is also very cost-effective for the auto dealerships. Car search websites can promote their vehicles and services using search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and social media integration. It is more cost-effective than traditional advertising, as they are typically not covered in a dealership’s budget.
It also provides analytics for tracking the performance of the websites. In addition, it helps dealerships to observe what their customer would like to do for product marketing strategies and for gaining the maximum returns on investment.
7) Customer Service Enhancement
The website for auto dealers can connect with prospects in the form of live chat, appointment scheduling, and an FAQ section to help enhance customer service. Such features will assist the clients in booking services conveniently, scheduling a test drive, and having answers to questions.
It will make the whole process efficient and personalized. Moreover, it gives an online outlet for customer communications about service booking and follow-ups. It will help improve customer satisfaction and smoothness of operations to ensure a practical faster experience between the customers and staff.
How to Build a Website for Auto Dealers?
Building a user-friendly and well-designed website is crucial for your dealership to attract a wider audience. Here are a few steps you can follow to create one of the best car websites for your dealership:
1) Define the Purpose of Your Website
One of the key things you must focus on before building your dealership website is to define its core purpose. Once you have understood the goal, it will be a foundation for making the design and decisions.
For instance, if you’re a dealership, you can use your website to showcase your vehicle inventory, generate leads, and enhance customer services. If you’re a marketplace, you’ll curate and showcase user-generated content, listed by multiple dealerships and independent sellers. In addition, you can facilitate online sales and build brand credibility through your car website.
2) Select the Right Website Platform
The next step includes choosing an AI-powered automotive custom website builder, like Spyne.ai, to build your website. Choosing the perfect website builder platform enables you to customize the features according to your specific requirements, such as inventory management, customizable templates, etc.
However, when choosing the right website builder, you must ensure it is intuitive and user-friendly. You must also check if the platform offers customer support and aligns with with your budget before making an ideal decision.
3) Plan the Website Structure and Layout
After selecting the right website builder, you must design an organized and intuitive website structure for a smooth and user-friendly experience. You must ensure the homepage captures the essence of your dealership, showcasing your brand, key services, promotions, and other details.
In addition, you must check the inventory page, vehicle display page, and contact us page is user-friendly for a seamless experience. You must also tell your dealership story through the About Us page and keep your customers engaged through the blog or news section.
4) Essential Features and Functionalities
For your car finder website to stand out, you must include multiple essential features and functionalities in your website, such as responsive design, vehicle searching, and filtering options. Moreover, you must include image galleries, 360-degree spin, and customer reviews on your dealership website.
Incorporating all these features and functionalities enables you to stand out from your competition and offer a unique buying experience to your potential buyers. In addition, you can integrate live chat and appointment scheduling options to provide a user-friendly experience. You can also optimize your website for mobile to ensure it performs well on mobile devices and reaches a wider audience.
5) SEO and Content Optimization
Another thing that you must focus on when building a website for auto dealers is search engine optimization (SEO) and content optimization. It helps increase your website’s online visibility on search engines, like Google. You can identify the relevant keywords of your car dealership business and create content on them.
Moreover, you can optimize the meta titles and descriptions of different web pages to attract more potential buyers online.
How Spyne Helps With a Website for Auto Dealers?
Spyne.AI is an AI-driven platform that revolutionizes the way car dealerships emphasize their online presence. With a powerful automotive website builder, you can significantly help you build a functional and user-friendly website for your dealership. Here is how Spyne can help you build an intuitive and user-friendly website:
1) AI-Powered Website Builder
Spyne is the best website builder that does not require coding. Hence, it enables dealerships to have a professional responsive website and get the respective potential buyers online.
2) Responsive Build and Design
As many users prefer browsing on mobile, having a responsive website is the way ahead. Your website will look perfect and run without a hitch on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop.
3) Seamless and Flawless Integration
Spyne can easily interface with any other tool or system like CRM, car inventory management, and social media. It ensures that your online and offline operations are in synchronization.
4) AI Merchandising Features
Spyne improves the quality of the presentation of your cars on your website with AI-driven tools, such as virtual car studio, which enhances your images and turns them into studio-grade visuals. It helps you present your inventory in the best possible light.
5) Advanced Search Features
Spyne’s AI-based search provides customers with efficiency in quickly getting exactly what they want via natural-language search. It means that their experience will be better, and chances of conversions will increase.
6) AI-Driven Customer Chatbots
With Spyne AI chatbots, customers will get immediate and error-free support by providing instant answers to their queries. The intelligence of these AI chatbots assures that potential buyers have all the information they need to make a wise decision.
7) Data-Driven Insights
Spyne also provides you with data analytics tools that empower you with actual and precise insights regarding all customer behavior. It helps you to get your market strategies right.
Final Words
Overall, a website for auto dealers plays an important role in marketing, presenting inventory to the customer base, and generating leads. The correct platform choice, deciding all necessary features, and ensuring you optimize for SEO with a user-friendly design create an almighty online presence.
Moreover, you can use the tools of Spyne.AI to sharpen the look and efficiency of the website’s visuals. Spyne’s technology also enables dealerships to present the vehicles more professionally, which keeps the customers engaged with the brand and drives more sales.
