Recently, we have been witnessing a drastic transformation in the automobile industry and it is only expected to grow more with time. A majority of car buyers depend on dealer websites to make purchasing decisions. Therefore, selecting a suitable car dealer website builder is necessary to design an attractive and optimized website to stay in competition. If car companies focus on building a professional, well-designed, and user-friendly website, it will increase their brand value and sales volume. This way, it becomes easy to target a wider audience and improve sales performance in the market.
Hence, keep reading to learn more about selecting the best website builder for car dealerships.
What Is a Car Dealer Website Builder?
A specialized online tool that is used to create and manage automotive websites is known as a car dealer website builder. Unlike generic website builders, an auto dealer website builder has specific features like lead generation tools, high-quality graphics and pictures, inventory management, and third-party integration tools.
Moreover, the automotive website design can help a car dealership rank higher in the SERPs due to the use of SEO optimization tools. It also helps to create more organic traffic through the incorporation of a good website structure, mobile optimization, relevant clickables, and so on. Therefore, using a suitable dealership website builder will improve the website’s performance and eventually increase sales.
Apart from this, an auto dealer website builder will help create high-end graphics of car models which will increase website engagement. Such platforms also help streamline operations for car dealers because of inventory stock check integration, feature display, spin 360 views, expansive gallery, and so on.
Why Is a Professional Website Essential for Car Dealerships?
Having a professional website is important for car dealerships for several reasons. If you’re still wondering about its importance, here are four key reasons why a well-designed and functional website is essential for a car dealer:
1. Improved Client Base and Interaction
Since many people begin their decision to buy a car through an online search, having a website that is an initial contact point for customers is essential. Moreover, a strong online presence gives auto dealers a broader market prospect than the actual market. Through this website, customers can look for a car of their choice, compare it with other cars, or learn more about its value and affordability.
However, the car dealership website design can be a crucial factor in improving the client base and making the website interactive. A well-optimized website increases the dealership’s web presence by increasing visits to the website and communicating with the customers as they make the buying decision.
2. Improved Customer Experience
A dealership website means customers can avoid running around visiting the dealership to make their buying experience easier. Therefore, a car dealer website builder should create a website with functionalities such as inventory search, vehicle comparison, financing calculators, and appointment scheduling.
It enriches the customer experience, ultimately leading to a positive purchase decision. Therefore, dealerships will benefit because of higher sales volume and getting a competitive edge in the automotive industry.
3. Streamlined Inventory Management
The best car dealer website builder in the industry will always focus on streamlining inventory management. They will seamlessly integrate the website with your DMS to give customers real-time information on the availability of vehicle models. This not only optimally enhances efficiency, but also secures trust from potential buyers who consider the website as their potential source of information.
4. Stronger Brand Credibility
An automotive company can structure its website and project a professional brand image, to create a competitive advantage. The appearance and usability of the website is important in creating strong brand credibility for an automobile retailer. Moreover, a professional website also displays customer reviews, upcoming product launches, discount offers, and additional information that interests customers. This helps to enhance the brand’s credibility and establish a wider client base.
Key Features for a Car Dealership Website Design
In building an automotive website, its design has a major role to play helping to create customer traffic and conversion rates. Therefore, the best website builder for car dealerships will always focus on developing a website that specifically serves the automotive industry. Here are five essential features every car dealership website design should have:
1) Responsive Layout and Mobile-friendly Design
Many car shoppers use mobile phones and tablets to get information about car model specifications. This requires a car dealer website builder to incorporate mobile-responsiveness features. With this feature, it is possible to optimize the website content for mobile phones and tablets.
Mobile compatibility also places the site higher on SERPs as compared to less optimized websites. Furthermore, optimizing a car dealership website that is compatible with mobile devices is necessary since it allows many potential customers to find the updated inventories, prices, and other sections without any struggle.
2) Advanced Inventory Search and Filtering Option
An effectively integrated design is crucial for optimal navigation on an automotive dealership website. Therefore, a car custom website builder should include a well-designed, attractive homepage with filtering options.
It should let visitors do an advanced inventory search giving them the stock information. This way, customers can make a quick purchasing decision considering other factors like model, manufacturing year, price, mileage, and other related factors.
3) Integrated Lead Generation Tools
A well-designed car dealership website should generate many leads. Website features like contact forms, call-to-action, and live chat enable dealerships to acquire customer information from web visitors and convert them to prospects.
Therefore, a car dealer website builder should consider incorporating these features to attract potential buyers. Other useful actions include automated follow-up emails, appointment scheduling, and personalized offers that can be initiated.
4) High-quality visuals and Virtual Showroom Features
One of the significant components of a car dealership’s website is how to represent car models on the site. Thus, best car dealer website builders always incorporate high-quality pictures to get a better look at the car models. Some websites even provide the readers with a 360-degree view or a virtual tour enabling the customers to see around the vehicle.
Hence, an auto dealer website builder always focuses on integrating high-quality visuals and virtual showroom features in an automotive website. Thus, visitors will be turned into potential customers, increasing the website’s engagement.
5) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Local SEO Tools
The main objective of any car dealership website is to provide complete information on car specifications for different vehicle models. Also, a dealership website builder should include SEO features because willing consumers will turn to search engines as their primary source to get information about vehicles. Therefore, the best car dealer website builder will always optimize the website using SEO best practices to get a high rank in SERPs like Google.
How to Select the Best Website Builder for Car Dealership
Today, most customers start their car buying process on the Internet. Therefore, choosing the right auto dealer website builder to create and manage a car dealership website is essential for business expansion in the automotive industry. The website should have a good structure and be user-friendly to gain clients and make sales. Here are six tips that can be used to get the right car dealership website builder:
1. Assess Inventory Management Features
A critical function that any car dealership website should support is the ability to present its vehicle stock to prospective customers. As a car dealer, ensuring that a car dealer website builder incorporates features like inventory management is essential. These include the ability to incorporate high-quality images of the vehicles, elaborated descriptions of the vehicle model and its specifications, pricing strategy, and so on. Furthermore, a good automotive website builder should also allow customers to filter or search through inventory using the make, model, year, price, and even mileage.
2. Evaluate User Experience and Mobile Responsiveness
Currently, many customers prefer mobile traffic originating from smartphone devices. To a car dealership, this means that the website has to be easily navigable from a smartphone or tablet. Customers should be able to view all comparable options in a user-friendly manner which will help them make a decision. Therefore, when choosing a car dealer website builder, it is important to have designs that are mobile-optimized to enhance user experience.
3. Look for Lead Generation and CRM Incorporation
A car dealership website is designed for lead generation and management of customers. Therefore, the criteria while choosing the car dealership website builder must include lead generation tools like contact forms, chatbots, test drive request forms, and Calls-To-Action (CTAs). Some of the best car dealer website builders offer seamless integration of CRM to help customers get the required information about vehicles. Also, incorporating the CRM system will make it possible to track customer interactions and maintain a list of potential buyers.
4. Prioritize SEO and Marketing Tools
A dealership website must be optimized using SEO and marketing tools for better visibility. Also, optimizing the website with the right SEO tools will attract more organic visitors. Therefore, there will be higher chances of making more sales and competing with other car dealers in the industry. Some of the factors that should be looked at are the custom meta tags, meta descriptions, URL structures, image quality, and page loading speed. Furthermore, Google Analytics should be used as a tracking system to analyze the users’ interactions and site performance to identify any problems.
5. Consider Customization Options
A well-structured, aesthetic, and optimized website is an extension of the dealership’s brand. Therefore, selecting the best car dealer website builder requires considering customization options. In other words, the builder should provide continuous customization of the website to keep it updated and maintain a high level of website engagement. Some of the customization options that are used commonly are:
- Options for incorporating videos, virtual tours, and high-quality images.
- The ability to add elements like dealership logos and other branding items.
- Ability to change colors, fonts, and layouts.
- Customizable headers and footers.
6. Evaluate Customer Support and Training Resources
Many car dealer website builders offer website-building training and onboarding resources to help in the initial stages. Even if the website builder is simple to use, there will always be many questions or problems to encounter. This is why it is important to choose the platform which provides administrative services. Therefore, car companies should always look for website builders that assist with live talk, mail, phone, or FAQ sections.
How Spyne.AI Helps as a Car Dealer Website Builder
Spyne.AI is a powerful AI-driven platform that helps car dealers build well-designed and professional websites. They offer to give visitors a seamless experience that converts them into prospective buyers. Here is how Spyne helps as a car dealer website builder:
a) AI-Powered Image Enhancement
One of the advanced features that Spyne offers is to enhance vehicle images with AI. This helps to create high-quality pictures which is crucial to attract customers. The platform automatically modifies the raw images uploaded by car dealers with AI-powered technology. Moreover, this feature can remove unnecessary backgrounds, improve resolution, and enhance lighting.
b) Automated Inventory Management
Spyne has an automated inventory management system which reduces the time and effort required to manage the vehicle listings. Furthermore, a car dealer website builder should incorporate this feature to allow car dealerships to stay competitive and enhance the customer experience.
c) Customizable Website Templates
Spyne offers different customizable automotive website templates which ensures that the automotive website is well-designed and attractive. Moreover, it also helps to easily modify features like colors, layouts, design, and branding elements. Hence, dealers can get a significant competitive edge in the automobile industry with these attractive website creation templates.
d) Lead Generation and SEO Optimization
An automotive website should incorporate several SEO optimization tools for better visibility. Spyne provides the incorporation of SEO tools and features like test drive requests, contact forms, financing applications, and other built-in features.
Final Thoughts
In this digital era, selecting the right car dealer website builder is a crucial decision for car dealerships. They should focus on many factors like whether they are incorporating necessary features like lead generation, inventory management, customer relationship management, mobile responsiveness, SEO best practices, and so on. With the right website builder, car dealers can get the required organic traffic, ultimately increasing their sales.
