Could vs. Should vs. Have To
COULD vs. SHOULD
If there were one thing that will trump any COULD versus SHOULD debate in a strategy discussion it would be HAVE TO.
How many of you have found yourselves in a situation where no matter how hard you try to discourage a client from using a new, “cool” online tool, you wind up “just giving it a try?”
We COULD
Recently, a major luxury automotive manufacturer offered Rovion intros (you know, the little video people that step out in front of the site and talk to you) to its dealers, free of charge. One of our clients happens to be one of those dealers and so…now that we CAN do it SHOULD we do it? First off, we’re starting this entire process backwards. Instead of setting a goal and identifying tools, which will help us achieve that goal, we’re starting with a tool and creating a goal so that we can use the tool.
So what is the goal? Make it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for.
At first look, the homepage (which we did not design) is already packed with more information (I’m counting thirty different elements) than one person could process during a twenty-minute lunch break. So, I ask myself, who is visiting this site, what are they looking to do and how is a video of the dealer popping up in the bottom corner going to make it easier for them to do whatever it is they intend on doing?
Let’s take a look at the Who and the What
When looking at visiting an automotive dealer’s website from a user’s point of view, there are really four main types of visitors:
Meet visitor #1 – New Car Guy
Hi, I’m looking to buy a new car. I want to see pictures, prices and specific details of your new vehicle inventory and I want to check out your new car specials.
Meet visitor #2 – Used Car Guy
Hi, I’m looking to buy a pre-owned vehicle. I want to see pictures, prices and specific details of your used vehicle inventory and I want to check out your used car specials.
Meet visitor #3 – Service Guy
Hi, I’m looking to service my car. I want to see your service specials and schedule an appointment.
Meet visitor #4 – General Info Guy
Hi, I’m in need of general information like your sales and service hours, directions or your phone number.
So, we know that most of our visitors are one of the above four. On this particular site’s homepage, a new car buyer has the option of clicking on five “buttons” that directly relate to searching for a new car. The used car buyer has six “buttons” to choose from. The service customer has three and you can find general information by clicking on one of five different “buttons.”
Clearly, we’re going to need to add yet another element to this page to help these people find what they are looking for and, best of all, this one is going to move and talk (if you have your volume up.)
So, SHOULD We?
Uhhmmm…in my professional opinion, no. Visitors have multiple options to find exactly what they are looking for. We want to make it easy for them to find exactly what they are looking for. An additional element is only going to slow that process down. What kind of content will we choose to use for the Rovion video? Should we be speaking to New Car Guy or Used Car Guy? Service Guy or Everyone? Is Service Guy really going to want to hear about a huge selection of brand new 2009 vehicles? Does Used Car Guy really want to know about how many service bays the dealership has? Maybe we should just point out the thirty different options the visitor has to take on the homepage. “If your looking for a new car, click the New Inventory button on the top right or, the Internet Specials on the top left, or the Search New Inventory button on the bottom left…you get the idea. The last thing this page needs is one more distraction to join the umpteen blinking and flashing buttons which already exist on the page.
What if we HAVE TO?
After all, it’s free and cool and, most importantly, the client insists.
O.K. Let’s remember that our goal is to help our client gain and retain customers and the best way to do that is help those customers find what they are looking for on the site. At this point, it’s important to step back from our position of don’t do and come up with a strategy to make this work and that is just what we intend to do.
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Just what I was looking for! Great article
I think it is a pretty ironic thing because I feel that a lot of companies want to use the “new and latest thing” but it may not neccesily be the best move!!
If the Rovion product is free and the client wants to “try it out” then perhaps it makes sense to create 3 separate Rovion messages, one each for the “New Car Guy,” the “Used Car Guy,” and the “Service Guy.” The Rovion message would then exist on the subpages of the site instead of the home page. Each message could then speak directly to the general needs of each different customer. That would allow the client to try the free service but also provide the greatest chance for success. Just my 2 cents.
I don’t think that there has been any studies done on whether the talking people in and of themselves have helped the ROI for any given site. That said, load time for a page has been studied and in general the longer it takes to load a page the more likely the user will click away.
If it comes down to ‘HAVE TO’ then make sure it is loaded last so that the user does not have to wait to take action before the video starts.
If in the end you have no choice but to play it first (forcing the user to wait through before clicking – bad idea), then make sure you can quantify the poor results that will inevitably come from such a terrible strategy in order to persuade the dealer to choose another path.
I would of course remind them that they are selling cars not people and that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Faster pages with less but clearer choices always wins. Ego must be moved out of the equation in order to service the user. In the end it is the user who speaks loudest – with their wallets.
Forgot to add that you could and should use A/B testing in order to track the results separately to use for analysis.