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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