CHICAGO -

We’ve covered phase two of the new digital decision journey — active evaluation — and have offered some insights on how to come out on top during this phase. In this chapter, we’ll move onto phase three: the trigger phase, in which Gen X and Y car shoppers decide if they’ll visit your lot — or that of your competitors.

First, we need to explore the motivations behind the trigger-pull. In other words, what makes those searching for online vehicle information cease their search and head to the lot? According to our research, it’s usually one of three things:

•    The shopper connects with an online listing, causing him to visit the dealership

•    The shopper visits a dealership to physically see/test drive a specific model new to her consideration set and the dealer closes the sale

•    An external event creates urgency: e.g. an accident or a long commute to work

Adding to the likelihood that shoppers will end their search is the belief that a vehicle is a great fit for their needs at a great value, and they’re afraid to miss it.

On the other hand, consumers can become bogged down during the active evaluation phase, finding it hard to quickly and easily identify a vehicle and dealer because of an overwhelming amount of information. In this situation, they’ll either skim the surface to avoid the pain of information overload, or try to dig into every detail and suffer fatigue as a result.

So what can you do to ensure that shoppers pull the trigger on your lot — and don’t get drowned in information or lost along the way? First, create robust listings that are easy to scan and capture key takeaways.

Second, when someone comes to your dealership, use it as an opportunity to help create that sense of urgency — either by illustrating an unbeatable value or making the vehicle seem so relevant to the shopper’s needs that he couldn’t possibly pass it up.

In the next several chapters, we’ll dive deeper into what makes for more relevant online listings, sure to help persuade Gen X and Y shoppers to pull the trigger. Stay tuned!
 

Editor's Note: To learn more from this series, see: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V.

Patrick McMullen is vice president of sales at MAX Systems. This blog entry and others can be found at www.getrelevantordie.com.