IS YOUR WEBSITE OPTIMIZED?
To say these are trying and difficult times would be an understatement, and one that all of us here at Interactive Garage would never make light of. So with that on the table and being said up front, lets see what we can all do to keep moving forward.
From the aspect of the business at hand that we are all in, what can we do to help out?
First lets start by looking at your online set up. More than ever with mandated “stay at home” directives from states and cities across the US and Canada, people are at home and stats show, ONLINE. Is your website optimized, up to date and ready to handle the potential needs of your current and more important “potential” customers? What is your message in the social arenas (facebook, twitter, Instagram, etc)? Are you staying active and sending out messages to your followers? Now more than ever we all need communication with one another, let people know that your still out there, still in business and still going to kick and scratch to keep moving along.
I try to think of what I’d do as a consumer in these times. What am I doing now that my work is shut down and I’m home with my family? The majority of people/families at home right now have 4x more time spent online searching around on social sites, news sites, and believe it or not shopping. Not buying as a whole, but shopping.
“Shopping”:
By definition….is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them.
Yahoo, Google, facebook and Amazon have all reported that website traffic is through the roof in terms of people online right now and searching just about everything under the sun from who has toilet paper in stock, what auto makers are doing “virus blow out deals on vehicles” all the way to where to vacation when this pandemic is over. Our automotive aftermarket industry is in that mix too. I personally follow a few different groups on facebook (JL, Gladiator, Chevy 2500 and many other owners groups) and other than bitching about the most recent recall on a rear leaky window seal what I’m seeing a ton of is “anyone seeing any great deals out there right now because of all this coronavirus crap”?
Consumers are always going to be consumers, no virus can stop that. And consumers in the auto aftermarket industry are some of the most vigilant around, always out looking, shopping, and researching for what is new, what is cheap and what others suggest. If your not taking advantage of that right now with your website and out on the social media platforms you truly are missing out. Missing out on the possibility of a new customer or new fan/follower of your company.
We will bounce back, we will get back to business as we know it. It’s going to be up to you to re-write if that is “business as usual” or “business with a boom”. What you do now will determine if you go back to the same ol fight or if that fight now takes you to a new level of change going forward.
From an Interactive Garage point of view, where do I suggest you spend some time updating your website:
1. Where is Interactive Garage located on your site? Just like in real estate, “Location, Location, Location” is everything on your website.
– First, make sure that Interactive Garage is on your site and in a place that is easy for your customers to get to. From a good home page banner to top and bottom navigation listing.
– Interactive Garage was built to help your customers see what products look like on their vehicle. And while doing that, it is an educational / informative tool that will also help “up sell” into other products that they might have otherwise not have known about.
– “Up sell” or as we have found in most cases, ability to dream big and see what else is out there that they can see their vehicle becoming in the future. “Build your dream vehicle” is our main tag line on the year, make, model page for a reason. We know the possibility of a customer using IG that builds up a 15-20 item vehicle worth over $15k in retail is not going to be the norm. But letting them dream big and get ideas is where it is all at.
– Interactive Garage has an average time spent on our program (across all our licensees) of over 9 minutes and 29 seconds. In these times of more and more consumers “shopping”, making sure they have a great place to “shop” should be your focus.
– I’ve put some links below to marketing items like logos, vehicles, banners, etc to help out. If there is anything else you’d like please don’t hesitate to ask. We’ll do what ever we can to assist you and your needs.
IG logos, click HERE
IG web banners, click HERE
IG “exploded” vehicle images, click HERE
2. E-mail Vehicle Build:
– If you have IG on your site and you don’t have this option enabled, YOU MUST DO SO ASAP! There are so many benefits around this function that we built.
1. Email build gives the consumer on your site the ability to send themselves a copy or blueprint of what they just spent 9+ minutes configuring on your site. Great for consumer UX (user experience).
2. You also get bcc’d on every vehicle build that comes from your site. You get the consumers email as well as first and last name. Yes, some will give a BS first and last name, but if they want the build sent to them they will have to give a legit email address. A consumers email is just the first piece of great info that you can start building a customer database around. What they also give you is the vehicle they possibly have and what products they are interested in. (if the bells in your head are not going off on what you can do with this info then you might need a marketing manager at your company). Email, vehicle, parts interested in…pleanty of info to go and start
3. Online Shopping Cart:
– If your lucky enough to already have a shopping cart on your website, and if you have not done so already, we can hook your Interactive Garage to your shopping cart. Giving your customers/consumers the ability to checkout right off your site is huge. Eliminate the ability for that consumer to do all the research on your site and then be forced to go to another site to purchase if and when they are ready.
4. Pricing is EVERYTHING:
– Let’s face it, right now more than ever consumers are price shopping from site to site trying to find the best deals. Without getting into MAP policies and margins it takes to run your business, all I can suggest is you do the homework necessary to get the prices listing on your Interactive Garage at a level that will put your company in the running for getting that accessory/accessories sold.
5. Social Media blitz:
– Create a post on your social media around having your followers go to your websites Interactive Garage to build up a vehicle and send you a screen shot or image of their build.
“Got some extra time at home and looking for something fun to do? Go to our Interactive Garage custom vehicle builder and show us what your ultimate dream vehicle would look like. Share that image on our page and the person with the most likes to their image/build at the end of the week will get a free t-shirt (hat, koozie, 20% off anything ordered, etc)”.
– Take $10,20, or $100 and boost that post for the week. Make sure you target the right people in your area or if national really dig deep down and target particular vehicle owners and groups.
– Facebook will organically reward that boost with additional reach as it has been proven that posts and boosted posts to Interactive Garage is the exact marketing FB is looking for for their fb audience. Why is that? Facebook looks at the time spent from going off FB to your page and then when the user returns. That “interaction” time (which IG averages over 9 minutes per user per build) fb sees as great user experience. As fb is all about user experience, they will reward you in additional reach…that is fact that we have proven and used with fb over the last 4 years.
– Take this time, this down time that your customers/consumers have and make it the best possible experience for them. Wether they use your Interactive Garage as a time killer, game, or to research what accessories are available for their vehicle/s, use your Interactive Garage to its fullest extent. And not only just Interactive Garage, your website as a whole.
(*) RCH Designs / Interactive Garage Software™ Disclaimer:
All products added to the Interactive Garage Software™ program are the property of the vendors / manufacturersthat produce the products. RCH Designs, LLC does not give nor have the right to sell, distribute or authorize the use of said products to any user of the Interactive Garage™ Software Program. All users of the software must make their own arrangements to sell and/or distribute said products with the vendors / manufacturers directly.
About Interactive Garage Software™: Interactive Garage is the ultimate automotive accessories sales assistant. Combining innovative custom-built software with digital imaging in an interactive manner creating the best user experience accessible both online and on-site. Visit interactivegarage.com
If you don’t see a product category that fits what you manufacturer, please call us @ 435-879-8208 to discuss, or email ryan@interactivegarage.com. The software has no limitations, adding new product categories or sub categories is just a mouse click away.
