Online Video: Car Dealers Sell More Cars With Vid

The Dealer’s Edge reported today that Auto Trader.com estmates that 25% of all U.S. auto dealers now use online video.  That’s a pretty hefty figure when you consider that there are almost 21,000 new car dealers in the U.S.

Larry Pryg, national marketing and ad manager for GM’s certified-used auto business said, “Web Video is Exploding”.
This is largely because it can be created inexpensively, quickly, and results can be measured easily.

“Watch this Video!”

When it comes to Used Cars, websites with video are twice as likely to generate calls or emails from shoppers to dealers than ones without.

Most auto dealers are running some type of video on their own sites.  The videos generally consist of customer testimonials or personal introductions from the dealer.

Some dealers however have figured out that video can be a method to capture customer leads as well.

When a used car customer calls the dealership to ask questions about a used vehicle, the salesperson writes down the questions, then asks the customer if they would like him to send them an email link to an online video, showing the vehicle, and answering the specific questions of the customer.

Within 20 minutes, the customer receives an email with a link and a password to access the video. The customer gets the information that he or she wanted, and the dealership has captured the customer’s email address for follow up.

Dealerships that use this technique reported that an average of 50% of the customers who are sent an online video, come in and buy a car.

Although the cost to produce a professional online video can be around $80.00 per car, with today’s technologies it takes very little for a dealership to produce these inhouse.

The savings are definately much better than $2,000. for a 30 second TV spot, and in many cases much more effective.