Digital Advertising Resource for
RV Dealers and RV Industry

Huge in Auto Yes, But What About RV? …

Posted by Shawn Friesen on Apr 24, 2013

In case you missed it, a large scale, “big data” study was just recently released by Cobalt for the auto industry.

Quite possibly it applies to the RV sector as well. Let us know what you think …

Cobalt did an exhaustive, in-depth analysis of the specific actions car buyers take before they purchase i.e. every action step before they buy. Online and offline. And, it looks crystal clear (from this study anyways) that …

“The more car shoppers engage with your Vehicle Detail Pages (VDPs),

the quicker your cars will move off your lot – and that’s a fact.”

Check out this graph –

Click to view larger image.
Source: Cobalt Business Intelligence VIN Study, 2012.

Stands to reason somewhat, doesn’t it?

Notice that “Average Days in Inventory” appears on the vertical axis (the more days in inventory [i.e. the taller the vertical bar], the worse, of course.) As you can see however, moving along the graph towards the right on the horizontal axis, the more Vehicle Detail Page (VDP) views a unit gets, the less time that unit sits on the lot.

And, less time in inventory is a very good thing!

Vehicle Detail Page (VDP) Views Appear to be King.

Is this something you always knew, deep down in your gut? Have you always thought, “Yes, the number of VDP views I get (and the amount of time consumers spend on my VDPs) – is truly where the rubber meets the road?” Or … not so much?

This big auto industry study actually comes as a bit of a relief. It’s good to have some fresh, scientific evidence in hand – like this Cobalt study – to help RV dealers evaluate / assess / think about the ramifications for the RV biz.

If it is really true that the more time a customer clocks looking at your Vehicle Detail Page, the faster that unit is gone, what does that imply about the quality of the information required on your Vehicle Detail Pages?

How now will you photograph your units?
How hard will you push to get a 3-minute video onto each one of your ads?
Is this study a game-changer for the way you merchandise RVs?

If you knew – that you knew – that you knew – VDP views and time spent on VDPs are the most important metrics in RV, what would you do differently? From now on?

“He who gets the most RV shoppers to hang around on his VDPs … the longest … WINS!”

If you really think VDPs are “it,” here are some things you can try …

Win the clicks on Search Results Pages (SRPs).
Push links to VDPs in all of your other online and offline advertising (more info to follow).
And, build better classified ads – ads people WANT to hang out on, have a serious look at, read, examine, enjoy, share, dream about and respond to.

And, you might want to consider some of these ideas as well …

What are your thoughts? Do you think this big auto study applies in the RV biz as well?

Will this cause you to make any modifications to your systems? Let’s discuss.