Selling cars is not easy, especially when it means competing for virtual space. Every so often, a new trend takes over and dealerships scramble to find marketers who can provide that service. VDP traffic has turned into one of those tools. Some marketers swear by it; other agencies say it’s a waste of money. In this post, we’re going to talk about the positive and negative aspects of driving traffic directly to VDPs so that you can make an informed decision about how to market your inventory.
First, let’s look at the advantages. Obviously, it’s direct and convenient. If someone is looking to purchase a particular sedan model, there’s no point in leading them to a page listing all of the cars you have in stock. Folks who are debating about trim level or between one model and another will be intrigued to look around the rest of your website. Best of all, you’re much more likely to get someone to fill out a lead form or use the click-to-chat feature if you have engaging content.
There is a downside, though. Direct-to-VDP ads, whether it’s PPC, classified sites, or any other technique, are reliant on inventory feed updates. What happens when the feed isn’t updated on time and a user clicks on a link to a VDP?
They see a 404 error, also known as an unfound page. Most likely, they won’t know to visit your website but will go back to whatever page they were on beforehand. It’s impossible to update feeds every minute, so it’s a risk that GMs have to decide to take or leave.
Since we’re on the topic of traffic, we’ve also got tips on generating organic traffic and ensuring quality traffic arrives at your website. It might seem like a bunch of marketing jargon, but the more you know, the wiser you will be at finding the right vendors for your store.
By the way, our program doesn’t do direct-to-VDP traffic because we kept hearing complaints about this problem. So not only is our traffic focused on behavioral and geographic targeting, but we’re also doing everything we can to make sure potential shoppers interested in your inventory get the best content we can write. Want to know how we do it? Give us a call or drop us a line and we’ll set up a presentation right away.
