Lease Here Pay Here dealers, like Buy Here Pay Here dealers, have been relegated for years to being the last stop on the block when it comes to customer acquisition. Buyers have turned to “in-house financing” dealers because they could not get approved at traditional sources. By changing the approach to customer acquisition, the LHPH dealer can level the playing field with the stores offering traditional financing to buyers. The question becomes- how do we change the approach to level the playing field? The answer comes in an overall strategy that is based on key search predicates that are KNOWN and are market based.
The strategy that has worked best for our LHPH clients at Local Wërks is simple- keep the geographical target tight, use credit predicated keywords to drive clicks, provide CREDIT FIRST content to drive conversion and have solid lead handling processes in-store. Under this strategy the playing field is leveled because Google is agnostic to the dealer itself. Google does not determine that it would be better for the buyer to engage with Dealer A as opposed to Dealer B because of the size difference. Google simply serves the ad based on the relevancy of the keyword(s) and the proximity of the dealer. Google is an auction environment and, as such, functions very similarly to any other auction.
So now, let’s look at the four areas that make for successful campaigning.
Geographical Targeting- the best approach is to create concentric circles around the dealership. For instance, we will pay more for a click at 10 miles from the dealership than we will 50 miles from the dealership. If we can obtain the click at 50 miles away for pennies, we will certainly take it, but we want to OWN the radius closest to our store.
Keywords- The correct use of keyword phrases is the paramount to competing. We may want the customer that says, “finance car with BK”, but we DON’T want the search that says “Finance car with BK and zero down”. Although we cannot negative keyword every phrase, we can hit the important keywords to keep the funnel as clean as possible. Once the keywording is established and is getting the click we are halfway to the customer acquisition.
Conversion Content- Conversion content is key. If the shopper hits the landing page because they wanted to finance a car with a bankruptcy and our page content doesn’t re-assure them that they can do so with us, they will leave without converting to a call or form fill- essentially, we have wasted our money on that click. Average landing pages convert at 5-6%, good landing pages convert at 15-20%, the “cream of the crop” convert at 30% +. The higher the conversion rate the less you spend on Google OR the more leads you receive.
Lead Handling- This is the final stage of the lead process before you sell a car. The team may be the best team in the world when the customer hits the door, but if they cannot effectively handle calls and forms the customer never hits the door. Check your processes starting with response time, type and frequency.
LHPH Wërks- Local Wërks has created a custom platform specifically for LHPH dealers. (www.lhphwerks.io). The platform begins with a Market Specific Lead analysis that will tell the dealer how many EXCLUSIVE leads are available in their market. Local Wërks is not a 3rd party that purchases wholesale leads and re-sells them. All leads are generated through paid search using intuitive automation to drive customers to custom landing pages, convert them and push them directly into your lead delivery portal (CRM, underwriting tool, email address).