eBook Chapter 6: What Happens After a Prospect Clicks on a Display ad?

The following is an excerpt from the recent eBook, How Do You Make Online Display Ads Work for Automotive Dealers, discussing how online display advertising has evolved and is changing the way some auto dealerships and their marketing departments approach online advertising. This sixth chapter focuses on the importance of delivering the proper follow-up content after a prospect reachers your landing page.

When a prospect clicks through to your landing page, you have reached a significant milestone in the sales process, and you need to deliver the proper follow-up content accordingly. 

The landing page is likely the most important part of an online display campaign, and it is up to you to make it engaging, straightforward and user friendly. While there are no hard and fast rules to developing a landing page, there are some pointers you can use to make yours successful.

Create an attention grabbing headline with a more detailed sub-heading that’s directly related to the display ad the visitor clicked on. In the case of car dealerships, your ideal landing page is the Vehicle Details Page (VDP) that discusses features, availability and location. 

Make sure to include many images of the vehicle clicked on in the display ad, as well as bullet points that describe the details and features of that particular car. As a practical matter, provide photos that you’ve taken at your dealership, with as many close-ups as possible. Keep in mind that consumers can be turned away by stock images of vehicles from the manufacturer or another source. They want to see photos of the exact car they’re considering.

Supply a clear call to action that details the next steps for your potential customer: whether they should include contact information, fill out a form or call to make an appointment with a sales professional, etc. Please avoid the temptation to give the user more than 3 options to submit a lead — simple is better.

Note: Very few companies have the ability to direct display ad traffic to your specific VDP’s. If you are working with a vendor that cannot display all of your live inventory in a targeted and personalized way — and direct the traffic to the specific VDP of the vehicle the user clicks on, you had better look for a new vendor.