Until a year ago, Trent Waybright measured the success of his digital ad spending at Kelley Automotive Group by how many shoppers filled out form leads on inventory or contacted one of the group's six stores by phone.
Not anymore. Today, Waybright, director of used-vehicle operations for the Fort Wayne, Ind., dealership group, is all about VDPs.
That's shorthand for a vehicle detail page, an online listing of a specific vehicle in inventory, complete with its description, photos and vehicle identification number.
By using advanced inventory software, Waybright can predict when one of his used vehicles is about to sell based on how many people click into its vehicle detail page.
Not enough VDP views, and Waybright lowers the price until views accelerate. Then, when his vehicle has considerably more views than comparable vehicles of competitors in his market, boom, a customer walks into a Kelley store, usually unannounced, and buys the car or truck.
"Back in the day, we based our return on investment on the number of form leads we received," Waybright said. "Now our goal is to get as many VDPs on our cars as possible."