Supply and demand crises are becoming our new normal. As supply and demand ebbs and flows, and the influence of other economic and global changes impact our daily lives, the cost of everything from groceries to gas continues to fluctuate.
Beginning in March 2022, gas prices SOARED. Now 4 months later, the average price of a gallon of gas across the country is nearing $5 which is “…a new all-time high not only on a national level but in all 50 states.” Consumers are more price aware and price sensitive than ever which means we have an opportunity to make the information they’re after easily accessible in your automotive digital storefront.
It’s not a surprise that consumers use your website to evaluate your business and look at the inventory you have on hand and/or in transit. In today’s price aware world, consumers want to easily determine how expensive it’ll be to own a vehicle. And what’s the most sought-after piece of information about a vehicle right now? Fuel economy. According to Ansira Business Intelligence Data Insights, consumer engagement with fuel economy filters has increased 200% since March 20221. That’s great! But we wouldn’t be good stewards of making data-driven decisions if we didn’t put that data into action, right? So, what can we do today to give consumers more fuel economy intel about the vehicle(s) they want and display it on your website where your consumers are already looking?
Here are my 5 hot tips:
- Organize your vehicles by fuel types directly in the navigation.
- Consumers are undoubtedly looking at your dealer site navigation to get to the search results page as quickly as possible. Why not show them vehicles grouped by consumer-friendly terms like hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric, etc.?
- Display the fuel economy for your vehicles directly within the vehicle listings on the search results and/or details pages.
- Create a filter option on your vehicle listings page to enable your consumers to easily filter your inventory to show vehicles that match a specific fuel economy range.
- Whose an over-achiever? (It’s me, I am.) Take the filterable option one step further by showcasing a button at the top of your vehicle listings page that shows the consumer your matching vehicles in just 1 click.
- Create specials (offer amount or no offer amount is up to you) to draw attention to vehicles by fuel type (i.e., hybrid, electric, gas, etc.).
- Create a landing page on your website that includes your vehicles pre-filtered by fuel economy and apply an SEO-focused keyword strategy to become the local authority for automotive fuel economy terms in your area.
Don’t delay in asking your automotive website provider to action these for you. The time to help your consumer find what they need to know about fuel economy is now.
Ok, so you’ve implemented my 5 hot tips, now what? Are you thinking you’ll have to undo these features at some point when gas prices drop again because fuel economy won’t be as hot? Not so fast! Even if gas prices do drop in the future by a few pennies or even a couple dollars per gallon, my 5 hot tips are future proofed and here’s why. Auto manufacturers have been vocal about their plans to have a full lineup of electric vehicles in the next 5 – 8 years which means consumers are going to keep paying attention to automotive fuel economy data points. Right now, they’re paying attention because gas prices are high but, in the future, it’ll be because they’ll use this as a comparison point if/when they make the leap into purchasing an electric vehicle.
1 Ansira Business Intelligence Data Insights, June 2022
