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Earlier we covered the “Just OK is not OK” message phenomenon. It started with AT&T and crossed over into the automotive industry.

We wrote:

Direct Ecommerce auto sales may not kill your dealership in the next few years.  But it is a real threat. Carvanas and Vrooms will come and go.  New startups will pop up with other ideas to chop up and reform the customer buying experience.  Some dealers are already meeting the challenge by building or partnering so they too can not just market, but also sell online.  My last car was bought through such a traditional dealership.  I didn’t set foot in the dealership and I loved it.

There is no doubt that the Internet and technology are impacting the industry and forcing dealers to be more nimble and receptive to change.  You can’t ignore new and more effective ways to reach prospects online, convert them to buyers, and reduce your current costs of doing business.

You can’t settle for just being OK.  More importantly, your customers won’t let you settle.  They’ll simply find a dealer who is more in tune to how they shop and buy now – like I did – not how it used to be done 50 or even 20 years ago.

It certainly applies in EZ360’s specific dealer niche of vehicle photo systems.  Consider the cars in the featured image  above. The vehicle on the left is shot outdoors, already a bad sign since you can’t control lighting strength, source, and reflections. The photo is low resolution.  The background is busy and distracting. All in all, it’s a poor photo. Or rather … it’s ok.

You – or more importantly your prospective buyer –  can tell that the vehicle is real. The car matches the make and model you’re promising.  Point for you!  They can see your dealer name on a plate.  It looks like the car may have had a recent car wash. So it’s … ok?

Aside from that, who knows?  You can’t see all around it.  You can’t see in it.  You can’t see details.  You can’t see the vehicle dashboard, monitor, and other sexy features.  You don’t know if there is major body damage on the other side or minor damage anywhere.  And you expect a web visitor to like it and call you on the phone to see it?

To compound the problem you  priced it as a newly refreshed car with no imperfections.  But your photo sucks, I mean is just ok, and so your web visitor can’t see that.  Is this how you sell a product for thousands – or tens of thousands – of dollars?

Meanwhile, the dealer down the street uses EZ360 photo studio and software like the vehicle on the right side of the photo.  His vehicle display page shows consistent gorgeous pictures with exterior spin animation, interior 360, and video.  The high resolution photos show closeups of key details.  Now THAT’S a car a guy or gal can fall in love with … and buy.

What’s the likelihood of a poorly presented car attracting leads or selling online compared to similar vehicles that are professionally shot?  Not good.  What are the odds that the first dealer is going to have to chop one and then two thousand dollars off the vehicle price to move it. Much higher.

Is ok really just ok?