Amid a tightening market with fierce competition, automotive dealers have the potential to generate more customer engagement by optimizing photos of their online vehicle inventory.
That is one of the key findings from new Cox Automotive research, which found that dealers benefitted from up to a 5% increase in views of vehicle detail pages (VDPs) when using backgrounded photos as compared to non-backgrounded photos.
The research, which looked at more than 1,600 Autotrader.com listings in the month of September 2017, suggests dealers gain an advantage from utilizing photo backgrounding software, which provides their online listings with a polished look while reinforcing dealership branding.
“When you take an unbelievable photo with a clean background, the car gets 100 percent of the online car shopper’s focus,” said Jason House, Executive General Manager of House Chevrolet Buick Cadillac in Owatonna, Minnesota. “Photo Backgrounding separates my inventory from the competition and gives me a unique advantage in my market. The best way to get a consumer to click on my vehicle is to show them clean photos with enhanced backgrounding!”
Dealers looking to put their best photos forward should consider utilizing Photo Backgrounding powered by HomeNet’s Inventory Online, which lets dealers or lot service providers automatically transpose existing photos on a pre-created background and then syndicate the optimized image to third party advertising sites.
The Photo Backgrounding tool provides dealers with:
- A wide range of backgrounding options, with the ability to choose from 17 standard backgrounds options
- Add image overlays that match dealership branding
- Clean, consistent booth-quality backgrounds with no added effort
“It’s no secret that attractive photos catch shoppers’ eyes and that you only have a few seconds to make the right impression with a potential customer,” said Russ Daniels, Senior Manager of Product Marketing, HomeNet. “Dealers are always looking to reduce time to market while optimizing the quality of their online listings, and our solution enables them to significantly streamline the inventory merchandising process by removing the need to individually stage vehicles for the perfect shot.”