The Paso Robles Ford website fared well among reviewers, who scored the site particularly high in the navigation, communication, and service and parts sections. While the navigation section didn’t elicit many comments from the reviewers, the scores given to the section spoke for themselves. One reviewer summed it up by saying “navigation [was] smooth overall.”

On the other hand, reviewers made several comments on the communication section. One reviewer said, “Photos of staff are always a good thing. The photos were easy to find and had email links and telephone numbers next to each photo, which is great. I appreciate a site making it easy for me to find basic information.”     
 
Another reviewer seemed to like the fact that photos of staff with contact information were made available, but felt the staff could have been incorporated in the website more. She suggested, “The videos were alright but are basically a short advertisement. The videos should include more staff members.”

One other comment in the communications section was about how the chat option on PasoRoblesFord.com didn’t feel like traditional chat. “The chat button opened a new window that seemed more like an email form than a chat tool. It said, ‘LEAVE A MESSAGE: Please type in your comments/questions in the below box and provide an e-mail address so we can get back to you.’ I was a little put off by it.” 

The service and parts section did a good job of presenting a wealth of information in a straightforward manner. One reviewer complimented, “Great job on service and parts page, especially on posting the hours. The appointment scheduler is nice.”

Another reviewer rated the section high but made a suggestion to cut down on the scrolling necessary on the service and parts pages. “The service section was thorough in the information it provided, but I felt like it could have benefitted from a few good, quick links for things like ‘schedule an appointment,’ ‘request a part’ and ‘email service.’”

The new vehicle section of PasoRoblesFord.com scored well among reviewers and garnered praise for ease of navigation, a wide array of drill-down options and detailed inventory pages for individual vehicles. One reviewer stated, “[New vehicles are] very easy to browse. [You] can drill down on exact make, model, etc.,” adding that the inventory pages are “intuitive.” Another reviewer commented, “The information they provide on each new vehicle is outstanding. The features and specifications are extremely detailed, although there is a disclaimer to the accuracy.”

The one aspect of the new vehicle section reviewers critiqued was the photos. One said that while the photos are of nice quality, she’d like to see more photos of each vehicle. In most cases, each vehicle listing included six to eight photos. Another reviewer made a similar comment about wanting to see more photos and also commented on the two videos that were on each new vehicle inventory listing. “One video left something to be desired, as it was a slideshow of photos accompanied by a computer-generated voice. The other video provided better and more detailed information, but while it was model-specific, it wasn't specific to the dealer’s vehicle because it covered different variations of that model.”

When reviewing the used vehicle section, vehicle photos were again mentioned by reviewers, but the comments were varied, proving how diverse perspectives can be. One reviewer wanted a few more photos of each vehicle, while another reviewer complimented the fact that some of the used vehicles had 10 or more photos. Yet another reviewer was “disappointed that several vehicles did not have a photo available.” Reality is that (at the time this article was written) 14 of the 112 used vehicles on the site had 10 or more photos, 23 had no photos posted and the remainder (75) had six to nine photos per car.

Like the navigation portion of the review, the finance section of PasoRoblesFord.com received high marks but few comments. One person couldn’t find the privacy policy on the credit application. While it was present, it was below other text at the bottom of the application, which required some scrolling. The other comment that a reviewer made about the credit application was: “The credit application was complete, which I personally like, but it might turn some people off. Perhaps the option to do a shorter application would be a good addition for folks who don’t want to enter all that data online.”

As for functionality, the website performed well with appropriate lead forms and proper functionality on mobile sites. The one area where there was room for improvement was the ease of navigation on mobile sites. The mobile site could be set up a bit differently to eliminate the need to click through so many pages to get to view inventory. One has to go through six pages to get to a vehicle details page.

Like many sold dealership websites, the Paso Robles Ford Lincoln site is well-optimized on the three major search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing, with top billing for several different searches.

Overall, reviewers reported favorable experiences on the site. Two reviewers noted the lack of audio on the home page, but they had varied opinions. One said, “No audio when you land on homepage which is great!” The other reviewer said, “I was surprised that more audio isn’t used on this site. A little background music would have been nice, at times.”

Another reviewer commented on the general look and feel of the site. “I noticed some elements that are present on most dealer sites, but the site had some customization which was nice.” She also noted a couple areas of the site she felt could be tweaked for a better online-shopping experience. “There were no Internet specials. It’s OK to not have specials, but the link is prominent on the home page. And there was only one vehicle in the certified pre-owned segment, which seemed odd for a dealership that had over 40 pre-owned vehicles with the franchise monikers (Ford and Lincoln).”

All in all, PasoRoblesFord.com provides an online shopping experience that is head-and-shoulders above many dealer sites.

*The total possible points used to determine the Web Site Score may vary based on the type of dealership reviewed. For example, an independent dealer's site will not have a new vehicle section.

The SEO evaluation is of this website only (not the dealership's overall SEO).


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Vol. 8, Issue 11