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Old 01-30-2013, 10:17 AM   #1
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Arrow RV Internet Experience

I'm not sure if this is the right place and I hope it's okay as a dealer to ask some questions. We carry a lot of Forest River product. I personally really like the Prime Time line. We just started to carry it.

I'm the internet development person at our dealership and I have some questions for the RV community.

Obviously as a dealer we have to sell in order to stay in business, so I'm always looking for a better way to reach our customers in the best way possible with out "being in your face." We send out newsletters, maintain website, do Craigslist, Facebook, twitter, Pinterest and other things.

My questions is what makes the best web experience for you, the customer? What turns you off? What gets your attention? Is advertising "lifestyle" or "sales" more important to you? What kind of pictures do you like? Do you read the descriptions or just look at pictures? What are the most important details to you, the customer? How likely are to to contact the dealership through the website? Do you like the "Sales Price" to be shown or would you rather call and ask? Do you like Walk Through Videos? How likely are you to review a company through Yelp or Google + after a good or bad experience? How likely are you to go find your dealership on Facebook and Twitter and follow them after buying from them? If there was a way to do "Live Chat" would you participate?



I always try to do different things with our website, but I don't every get feed back on whether or not they are working.

I would love it if the RV community would give me feed back on our website on how to improve and perhaps information from this thread could help RV dealership become better by getting valuable feed back from customer.

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Old 01-30-2013, 10:24 AM   #2
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Thanks for asking. I see a lot of dealer websites that have many photos of the units but no floorplan. I usually have a hard time getting the big picture unless I can combine the floorplan with the actual photos. I have also seen video walkthroughs that I thought were helpful. I also like seeing the sales price so I won't be wasting time investigating something I might now be able to afford.
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Old 01-30-2013, 10:31 AM   #3
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@mjones12

Thanks for your reply.

Many dealerships use a third party website. For most of the models, they have the floor plan preloaded, but obviously many of the pre-owned units and some of the newest one's aren't there. That's something that I can probably find on my own though and we can improve.

One reason I ask about the "Sale Price" is that even though we put that price in, it's obviously negotiable. So even though you see a "sale price" it would probably end up being less. I think that's how a lot of dealerships work. Perhaps that why many people don't like "sales" at times. lol

Thanks for your feed back! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer.
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Old 01-30-2013, 10:32 AM   #4
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I agree with mjones. I want to see at least the 'sticker' price of the unit and a floor plan. The more pictures of the ACTUAL unit you are selling (not just 'stock' photos), the better. A video walkthrough is icing on the cake. Definately need the dry and gross weights of the unit. A count of how many people the unit can sleep is nice as well.

We just upgraded our TT last summer, and the website was THE deciding factor between the several dealers in our area. The dealer we went with had all the things above on their website. The couple that we didn't either didn't list all their inventory on line, or if they did, didn't list the additional details that allowed us to know what was right for us.

I'd consider us the typical family-aged RV buyer - husband and wife in early 40s, 4 kids. We've bought our last several cars as well as our two TT's owned so far by starting online and looking through dealer inventory there, and only showed up at the dealership to narrow down our selection between a couple of choices and then make the final deal.

If I've got to call you to find out the basics of what I need to know about the unit, then I'm moving on to the next dealer, frankly.

I also like getting the newsletters from our dealer through email. Actually, it was their newsletter announcing their end of clearance sale that led to us making the move late last summer to do our trade. I don't want to bombarded every 5 minutes, but an email every month or two letting me know what's going on, what's new and what's on sale, coupon for service, etc I do like.
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Old 01-30-2013, 10:33 AM   #5
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Pictures catch my attention first , vidio walkthroughs are good, something[anything] advertized with no price, don't expect a call from me, not going to happen.
Facebook,twitter, pinderest save yourself the time for something useful. If I'm searching Craigslist or Kijiji and I find what I want, Pictures, discription and price for parts [new and used] and brand of parts is the way you'll get my attention, when I'm shopping online
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Old 01-30-2013, 10:39 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by bjesparza1988 View Post
I'm not sure if this is the right place and I hope it's okay as a dealer to ask some questions. We carry a lot of Forest River product. I personally really like the Prime Time line. We just started to carry it.

I'm the internet development person at our dealership and I have some questions for the RV community.

Obviously as a dealer we have to sell in order to stay in business, so I'm always looking for a better way to reach our customers in the best way possible with out "being in your face." We send out newsletters, maintain website, do Craigslist, Facebook, twitter, Pinterest and other things.

My questions is what makes the best web experience for you, the customer? Details about the product and pictures What turns you off? Many websites use photo's that do not even match the model What gets your attention? Details about the trailer like weights and specifications Is advertising "lifestyle" or "sales" more important to you? What kind of pictures do you like? More the better Do you read the descriptions or just look at pictures? Read the description What are the most important details to you, the customer? How likely are to to contact the dealership through the website? Very likely - I prefer to communicate through emails Do you like the "Sales Price" to be shown or would you rather call and ask? Sale prices Do you like Walk Through Videos? Yes How likely are you to review a company through Yelp or Google + after a good or bad experience? I have from really bad service. How likely are you to go find your dealership on Facebook and Twitter and follow them after buying from them? Not likely If there was a way to do "Live Chat" would you participate? No and I hate those pop ups to chat



I always try to do different things with our website, but I don't every get feed back on whether or not they are working.

I would love it if the RV community would give me feed back on our website on how to improve and perhaps information from this thread could help RV dealership become better by getting valuable feed back from customer.

Good Luck!
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Old 01-30-2013, 10:40 AM   #7
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How about pics of the underside, axles, tire brand and the hitch ball required.
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Old 01-30-2013, 10:41 AM   #8
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Although we factory ordered a new FR product just last year I still cruise the internet looking at campers. Hey, it's winter in Wisconsin. I noticed that some pics seem to be stretched giving a false sense of space/size. It's kinda obvious when a recliner looks as wide as it does tall. Real pics tell the real story. I prefer to go thru the pics instead of a walk thru video. Including the Sale $ lets me know the dealer is up front enough from the getgo. Also include a pic or two of the dealers service dept. Pics of the sales staff are nice to associate a name with a face.
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Old 01-30-2013, 11:28 AM   #9
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Measurements.

Probably 75% of the internet listings we looked at when were shopping did not have measurements of length. I routinely left a dealer's site after finding the first 2-3 without a length.

We're a measurement driven buyer - we have a 34' 11" RV bay in our garage. So that's the first hurdle to whether I'm even interested. No measurement, no interest.
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Old 01-30-2013, 11:31 AM   #10
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Are you more concerned about overall length (tongue to bumper) or interior length?
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Old 01-30-2013, 11:39 AM   #11
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Wide Angle Lens

I know that the stretching of the pics could be from the use of a "wide angle" lens in order to get more in the pictures. Are you saying this is a bad idea? What are your thoughts?
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Old 01-30-2013, 11:43 AM   #12
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Are you more concerned about overall length (tongue to bumper) or interior length?
It has to fit in my garage - exterior. I just have to assume that the interior will then fit also.
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Old 01-30-2013, 11:44 AM   #13
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lol. Yes I guess that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for your input!
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Old 01-30-2013, 11:48 AM   #14
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I purchased a TT sight unseen. One local dealer and they didnt have any on the lot or any with similar floorplans. I did all of my research online. If you would like to sell to customers via the website just as I purchased these sorts of things would help. I ended up searching the model I was interested and using many different dealer websites to gather up my information.

1. Post as many pictures as possible including giving me a view inside cabinets and outside storage areas. Check out house of camping website. They do an excellent job with picture posting.
2. For specific campers on the lot be sure to post more details than less and verify they are correct. I was told by salesman on the phone that my camper did not come with LED's. Forest River literature said it would. Website did not make any mention of it. When doing the walk thru I discovered it had LED's throughout.
3. Don't use dry weights on website. At least use the # that is attached to the label on the outside of the camper. The dry weight is very misleading and actually inaccurate. Our camper was almost #500 higher than the website dry weight listed. That is a huge difference.
4. When doing videos...slow down when panning the camera. Give me more than a split second view of things. Its okay if the video is longer than a minute. All too common experience is herky jerky and I walk away with no idea what it looks like in a camper but feel a little dizzy. ;-0
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Old 01-30-2013, 11:49 AM   #15
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Under Photos

Quote:
Originally Posted by cantho View Post
How about pics of the underside, axles, tire brand and the hitch ball required.

I wonder what the best way to accomplish this would be. Some say that the more pictures the better. I've taken up to 50 or more photos of some units and will get very detailed. However, I wonder if this can be a bit cumbersome for the user browsing the RV.

I'm more than willing to do this, but I also know that if I don't leave anything up for imagination, then you might not come in to see it in person. Perhaps this is not proper logic.
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Old 01-30-2013, 11:53 AM   #16
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I purchased a TT sight unseen. One local dealer and they didnt have any on the lot or any with similar floorplans. I did all of my research online. If you would like to sell to customers via the website just as I purchased these sorts of things would help. I ended up searching the model I was interested and using many different dealer websites to gather up my information.

1. Post as many pictures as possible including giving me a view inside cabinets and outside storage areas. Check out house of camping website. They do an excellent job with picture posting.
2. For specific campers on the lot be sure to post more details than less and verify they are correct. I was told by salesman on the phone that my camper did not come with LED's. Forest River literature said it would. Website did not make any mention of it. When doing the walk thru I discovered it had LED's throughout.
3. Don't use dry weights on website. At least use the # that is attached to the label on the outside of the camper. The dry weight is very misleading and actually inaccurate. Our camper was almost #500 higher than the website dry weight listed. That is a huge difference.
4. When doing videos...slow down when panning the camera. Give me more than a split second view of things. Its okay if the video is longer than a minute. All too common experience is herky jerky and I walk away with no idea what it looks like in a camper but feel a little dizzy. ;-0

Thanks for the input.

I'm a little hesitant to put a lot of photos up as I don't want to bore the user. What do you think of the idea of putting over all general photos first, and then the more detailed photos afterwards.

I have two different kinds of viewer. What we call "tire-kickers" and more serious ones. The serious ones need all the details, the "tire-kickers" just want a general over view. Some how I need to cater to both.
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Old 01-30-2013, 12:10 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by bjesparza1988 View Post
Thanks for the input.

I'm a little hesitant to put a lot of photos up as I don't want to bore the user. What do you think of the idea of putting over all general photos first, and then the more detailed photos afterwards.

I have two different kinds of viewer. What we call "tire-kickers" and more serious ones. The serious ones need all the details, the "tire-kickers" just want a general over view. Some how I need to cater to both.
I could have suggested the same. I prefer to quickly rule out an RV, thus I scan the photos to see the general shots (i'm fairly limited to class c's - see garage size). I check first for beds - making sure the overhead isn't an entertainment center. I check the master room - make sure they aren't bunks. Then I look at the drivers cockpit to see the layout and level of wear.

If it's still in the running - then I look through all the pics.
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Old 01-30-2013, 12:13 PM   #18
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I tend to like websites that have pictures arranged in a "photo album" so I can see multiple pictures and jump right to the ones I want to see first, instead of looking at 20 different views of the outside before seeing the bunk configuration.

I also bought my camper sight unseen, but negotiated my trade and price through emails, pictures, and a couple phone calls. I generally don't have time for "come on in and we can talk" type sales.
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Old 01-30-2013, 12:21 PM   #19
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I tend to like websites that have pictures arranged in a "photo album" so I can see multiple pictures and jump right to the ones I want to see first, instead of looking at 20 different views of the outside before seeing the bunk configuration.

That's one feature that I'd like to have. However, my photos layout is limited to our third party website company, UVS Junction.

I also bought my camper sight unseen, but negotiated my trade and price through emails, pictures, and a couple phone calls. I generally don't have time for "come on in and we can talk" type sales.
We generally encounter a couple different types of RVers. The ones that do a lot of research know more closely what they want, so we would be able to do more "over the phone sales" without a problem as long as we know that's what they want to do. I know we also like to build a relationship with them, as most RVers will be coming in for service and supplies in the years to come.

We also have customers who don't know what they want and I think that's why sales people like to see them. If they are good, then they will know their product and inventory so well they can point them in the right direction. I'm a firm believer in sales people knowing their product and believing in it.
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Old 01-30-2013, 12:25 PM   #20
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Your website matters - make information easy to find. If you're going to have a site, keep it updated. An outdated site makes me run away fast.

Lots of photos don't bore the folks who are ready to buy (or those who have already bought). In fact, I just went looking for a picture of the water hookups compartment of my RV since it's at storage and I had a question about it. Unfortunately, no one had a picture that I could. Be consistent with photos across units - it helps compare and contrast. Don't use stock photos - I was already at the manufacturer's site.

Show the floorplan - always. Even on used units - find one if you can. 99% of my shopping was scrolling through floorplans.

Give tip to tail measurements. Many of us are dealing with storage concerns. If you're going to advertise living space measurements, tell us. (My dealer is still claiming I'm driving a 36' fifth wheel when in reality, it's almost 42'!)

A link to the unit on the manufacturer's site *for that unit* would be nice.

I actually do like the Live Help feature. But, don't pop-it up in my face. If I want it, I'll click the button for it.

Above all - if I email you, do me a favor and:
a) be prompt with your response (less than an hour during business hours)
b) be professional and type properly (spelling and grammar still count)
c) answer my dang questions - if I ask 5 questions, bullet your responses out and answer each one specifically (if you don't have an answer, respond that you're finding it)

I chose my Sabre sight-unseen based on email exchanges from Jack @ Sabre. My purchasing experience all started with emails to dealers. Those who got back to me, I continued the discussions. Those that didn't, I didn't. To be honest, I much prefer email to phone discussions.

Figure out a way to support the buyers who don't want to buy off of the lot and will order a unit. I think RVW has the market cornered on the "build your own" from an ordering perspective.
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