How a Dealer Website Trade-In Tool Should Work

• Mike describes MOTO(acquire)'s website approach as two jobs: a trade funnel on the dealer website and a value tracking email solution.

• The trade funnel is integrated directly on the SRP and VDP, the pages where shoppers are already looking at your vehicles.

• For shoppers on your website, the goal is simple: convert them now, while they are on your site.

• Shoppers who don't convert, along with your past customers, start receiving their vehicle's value by email so the trade conversation keeps going.

• MOTO(retain) value tracking emails have 99.5% deliverability and a 36% open rate.

Most dealers already have something on the website that says "value your trade." The real question is whether it is doing any work. A dealer website trade-in tool should catch the shopper while they are on your site, and it should keep working on the ones who leave without filling anything out. In this video, Mike Crothers, CEO of MOTO(acquire), breaks down how that works.

What does a dealer website trade-in tool actually do?

Mike keeps it simple. "The simplest way I can put it is we do two things," he says. First, MOTO(acquire) is a trade funnel for dealers' websites, integrated directly on the SRP and VDP. Second, it is a value tracking email solution.

Those two jobs line up with the two groups of people every store has. There are shoppers on your website right now, and there is everyone who isn't: the visitors who left without converting and the past customers sitting in your database.

• Website shoppers: convert them now, inside the trade funnel.

• Non-converters and past customers: in Mike's words, "just start sending them their values."

That is what makes it a holistic approach rather than a single form on a single page. One piece captures the trade today. The other keeps the conversation going until the owner is ready.

Why the trade funnel belongs on the SRP and VDP

The SRP is the search results page, where shoppers browse your inventory. The VDP is the vehicle detail page, where they look at one specific unit. Those are the pages where a shopper is thinking about a purchase, and for a lot of them the next question is what their current vehicle is worth.

If the trade tool only lives on a separate "value your trade" page tucked into the navigation, many shoppers never find it. Putting the funnel directly on the SRP and VDP means the trade question gets asked where the shopper already is. Mike's point is direct: "People are landing on your website, convert them now."

For a used car manager, that means trade conversations start from the pages that already get your traffic, without asking the shopper to go hunting for a form.

Value tracking emails for past customers and shoppers who don't convert

Not everyone converts on the first visit. Some shoppers are early in the process. Some customers bought from you a while ago and aren't shopping at all. Mike's answer for both groups is the same: send them their vehicle's value.

A monthly value email gives an owner a reason to think about their equity without a salesperson picking up the phone. When the number looks good and the timing is right, they already know which store to come back to. For the dealership, it puts past sales and service customers back in play as trade opportunities.

Delivery matters here too. MOTO(retain) value tracking emails have 99.5% deliverability and a 36% open rate, so the values are actually landing in front of owners.

How MOTO(convert) and MOTO(retain) fit together

MOTO(convert) is the website trade tool. It gives shoppers instant valuations, lets them request a firm offer, and includes monthly value tracking plus the free buying power tool. This is the trade funnel Mike describes on the SRP and VDP.

MOTO(retain) handles the other half. It sends past sales and service customers their vehicle's value every month. MOTO(acquire) integrates with all major DMS platforms and many others, including Tekion, Dealertrack, CDK, Reynolds, and Auto/Mate, so your existing customer data can feed the program. If your DMS isn't one of those, MOTO(acquire) will build the integration.

For more on this topic, browse our website trade-in leads videos, including how to get more website trade-in leads and what to look for in the best trade-in tool for dealerships.