There are quite a few dealer website plug-ins designed to generate leads, but on many websites, how they are implemented, hampers the power of these tools. With a great call to action and by closely following the third party’s installation instructions, your dealership will maximize the value received from lead generation plug-ins. Here are some pointers to make sure your store is getting the most out of these website features.

Optimizing the Call to Action
Call to action buttons (CTAs) are typically provided by the company offering the website plug-in and are often already well-designed to convert traffic. The below tips will help you select the right one for your site and place it appropriately:

1. Evaluate where the buttons appear. CTAs should typically appear “above the fold,” or above the point where visitors must scroll down the page to see the rest of the content. CTAs should be contextually relevant to the primary content on the page and also should have an adequate amount of white space around the button so they can be visually distinguished from other aspects of the page. Many dealer websites have a cluttered appearance because there are too many competing priorities on the page. In this case, less is often more – less may help you convert your traffic better, as shown by a case study performed on DailyBurn.com that showed an average conversion lift of 20.5% by simplifying the page’s design.
2. Review the visual appearance of your buttons. Find a happy medium with the size of the button – it shouldn’t be too big as to visually crowd out other content, but it also shouldn’t be too small so it can’t be easily seen by site visitors. In addition, case studies show CTA buttons should be a color and contrast that stand out from their surroundings without conflicting with your site’s overall appearance – they should visually pop without clashing to increase conversion. If you have more than one CTA on a page, decide which one is the most important and designate a single color for your primary CTAs throughout your site. Use other, more muted colors and potentially, smaller button sizes for your secondary CTAs. The goal is to set a clear hierarchy of what to do next for your visitors, but remember the more competing CTAs you have, the less effective each one may become. Finally, take advantage of relevant images and icons that help your CTAs stand out – particularly if they are associated with a brand your website visitors will recognize, such as Kelley Blue Book or AutoTrader.com.
3. CTA wording, especially in the top navigation bar of your website where it cannot be complemented with imagery, is especially important. It should create a sense of urgency and be as brief as possible, while still being clear and concise about the action achieved without misleading the shopper. Vague words and phrases should generally be avoided in favor of more descriptive terms that start with a verb, such as “Value Your Trade-In,” “Get an Offer on Your Trade-In,” or “Schedule a Service Visit.”
4. Be prepared to test your changes, preferably with an A/B test, to find out if your edits have improved conversion. If you are unable to run an A/B test, comparing clicks and leads generated to overall page traffic over similar periods of time also can be used to measure effectiveness in a pinch as long as other changes to that page have not occurred during the test period.

Improving the Process for Your Visitors
Many third-party tools are not installed on dealer websites in an optimal way. For example, some require frame-ins, and frequently, the frame is placed off-center on the page compared to the page’s existing margins (gutters). In other instances, the frame is not set to the correct width, requiring your visitors to use multiple scrollbars, sometimes both vertical and horizontal, to labor through the process until they complete it and you get a lead – or they get frustrated and leave your site. The easier and less visually jarring it is for your users to complete a conversion funnel, the more likely you are to generate leads.

Check with the third party supplying the product to ensure your installation is up to their standards and ask them if there are any updated installation requirements you can share with your website provider if there is a problem. While you are on the phone with them, it also does not hurt to ask if there are any updated CTA buttons for their product in case you want to make a change. Evaluating this aspect of your website’s performance should put you well on your way to getting the most out of website lead generation tools.