HyperDrive Technologies, Inc

The Randomity Factor:  The Secret Ingredient of Super Converting Websites

I use the term “randomity” to describe how an individual can switch gears between one task and another fluidly without hesitation.  Randomity is most often and easily witnessed in small children.  If you have ever had a child sitting in the backseat of an automobile on a long trip you might have noticed the child seemingly getting out of hand, causing the adults to become extremely aggravated.  This does not mean the child was doing anything wrong, but rather was most likely moving rapidly from one task to another.

For example, a child might be playing with a hand-held game while talking out loud one second, kicking the back of your seat the next second, then crumpling up some paper the very next second.  Usually, adults perceive this as rambunctious behavior and an inability to focus.  Eventually, the parent winds up instructing the child to sit still and settle down, and to choose and stick with one activity or another.  This is a very good example of a child displaying their ability to handle randomity.  Randomity is typically suppressed out of children as they grow older.  The degree to which it is suppressed will greatly depend on the parents’ ability to handle randomity as adults.

As a result you wind up with adults that fit dramatically into two completely different emotional categories.  I call these groups public “A” and public “B”.  As a child grows up, their ability to handle randomity equips them with the capacity to excel in certain subjects while having a difficult time in other subjects.  The opposite is true for an individual who has had randomity suppressed out of them throughout their childhood.  These differences form the opposing characters of public “A” and public “B”.

With this framework now laid, we can move forward, mapping out the basic differences between a prospective car buyer that fits into one category as opposed to another.

Public “A”

Public “A” is representative of the adults who never had the randomity suppressed out of them during their childhood.  Usually, this is because the parents themselves were able to handle a higher degree of randomity.  In essence, the resulting behavior simply does not bother the parents like it would most people.  Now public “A” comprises the smallest portion of the general population as compared to public “B”.  Over the years I have reviewed numerous studies on the subject of human behavior, some conflicting and some not.  My research has led me to conclude that Public “A” makes up approximately 3% of the population.  In other words approximately three out of every one hundred adults have the ability to handle high levels of randomity.  This would leave approximately 97% of the population in the category of public “B”.

Now let’s take a look at personality.  It has been my observation that an individual who can handle a high level of randomity can tend to have underdeveloped social skills but rank highly in their natural ability to comprehend technical knowledge.  A person with these qualities might fit the standard profile of a large majority of computer programmers.  Often times you will see movies and television shows portraying a computer programmer or someone in the computer industry as being a “techy”.  These people are often times depicted as nerdy people who are rather reclusive, emotionally distrusting and lacking in certain social skills.  While I wouldn’t place much stock in how Hollywood attempts to categorize people, when it comes to individuals who have high randomity skills and low social skills you will often find that some of these stereotypical characteristics are present.

When it comes to purchasing an automobile, this type of public displays consistent behavioral patterns.  They might feel the need to extensively research before they buy, and are able to handle more and intensely detailed technical information on a vehicle than even the salesmen themselves.  I have found that as a rule, people who fit into public “A” have little desire to confront a salesman face-to-face when there is an alternative option.

This type of public may also, at times, appear to be extremely distrusting and suspicious of information that is relayed to them in a verbal manner as opposed to data obtained through research.  I could write a separate book on the psychological traits of public “A” but I think for our purpose here I will cut it short.  Also please keep in mind that the description given here of public “A” is intended to be a theatrical description for the sake of giving you a point of reference.  There are many people who will embark on car buying missions as members of public “A” but may not display the characteristics described above.

Public “B”

The textbook description of public “B” would naturally be the polar opposite of public “A”.  An individual fitting the profile of public “B” could be described as the customer that strolls into the dealership on a Saturday, has more fun telling stories to the dealership’s employees than learning about the vehicle he just took a test drive in, pays the dealership a $3000 front-end profit, bites off on just about every product pitched by the F&I department, refers everyone he knows to the dealership, and then winds up purchasing his next vehicle from the dealership as well!

An individual who has had the majority of randomity suppressed out of their behavior will we be less likely to be a natural computer programmer and will tend to become a better communicator.  This comes from a learned ability to “slow down”.  Most exceptional sales people, managers and Dealer Principals in the automotive retail business reside in the public “B” group to one varying degree or another.

Emotional types and e-dealer website design

Many dealerships express frustrations with Internet buyers.  An Internet buyer is often times described as an individual who will research a vehicle to the point of insanity, refuses to pay the dealership more than $200 profit, requires a great deal of effort to acquire as a customer, is a poor fixed operations customer, refers few if any people at all to the dealership, gives the credit for his exceptional bargain to the Internet as apposed to the dealership that accepted his offer, and then finally ends up buying somewhere else at the end of his lease.  The question is, why do many dealerships have this horrific opinion of Internet customers?  I believe the answer to this question is fairly obvious.

Look at which public the average web developer most likely fits into!  I don’t believe it will take you much time at all to realize that the average web developer fits nicely into the categorical profile of public “A”.  Now, without getting too deep into the psychological aspects of this whole scenario, let’s take a look at how this reality affects the average car dealership’s web site.

First of all, it’s important understand that when an individual creates something from nothing, the end product must make sense to them mentally.  In other words, the structure, flow, content and design of the website must make conceptual sense for the individual who has been placed in charge of creating it. This is common in any design field whether it be computer programming or structural engineering.  This becomes a problem in the field of automotive retail web development because there is a specific psychology necessary when creating a web site that will disseminate to the market that we are after.

When a group of individuals that fit the profile of public “A” are assigned the task of designing and developing a website for the purpose of convincing thousands of people to take the next step towards making an extremely emotional and expensive decision, you wind up with what potentially can be a 52 car pile up on the Santa Monica Freeway.  In the end, the common sense aspects of this concept are relatively simple.  If an individual that fits the profile of public “A” is commissioned to build a public website, it only stands to reason that the public that will most likely respond will have a similar psychological make-up as the individual or group of individuals that were responsible for its creation.  This is the primary reason why websites in the retail automotive industry consistently produces what I believe are unacceptable conversion rate percentages.

It is also the interconnecting recipe for improving a dealership’s online state of existence.