At this moment in time, there are hundreds of automotive websites, yet many of them do not employ efficient web design. Judging by the fact that web design plays an incredibly important role in the percentage of conversions, many of the users who access a poorly-designed automotive website tends to head away and not become customers, regardless of the special offers that they’re subject to.
With this in mind, there are several web design tricks that automotive website owners should implement to ensure better functionality of their eCommerce websites, a higher number of visitors and more conversions. If we’re talking about a car dealership, a website listing the prices is essential, yet it should be equipped with numerous other features to ensure a pleasant experience. This article represents a guideline of some of the most important web design features that all automotive websites should implement.
Responsive Web Design
Studies have shown that a high percentage of users tend to close a website if it isn’t responsive, or if they can’t seem to find what they’re looking for. Additionally, it is important to keep in mind that roughly 50% of your users may be browsing your website on a mobile device. If the site isn’t mobile friendly, then web masters risk losing quite a lot of customers. Responsive design means that the website is capable of adapting to any screen size with ease, and without becoming unresponsive.
Reports indicate that responsive web design on automotive websites is also great for search engine optimization. Google has recently made a couple of changes to its algorithms, and now ranks responsive websites higher for certain search terms, when compared to sites which aren’t mobile-friendly.

Branding
Branding is often considered a difficult concept to embrace, yet research has shown its incredible feasibility. With this in mind, a clear logo, a smart use of colors, quotes and other branding efforts are likely to convince visitors to come back, and refer your website to their friends. Smart logos alongside with intuitive catch-phrases are likely to help customers remember you providing a favorable return on your automotive web design.
Clear landing pages and categories
At this moment in time, numerous car dealerships and other automotive websites have chosen a web design strategy that isn’t in their advantage. To make things clear for your customer, it is important to avoid listing all of your products on the landing page. Instead, try to divide all products into categories, displayed on the main page. This will make the process of searching for a particular product considerably easier, while also taking advantage of a few SEO benefits.
Introduce plenty of images
An automotive website will not be successful unless there are detailed pictures of the cars and other products currently being sold. With this in mind, it is important for automotive business owners to take multiple, high-quality pictures of the products they’re selling, and have them displayed on the website. Do not take a single photograph! Most visitors already know what the car looks like, which is why they need detailed pictures.
Vehicle Inquiry Forms and prices
For some reason, numerous car dealerships refuse to show their price quotes on most vehicles they are selling, as they tend to introduce special offers when talking face-to-face with a customer. However, having a vehicle inquiry form will allow potential customers to ask whatever questions they have about a car, without having to call, or send a detailed email. It is one of those features which makes life much easier for customers. Displaying a price average is also smart, as potential customers will know what to expect.
Contact Information
Leaving aside the aspects that have been outlined so far, visitors are considerably less likely of converting into customer, if you do not offer clear contact information, or do not display your address, opening hours and have an email address contact form. Making these pieces of information easily viewable lends a big helping hand to potential customers, who will be more excited to visit, especially after calling and talking to an automotive dealer. Similarly, it is essential to have people ready to pick up the phone, and answer to emails whenever they pop up. Excellent customer support in the automotive niche starts before the client enters your offline shop.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, the tips mentioned above are essential in the web design of an automotive website. By implementing them all, the number of visitors alongside with the percentage of conversions is likely to increase.