A website needs to make a splash immediately. If a site doesn’t resonate, if it takes forever to load or if it doesn’t provide beneficial and informative resources, visitors might just click out and head elsewhere. This is bad news for dealerships facing tough competition in their area.
Dealerships want site visitors to explore their inventory online and take the next step in the buying process. However, if the site doesn’t engage, buyers won’t engage. The website should catch the visitor’s eye from the moment it loads. To do this, dealerships can make a splash using a car driving stock photo as a website hero image.
Welcoming visitors to the dealership’s online hub sets the tone for the visit. A hero image catches the eye, but dealerships need to select a captivating shot. Here’s how to choose a car driving stock photo to help drive traffic and how to include images to keep visitors from exiting out and surfing into another dealership’s online hub.
Why Use a Car Driving Stock Photo as a Hero Image?
Hero images are a lead image on a page that’s often a massive banner. The purpose of the hero image is to draw attention. The image needs to be captivating, professional and strike a chord with a website visitor.
Lead images are used in some form in most publications and layout designs. Look at newspapers; there is typically a photo that stands out on every page. The front page, in particular, will have an image that captures the reader.
A lead image for a magazine might just be the cover photo. The image draws the consumer in and should encourage them to buy the publication.
Websites and pages throughout the site can include an image that serves as a page intro or that inspires the site visitor to click and learn more. Why would a car driving stock photo be ideal for these hero images? Action photos or those that depict vehicles in scenic environments can be alluring. They draw attention and can help set the mood, too.
For example, during the holidays hero images on a website can show vehicles in snow-covered landscapes or against a festive backdrop. Then dealerships can drop these photos into a banner ad or banner promotion on a page. The photo entices the visitor to click, or, at least, it should.
Photos of a car driving can simulate that the car is in motion. These images can be used to market a model’s ruggedness and durability or even just its sleek design. A sports car could be driving on an open highway. What’s the takeaway from this depiction? Freedom, carefree fun, and maybe speed, too!
How to Select a Splash Photo for Marketing
Dealerships want their websites and other content to resonate with visitors, but how can dealerships select the best splash photo to use as a hero image for their marketing needs?
A splash photo is just a term for a photo that features a unique background or a car in motion. While the photo isn’t interactive, the movement is implied within the snapshot of the photo. These images can include almost any type of background. Some dealerships schedule a custom photoshoot to create an image for their needs.
Selecting an image to best market a vehicle really depends on the message the dealership wishes to send. What does the dealership want to highlight about the vehicle? To showcase the outdoor aesthetic of a Jeep, the photo might include a mountainous background, as if the vehicle had engaged in rock crawling.
Dealerships also could use images for marketing a special promotion. A Fourth of July event could include a hero image or splash image of a vehicle with an Americana background. This could include flags or another patriotic theme.
The image should fit the message and the marketing goal. Dealerships might want to think about their message and how they plan to execute their marketing before deciding on the ideal hero image.
Marketing campaigns could encompass banner ads, blog content, events and other communiqués. For online or print content, dealerships could choose a specific image for their promotional efforts that complements the theme of the campaign. This image could be the hero image on the website and the lead image across other campaign communiques.
Customize Car Driving Stock Photos for a Splash
EVOX Images offer options for car driving stock photos that are designed as splash images. Dealerships can choose from a library of these images, but some dealerships might need an image that is tailored for their needs and/or a specific promotion.
With splash images, dealerships can get customized! If a dealership needs or wants a specific image that isn’t available, they can arrange a custom photoshoot. These photos can make a different kind of splash!
EVOX Images can work with dealerships to arrange an image shot that best meets the dealership’s marketing needs. Why would a dealership choose custom images, though?
Dealerships could opt for a custom photo option to create images that best support their brand or that put a specific vehicle in the spotlight. These images can be used to market niche vehicle models, too.
EVOX highlighted a few custom images from its portfolio that showcases the luxury of a Chrysler Thunderbolt. Moet & Chandon champagne was tucked into the vehicle’s sumptuous leather interior, and the car’s extraordinary design was displayed against a grey-scale backdrop.
Using Other Images to Engage
Using a splash image for a hero image on the website can draw in a visitor, but other content needs to keep their attention. Cox Automotive’s Car Buyer Journey Study (Pandemic Edition) noted that the dealership website is often the last site many shoppers visit during their online research.
The dealership needs to provide not just captivating images but captivating and useful content, too. What tools is the dealership offering for shoppers who are at home and looking at the available inventory?
Price and specs are important, and buyers need and want this information. If a buyer is shopping from home, though, they also want to see the car. If a buyer can’t visit the dealership in person, the website has to provide some way to allow the buyer to explore the vehicle.
Stock and custom images can help shoppers better understand a vehicle’s features. EVOX Images provides professional stock photos of thousands of makes/models that dealerships can use on their website to enhance the experience for users.
Choose 360 spin photos that let users turn the car around to view it from different angles. Panorama photos let visitors look at the interior of the vehicle, but these photos are immersive, too. Panorama photos are designed as though the user is in the front seat and turning the head to look around the car.
Images also can show up-close details for wheels, gear shifts and more. Dealerships could provide all these image options in a classic slideshow format.
What about hero images for inventory? Hero images don’t need to be included on every page, although a dealership could display a banner for a promotion on each page—this could add more attention to the offer.
With inventory, dealerships might want to focus on offering a wealth of options for potential buyers. Ultimately, if they can’t find what they need on the site, they may move on to another dealership.
While using a car driving stock photo as a hero image on the website can enhance the visitor’s first impression, that image can only hold their interest for so long. A splash image draws the eye and attention, but visitors will want more from their website visit. Dealerships should use images that resonate, but, ultimately, they need to ensure that their site provides the tools and resources that buyers demand if they want that website visit to propel the shopper to the next buying stage.