That’s what I was thinking as well.
yes sorry about that. i was looking at a blog post about amex membership rewards. i edited the post.
Are they stackable for EQS?
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Most Brooklyn dealerships are used to screwing fools.
Friend went to MB of Brooklyn after the (super nice ) salesman promised his manager cleared 15% off pre incentives, was given the middle finger when he showed up “ we don’t want to deal with you”
Yeah - total scumbags - bmw Brooklyn actually kinda nice
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They use lube?
Better than lube - industrial grade - the conversations I have heard with common folk - really eye opening
What happened to Truecar?
They provided actual sales data, which was very useful for car shoppers. Dealers obviously didn’t like it and basically neutered that dog.
What’s stopping someone from making trucar version 2 with the same features as the legacy trucar.
The fact that truecar pits you against the dealer from the onset…
Personally, I think that’s what has made LH successful w/ our community.
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Proprietary data, for one.
I’ve been a forum owner for >20 years. Critical mass on traffic for evergreen content like cars will usually happen around year 10.
I’ve had probably a dozen companies come knocking on the door to buy my sites. The amount I could have sold for 10 years ago has been earned 2x in revenue since then. Still have all the sites and at this point, nobody wants to pay what I would sell for because they think they need the returns to be far greater than what I need them to be. Anybody who sells a forum for less than 10x annual ad revenue is giving it away.
I think LH grew initially because of the calculator—somebody linked me to it from the Edmunds lease forums a few years ago. But now it’s growing because of the unicorn deals that spread virally. It’s still the best calculator and that will always attract backlinks and traffic. Not sure if that feature is still a big landing page but I would guess it’s a significant source of backlinks and still integral.
There’s some low-hanging monetization fruit but I’m assuming that the owners either don’t want or don’t need to monetize things like the calculator or signed sections.
Without a doubt a few top-level growth opportunities scream out at me. I see four types of customers for LH:
- Casual car buyers who would be lead gen or negotiated deal customer (worth $100-$300 each in commission)
- Unicorn hunters who will view >1,000 pages a month (worth $1-$10/mo in ad revenue)
- Dealers who want to get in on it (worth $500-$2,000/mo in fees)
- Dealers who hate everything (worthless)
Every worthwhile category can be explored and tested to optimize. For example, the marketplace seems to operate on a flat membership model but it could be shifted to lead gen exclusively and likely be more valuable or useful to both buyers and dealers.
Some ideas that I would probably look into first:
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Build the membership from the calculator by requiring login to see results (or see all features if you see a dramatic decline in pageviews after forcing login). Ultimately the member base (currently 67k) will be the value for any new feature or venture.
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Better engagement. This would be e-mail newsletters that are done well, and building a social media following. On my sites we get 50-70% open rates on e-mails with big lists because we are extremely active in our members’ inboxes, and we’ve mastered delivery, timing, content, etc. It took years to get there, but one thing is for sure, the sooner you engage, the longer you will engage.
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The content here is great for social media and some of it is already getting picked up but not captured by LH. Could be pushing stories and posts about the unicorn deals, etc.
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Explore some partnerships, specifically with large content creators or even some existing automotive platforms that could embed the calculator (and have results drive traffic back to LH), or feature a regular LH column that talks about the unicorn deals. All of this would help drive more backlinks and build membership.
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I like the occasional mass email idea as well as featured ads. And charge brokers for advertising those deals or for conversions to sales if there’s a way to do so. I still think, even though I benefit directly, that the site pushing brokers deals are the best source for profit. I know my Toyota deals can’t be beat and I can afford additional marketing on said deals out of my discounts. The margin between my truck deals and the next dealer is not 500 or 1000 but like 2-4k. So I’m always willing to pay for for clients with that said.
Some great ideas here. I would take the opposing view on one point, though. Requiring a login to view calculator results would turn away a lot of traffic (which you point out is likely substantial) and open the door for a competing calculator to gain popularity. Quora is trying something similar and, to my mind at least, it’s killing their business model.
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“LH core value is to the regular consumer, full stop. It’s a resource to help people make well-informed financial decisions in relation to vehicle acquisitions.”
When I first got on LH I found it very difficult to make a well-informed financial decision because I couldn’t figure out how to navigate the site to get the info i needed without spending at least 10 hours. I felt guilty about asking a bunch of naive questions so instead I just dug around as best I could until I finally grasped enough to get my first lease through a broker.
However, 3 leases later and I still don’t know if I’m doing things right. LOL. I’ve just accepted that navigating through LH is like diving into a jungle and I can only see what’s ahead of me. Pick whatever fruits I can grab and be grateful for them but maybe there’s this awesome waterfall if I would have made a left turn instead of a right turn?
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Honestly, I am surprised at how easy it is to use this forum. Out of all the forums I have ever used, this one is probably the best managed, with a nice readable layout, and fun to navigate through. It’s definitely easier than using Twitter or Facebook, in my opinion.
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I agree with you. But I think there’s a difference between striving to obtain a unicorn and just not getting taken advantage of. When I look up a recipe I can try to be ramsay or I can be happy I didn’t burn my kitchen down and my SO isn’t trying to maintain consciousness in an ambulance.
I’m fairly certain my historical leases would get roasted here. My latest lease after LH would only be lightly toasted < that’s good enough for me.
I agree with you, the site is very easy to navigate and user friendly. One of the best layouts I’ve used.
The 10 hours is also valid, but more for absorbing and understanding all of the information for the first time.