Are Your Vehicle Images Displaying Correctly Online?

Dealer management system and car dealer website provider Dragon2000 examines how one simple image mistake could be badly affecting the design of your company’s website and making it harder to attract potential customers to your stock.

Following Dragon2000’s previous blog article about creating better vehicle photos, the aspect ratio of your images is key to maintaining consistency across stock and ensuring your website is appealing to online customers.

Advertising vehicles that have just come into stock can be a quick and easy process, especially with the help of the DragonDMS dealer management system. Simply grabbing your phone and moving around a vehicle to capture multiple angles before uploading to both advertisers and your own website, while you’re still out on the forecourt, allows you to create and sell stock quicker than ever.

However, a commonly forgotten detail in this process is the aspect ratio of your images. Holding a mobile phone vertically may feel more natural, as this is the default position for most mobile apps and features, but dealers need to turn their phones sideways in order to capture stock images horizontally in the 16:9 format.

Modern car dealer websites are designed to accommodate landscape stock images, as that makes the vehicle the focus of the image. Taking portrait images instead will show too much background and foreground above and below the vehicle, making it appear smaller on the screen and harder to see. Uploading this type of image will also create empty spacing on either side of the photo, so overall the images will not look very professional and could very well leave a prospective buyer put off from your stock.

Even worse would be to alternate between landscape and portrait images for your stock, as the inconsistency will have a knock-on effect on the layout of your main stock page and fail to leave a good impression when your vehicles are being viewed collectively.

Car dealer websites need to be easy to navigate and pleasing to the eye for your visitors, and you should want to show off your stock in the best way possible, so consistency of imagery is key. Landscape images provide more space for the vehicle to fit in the frame and prevents wider aspects from being cut off, allowing you to capture more of the car in one shot and immediately make a better visual impression on potential buyers.

Dragon2000 have been helping dealers and garages drive their businesses forward since 1995. Talk to our team today on 01327 222 333 or email us at sales@dragon2000.co.uk to find out how our dealer management system, car dealer websites and mobile apps can help your business increase profits and reduce costs.