THE ONLY REASON AGENCIES MAKE SLIDERS

I’ve had more than a few posts over the years about how much I hate website sliders. Let’s talk about why I hate them, why dealers love them, and why we’ll still make them even though they’re trash.

Sliders Don’t Work

The stats have been pretty much consistent for the last 12+ years. Sliders do not work. It doesn’t matter the context, the industry, the content: they do not work. They’re a waste of your designer’s time, a waste of your agency’s time, and a waste of your website’s speed potential. Heck, they’re a waste of your time asking for them.

Only 1% of people even click on website sliders (source) to begin with. From there, if they’re clicking on them, they’re more than 84% likely to click on the first one over any of the others. It’s a downhill trajectory from there. This source highlights specifics on clickthrough data in relation to carousels, and in my experience I’ve found this number to be up and over 92% in automotive.

Websites that do not use sliders vs. those that do see stark differences in conversion rates. This can be anywhere from 20-500%, and while the upper bound of that is indeed an outlier: the point stands that people are more likely to engage without the carousel.

If you take one thing away from this post, let it be this: there is a better option.

What is it?

The better option is to use that space to leverage design best practices. Put the most important thing your business wants a customer to do in that spot. Use this hot real estate to push your customer further down the funnel, or to the next step in the buyer’s journey.

If you’re a car dealer, that’s most often to get them to inventory.

If you want to understand the why, keep going.

Big BIG Feelings

Look. I don’t care what KIND of slider it is, if it’s there it’s there to make someone feel special. Sliders to make all of your department heads feel like their department is special. Everyone wants their stuff on the homepage, the “main” page, the big kahuna. That’ll show them!

The thing is, nobody is seeing them - despite the negative impact they’re having on pagespeed.

If they’re there because of the OEM, it’s because someone feels that it works that’s in a position of power on the OEM side. If they’re because the dealership wants them there, it’s because someone has feelings about it. If the decision to include them or not was left to a strong agency with experienced designers: they would follow the data and design best practices.

The person paying for the site, regardless of the agency or website provider involved has feelings that a slider will have some type of benefit to them. We’re all inclined to lean into things we think will help us gain more, and avoid losses. For whatever reason, this primetime space of the website homepage’s hero section pushes

No feelings required.

OEM Brainwashing

Some of our OEM friends out in the world like to mandate their dealer partners to upload anywhere between 3-20 sliders. Others mandate sliders by virtue of forcing their dealer partners to use specific website providers that push the sliders without any dealer intervention.

I’ve had different relationships with OEMs in the past, from brand partnerships to accessory programs, to getting certified and on-program with others for digital/website. The layers and layers between the end user, the dealer, an agency, and the decisionmakers at the program level is wild. Whoever is up there deciding that everyone needs 47 sliders needs to stop drinking.

WHY PUT THEM THERE?

I’ll tell you if something is a bad idea. I’ll tell you why it’s a bad idea. Then, if you still want to do it: I’ll let you do it.

That’s how it works if we’re in an agency or consulting relationship. You’re still a paying client with your own free will to listen to my professional expertise or not.

So, why do many agencies and designers let up and make a bunch of sliders?

To make you feel good.

/full stop