JDPower just published the results of their 2008 New Autoshopper.com Study. There were several interesting findings:

• Seventy five percent (75%) of new-vehicle buyers in 2008 are using the Internet during their shopping process, compared with seventy percent (70%) in 2007. This is the largest year-over-year increase in online shopping since 2001.

The total amount of time shoppers spend online researching automotive information has also increased—up 12 percent to more than six and a half hours.

Arianne Walker, director of marketing/media research at J.D. Power and Associates, provided my favorite quote - ““The challenge for automotive manufacturers and dealers alike is discovering how best to get involved in online conversations taking place among consumers in order to shift sales to their advantage”.

Getting involved in the online conversations is something we at ContactAtOnce! know a little about!

Part of Arianne’s point was about consumer generated content and dealer ratings and the “conversations” that take place on sites that offer them, but for manufacturers and dealers alike there is no conversation that impacts sales as powerfully as a conversation between a shopper and a dealership’s sales person. Sparking such conversations during the 6.5 hours that a typical shopper spends online reasearching their purchase is what we’re all about. The lessons we’ve learned can be boiled down to the following:

• Present a strong visual queue with a call-to-action. Let shoppers know when you have a sales person available to answer their questions – they will apprecaite it and reward you by iniitating more conversations. Collary – don’t be a stalker. What I mean by that is don’t use over-aggressive pup-ups “pushing” shoppers into chat conversations. Today’s shopper wants to know someone’s available to answer their questions, should they have any, but they want the feel of control that comes from initiating the conversation themselves. In summary, entice the shopper but don’t stalk them.
• Offer a variety of communication channels not limited to request-a-quote lead forms and phone numbers. Shoppers are increasingly reluctant to use request-a-quote lead forms. Industry-wide the number a lead form submissions has dropped like a rock in the past few years. The phone is still a great commucation channel, but the vast majority of consumers do their car shopping while at work where they often cannot call or be called – they need a more discreet way to communicate with dealers such as instant messaging (aka “chat”). Other shoppers, especially the technology savvy, might prefer the convenience of click-to-call or video call. The point is that conversations can be had over any number of channels and shoppers are more likely to iniitate conversations where they can use their channel of choice.
• Track everything. Conversations are discreet events that represent the fruits of marketing labor. Being able to track and analyze conversations across various channels is the best way to know what marketing efforts and to constantly improve results.

Current users of ContactAtOnce! know these things because they leverage our technology every day to increase sales by increasing the number of conversations that internet shoppers initiate with their dealership.