Theroleofinteractivemediainthelocalcarshoppingprocess

LOCAL
THE ROLE OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA IN
THE LOCAL CAR SHOPPING
PROCESS


How Consumers “Pre-Shop” for a
1 Dealership
Engaging Consumers Before They
2 Set Foot on Your Lot
How Consumers Use Search When
3 Pre-Shopping

4 The Impact of Price Quotes

Connecting with Your Most
5 Important Consumer

6 Executive Summary & Implications


OBJECTIVES • To understand how the dealership
research process has changed over time

• To understand the impact of search in
the overall media mix for automotive
dealership research

• To identify which resources consumers
are using and whether their research is
fruitful

• To determine which resources are most
important to the decision making
process

• To identify the most valuable consumers
auto dealerships should engage


METHODOLOG


METHODOLOG
Methodology Sample Characteristics
25 minute online questionnaire • Live in major metropolitan areas
Interview Dates • Primary/shared auto purchase decision
May 30th to June 4th 2007 maker
Sample Size • Visited at least one dealership
N = 550 Respondents • Exclude specialty brands
• Next 6 Month Auto • Critical industry screen (Advertising/
Purchase Intenders (262) Market Research, Automotive sales/
• Past 3 Month Auto products/services, Internet service
Purchasers (288) provider/website portal)


5

HOW CONSUMERS

5

The majority of How long did you research before you
started dealership visits?
consumers spend
more than a week
pre-shopping for
dealerships
before they step 34%
23%
foot on your lot
None
A week or less
More than a week but less than a month
1-2 months 12%
3-6 months
Over 6 months

4% 19%
8%
6
Base:
Total Respondents (550)
Q8
About how long did you research vehicles on your own before you started visiting dealerships? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

…with the

Base:
Q4
When researching auto dealerships, which of these online search engines did you use to obtain
information? (Please select all that apply.)
QS10
Which of the following resources ‘did you use to gather information while shopping for your new 7
vehicle?’ OR ‘are you using to gather information while shopping for your new vehicle?’
Q0
You mentioned that you used the resources shown below to research and shop for new vehicles.
How did you reach each of these websites? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Did research before

88 walking into a
dealership

%
83
Used the Internet to
research vehicles

…with the % Used Search to

79 research auto
dealerships

Base:
Q4

QS10

Q0
information? (Please select all that apply.)
Which of the following resources ‘did you use to gather information while shopping for your new
How did you reach each of these websites?
% 7

Consumers proactively pre-shop dealerships
online before their actual visit…
Did you do any of the following before actually
visiting the dealership? (Select all that apply)

Viewed cars/models available at the 48%
dealerships online

See if they had a dealership website 37%

Find reviews about the dealership online 23%

Called to see what cars/models were
available 20%
Checked newspaper classifieds to try to
find more information on the dealership 12%
Used the yellow pages to look for the
dealership 11%

8
Base:
Q14
Thinking about the last dealership you visited, did you do any of the following before actually
visiting the dealership? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Compared to my last vehicle purchase
(2002 on avg), I rely on these sources
more… 41%
Social networking
tools

E-mails from 30%
dealership

25%
Dealership sites

Manufacturer sites
23%
…in fact, they
Search engines 16%

Independent vehicle 16%
sites

Base:
Total Respondents (550); Purchased a new vehicle prior to 2007 (492); Relied less on resources
during last purchase: Social networking tools (37); E-mails from dealership (107); Dealership sites
(171); Manufacturer sites (168); Search engines (184); Independent vehicle sites (117)
Q17
Prior to 2007, when was the last time you were in market to purchase or lease a brand new vehicle? 9
Q19
Compared to your [INSERT THE YEAR ENTERED AT Q14] vehicle purchase, please tell us whether you
relied on the following in helping you ﬁnd dealerships to visit, the same amount, or less compared
to your 2007 vehicle research experience. [… relied on more] Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Consumers visit

10
Base:
Total Respondents (550); Those Responding
QS6
Please select the statement that best describes your consideration of each make listed below.
QS7
How many dealerships did you visit for each make? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

How far away were each of the
dealerships you visited?
… a third of
consumers will
drive more than
20 miles from
home

Base:
Total Respondents (546)*
*
Don’t know responses removed 11
QS8
Again thinking about the dealerships you visited, think about how far each dealership was from your
home. In miles, please tell us the distance between your home and the farthest dealership you
visited for each make. Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

… a third of
consumers will
drive more than
20 miles from
home
68% of consumers are
not willing to travel
more than 20 miles

32% of consumers are
willing to travel farther
than 20 miles

Base:
Total Respondents (546)*
*
Don’t know responses removed 11
QS8


21% of total visits
are over 20 miles
from their homes

Base:
Total Respondents (546) 12
QS8


21% of total visits
are over 20 miles
from their homes
79% of consumer
visits are within 20
miles of their home

21% of consumer
visits are over 20
miles of their home

Base:
Total Respondents (546) 12
QS8

13

ENGAGING CONSUMERS

13

Search is one of the top sources used to become
aware and locate car dealerships
How do consumers ﬁnd and choose which
dealerships to visit? (Choose from a list of 18
sources)
Made me AWARE of dealerships
Helped me LOCATE the dealerships

67% 64%

40%
36%
30% 30% 31% 29% 29%
26%
20% 20% 19% 21%

Driven by Friends & Search Dealer OEM TV ads Yellow
or seen Family engines websites websites Pages
before

14
Base:
Q1a-Q1d Thinking about dealerships you’ve visited, which of the following… made you aware of the
dealerships?/helped you locate the dealerships? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Online sources are critical throughout the
dealership purchase funnel
I used the following online sources to…

3RD PARTY
SEARCH DEALERSHIP OEM CONTENT SOCIAL
ENGINES WEBSITES WEBSITES SITES NETWORKING
Learn about vehicle
makes/models    
Get a feel for the
dealership  
Find other buyer reviews
on dealerships   
Find out how many
dealers were close to  
where I live

Find out if dealerships
had any special offers 
Find out dealership
inventory on cars/models  
I want

Look up dealership
address and contact info   
Base:
Those Responding: Search engines (229); Dealership websites (204); Manufacturer websites (190);
OEM websites (190); Independent websites (125); Social networking tools (43) 15

Indicates percentage is significantly higher than the all-source average at 95% confidence
Q3
Now, thinking specifically about each of the resources you used to research dealerships, which of
the following helped you… Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Offline sources are less comprehensive than online
resources when offering dealership information
I used the following offline sources to…

NEWSPAPER RADIO YELLOW TV
CLASSIFIEDS ADS PAGES ADS MAGAZINES
Learn about vehicle
makes/ models 
Get a feel for the
dealership 
Find other buyer reviews
on dealerships

Find out how many
dealers were close to 
where I live

Find out if dealerships
had any special offers 
Find out dealership
inventory on cars/ models
I want

Look up dealership
address and contact info 
Base:
Those Responding: Newspaper inserts/classified ads (173); Radio ads (105) ; Local phone books
(147); TV Ads (177); Magazines (68) 16

Indicates percentage is significantly higher than the all-source average at 95% confidence
Q3

The emergence of social networks will ultimately
drive consumers to actively participate in
dealership ratings
How likely would you be to…?

Top 2 Box: 72% 58%

Very likely
Somewhat likely 47%
May or may not
Probably would not
31%
Deﬁnitely would not

26% 27%

…use a dealership … post comments on
review site? a dealership review
site?
Base:
Total Respondents (550); Open to using a review site (543)
Q7a
Now we’d like you to imagine there was a dealership review site providing customer satisfaction
ratings generated by other customers who visited or did business with the dealerships in your area. 17
How likely would you be to use this type of site?
Q7b
And how likely would you be to post your own reviews or comments about local dealerships on this
site? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

18

HOW

18

Search is the top source used to navigate to
automotive websites
How did you reach each of the websites
you used to research and shop for new
vehicles?
AUTO
MANUFACTURER DEALERSHIP 3RD PARTY
WEBSITES WEBSITES CONTENT WEBSITES

Used a search engine 56% 58% 57%
Knew the website address 45% 29% 41%
Guessed the website address 36% 23% 19%
From an independent vehicle help
22% 21% -
website
Got the web address from an
21% 27% 19%
advertisement
Clicked on Internet display
16% 18% 18%
advertising

Used an e-mail link 13% 23% 18%
From an auto manufacturer website - 40% 23%

Base:
Used Source: Auto Manufacturer Websites (285); Dealership Websites (270); Independent Vehicle 19
Help Websites (214)
Q0
How did you reach each of these websites? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Which of the following resources
helped you…?

SEARCH ENGINES
49%
Search is the desired Find out how many dealers
were close to where I live
research tool for Look up dealership address 49%
identifying, locating, and contact info
and reviewing Learn about vehicle makes/ 47%
models
dealerships
Find other buyer reviews on 43%
dealerships
Find out dealership inventory 33%
on cars/models I want
Find out if dealerships had 29%
any special offers

Get a feel for the dealership 21%

20
Base:
Those Responding: Search Engines (229)
Q3

Consumers use a variety of search strategies to
find auto dealerships
What types of keywords did you use
when looking for a dealer?

Make and/or model I 70%
MM & city and/
was interested in
or state 34%
44%
City and/or state MM & zip code 32%
MM & specific
Zip code
44%
dealership name 29%
MM & general
Specific dealership 43% keywords 21%
name

General automotive 29%
MM [Only] 17%
keywords

21
Base:
Used a Search Engine to Shop for Dealerships (433)
Q5
Thinking about all the search engine queries you made to try to find auto dealerships, what types of
keywords did you enter into the search engines to generate results? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Searchers cross shop heavily and are willing to go
out of their way to find dealerships
Searcher vs. Non Searcher - Differences

SEARCHERS NON-SEARCHERS
(79% of car shoppers) (21% of car shoppers)

# Dealerships visited (total) 7 3

Willing to drive over 20 miles to visit a
dealership 35% 18%

Average number of sources used to find
and locate dealerships 6 3

Average number of price quotes requested 3 1

Base:
Searchers (433); Non-Searcher (117)
/
Indicates percentage is significantly higher/lower than Non-Searchers at 95% confidence
QS7
How many dealerships did you visit for each make?
QS8
visited for each make. 22
Q1a/Q1b/Q1c/Q1d Thinking about dealerships you’ve visited, which of the following… made you aware of
the dealerships?/helped you locate the dealerships?
Q11
How many requests for price quotes did you submit on the Internet? Your best guess is fine. Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

THE IMPACT OF


Consumers frequently submit their quotes on
dealership websites
Did you submit any requests for What types of sites did you use to
prices quotes on the internet? submit your price quote?

67%
Dealership
websites

3rd Party Content
42%
DID Portals
NOT 63%
GET A
QUOTE
Auto manufacturer 36%
websites

GOT A QUOTE 5%
Other

24
Base:
Total (550); Submitted a price quote (346)
Q11
How many requests for price quotes did you submit on the Internet?
Q12
What kind of site(s) did you use to submit your price quote? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Dealerships need to proactively service and
answer questions in order to convince a consumer
to visit
Actions done to convince you to visit
dealership… (Among Those Who Submitted a
Quote and Visited a Dealership)
59%
Received an email

53%
Answered all of my questions

50%
Offered me a competitive price

Offered competitive amount for my trade-
29%
in
22%
Received direct mail

5%
Did not proactively contact me

Base:
Visited a dealership to which submitted price quote (231) 25
Q15
Earlier, you said a visited a dealership from which you submitted a price quote to. Thinking about
that visit, which of the following best describes the actions taken by the dealership staff to get you
to visit? (Please select all that apply.) Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Among those that chose not to visit, price and
location are barriers to dealership visits

26
Base:
Did not visit a dealership to which submitted a price quote (95)
Q13b
You mentioned that you did not visit any of the dealerships to which you submitted price quotes.
Why did you not visit any of those dealerships? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Among those that chose not to visit, price and
location are barriers to dealership visits

CE (NET) 26%
oo expensive 21%
tter deal elsewhere 5%
CATION (NET) 20%
16%
Why didn't you visit?32%
oo far/not in my area
DIDN'T VISIT
efer to buy from local dealership 7%
ECTION (NET) 5%
anted other type of vehicle 4%
UGHT FROM ANOTHER 5%
ALERSHIP
RESPONSE FROM DEALER 5%

‘’ ‘’ ‘’
“Took too long to
“They did not respond in a “Because they never sent
respond… I bought
timely manner.” me a quote.”
within 72 hours.”

26
Base:
Did not visit a dealership to which submitted a price quote (95)
Q13b
You mentioned that you did not visit any of the dealerships to which you submitted price quotes.
Why did you not visit any of those dealerships? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Conﬁdential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

27

CONNECTING WITH YOUR

27

28
SOURCE: Y! Study |December 2006
"Engaging Advocates through Search & Social Media" - Consumer Electronics

33%
What makes a
OF THE
POPULATION
brand advocate?

28

Why Advocates Should Be Important to You

 Advocates are more open to
influence, considering more brands
prior to making an auto purchase

 They come out of the buying process
more satisfied with their purchases
- leading to longer lifetime value

 Half of these advocates write about
their purchases online, with a
significant majority writing something
positive (90%)

 Advocates convert their friends to
buy the same auto make & brand
they've purchased at a 2 to 1 ratio
versus a normal consumer

29

Advocates are much heavier researchers and
leverage online sources significantly more
Brand Advocate vs. Non Brand Advocate -
Differences

BRAND NON-BRAND
ADVOCATES ADVOCATES
Average number of sources used to find
and locate dealerships 7 5

Average number of sources used to
research vehicles 6 4

Used a search engine when shopping for
dealership 85% 76%

Used an independent website when
shopping for a dealership 28% 20%

Used an independent website when
shopping for the actual vehicle 43% 37%

Base:
Brand Advocates (180); Non-Brand Advocates (370)
Q1a-Q1d Thinking about dealerships you’ve visited, which of the following… made you aware of the
dealerships?/helped you locate the dealerships?
Q4
information? (Please select all that apply.) 30
QS10
Which of the following resources ‘did you use to gather information while shopping for your new
/
Indicates percentage is significantly higher/lower than Non Brand Advocates at 95% confidence Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Advocates are significantly more likely to use or
post on potential dealership review sites
How likely would you be to use a How likely would you be to post
dealership review site? comments on a dealership review
site?

Top 2 Box: 82% Top 2 Box: 70%
68% Yes
Very likely
Somewhat likely 46% 51%
61% May or may not 23%
40% Probably would not
Definitely would not
0%
0%
24% 28%
28%
21%

Brand AdvocatesNon-Brand Advocates Brand AdvocatesNon-Brand Advocates

Base:
Q7a
Now we’d like you to imagine there was a dealership review site providing customer satisfaction
ratings generated by other customers who visited or did business with the dealerships in your area.
How likely would you be to use this type of site?
Base:
Open to using a dealership review site (Brand Advocates/Non-Brand Advocates) (178/365) 31
Q7b
And how likely would you be to post your own reviews or comments about local dealerships on this
site?
/
Indicates percentage is significantly higher/lower than Brand Advocates at 95% confidence Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Have you referred any friends or
family to a specific dealership
before?

Brand Advocates
are +50% more
likely to
recommend 60%
dealerships to 41%
friends and

Brand Advocates Non-Brand Advocates

32
Base:
/
Indicates percentage is significantly higher/lower than Brand Advocates at 95% confidence
Q20
Have you referred any friends or family members to a specific dealership before? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

After you told your friends and family
about the dealership, what did they
do?

… and as a result 28%
46%
of W-O-M, their Yes

friends will visit Visited the dealership
Purchased a vehicle from the dealership 26%
and more likely Plan on visiting soon
Don't Know
34% 19%
purchase from
0%
0%
these dealers 10% 27%
10%
0% 0%
Brand Advocates
Non-Brand Advocates

Base:
(Brand Advocates/Non-Brand Advocates) Recommended a dealership: (107/150) 33
/
Indicates percentage is significantly higher/lower than Brand Advocates at 95% confidence
Q22
And after you told your friends or family members about the dealership, did they do any of the
following? Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

34

Implications for
Marketers

34

Implications

35

Implications
1. Customers are now viewing the dealership website as an
extension of the showroom, and as such dealers need to
provide a top quality online experience to generate new car
sales

35

Implications
sales

2. 4 in 5 new car shoppers use search to ﬁnd and research
dealerships, which creates a huge opportunity for marketers
seeking to target customers low in the purchase funnel

35

Implications
sales


3. Dealership and brand loyalty declining as consideration sets
for both are growing

35

Implications
sales



4. Dealers can extend their footprint by marketing online, as
search users are signiﬁcantly more willing to travel long
distances to visit dealerships

35

Implications
sales



4. Dealers can extend their footprint by marketing online, as
search users are signiﬁcantly more willing to travel long
distances to visit dealerships

5. Dealership reputation is becoming increasingly important as
customers have the tools and inclination to affect that
reputation through social media outlets
35

THANK
YOU
QUESTIONS?
contact sbeckers@yahoo-inc.com


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