4 out of 5 Car Buyers now using the web for research

79% of new vehicle purchasers (which JD Power refer to as AIU's or Automotive Internet Users) are starting their research for a new car on the internet. This in itself is not hugely surprising - previous studies in years gone by have shown the emerging dominance of the web in the vehicle purchasing cycle, but it shows that the web is here to stay, wioth 4 out of 5 people starting their search on a website.

Read more about this interesting study and how car buyers are using multiple devices today, and what they are looking for from motor websites... http://www.progressautomotive.com/news/news-2012/nearly-80-percent-of-car-buyers-looking-online-first.aspx

Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Are you looking to send a festive greeting to your customers this Christmas time, but are constrained by time and budget? Then Progress may have just the answer for you with our tailored HTML email Christmas cards!
Christmas is a good time to get in touch with your customers and let them know that they are appreciated… so why not consider sending out corporate e-cards this Christmas with Progress Automotive.
From only £150 - it couldn't be easier to get your own corporate branded E-card. Not only will you save money, time and trees, the money saved can be donated to your chosen charity.
Each card can include your company logo and the card landing page can be customised with the text of your choice.

Why send an E-Card?

• Highly Measurable
• Cheaper than a traditional card
• Quicker than traditional mail
• Fully managed production and delivery if required

Our email service will provide you with in-depth reporting on who has opened the card, clicked on any links, and invalid email addresses, enabling you to cleanse your database at the same time...and all this for a much lower cost and quicker turnaround/delivery than a traditional printed card sent by snail mail!

Find more details here

Progress for Eden Vauxhall launching new Interactive Web Experience

We have just launched a stunning new website for Eden Motor Group http://www.edenvauxhall.co.uk/ to replace the original produced in 2008. Eden Vauxhall and Eden Chevrolet is a joint venture between Graeme Potts and Vauxhall Motors and now operates six Retail Centres in Reading, Newbury, Fareham, Exeter and Honiton, as well as a Vauxhall and Ford Aftersales centre in Bracknell.

Eden Vauxhall and Eden Chevrolet are striving to create 'a better world of motoring' for their customers with unparalleled levels of customer service. The new website has been created to reflect the company values by offering customers the very latest in website technology and by communicating the ‘Eden’ brand in parallel with the Vauxhall and Chevrolet brands. The 'Eden' name has become widely recognized within the communities in which it operates, having earned a reputation for high levels of service and customer satisfaction.

The first striking new feature of the site is the use of bright, colour coded partitioning which allows easier navigation of the site and the ability for customers to recognize in which area they are currently located (New, Used, Vans, Service etc.) at-a-glance. Each regional Retail Centre offers timely, local promotions via a dedicated Dealer home page; such offers are communicated by large, highly visible, interchangeable banners. Then there are the ‘mega menus’ which guide the customer through an easy-to-use, well designed interactive experience. As the customer travels through the site, call-to-action prompts are always available in prominent positions with contact details and side tabs offering ‘Book a Service’ and ‘Book a Test Drive’ options.

Eden’s 275+ Used Car stock is the key focus of the website and naturally this area that has been improved the most.  The addition of a ‘sticky’ menu at the base of every page for quick retrieval of cars that customers have saved into their ‘garage’ or previously viewed during their visit is a very popular feature. There is also a ‘Quick View’ function for every vehicle, which allows customers to access the key info and imagery for any car straight from the search page without having to navigate away, while a ‘Lifestyle Search’ feature allows customers to display cars by vehicle type as an alternative to the traditional method of searching by make and model.  Although the new website is launched, there are plans to further develop interesting features such as searching by monthly finance budget, New car review videos and webchat facilities.

Graeme Potts, Managing Director concluded ‘This website offers a completely new interactive experience for the customer. In this day and age, there is no merit in offering a ‘run-of-the-mill’ service. A forward thinking company such as ours needs to lead the way, and we have done this with the help of Progress Automotive Solutions; the website developers who work solely in the automotive industry thereby offering real value and experience. In order to compete at the highest level we need to delight our customers from the very first touch point – which is usually the website. I am confident that our new offering will deliver both an excellent, customer-centric online service and a fantastic business result.’

Branding and Social Media: Should car dealers be looking at Twitter and Facebook? Special report from Alex Knight - Internet Operations Manager

Interesting statistics have been published recently from Digital Surgeons on the social demographic breakdown of the top two social networking websites Facebook and Twitter. While the data is predominantly sourced in the US, the profiling of the usage and brand loyalty on these social giants is equally valid in the UK market, and it’s fair to assume that if UK car dealers choose to ignore what many of them view as an expensive branding exercise to a young audience, they could be missing out on a huge opportunity to engage and ultimately sell to today’s web-savvy customers.

In terms of visibility and potential audience, the stats are not too surprising – nearly 90% of all people surveyed knew of both Facebook and Twitter. What is really eye-opening is the age and economic breakdown we can infer from the 600+ million site users. Dispelling the image of it being a youth-dominated network, in actual fact 89% of Facebook’s users are old enough to drive (and therefore buy!) a car. That same figure is a staggering 96% of Twitterers!

In terms of customer buying power and economic segmentation, 53% of Facebook and 50% of Twitter users are on an income of £30,000 or more (with 34% of Facebook and 33% of Twitter users on £15-30,000). So in reality, you are looking at about 90% of the social networkers out there being able to afford a new car. But will they buy one, or will they even bother to look at or like your brand pages?

In short, yes they will…with 4 in 10 Facebook and 1 in 4 Twitter users following a brand, the opportunity is there to get your business and brand out to the UK or world, and more importantly for it to be viewed, liked, posted, shared and tweeted by a good proportion of your market. What’s really remarkable is the loyalty to those brands that the social networkers are displaying – 67% of Twitter and 51% of Facebook users who follow that brand will go on to purchase from that particular brand!

The other really insightful statistic we can draw from this survey is the rise and rise of the mobile device as a web accessing tool, and the importance therefore of catering specially for these browsers by optimising the mobile experience of websites. A third (30% FB, 37% Twitter) of users surveyed accessed the social networks from their phone, so you can bet your bottom dollar that they will also be browsing other websites from their phone too. Are you showing your website in a suitable format for mobile devices? This report says you need to be.

So what does all this tell us? Well, in short, you should be thinking about getting on both Twitter and Facebook sooner rather than later, as they are both potential sales avenues that are consistently performing for other brands and businesses. 90% of the public know of the sites, 90% of them are old enough and earning enough to get your product, and should they start following your page, over half of them will buy from you! The stats say it all really…it’s now down to how you manage your presence, their experience and what you can offer them as reward for their loyalty.

 

Progress can offer website development (mobile ready and PC), social media  and internet advertising services. Get in touch for more information.

Alex Knight

Internet Operations Manager

 

Making the move to Mobile - that's Progress...

Did you know that Progress offers mobile ready websites at top value and quality?

With mobile web traffic rising steadily month on month, it’s more important than ever for dealers to provide a streamlined, Smartphone -optimised experience for users looking for car dealers within search engines. Figures from Ofcom’s most recent industry report in August 2011 show that more than a quarter (27%) of adults own a web-enabled smartphone, and 28% of people use their mobile phone to access the internet. Further research produced by Performics.com, shows that 84% of regular mobile users use mobile search to look for information on local retailers, such as opening hours, address and contact details. 73% find a specific product or manufacturer website. 32% said they use mobile search more than search engines on their computers. 

We have now produced a number of mobile ready websites as dealers gear themselves up to the growing trend in mobile use when searching for vehicles.

Progress WebBuilder Mobile offers:

• Compatibility - Mobile websites are cheaper and quicker to produce than mobile applications, and what’s more, only one site is needed to cover all mobile devices. Progress ensures that all sites are cross-browser tested to ensure compatibility across Apple, Blackberry and Android devices.
• User Accessibility - The sites are free for users to access, and accessible simply via the built-in web browsers on phones.
• Routing - The mobile traffic is automatically picked up and redirected to the mobile site by Progress WebBuilder Mobile software.
• Reporting - Full reporting is provided on source of visits, time on site, enquiry conversion and other key site metrics allowing marketing staff to determine trends and adjust campaigns accordingly.
• Bespoke features - Sites are custom conceived, designed and built and range from simple used car stock locators, to advanced sites that enable users to book services, view new car range images, prices, download brochures and see model’s green credentials like MPG and CO2 emissions.
• Find my nearest - Dealer locators can be provided to easily locate the user’s nearest dealership, with intuitive links to Google map locations.
• Quick contact methods - Whether it is simple email forms or ‘click-to-call’ phone numbers, meaning you can simply tap the phone number to prompt your phone to call the number. No need to copy/paste, memorise or write down!
• Used Car locators – Progress offers market leading technology which does not just provide a simple route to your used car stock.

Progress also offer more powerful features such as:

o    Quick model searching with dynamic stock and price counts ’43 Used Volvo S40’s from £6,995’
o    Advanced searching via mileage, age, price, model, variant or transmission
o    The ability to add ‘favourites’ to an area for user reference at a later date
o    Email PDF function to send the car’s details in PDF format to a user’s email
o    ‘Email a friend’ to send a link in an email of a specific car
o    Easy result filtering – by price, model or age

Online Booking - who's first to market?

It was interesting to see advertising from one of our competitors recently. They claim they are first to market with 'true' online booking! We guess by using the word 'true' they mean their newly launched feature is not simply an email request form that puts you through to a receptionist, happy to book your vehicle in for the next service.
'Online booking' launched by Progress back in March 2011 is far more than that. In exactly the same way that a user might book theatre tickets online, or book on to a flight, they can now book their vehicle directly into your workshop and choose various options at the same time such as valet and tyre check.
Berry BMW Heathrow were the first to use the feature with their unique offering 'Service While You Fly' - which allows their customers to book their car in for a service while off on holiday or a business trip. Very innovative.
At Progress we are working hard to be first to market with many ground breaking products that our customers can use to jump ahead of their competition and make more money. Looks like we were there first with 'true' online booking too!

Motor Trader Awards

What a fabulous night we had last Thursday! A great success as we took our finalists and some other special guests to the final awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel.
The 4 finalists were Porsche Hatfield, JCB Ashford, Berry BMW Heathrow and Sytner BMW Leicester.
The other special guests joining us were Edd China (TV presenter, Wheeler Dealers), John Dean (Car dealer best practice consultant), James Titchener and Christopher Turnbull from Enterprise Hire Rental - one of our valued new customers.
Katan Wara of Porsche Hatfield won the 'Highly Commended' award for 'Service advisor of the Year'. Well done to Katan. And Peter Vardy Motherwell, our highly valued WorkshopPro customers won 'Workshop of the Year' award - we like to think it was partly down to the use of our WorkshopPro software!
Here's a photo of some of us at the awards - thanks for coming everyone...

Left to right - Neil Stewart (Progress General Sales), Edd China (Wheeler Dealers), Imogen China, Mrs Logan Naidoo, Franc Mateo (After Sales Manager Porsche Hatfield), Logan Naidoo (Progress Sales Director), Katan Wara (Service Advisor Porsche Hatfield).