| [June 10, 2013] |
 |
Autobytel Launches Dealer Insights Series to Help Car Dealers Increase Sales to Today's Online Consumers
IRVINE, Calif. --(Business Wire)--
Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL),
the company dedicated to helping automotive consumers and dealers
connect online, today announced it has launched the Autobytel
Dealer Insights Series, a quarterly education program designed to
help dealers increase sales to today's online consumers.
The information offered in the first of the Autobytel (News - Alert) Dealer Insights
Series is backed by shopping trends and behavioral data from
millions of online car buyers matched to actual vehicle registrations in
all 50 states from R.L. Polk & Co. to shed light on what happens to automotive
leads after they've been submitted online.
"We initially partnered with R.L. Polk as part of our ongoing commitment
to lead quality, but when we dug into the data, we found some rather
interesting and surprising consumer trends," said Scott Pechstein, VP of
Sales for Autobytel Inc. "We felt it was critically important for
dealers to be aware of these trends."
The first collection of materials in this series (including five video
education sessions that feature Pechstein) is entitled Perception vs.
Reality of Internet Leads and offers a detailed analysis about these
trends, including:
|
1.
|
|
How and why today's car buyers are much different than in
generations past;
|
|
2.
|
|
How and why the online car buying process has changed in recent
years;
|
|
3.
|
|
The propensity for consumers to buy a different brand than the brand
for which they initially submitted an Internet lead;
|
|
4.
|
|
The propensity for consumers to buy a used car after they've
submitted a new
car lead, or to buy a new car after they've submitted a used
car lead; and
|
|
5.
|
|
Important advice, based on this data, about how dealers can best
meet the needs of today's online car buyers and modify their
Internet processes to enhance their sales results.
|
Following are just some of the important statistics*
contained in this series:
-
Of the consumers who submitted a new car purchase request and bought, 54.4%
bought a different brand (new or used).
-
Of the consumers who submitted a used car purchase request and bought, 53.6%
bought a different brand (new or used).
-
Of the consumers who submitted a new car purchase request and bought, 41.9%
bought used (any make).
-
Of the consumers who submitted a used car purchase request and bought, 20.7%
bought new (any make).
-
As Internet leads age beyond 30 days, the propensity for consumers to
defect to another brand-or to defect from a new car to a used
car-increases significantly.
Following are several important tips from the series, to help dealers
enhance their Internet sales operations:
|
1)
|
|
Since today's car buyers are prone to considering many brands,
dealers should communicate the significant benefits of their brand
in addition to communicating the benefits of their store
(i.e. industry awards and accolades, manufacturer
maintenance/warranty/roadside assistance programs, etc.).
|
|
|
|
|
|
2)
|
|
Since today's car buyers are prone to switching from new to used, or
from used to new, dealers should communicate to customers other
vehicle options-in addition to information about the vehicle of
interest-such as comparable same-brand new models, comparable CPO
cars and/or a link to the dealership's used car inventory page
(featuring their brand and other brands).
|
|
|
|
|
|
3)
|
|
Since today's new car buyers are more prone to switch to used cars
as Internet leads age past 30 days, dealers should modify their
communication strategy to place more emphasis on used options as the
lead ages.
|
This first collection in the series also highlights information
contained in "Lost Sales Reports" provided to dealers who are part of
the Autobytel program. These reports highlight Autobytel Internet lead
data specific to their dealerships and to their market areas, and which
brands or types of vehicles people ultimately bought and from whom, to
help dealers optimize their sales and marketing efforts.
"Essentially, some of the perceptions dealers have about Internet leads
are much different than reality," said Pechstein. "Knowing the cars
people ultimately buy and from whom, once an online purchase request has
been submitted, enables us to provide insight to help dealers get
customers into their stores and driving away in their cars."
The Autobytel Dealer Insights Series videos are available at http://dealer.autobytel.com/dealer-training.
*Autobytel Internet Lead data and R.L. Polk & Co. Vehicle
Registration data: Analysis from Q1 - Q3, 2012.
About Autobytel Inc.
Autobytel Inc., an online leader
offering consumer purchase requests, or leads, and marketing resources
to car dealers and manufacturers and providing consumers with the
information they need to purchase new and used cars, pioneered the
automotive Internet when it launched its flagship website, www.autobytel.com,
in 1995. Autobytel continues to offer innovative products and services
to help consumers buy, and auto dealers and manufacturers sell, more
used and new cars. Autobytel has helped tens of millions of automotive
consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of dealers nationwide
with motivated car buyers; and helped every major automaker market its
brand online. Through its flagship website, network of automotive sites
and respected online affiliates, Autobytel continues its dedication to
innovating the industry's highest quality Internet programs to provide
consumers with a comprehensive and positive automotive research and
purchasing experience, and auto dealers, dealer groups and auto
manufacturers with some of the industry's most productive and
cost-effective customer referral and marketing programs.
Investors and other interested parties can receive Autobytel news
releases and invitations to special events by accessing the online
registration form at investor.autobytel.com/alerts.cfm.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
