Cobalt Releases Its Annual Automotive eShopper Experience(TM) Study

A comprehensive survey of automotive shopper response practices by dealerships

SEATTLE, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Cobalt, the leading provider of
automotive digital marketing solutions and services, announced the release of
the Automotive eShopper Experience Study, the largest and longest research
initiative of its kind in the industry with results from dealerships
representing thirty OEM brands. At the industry level the study shows
substantial improvement in the quality of the online automotive consumer's
experience, but from a low performance baseline. A key finding in this year's
report is the significant improvement in the performance of the Chevrolet
brand to scores exceeding all of its volume peers and to levels approaching
Lexus, the industry's perennial champion.
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Since 2004, Cobalt has conducted the industry's largest and most
comprehensive online consumer experience studies through its eMystery Shop(TM)
service. This year marks the release of the first comprehensive overview of
the shops' results, as well as a ranking of the top five performing OEM brands
for 2007 and 2008. The study was conducted by presenting highly qualified
sales opportunities to dealers through their websites and monitoring the
timeliness, thoroughness and quality of the dealer's response to the
consumer's inquiry. Response content was judged on how completely the dealer
answered the shopper's questions, as well as their professionalism in the
initial contact.
Key Findings
Tough times have made dealers more responsive to shoppers. The Automotive
eShopper Index(TM) is an integrated score of the overall effectiveness of
dealership lead handling practices, which can be tracked by brand and trended
over time. Using this index, the average of all brands improved from 30.5 to
39.0 on a 100 point scale from 2007 to 2008, driven primarily by an uptick in
dealers responding to a higher percentage of leads. However, there remains
room for improvement, especially in the area of response quality.
-- Dealers do not respond, by email or phone, to one in four shoppers
submitting leads.
-- When they respond, dealers are following up more consistently with an
average of 3.1 follow-ups (vs. 2.0 in 2005).
-- If a shopper asks for the price of a new vehicle, they will be given
this information less than 25% of the time.
-- Only 13% or responding dealerships provide the shopper with information
about the benefits of their particular brand or vehicle.
Brand Rankings
At the top of the brand rankings, Lexus dealers hold the top spot based on
the timeliness of their responses. However, the significant news for 2008 is
Chevrolet's leap from its 2007 ranking at 15th place, to its second place
overall ranking in 2008. Chevrolet dealers delivered major improvements across
the board in response rate and response quality. VW took a third-place ranking
overall based on a combination of lead response time and relevant lead
response content. Additional ranking information is available in the study
whitepaper.
"As the leader in automotive digital marketing, Cobalt invests in research
on all aspects of the online automotive shopper experience," said Chris Reed,
Chief Marketing Officer of Cobalt. "We are pleased to provide the automotive
industry with the insights they need to improve consumer engagement and
marketing efficiency."
To download the full 2008 Automotive eShopper Experience Study white paper
please visit http://www.cobalt.com/emystery. To learn more about Cobalt's
eMystery Shop program email emystery@cobalt.com.
About Cobalt
Cobalt is North America's leading provider of automotive marketing
services. For thirteen years, Cobalt's mission has been to help automobile
dealers and manufacturers increase their retailing effectiveness and
profitability. Cobalt provides marketing services to half of the automotive
dealerships in the United States, as well as automotive dealers in Canada and
Mexico. Cobalt's marketing services are endorsed by approximately two-thirds
of the world's major automotive manufacturers.
Media Contact:
Amy Hatch
Marketing Manager
Cobalt
206-219-8132
ahatch@cobalt.com

SOURCE Cobalt

Amy Hatch, Marketing Manager of Cobalt, +1-206-219-8132, ahatch@cobalt.com