reverse engineering the automotive purchase funnel ken insana
TRANSCRIPT
REVERSE ENGINEERING THE AUTOMOTIVE PURCHASE FUNNEL
KEN INSANA SENIOR MANAGER, CONSUMER RESEARCH
COMMON ASSUMPTIONS
6 MONTHS
KPI’s
LINEAR
OEM SITES
Length of Purchase Process Shape of Purchase Process
Certain Actions Predict Sales Provide Comprehensive Measurement
NONE OF THESE ARE TRUE
IMBB CLOSED LOOP ROI LEAD GENERATION PANELIST RECALL
BROAD NARROW SMALL
UNRELIABLE
PAST OPTIONS NOT ENOUGH
WHAT IF WE GO BACKWARD?
PANEL SALES
BLOG
BROCHURE REQUEST
BUILD YOUR OWN
CALCULATE PAYMENTS
CAR FINDER
COMPARE VEHICLES
PAYMENT ESTIMATOR
LOCATE DEALER
MODEL INFORMATION
OFFERS
PHOTO GALLERY
REQUEST A QUOTE
REVIEWS
SEARCH INVENTORY
SELL YOUR CAR
TRADE IN
KEY INSIGHTS
WHAT WE LEARNED –
PURCHASE CYCLE IS SHORTER
28 DAYS
6 MONTHS
OLD ASSUMPTION…
28 DAYS
FIRST KPI LAST KPI
37 DAYS PRIOR
9 DAYS PRIOR
NEW ASSUMPTION…
“Active” In-market period before purchase
WHAT WE LEARNED –
THERE IS NO LINEAR PURCHASE PATTERN # OF KPI ACTIVITIES VARIES WIDELY FIRST & LAST KPI LOOKS SIMILAR PURCHASER PATHS SHOW WIDE VARIETY
KPI % OF SALES # OF TIMES
Search Inventory 54.9% 84
Build Your Own 39.3% 41
Model Information 33.8% 10
Request a Quote 32.2% 6
Trade In 30.5% 9
Locate Dealer 28.4% 10
Offers 26.3% 6
Reviews 16.8% 12
Compare 14.8% 16
Payment Estimator 13.0% 8
Photo Gallery 9.7% 4
Brochure 4.2% 3
Blog 2.7% 4
% OF BUYERS WHO PERFORMED
80 KPI s
PERFORMED
3.5 SITES VISITED
25% VISIT 5+ SITES
A FRENZY OF ACTIVITY
FIRST KPI % OF SALES
Search Inventory 22.2%
CPO 17.8%
Build Your Own 11.3%
Trade In 10.2%
Model Information 8.4%
Request a Quote 7.7%
Locate Dealer 5.5%
Offers 5.1%
LAST KPI % OF SALES
Search Inventory 24.6%
CPO 14.8%
Build Your Own 13.0%
Model Information 9.4%
Trade In 7.9%
Locate Dealer 6.3%
Request a Quote 6.2%
Offers 4.9%
WHAT BUYERS DID
59% OEM SITES
41% 3RD PARTY
SITES
WHERE BUYERS FINISHED
NISSAN MURANO
UNIQUE KPI’s PERFORMED
THE STANDARD PURCHASER Build Your Own 30
Estimator 5
Locate a Dealer 4
Model Information 41
Offers 5
Photogallery 1
Request a Quote 3
Reviews 32
5/31 5/31 6/1
6/1
6/1
6/1
6/3 6/3 6/3 6/3
6/4
6/4
6/5 6/5
6/6 6/6
5/28
6/4
IN MARKET FOR 10 DAYS
121 KPI’s
6/7
VOLVO XC 90
UNIQUE KPI’s PERFORMED
ALL FOR NOTHING
Build Your Own 4
Brochure 1
Locate a Dealer 30
Model Information 2
Trade In 1
Photogallery 1
Request a Quote 4
Reviews 14
IN MARKET FOR 78 DAYS
57 KPI’s
11/8
Clearnign Lots.comDealer
11/8 12/15 12/22
12/23
12/23
12/23
12/27 12/29 1/5 1/5
1/15
1/7
1/7 1/23
1/2
1/25
TOYOTA PRIUS
UNIQUE KPI’s PERFORMED
THIRD PARTY GURU
Build Your Own 10
Car Finder 82
Compare Vehicles 5
Model Information 3
Financial 2
Reviews 32
IN MARKET FOR 88 DAYS
115 KPI’s
1/29
1/30
1/1 1/1 1/15
1/29 2/5
2/6
1/13
2/3
1/31
1/28
1/17
2/7, 2/15, 2/16, 2/20, 2/21, 2/22, 2/23, 2/24, 2/26, 2/28, 3/10, 3/14, 3/19
3/29
HYUNDAI ELANTRA
UNIQUE KPI’s PERFORMED
THE REASSURED
Build Your Own 4
Locate a Dealer 3
Request a Quote 1
Reviews 4
IN MARKET FOR 7 DAYS
12 KPI’s
4/29
CarPriceSecrets.com 1 REQUEST A QUOTE
4/30
1 BUILD YOUR OWN
4/30
4 REVIEWS
4/30
2 BUILD YOUR OWN
5/1 3 LOCATE A
DEALER
5/5 1 BUILD YOUR OWN
5/5
WHAT WE LEARNED –
3RD PARTY SITES ARE GROWING IN IMPORTANCE VOLUME HIGHER IN 2011 THAN OEM SITES OEM NOT ALWAYS PRESENT IN RESEARCH PATH
IMPORTANCE OF 3RD PARTY RESEARCH SITES GROWING
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
OEM
3rdParty
KPI defined as: Blog, Brochure, Build Your Own, Calculate Payments, Car Finder, Compare, Payment Estimator, Locate Dealer, Model Information, Offers, Photo Gallery, Request a Quote, Reviews, Search Inventory, Sell Your Car, Trade In
BUYERS USE MULTIPLE SITES TO INFORM THEIR DECISIONS
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5
Both OEM & 3rd Party
OEM Only
3rd Party Only
# of sites used
37% NEVER VISITED
OEM SITE
WHAT WE LEARNED –
3RD PARTY SITES ARE USED DIFFERENTLY PORTALS USED BEFORE AUTO SPECIALTY SITES AOL AUTOS: REVIEWS & MODEL INFO MOST IMPORTANT
25 DAYS PURCHASE
MSN Autos
23 Days
22 Days
18 Days
15 Days
14 Days
12 Days
9 Days
OEM
Portals Endemics OEMs
MEASURED BY LAST KPI PERFORMED ON RESPECTIVE SITES
% OF BUYERS WHO VISITED THAT SITE AND PERFORMED AT LEAST 2 KPI’S
LAST KPI
AOL Autos Model Information 44.8%
MSN Autos Model Information 26.9%
KBB Model Information 21.6%
Yahoo Autos Model Information 15.3%
Edmunds Model Information 12.3%
Cars.com Model Information 2.7%
Autotrader Model Information 2.4%
AOL Autos Reviews 27.6%
MSN Autos Reviews 16.4%
Yahoo Autos Reviews 11.1%
Edmunds Reviews 9.1%
Cars.com Reviews 5.9%
KBB Reviews 2.6%
Autotrader Reviews 2.4%
AOL Autos Reviews 13.8%
Edmunds Reviews 12.7%
Yahoo Autos Reviews 9.7%
MSN Autos Reviews 6.0%
Cars.com Reviews 5.9%
KBB Reviews 2.3%
Autotrader Reviews 0.8%
AOL Autos Model Information 56.9%
MSN Autos Model Information 56.7%
KBB Model Information 19.3%
Yahoo Autos Model Information 18.1%
Edmunds Model Information 16.6%
Autotrader Model Information 8.8%
Cars.com Model Information 1.8%
FIRST KPI
94% KPI’s ARE NOT INVENTORY SEARCHES
APPENDIX
METHODOLOGY
BLOG
BROCHURE REQUEST
BUILD YOUR OWN
CALCULATE PAYMENTS
CAR FINDER
COMPARE VEHICLES
PAYMENT ESTIMATOR
LOCATE DEALER
MODEL INFORMATION
OFFERS
PHOTO GALLERY
REQUEST A QUOTE
REVIEWS
SEARCH INVENTORY
SELL YOUR CAR
TRADE IN
2011 BUYERS 90 DAYS OF KPI ACTIVITY PRIOR TO PURCHASE ASSUMED 5 DAY LAG BETWEEN PURCHASE AND DMV REGISTRATION NOT ALL KPI ACTIVITY IS CONSISTENT ACROSS SITES
DIFFERENT URL STRINGS
VARYING LEVELS OF DEPTH – PAGES
INCONSISTENCY DUE TO SITE REDESIGNS
PASSIVE VS ACTIVE KPI (VIDEOS, ETC)
KPI DEFINED AS:
PROCESS IS NOT LINEAR: ORDER AND COMBINATION OF KPI’s DOES NOT MATTER
Search Inventory++Build Your Own 28.9%
Build Your Own++Search Inventory 28.3%
Model Information++Search Inventory 27.3%
Search Inventory++Model Information 26.7%
Search Inventory++Locate Dealer 24.1%
Locate Dealer++Search Inventory 23.7%
Search Inventory++CPO 23.4%
CPO++Search Inventory 22.9%
Request a Quote++Search Inventory 22.0%
CPO++Build Your Own 21.7%
NO KPI ORDER IS DOMINANT…
Build Your Own++Search Inventory 33.8%
Model Information++Search Inventory 31.8%
Locate Dealer++Search Inventory 28.5%
CPO++Search Inventory 28.0%
Request a Quote++Search Inventory 27.4%
Search Inventory++Trade In 25.2%
CPO++Build Your Own 24.9%
Build Your Own++Model Information 24.5%
Offers++Search Inventory 24.2%
Build Your Own++Request a Quote 23.8%
NO KPI COMBO IS DOMINANT…
QUESTIONS &
NEXT STEPS