Calltracks used car sales case study in association with ExchangeandMart.co.uk By advertising car stock on motoring classified websites, car dealers expect a good level of calls from people who visit these sites. However according to Calltracks, an independent third party call tracking company, the quality of calls should be the main focus rather than just quantity. Calltracks offer highly sophisticated call tracking solutions to the motor industry, enabling dealers to identify the number of calls generated by advertising source, how many unique callers there were, and out of those calls, how many new enquiries were generated (i.e. isn’t already on the dealer’s database), and to track these calls through to sale and even profit margin. With this comprehensive end-to-end data being gathered, Calltracks are uniquely placed to offer very powerful impartial information on the true performance of the leading motoring classified websites or indeed any other marketing channel using a phone number response. Looking at the aggregated data for the months of August and September 2012 combined, Calltracks divided the total number of calls across 9 franchise dealer groups by the total number of actual sales generated, and split this for each of the motoring classified websites being tracked. Their results were quite revealing: Classified Website AutoTrader.co.uk ExchangeandMart.co.uk VCARS.co.uk TrustedDealers.co.uk PistonHeads.com Motors.co.uk Total Calls-to-Conversion Ratio 7.1% 4.8% 7.7% 3.1% 5.7% 0.5% Car Servicing Calls-to-Conversion Ratio 3.0% 2.4% 5.4% 2.2% 5.7% 0.5% Car Sales Calls-to-Conversion Ratio 4.2% 2.4% 2.3% 0.9% 0.0% 0.0% Source: Calltracks Limited 22/10/12 based on call data from a sample of 9 used car franchise dealer groups. Each website listed above featured used car adverts from 3 or more of the 9 dealer groups. Calltracks noted that many calls generated overall weren’t made by people looking to buy a car, but instead to book a service. This can often take up the valuable time of the sales team who have to divert the call to the relevant department. ExchangeandMart.co.uk’s charging model is based purely on car sales, so any service calls generated are not charged for. Audience Profile However, the most useful insight was the calls-to-conversion ratio for actual car sales. The figures showed that of the sites analysed, AutoTrader.co.uk generated the highest proportion of calls which converted to an actual car sale. ExchangeandMart.co.uk was the second most effective website with VCARS.co.uk rounding off the top three. It’s worth bearing in mind that the conversion ratio should be viewed in relation to the cost of advertising. Cost effective advertising for maximum response Traffic with advertising budgets tight carsite dealers need to know that the money Q OverIn2conclusion, million unique users each quarter on the main they do spend is spent in the most effective way Q Reach of 4.3 million monthly unique users through our to generate car sales. The data suggests † that careful consideration needs to be made when choosing who to advertise with. partnership network Some sites generate a good volume of calls, but these can often be time-consuming calls rather than from people looking to buy cars. Dealers should therefore focus * Ageservice Income* their advertising resources on sites which generate actual car sales. Percentage of users Age Household Income Percentage of users Total Internet Exchange and Mart Auto Trader Motors. co.uk eBay Motors Under £10K 10.3 4.4 9.8 9.5 10.2 22.1 £10K-£24,999 21.1 22.7 19.4 21.3 26.0 17.9 £25K-£34,999 15.2 17.3 15.8 21.6 20.9 21.5 19.1 25.4 17.9 19.5 31.8 36.5 29.6 29.8 23.4 Total Internet Exchange and Mart Auto Trader Motors. co.uk eBay Motors Under 24 29.2 18.8 22.8 22.7 15.6 25-34 17.7 18.1 23.6 15.1 35-44 17.5 22.0 21.6 28.5 45-54 16.5 16.5 16.7 17.3 22.1 £35K-£49,999 55+ 19.1 24.6 15.3 16.4 22.3 £50K or more 63% of our users are over 35 years old. This age group has the highest earning power and the strongest buying confidence. Social Profile* Compared with other leading car buying and selling websites, and the internet as a whole, Exchange and Mart has the highest percentage of users with the highest disposable income – money that could be spent on your products. Percentage of users Social Total Exchange Auto Motors. eBay Grade About www.Calltracks.com InternetCalltracks and Mart - Trader co.uk Motors A/B C1 C2 D/E Calltracks is36.4 an industry analytics company who provide a selection of call 29.6 33.7 leading 33.6 data 27.0 analytics tools for the motor industry. Offering a 360 degree perspective on call and sales 28.1 30.2 26.4 25.7 25.3 activities, Calltracks help motor dealers to better understand the effectiveness of their 18.6 17.2 19.8 19.6 20.7 advertising and to maximise the conversion of sales leads, giving a far more accurate 23.6 16.2 20.1 21.0 27.0 picture of where the marketing budget should be spent. Our visitors are predominantly from the social groups A, B or C1 (67%). These are the people you want to be talking About Exchange and Mart - www.ExchangeandMart.co.uk to – genuine buyers with the capability to buy Exchange and Mart is one of the from UK’syou. best loved classified brands, and has been helping individuals and businesses to buy and sell for over 140 years. Today it is exclusively anhousehold % of visitors’ online classified their income over £35k Growing All Thewebsite Timewith a monthly reach of 4.3 million unique visitors across partner network. of 33% the Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group and Mart Exchange The number of visitors to our As siteais founding growing allmember the time: up since October 2010, industry forum created to combat related fraud, Exchange and Mart* thanks to(VSTAG), sustainedan marketing campaigns, and a fully optimisedvehicle site to ensure maximum traffic from search engines. is committed to setting the standard for secure online trading. Auto Trader – 55% ExchangeandMart.co.uk is one of the UK’s most respected automotive buying and selling Motors.co.uk – 48% websites, building on an unrivalled brand heritage spanning over 140 years. eBay Motors – 43% We also power Newsquest Media Group’s 144 regional motoring websites and s1cars.com Total Internet – 53% in Scotland, combining local penetration with comprehensive national reach. 56% For an solution designed your business, Get in advertising touch with one of our team offor experts today. callus uson on0845 0845313 313 9413 9413 or Call or e-mail e-mail trade.sales@ExchangeandMart.co.uk *Source: comScore, November 2011. comScore is a global leader in online audience measurement and the preferred source of digital marketing intelligence in the industry. † Reach of Exchange and Mart’s partnership network, verified by comScore.