AUTOINDUSTRYIn AustraliaIndustry trends and innovative strategies for targeting auto audiences

In 2017 the Australian Auto industry has experienced similar sales numbers to previous years, but July saw a sizeable uptick. In the past, high fuel prices pushed consumers towards smaller and more fuel-efficient cars, but more recently SUVs have shown a surge in sales as well.

How can auto manufacturers take advantage of car buying trends and get ahead of the purchase cycle? Cracking the code of the digital journey remains one of the foremost challenges for auto makers. Many marketers still struggle to identify customers early enough in the car buying process, when people begin their research online.

This report will help auto brands and marketers connect the dots from interest to intent. Using real data from auto websites, we will explore how consumers begin their comparison journey on review websites, and what content they consume there. Then we will move further down the funnel to analyse the audiences of competing car models, and how marketers can reach true purchase intenders.

Introduction

1

Learn how launches affect traffic benchmarking, and which car models have the most audience overlap.

Evaluation: Car Model Benchmarking & Audience Overlap

See what content people consume on car review sites — and find out which manufacturers rely on them most.

Interest: Comparison & Review Sites

Find out what makes car purchase intend-ers unique, and where to reach shoppers with purchase intent.

Intent: Profiling Purchase Intenders vs. Browsers

1

2

3

Table of Contents

2

Comparison and Review Sites

1

3

Breaking down the top ranked websites in the Automotive category reveals just how important comparison and review sites truly are. Whereas Carsales, Carsguide, Car Advice and Drive rank well within the top five, the highest-ranked manufacturer website (Toyota) sits all the way in 24th.

The Importance of Comparison & Review Sites

Top Websites in the Automotive Industry 4 weeks ending 2nd Sep 2017

Website Total Visits

Visit Shares Rank

Carsales.com.au

Super Cheap Auto

carsguide.com.au

Car Advice

Drive

VicRoads

bikesales.com.au

Pickles Auctions

Caravan Camping Sales

speedcafe.com.au

Toyota Australia

12,286,500

4,017,030

3,924,500

3,391,800

2,116,720

2,035,100

1,560,040

1,476,300

1,178,530

1,142,620

759,049

11.21%

3.66%

3.58%

3.09%

1.93%

1.86%

1.42%

1.35%

1.08%

1.04%

0.69%

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

24

4

Based on the weight that consumers give comparison sites, its important that manufacturers regularly benchmark their performance and reliance on sites like Carsales, the #1 auto website in Australia.

The chart below breaks down the top brand websites that receive traffic from Carsales. Although Toyota has the highest total traffic occurrences from Carsales (unsurprising considering they are the largest manufacturer), Volkswagon Australia has the largest occurrence share from Carsales. This means that a significant percentage of Volkswagon’s overall traffic (7.06%) comes from Carsales, as does BMW’s (6.46%) – they are highly channel reliant on Carsales compared to other manufacturers, and may consider doubling down on a partnership with the site to increase this flow of traffic.

Comparison Site Reliance

Traffic Occurences from Carsales4 weeks ending 2nd Sep 2017

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

8%

6%

45%

2%

0%

Toyota Australia BMW Australia Volkwagen Australia

Traffic Occurences Occurence Share

4.82%

6.46%

7.06%

Traffic Occurrences - Number of traffic occurrences driven from Carsales to the manufacturer.

Occurrence Share – Percentage of traffic from CarSales as a share of all traffic to the manufacturer (channel reliance)

Toyota claimed the largest amount of Traffic Occurences, whereas Volkswagen possessed the largest Occurrence Share.

Top Takeaway

5

Measuring high-performing content on comparison sites can help manufacturers identify specific pages to target, or provide ideas for content creation and search optimisation. The example below shows the top pages viewed on Carsales.com, the most popular classifieds site in Australia.

Key Pages on Comparison & Review Sites

Carsales: Top Pages Viewed31 days ending 31st August

Page Share Total Page Views

all-cars/search

Home/HomeSearch/Search

search

car-valuations/completed

best-regift-ever

car-valuations

new-cars

cars

sell-my-car

new-cars/suv

car/mercedesbenz

editorial/results

editorial

car/bmw

car/private

best-regift-ever/register

car/toyota

car/ford

car/nissan/gtr

car/ferrari

7.59%

0.72%

0.53%

0.52%

0.37%

0.29%

0.29%

0.25%

0.25%

0.21%

0.20%

0.17%

0.17%

0.16%

0.15%

0.14%

0.14%

0.14%

0.13%

0.13%

5,724,345

541,407

402,526

388,944

282,083

219,853

217,928

191,991

185,529

157,827

151,544

131,709

125,749

123,815

110,585

107,883

103,351

101,904

101,181

99,839

The car valuation tool on Carsales is highly important.

Luxury car brands are more popular than other car types, potentially indicating a high share of luxury car buyers.

The “best regift ever” competition (with the chance to win a trip to the USA) showed a lot of success. An auto brand might consider sponsoring the next Carsales sweepstakes to increase awareness.

6

Next we look at the top pages on Car Advice, a prominent news and review site, to better understand how and what people are researching in their comparison journey.

Key Pages on Comparison & Review Sites … continued

7

Page Share Total Page Views

car-news

top-5

car-reviews

574131/2018-kia-stinger-pricing-revealed

car-comparisons

577261/2018-holden-zb-commodore-review

top-5/small-cars

car-news/page/2

570918/2018-range-rover-velar-review

top-5/medium-suvs

519089/2017-holden-trax-ltz-review

564193/small-car-megatest-ford-focus-v-holden-astra-v-honda-civic-v…

577777/dear-haters-why-holden-believes-this-is-a-real-commodore

showrooms

hyundai/i30

559261/2018-kia-stinger-review

578600/2018-kia-stinger-australian-specs-and-features-revealed

510405/2017-new-cars-calendar-the-new-models-coming-to-australia…

6.04%

2.91%

2.54%

0.64%

0.48%

0.47%

0.40%

0.35%

0.34%

0.33%

0.32%

0.31%

0.31%

0.29%

0.29%

0.28%

0.28%

0.27%

690,037

331,885

289,565

73,009

54,915

53,606

45,304

39,905

38,711

37,669

36,578

35,078

34,968

33,368

33,085

32,075

31,648

31,080

Car Advice consistently gets strong visitation

to their news, reviews and comparison sections, suggesting that up-to-date industry info, car launches and model comparisons play a key role in the research process. These would be ideal pages to place advertisements and target car buyers in the comparison phase.

The popularity of small cars and medium-sized

SUVs (as reported by VFACTS) is reflected internally on Car Advice.

The Kia Stinger page generated a lot of traffic on Car Advice during its Australian release. This success underscores how important it is for manufacturers to target car news and review sites around a new model launch, which we will discuss further in the next chapter.

Car Advice: Top Pages Viewed31 days ending 31st August

Model Comparison & Audience Overlap

2

8

How can manufacturers turn the launch of a competitor model into an advantage? The chart below shows how the publicity around a car launch can create a “halo” effect for similar models. The new Volkswagen Golf experienced a month-long burst in traffic to their product page after their July launch. Industry leader Toyota Corolla mirrored this traffic growth, perhaps due to renewed excitement around small cars in general, or a concerted effort by Toyota to capitalise on this enthusiasm.

During the buzz of a model release, consumers tend to research what makes the new vehicle special—including how it compares to other models in its class. This effect is something that auto marketers should benchmark closely and take advantage of during competitor model launches.

Benchmarking: Riding the Wave of Traffic

9

Volkswagen Golf Toyota Corolla

Month

Pag

e V

isit

s

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

17 J

un

17

24 J

un

17

1 Ju

l 17

8 J

uly

17

15 J

ul 1

7

22 J

ul 1

7

29 J

ul 1

7

5 A

UG

17

12 A

ug

17

19 A

ug

17

26 A

ug

17

2 S

ep 1

7

Volkswagon Golf vs. Toyota Corolla Product Page Visits

Volkswagen 139% rise in traffic

Toyota Corolla 55% rise in traffic

Launch of the Golf

As consumers conduct car research, it pays to understand their consideration set. Which model is your car being compared to? Knowing what segments you overlap with helps manufacturers understand the competitive landscape, but also whose audience they can conquest.

Car Model Audience Overlap - Consideration Set

Overlap of Key Model Audiences4 weeks ending 2nd Sep 2017

Based on visits to the model product page on the manufacturer website.

% of Visitors to who also Visited

Holden Astra Hyundai i30 Subaru Impreza Toyota Corolla Volkswagen

Golf

Holden Astra

Hyundai i30

Subaru Impreza

Toyota Corolla

Volkswagen Golf

-

7.67%

6.93%

9.01%

8.02%

4.89%

6.75%

-

9.56%

7.92%

8.82%

8.05%

12.33%

5.24%

-

13.86%

-

17.27%

12.75%

13.23%

8.91%

6.97%

13.38%

-

4.71%

The i30 is the leader in this category, therefore has a lot of overlap (as in, a lot of people visiting their product page in addition to others in this category).

Volkswagon Golf and the Toyota Corolla show the least amount of overlap with each other, whereas the Impreza and Corolla audiences show stronger overlap

10

Profiling Purchase Intenders vs. Browsers

3

12

In this chapter, we’ll move further down the funnel and focus on audiences who hit the “Book a Test Drive” or “Find a Dealer” sections of manufacturer’s website.

First, a look at the numbers: when comparing total visits to the “Book a Test Drive” vs. “Find a Dealer” page, we see that far more people are interested in going to a dealership in order to further their research process in-person, rather than go straight to booking a test drive online. Based on this, manufacturers may want to feature their “Find a Dealer” call-to-action more prominently on their site and ensure the process of locating a dealer is streamlined.

Consumers Tentative to Test Drive

Visit Rate to Key Conversion Sections

7%

6%

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%

Book a test drive Find a dealer

13

The chart below breaks down a selection of key websites visited by car browsers (people who visited car product pages) and intenders (people who visited a “Book a Test Drive” or “Find a Dealer” page). This helps identify the best places to target consumers who are at the end of their car buying journey, particularly those who are intending to purchase.

4 weeks ending 2nd Sep 2017 Selection of Key Websites

Top Websites for Browsers vs. Intenders

Top Sites Visited – Intenders vs. Browsers

Site Intenders Share

Browsers Share

Social Media

www.facebook.com

www.youtube.com

www.reddit.com

www.twitter.com

www.instagram.com

www.linkedin.com

Auto

www.carsales.com.au

carsguide.com.au

www.caradvice.com.au

www.drive.com.au

www.carpoint.com.au

www.whichcar.com.au

News & Media

www.news.com.au

www.smh.com.au

www.nine.com.au

www.abc.net.au

au.yahoo.com

media.telstra.com.au

abc.net.au/news

www.9news.com.au

Finance

www.strattonfinance.com.au

www.carloans.com.au

4.08%

2.80%

0.46%

0.42%

0.31%

0.24%

0.84%

0.47%

0.25%

0.12%

0.09%

0.08%

0.88%

0.68%

0.40%

0.36%

0.35%

0.34%

0.32%

0.25%

0.02%

0.01%

4.36%

2.56%

0.38%

0.37%

0.28%

0.21%

0.55%

0.21%

0.25%

0.11%

0.02%

0.03%

1.37%

0.50%

0.39%

0.45%

0.17%

0.28%

0.35%

0.30%

0.01%

0.00%

Browsers are more likely to visit Facebook but Intenders are more likely to be on YouTube, Reddit, Twitter and Instagram, meaning these are key channels for reaching high-intent car buyers.

Car Advice is equally likely to be visited by intenders and browsers, meaning it is more important in early research stages compared to classifieds such as Carsales and Carsguide, which are key for Intenders.

Syndney Morning Herald, Yahoo and Telstra are stronger news sites for intenders than browsers, therefore represent prime pages for campaigns targeting high-intent buyers.

14

Understanding the nuances of how browsers vs. intenders search can help marketers optimise their SEO keyword strategy and search campaigns aimed at attracting high-intent car buyers.

12 weeks ending 2nd Sep 2017 Selection of Key Terms

Top Searches for Browsers vs. Intenders … continued

Top Car Searches Used by Intenders vs. Browsers

Site Intenders Share

Browsers Share

compare car loans

car loan comparison

best car loan rates

car loan calculator

car loans

car loan repayment calculator

car loan

car finance

car insurance

compare car insurance

car insurance compare

car insurance quote

car insurance comparison

0.07%

0.06%

0.04%

0.23%

0.19%

0.12%

0.06%

0.14%

0.72%

0.08%

0.07%

0.06%

0.04%

0.03%

0.01%

0.03%

0.23%

0.13%

0.21%

0.12%

0.16%

0.46%

0.06%

0.07%

0.10%

0.02%

Intenders are highly likely to be comparing car loans and insurance

options. Manufacturers could offer in-depth insurance and loan comparisons on their website and optimise content towards these needs (perhaps create a guide to choosing the right car loan for you).

Browsers are more likely to seek “calculators”, indicating these tools are more important during earlier stages.

15

Demographically, 25-34 is the most important age group for both car browsers and intenders. However, car intenders are much more likely than browsers to be aged 35-44, meaning this is a key age group to target.

When it comes to Mosaic audience segments, the most affluent and urban groups are key targets for both browsers and intenders (Groups A, B and C). However, intenders are more likely to be from multicultural families (Group H), young professionals and students (Group I), and older Australians from regional areas (Group K).

Audience Differences of Intenders vs. Browsers

16

Age Index

Mosaic Index

140

130

120

110

100

90

80

70

60

140

130

120

110

100

90

80

70

60

18-24

Exc

lusi

ve

Env

iro

ns

Kn

ow

led

gea

ble

S

ucc

esss

Ind

epen

den

ce &

C

aree

rs

Affl

uen

t A

crea

ge

Dis

tan

ced

E

xist

ence

New

Ho

mes

&

Ho

pes

Mid

dle

A

ust

ralia

Inte

rnat

ion

al

Infu

sio

n

Bo

oks

& B

oo

ts

Pro

vin

cial

Liv

ing

Trad

itio

nal

ly

Gre

y

Reg

ion

al

En

dea

vou

rs

Rem

ote

ly B

lue

25-34 35-44 45-54 55+

Intenders Index Browsers Index

Intenders Index Browsers Index

Top Takeaways

17

Benchmark and optimise performance on comparison sites: The car buying journey begins on review and classifieds sites. Benchmarking your performance within these websites is crucial. Track popular pages in order to keep a pulse on what consumers care about, and consider advertising on review sites based on where your model pages rank well.

Take advantage of competitive model launches: Capitalise on the “halo effect” of a new car launch by promoting a similar model of the same class. Consider creating new content based on popular search terms, increasing PR, or partnering with car review sites in order ride the wave of renewed interest in that class.

3. Distinguish the browsers from the buyers: Analyse the onlinebehaviour of people who have booked a test drive or sought alocal dealership — where they go, who they are, and what theyare searching for in the days before purchase. This enables youidentify and to target people with the highest purchase intent.

1. chart-growth

car2

cash-dollar

2.

3.

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