Automotive marketers should look beyond the traditional vehicle information sites for driving lead generation from the online channel, according to a new study.
Based on multiple
campaign studies, the paper, entitled "Cost-Effectively Reaching the In-Market Auto Buyer," proves that strong results from online automotive campaigns result from planning across a wide range of
lifestyle sites and using optimization technology to identify optimal placement, rather than assuming what channels or individual sites are most likely to perform.
Westlake Village Calif.-based
ValueClick Media division and interactive agency Goodway 2.0 of Plano, Tex. are behind the report, which looked at five separate campaigns from Chevrolet, Dodge, Honda, Lincoln Mercury and Hyundai
that ran on the ValueClick Media network between March and September 2007. The campaigns had various performance objectives such as prompting the potential customer to print a test-drive certificate,
view a video or click out to an individual dealer site.
Hyundai's campaign was national, and compared click-through performance of sites that were pre-targeted and considered likely to reach the
intended target audience with a run-of-network media plan that was optimized based on real-time campaign data and analysis. The other automaker campaigns were regional and studied overall
click-through and conversion rates, as well as performance of individual categories, to draw conclusions about the cost-effectiveness of using the network model to reach in-market auto buyers.
Auto marketers first think of third-party automotive information sites (also referred to as shopping sites, resource sites, or auto sites), as they offer attractive inventory often positioned directly
in line with impartial reviews of their brands and models. These properties include sites like Autobytel.com, AutoTrader.com, Cars.com, CarsDirect.com, Edmunds.com, Kelley Blue Book and NADA.com as
well as the auto channels of portals like AOL, MSN and Yahoo.
The study shows that campaigns run on a larger number of sites and optimized based on proven performance consistently outperformed
those that were pre-targeted to network channels and individual sites commonly believed to be in-market auto buyer strongholds. By capitalizing on the extensive reach and optimization technology of an
ad network, these auto marketers found campaign success without the third-party automotive information sites. Notably, the cost of the alternate sites was also 70 to 90% less on a CPM basis.
The
overwhelming majority of auto site visitors are not in-market to buy a car, and those who are spend less than 1% of their online time on these sites. All five campaigns studied revealed that ad
networks can be used to cost-effectively achieve the performance objectives of auto marketers by starting from a broad media plan and optimizing down to the specific sites that demonstrate proven
performance. The channels and sites assumed to reach in-market auto buyers are not always the best-performing ones, and have proven to often be detrimental to campaign performance.
"As we
thought, and what the research shows, is that every brand and model perform differently across different regions and local markets, and that using a broad-reach vehicle like a network and letting
optimization technology predict what sites are most likely to perform, drove meaningful, cost-effective performance," says Jay Friedman, president of Goodway 2.0.
The report was authored by
Friedman, ValueClick Meida vice president of marketing Tony Winders and ValueClick Media marketing specialist Joergen Aaboe.
Although advertising on automotive information sites is a logical
choice for most marketers aiming to reach in-market auto buyers, this inventory is limited and therefore sold at a premium. Third-party research also shows that an overwhelming majority of auto site
visitors are not in-market to buy a vehicle and the ones who are spend less than one percent of their online time on those sites.