WheelsTV Releases Results of the Dealer Video Showroom Market Test
Acton, Massachusetts (PRWEB) February 27, 2014 -- Acton, MA & Los Angeles, CA, February 27, 2014: WheelsTV has released interim results of the beta test of the Dealer Video Showroom (DVS). The DVS has been in beta testing with six Boston area dealers representing ten brands since July of 2013. The data reveals that these interactive video microsites, which can be visited by going to http://www.WheelsTV.net have significantly exceeded industry averages for key engagement metrics including Click-through Rate, Time on Site, Bounce Rate and Lead Submission Rate.
Each DVS is custom designed to emulate the dealer’s site and features interactive video covering 100% of each dealer’s new car year/make/model inventory. With the DVS, in-market consumers can instantly view chapters covering vehicle attributes that are of highest interest to them, making research quick, easy and more enjoyable. Neil Elwood, Internet Manager at Gervais Ford, a dealership participating in the beta test, states, “The showroom’s interactive video is an excellent way to give fast information to customers, easily, and excite them, too.”
Once the car shopper has taken virtual test-drives of the cars he or she is considering, the next step is to click-through to the dealer’s main site and view inventory, check out specials or contact the dealer. This “Click-through Rate” is a key metric when measuring the value to the dealer and car buyer of any car-shopping tool. Wikipedia defines the click-through rate this way: “The click-through rate measures the proportion of visitors who initiated action with respect to an advertisement that redirected them to another page where they might purchase an item or learn more about a product or service…In most cases, a 2% click-through rate would be considered very successful…”
The Dealer Video Showroom’s click-through rate during the beta test has been an amazing 21.94%, over TEN times the industry average. For every 1,000 visitors to each dealership’s DVS, 219 have clicked-through to the dealer’s main site. This demonstrates the enormous power of WheelsTV’s interactive videos to engage the car shopper and facilitate the sale. Engagement leads to greater time spent or “stickiness” on the dealer’s DVS as the car shopper moves towards becoming a car BUYER.
Justin Brun of Acton Toyota notes, “Having the Dealer Video Showroom on our website has really increased the level of engagement for consumers. It’s really made our website more sticky. Its actually kept people on our website for two or three minutes longer.” Data from the beta test proves Mr. Brun’s observations. While industry average time on site is 3:10, with the Dealer Video Showroom, time on site has averaged 5:17, a 66% increase!
In addition to a dramatic increase in time on site, the Bounce Rate of the DVS, or the percentage of visitors who enter a site and leave the site or "bounce" rather than continue viewing other pages within the same site is averaging just 13.19%; less than one-third of the industry average of 40.5%. This again demonstrates the compelling power of WheelsTV’s interactive video car shopping experience to move the sale forward.
The heart of the DVS is WheelsTV’s innovative iDrive Video Player. The iDrive Video Player is built upon the Brightcove Online Video Platform. WheelsTV has been a solutions partner with Brightcove for the past five years.
The DVS was developed by the company’s technology team headed by company CTO Collin Davis. Says Davis, “We’ve been providing the auto industry with new car video reports for over a decade now and one of the key things we’ve learned is that online car shoppers want their information right away. Linear videos require that you wait for the desired information to come up, but with WheelsTV’s interactive iDrive Video Player, car shoppers can click on a chapter button and the exact information they want instantly plays: fuel economy, performance, safety specs and more. No waiting.”
The DVS generates high quality leads for its participating dealers, but unlike typical lead generation tools, the DVS’s leads have a distinct advantage: They are exclusive to the participating dealer. This is a major difference from typical third party leads that are jobbed out to multiple dealers who then must fight for the car buyer’s attention. With each dealer’s custom DVS microsite, the consumer has done his or her research on the dealer’s site, has built up trust in that dealer and now wants to do business with that dealer.
In the beta test, the percent of users who fill out the lead submission form after clicking on ”Get Price” is 3.59%. Typical automotive lead generation tools are in the 2% range for non-exclusive leads, a 79.5% boost, and all leads belong to the originating dealer.
Summary of Dealer Video Showroom Beta Test Results:
DVS Click-through Rate: 21.94%, Industry Average (IA): 2%, Lift: 10.97
DVS Time on Site: 5:17, IA: 3:10 Lift: 1.67
DVS Bounce Rate: 13.19%, IA: 40.5%, Lift: 3.07
DVS Lead Submission Rate: 3.59%, IA: 2%, Lift: 1.80 + Exclusive vs. Non-exclusive
WheelsTV CEO Jim Barisano states, “The significant lift in four key data metrics clearly demonstrates that the Dealer Video Showroom works and works extremely well. It’s a game changer that saves time, moves the sale forward and puts fun into an experience that until now has been painful and tedious. The future of car shopping is here now.”
WheelsTV’s mission is to make the car buying experience, faster, easier and more enjoyable. To test drive the Dealer Video Showroom, go to http://www.WheelsTV.net and enjoy the drive.
Contact: Lehel Reeves: LReeves(at)wheelstv(dot)net 978-264-4333 Cell: 978-430-3305
ABOUT WheelsTV
WheelsTV is a multi-award-winning digital technology company serving the auto industry and consumers with a wide spectrum of video-based car shopping tools. WheelsTV is a program service of Automotive Networks Corporation, headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts with offices in Los Angeles, California.
Data Sources: Google Analytics, Kissmetrics
Lehel Reeves, WheelsTV, http://www.WheelsTVNetwork.com, +1 (978) 264-4333, [email protected]
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