Time for a spruce up?

Buying a new car is such a big investment - and we all know the web is absolutely crucial for those looking to purchase both new and used cars.

Why? Everything from pricing to comparisons, brochure downloads, test drive requests, dealer locators, videos, blogs, articles, reviews, forums, insurance quotes - all can, and generally is, done online.

So why is it that none of the large auto sites have used the available technology to feed this information into their basic listings?

Case in point - carsguide's listing for the new Falcon - http://search.carsguide.news.com.au/news/find-a-car/power-search/search-results/car-details.do?vehicleId=20080331.11:39:24&eRecId=68552&eReturnUrl=w6.0-search-results.jsp%3FN%3D4294967257%2B416%2B%2B4294967256%2B%2B%2B4294967242&searchType=5&vehicleType=5

There is minimal info here aside Polk listings - which are generally irrelevant to 95% of the population. Ask yourself the question - would this compel me to take my research further? Doubtful. I would probably leave Carsguide and use Google to try and find information.

End result? Lost revenue to Carsguide. Can they afford to lose this? Probably not - of the main 3 (carsales, drive, carsguide) they have the lowest engagement metrics (pages viewed per person as well as time spent) as well as the lowest page impressions (which are sold at a premium to auto manufacturers)

Why is it that the Auto sites have been so slow to evolve their listings to give users the best possible experience? There is countless sources of data showing that people are using the web to research all elements - but little action to enhance the product which is the most vital in the process. Surely the by-product of a competitive market should be innovation?

Don't get me wrong - what the Auto sites do is okay. It is a far superior medium than newspapers for the user ... it's just a lot of them look like they were developed in 1999. They need to beef out content as well as give their audience the chance to contribute to the conversation.

The US is doing this very well - check out the Ford Mustang listing on automotive.com - http://www.automotive.com/2008/09/ford/mustang/index.html

Pricing, listings, images, 360 view, reviews, comparisons, finance calculators, blog links, forums links, ownership costs etc.

Carmax has user reviews, expert reviews, safety information, images etc - www.carmax.com

Autobytel.com (www.autobytel.com) is equally deep (Ford Crown example - http://www.autobytel.com/content/research/vir/index.cfm/vehicle_number_int/1019245/action/summary)

What's the incentive for the local car classified sites to do this?

Well - user experience for one. The users of these sites have value aside being revenue streams - they can provide content, advocacy and valuable information that can keep the product enhanced.

Secondly, revenue. I guarantee this would bring in more revenue from the auto manufacturers as well as finance and insurance providers and would generate more dealer leads.

Given the value of this category (especially to Fairfax and News who are losing print revenues from the category) you'd have to assume these suggestions aren't too far off. Surely.

Disclaimer: Ford is a client of my employer.

Yahoo!7 alliance deals change

I've noticed that Yahoo! is back on board with Carsales and Seek for their Auto and Jobs alliance deals. Previously they were with Fairfax's My Career and Drive.

It appears they have retained their alliance with FD's Domain.

It also appears that they have abandoned their own branding (ie Yahoo! Jobs, Yahoo! Cars etc) in favour of just linking out to the partners external site.

What is 'Essential' online?

I've been thinking lately about what sites/apps etc are considered essential by users. Reason being - there are SO MANY sites out there and I think this is a measurement (subjective as it may be) that may assist sorting out what environments resonate well with consumers beyond page impressions, unique users and other standard metrics that often make planning a strategy harder than it needs to be.

Another key reason is differentiation. There are too many similar sites in Australia that require consolidation. The portals are the main area causing this unnecessary clutter by trying to compete in every conceiveable space despite sometimes some of them not being able to bring anything to the table for users or advertisers.

A great metric for 'essential' online is Unique Browser Frequency - ie, how many times on average each user returns each month.

Why is it a good metric? Well ... it's not based on time spent ... which in many instances isn't at all a metric of value as not all sites are designed to keep you as long possible ... many are in/out transactional type sites. Google wouldn't look at session duration/time spent as a metric as they are about quick dissemination of information ... they would look at Unique Browser Frequency.

Google users return 12.85 times per month (source: Neilsen, April 2008), Ninemsn Messenger users return on average 14 times per month.

So what are the other sites in key verticals that have people coming back en masse. Well, I tried to look into this using Neilsen Netview and find the top 20 ... but unfortunately Neilsen doesn't allow users to sort via this metric. Hence, I had to use Neilsen Market Intelligence (which is flawed, admittedly, as all sites that appear have paid for the privalege and it misses a load of sites, especially US ones) ... however for the purpose of this exercise it's the best solution.

Only caveat is that the site must have over 50k users per month (April 2008). The number 1 for UB frequency sites are listed

Sport - Domestic
Swellnet. 188,544 users returning on average 4.49 times per month

Automotive - Domestic
Carsales. 1.6m users returning on average 2.21 times per month

Business/Finance - Domestic
ASX. 1.09m users returning on average 4.95 times per month

Entertainment - Domestic
Habbo Hotel. 195,000 users returning on average 4.37 times per month.

Lifestyle - Domestic
RSVP. 721,656 users returning on average 5.54 times per month. (worth noting Fairfax Digital has 4 of the top 7 Lifestyle sites for engagement with RSVP, Essential Baby and The age and SMG Life&Style)

Magazines - Domestic
Money. 402,349 users returning on average 2.17 times per month.

News and Weather - Domestic
Elders Weather. 280,127 users returning on average 5.35 times per month. (SMH.com.au is number 2 with 4.34m users returning on average 4.42 times per month)

I am not saying this is the answer to solving the engagement riddle - but combine unique browser frequency with unique users and you start to get an idea of both reach and loyalty.

I, for one, think this IS important and often overlooked. I think if you work in media and you are purely looking for reach and audience size you are barely scraping the surface ... our role is to find environments that mean something to our target and find ways of integrating our messages within these in a way that adds value. I think something that is 'essential' ADDS value to advertising messages. For instance, I am more likely to view and consider an ad I see on a site like tripadvisor.com (which I love) than an ad I see on portal standard Travel site. Why? Because I trust tripadvisor.com and turn to it for information.

I think moving forward more thought and importance will be put into these 'essential' destinations - seeking them out and finding new ways to utilise them. It's almost vital now - especially when you're faced with 10/20/30 sites with similar content, audiences, and ratecards ... and it's not going to get any easier as it seems the new ethos of the AU digital advertising industry in 2008 is 'if it has eyeballs plonk ads on it regardless of whether it makes sense to users or advertisers'.