Automotive Dealer Survey Study Reveals Use of E-Mail and Internet
7 February 1999
Polk Announces Findings of Automotive Dealer Survey Study Reveals Use of E-Mail, Internet by Dealerships
DETROIT, Feb. 7 -- The Polk Company announced today the
findings of its recent automotive dealer survey pertaining to e-mail and
Internet use. Results of the survey indicate a surprisingly low number of
dealerships are using e-mail to communicate with customers, while the use of
Web technology by dealerships remains high.
According to Polk's findings, the median percentage of salespeople
nationwide using e-mail to communicate with customers is 10 percent and more
than one-quarter (26.8 percent) of dealerships have not equipped their
salespeople with e-mail capabilities.
Polk's research also found that Web capabilities provided to dealers by
manufacturers remains high, with 90 percent of dealerships having the option
of being connected to their manufacturer's Web page. In addition, two-thirds
of all dealerships utilize an additional Web page strictly for their
dealership that is not connected to the manufacturer. This site is most often
used to advertise new cars, service products and services, and financing or
leasing options.
"The majority of dealerships (62 percent) with their own Web sites are
responding to customer inquiries within 24 hours," said Bill Barrett, Polk's
managing director of transportation information services, dealer and regional
programs, "and a select number of dealerships (20 percent) respond to customer
requests within one hour.
"It's obvious that dealerships with the quickest response times will have
the most appeal to information-hungry consumers who are ready to buy," added
Barrett. "In fact, our results indicate consumers who defect from their
previous dealer or manufacturer use the Internet at a much higher rate.
Internet use is becoming even more vital for dealerships who are trying to
capture new customers."
In addition to using a Web page as a tool to sell cars, many dealerships
have taken the next step by adding e-mail capabilities for their sales
staffs.
"Salespeople can communicate via e-mail with potential customers during
the sales process," said Barrett, "and once a vehicle is sold to a customer,
the salesperson can communicate electronically on a regular basis to build the
relationship. The result is greater customer loyalty and stronger referrals
from current customers to friends and relatives."
Polk's survey resulted in the following responses from dealer
representatives when asked, "What percentage of your salespeople communicate
with customers via e-mail?":
RESPONSE PCT.
None 26.8%
1-10% 38.3%
11-25% 14.9%
26-50% 9.7%
51-75% 3.4%
76-99% 0.4%
100% 6.3%
MEDIAN % 10.0%
"The use of e-mail by salespeople is bound to increase drastically in the
years to come in order to meet the demands of new vehicle owners," said Karen
Piurkowski, Polk's director of loyalty. "Polk's consumer research showed a
continued increase of Internet use by shoppers looking for new vehicles during
the 1998 model year. In the first six months, 27.2 percent of new vehicle
buyers used the Internet when shopping for their new vehicles," she added.
"This is in sharp contrast to the 1995 model year where only two percent of
all new vehicle buyers used the Internet in their shopping process. We also
found that one-half of all new vehicle buyers are using the Internet on a
regular basis for a variety of reasons, meaning that the dealership
salesperson could have access to approximately half of his customers through
an e-mail address if one is provided."
The information for this study was gathered in a nationwide telephone
survey conducted in January 1999 with a random sample of 300 dealerships.
Consumer research results are based on data from Polk's Manufacturer
Loyalty Excelerator(TM) (MLEX) product which summarizes results based on all
consumer new-vehicle buying and leasing activity during the model year. It
was introduced to the automotive industry in 1995 and was created to provide
household loyalty information to manufacturers at many different levels. This
report is used to determine Polk's Automotive Loyalty Award winners; to
provide loyalty percentages for the entire automotive industry; to allow for
cross-industry comparisons of loyalty behavior; and to examine loyalty at
various levels -- e.g. from the industry level down to the vehicle line level.
The study measures loyalty throughout the entire model year so manufacturers
may keep abreast of loyalty trends as they occur in the industry.
Polk provides multi-dimensional intelligence information solutions to
companies as a statistician for the motor vehicle industry; as a direct-
marketing resource; as a supplier of demographic and lifestyle data and
database-marketing services; as a publisher of city directories; and as a data
enabler for geographic information systems. Based in Southfield, Mich., Polk
is a privately held firm that is expanding globally, currently operating in:
the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Australia, Spain, Holland
and Costa Rica.