Are You Advertising in the Right Places, with the Right Response Tools?

From Dealer Marketing Magazine

Written by Laura Noonan  

Monday, November 2, 2009

Research Reveals a Combination to Optimize Results

This may contradict much of what you’ve recently heard and discussed at the marketing water cooler over the last few years, but not everyone is going online to do everything under the sun. I know this is not what your SEO consultants and website developers want to hear, but it’s true.

While the use of the internet continues to rise each year and there are polls that say 75 percent of car buyers use the internet, it is important that prospective new and used buyers have multiple avenues to reach your dealership so that you can achieve your sales goals. For instance, a recent study polled one thousand consumers to measure recall rates of two response tools when used in ads: URLs and toll-free vanity 800 numbers.

The results reveal that overall, people have a 45 percent higher recall of vanity numbers than they do URLs. And interestingly, one of the broadcast ads in the study tested recall of a phone number and URL, specific to an auto dealership. Survey results show that respondents had a 52 percent higher recall of 1-800-NEW-AUTO than they did of www.baysideautosales.com.

Furthermore, after listening to the radio ad, 40 percent of the respondents stated they would first “research the competition,” once they moved on from the advertising dealer’s website and only six percent would find the phone number online and call the dealership, or complete an online contact form.

An analysis of the recall rates among specific age groups shows that people of all ages have a higher recall rate of toll-free vanity 800 numbers compared to web addresses. For instance, 61 percent of survey respondents ages 18-24 (which may be a significant portion of your target) correctly recalled the vanity 800 number presented in an advertisement, while only 46 percent could correctly recall the web address. Further age analysis reveals that all age groups have a higher recall of vanity 800 numbers:

 Source: 800response, 2009

Laura Noonan has 16 years of experience in the vanity 800 numbers and telecommunications industry. Laura can be reached at lnoonan@800response.com.