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Automotive IntelligenceTM Weekly automotive insights from Compete

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT

By: Jackie O'Dowd

October 27, 2008


Companies spend hundreds of millions trying to capture and guide consumer behavior online.  One way to do that is through online ads and embedded links.  The first page a consumer reaches after an ad or link is typically a landing page. This means that landing pages are the first—and possibly only—chance companies have to capitalize on redirected behavior.  As such, many marketers create landing pages as part of their advertising campaigns. 

Compete had documented landing pages are not created equal.  Some are effective at optimizing behavior and moving prospects through the funnel toward purchase.  The closer to purchase, the higher the ROI.  In many other cases consumers land only to leave immediately, so the landing pages become expensive dead-ends.  But how to measure success?

Gas Price vs. Compact Car Shopper Counts
 One measure Compete uses is the amount of post-landing page site engagement and use of online shopping tools. We emphasize these in general and in particular for automotive because our research shows use of tools is an indicator of purchase intent: vehicle purchasers are twice as likely as non-purchasers to use online shopping tools. To assess whether the playing field is level, Compete evaluated 19 major advertising campaigns during August, including how well each campaign drove visitors to use the request-a-quote tool.  The results are a mixed bag with some clear winners and clear laggards.  More than one in five consumers reached request-a-quote for the leading campaigns, vs. an average of 6.6%.  The bottom quartile was essentially a wash-out—at least in terms of requesting quotes.

The obvious question is how do the leaders stay on top and how do the others emulate the leaders.  Over several years of analyzing this type of consumer behavior, Compete has found that the following five principals hold true in all cases.

1.    Dedicated Landing Pages work
Synchronizing the site experience with the advertising experience and limiting the paths from the landing page drives lead generation
2.    Don’t get between your customer and end goal
Never forget the basics, only insert steps between your consumer and the action you want them to take if those steps help drive engagement
3.    Optimizing the post-click experience is the fastest way to boost ROI
The customers most likely to take the next step are the ones that have already taken the first step
4.    Your competitors may know something you don’t
Even if it is to never, ever try what they are trying
5.    Evolution never sleeps
Keep your eye on the horizon at all times. As the market changes, so do the experiences consumers respond to

 


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