Selling cars online has been an important part of the business for the best part of the past 20 years. The pandemic served to ram home that fact: with dealership footfall nixed overnight, the web transformed from a useful asset to a lifeline.
Yet despite the colossal shift in the sales process over the past few years – accelerated by the advent of online car supermarkets and subscription models – many are missing out on an allegedly transformative opportunity afforded by video.
Johan Sundstrand, CEO of marketing and artificial intelligence agency Phyron, told Autocar Business that adding a video to an online advert provides “20-25% more leads”.
Discussing classifieds hosting platform Adevinta, Sundstrand said: “If they attached a Phyron video to their ad, they received 50% more visits, and they sold their cars three to five days faster, depending on brand.”
Accelerating the turnover also saves “a lot of money”, according to Sundstrand – €25-€65 (£22-£57) per car, per day, adding up to significant savings across a fleet.
But even for cars that do not sell quickly, videos still have tangible benefits for branding. Phyron’s research suggests that ad viewers remember 95% of a listing with a video message, compared with 10% of one with static images.
Phyron’s claimed success with video is consistent with that seen across the industry.
Video platform Citnow’s former partner, Leven Car Group, tripled its sales between 2015 – when it introduced video advertising – and 2018, according to a statement.
Roddy McAllister, then head of sales at Leven, said: “Embracing video has helped us sell more cars to a broader audience, while delivering the outstanding personal experience our customers expect.
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