I am in the hotel at 6:30 am getting ready for my day of training at a dealership in Ohio and I was going through my emails and google alerts and came across this press release from Market Watch. I thought it had some valuable information for you all on AIS, so I decided to repost it here but I wanted to add some commentary before you get to the great information...
I am a simple person, math is math. Numbers are numbers, they do not lie. I hope when you read this post you will absorb the magnitude of opportunity right in front of you. This press release speaks of Female Shoppers and Blogs. Granted I think that is awesome but it goes far deeper than just blogs. If you look at the numbers that are in this study you will see how important the "Female Shopper / Buyer" strategy is. If you are a dealership that does NOT have a proactive strategy to maximize this demographic you are seriously missing the boat.
The Key to being successful is NOT just working hard... Its working hard, working smart, being consistent and thinking outside the box.
Sean V. Bradley-
Women Car-Buyers Who Get Advice From Blogs and Social Media Show Double-Digit Increases in Excitement, More Confidence, and Say Blogs Influence Decision to Buy, Reports BlogHer, Inc.
"Put Her in the Driver's Seat" Survey on Women's Attitudes, Emotions and Favorite Information Sources on Car Purchasing Presented at JD Power & Associates Annual Symposium
BELMONT, CA, Oct 17, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- BlogHer, Inc., the premium cross-platform media network and publisher for women, today announced the results of "Put Her in the Driver's Seat," at the JD Power & Associates 2011 Automotive Internet Roundtable in Las Vegas. The survey, designed to explore how women feel and where they turn for advice when shopping for cars, revealed a significant positive impact on female buyers who used blogs and social media -- and a preference for blogs and official product information sources versus traditional media and social networks.
The Emotional Impact of Car-Buying
The survey revealed that, as a gender, women car-buyers were both more excited (74%) and more nervous (53%) about car-buying than were men buying cars (71% and 42% respectively). Of this group, women who sought advice from blogs and social networks during the car buying process demonstrated higher excitement levels: Women who consulted blogs about buying a new car were +13 points more excited than women who did not, and women who consulted social networks were up +12 points. Confidence levels also increased through social media use: Confidence among women who used Blogs for Auto advice was +8 points over women who did not, and +5 among women used social networks.
Blogs and social networks have different impacts on the stress levels of women car-buyers, the survey showed: The stress levels of women who used blogs for advice were -4 points lower than the total sample. However, stress levels remained the same for women who used social networks. Blog users also reported being slightly less nervous at -2 points lower than the total sample, while social network users showed an increase in levels of nervousness at +4 points higher than the total sample.
Information vs. Influence
Women's top five information sources for researching a car purchase were car dealership visits (65%), word of mouth (56%), car review websites (53%), auto manufacturer websites (43%), and blogs (31%). Other sources, such as auto magazines (21%), Facebook (17%), and TV advertising (16%), lagged significantly behind.
Of the top five information sources named above, the following four were also ranked the most influential on a woman's car-buying decision: Dealership visits, word of mouth, car review sites and blogs. However, one information source that women ranked as a top five information source -- auto manufacturer websites -- ranked dead last in influence on their ultimate decision.
"Women clearly articulated the features they need to see and the voices they want to hear when considering a car purchase," said Elisa Camahort Page, Co-founder and COO of BlogHer, Inc. "We see a huge opportunity for auto manufacturers to indeed 'Put her in the driver's seat' and let her buying preferences re-shape how the automotive community reaches the powerful women's market."
About the Survey With auto sales in the U.S. alone expected to top 13 million units in 2011 (A.T. Kearney, May 2011) and women making or influencing 85% of those purchases (JD Power & Associates) BlogHer's study specifically addresses the growing role played by social media and blogs in the automotive purchasing decision-making process, and the influence of such sources vs. traditional media and industry information sources. "Put Her in the Driver's Seat" survey was conducted using the following samples:
-- BlogHer, Inc. fielded a survey across two populations: U.S. online
general population in 7 markets and 26 million BlogHer network users.
The total sample size was 1,467 with a total of 1,090 women and 377
men across the United States.
-- The margin of error is +/- 2.46% with a confidence level of 99%.
-- All portions of the study were conducted in August 2011.
-- BlogHer was one of eight companies chosen to present research at this
annual automotive Internet industry event.
The survey presentation can be found here: http://www.blogher.com/put-her-drivers-seat-social-tools-empower-womens-car-buying-process
About BlogHer Reaching more than 27 million women each month (Nielsen Site Census, September 2011), BlogHer ( http://www.blogher.com ) is the leading cross-platform media network created by, for and with women social media leaders. BlogHer developed and leads the marketplace with the most robust economic and networking opportunities for women in social media and brands seeking to engage in authentic and persuasive dialog with them. Founded in February 2005 by Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, BlogHer publishes and syndicates news, information, advice and recommendations to and from 2,500 premium blogs, delivers uniquely insightful research on women in social media across interest areas, hosts the world's largest conferences for women in social media and curates a daily news service, BlogHer.com. BlogHer's investors are Venrock, Comcast Interactive Capital, and Azure Capital Partners.
SOURCE: BlogHer, Inc.
