1:53 pm, December 1, 2010
LESS than 10 per cent of the UK’s biggest car dealers tailor their website content for smart phones says GForces.
The web management firm carried out the survey and found that just 17 of the country’s top 200 dealers tailor their online content specifically for users of web-enabled iPhones and other smartphones.
This is despite one in four UK consumers already using their mobile devices to research or transact purchases online each week, says the firm. GForces warns that by not doing so dealers risk missing out on a large and growing revenue generation opportunity.
GForces’ commercial director, Tim Smith, said: ‘The era of mass-market adoption of internet-enabled mobile handsets is upon us.
‘People are increasingly using their mobiles to perform extensive research before making a purchase, whether that’s online or in the showroom. To successfully harness the opportunity, dealers must understand how mobile technology is being used and adapt their online content to reflect the change.’
According to recent research, 43 per cent of people in the market for a car will use their mobile phone to perform an initial search.
One dealer who has worked with GForces and built a user-friendly mobile site is East Sussex-based Harwoods Group. Since March they have seen the total number of calls generated rise by 31 per cent, with visitor numbers also increasing by 62 per cent.
Archie Harwood, group marketing manager, said: ‘We decided to introduce a user-friendly mobile site that made the browsing experience as easy and hassle-free as possible.
‘It’s added a new, cutting-edge dimension to our business which reflects today’s consumer behaviour. By allowing mobile site visitors to search concisely through models by make, model, price or location, we can deliver the right content in the right way.’
Smith suggests that dealers look at Google’s best practice for making websites ‘mobile friendly’, which include:
- Be clear with your message and avoid ‘overkill’ on mobile content.
- Be ready as mobile commerce is not a prediction, it’s happening right now.
- Be found by optimising your message and content specifically for mobile devices and browsers, it’s a different format to desktop.
- Be smart and understand the value in your mobile presence by getting the right data back and choosing the right web partner.
