Automotive Research Case Studies

• Website Evaluation Study
• Nissan Cube - Web Buzz

Website Evaluation Study

Our client requested Harris Interactive to set-up and manage a benchmarking and user experience study for a select number of automotive manufacturer websites. The objectives of the Competitive Website Evaluation study were to:

• Understand fully visitors’ experiences of the websites
• Understand the level of performance of the websites on key website metrics 
• Measure visitor satisfaction with the websites
• Understand the drivers of satisfaction
• Understand the impact of the website on brand perceptions and attitudes
• Develop recommendations for website improvements

Research Solution
Using HPOL we recruited around 2,400 respondents to complete various tasks on 6 different automotive websites. The tasks set for each respondent were determined by the model and age of the vehicle they currently owned. Once the respondent had completed the set tasks and gathered the required information they were then directed back to the survey where questions were asked focusing on numerous KPI’s and to provide their impressions of the visit, the site and the brand.

Panellists were screened in order to meet a set criteria:

• Car drivers
• Main decision makers about car purchase
• Purchased a NEW or USED car within the last 3 years for sales based tasks, or within a 10 year period for the servicing/ MOT based tasks

Research Outcomes
Research Achievement – A highly informative presentation highlighting the level of customer satisfaction with not only the website offering of the end client but also for five key competitors.  The findings clearly detailed where the end client was positioned against some of their competitors on the various KPI’s.

Business Achievement – the research enabled a thorough evaluation of many of the key aspects of the website, detailing areas where the website might be improved in order to offer a better experience for the user. The end client was immediately aware of where specific information was lacking, or confusing for the user, and also the areas where the website was performing best, or ahead of the competition.

Nissan Cube - Web Buzz 

The third generation of the Nissan Cube was launched in Europe in January 2010, notably France, UK and Italy. The car was seen as being quite different and unique from other vehicles in its class. As such, a groundbreaking method was employed by Nissan of launching the vehicle.

Nissan used the Internet as a platform to generate buzz around the vehicle in conjunction with a number of events at temporary pop-up stores. Nissan also set-up a dedicated, restricted access website for the launch which was only shared with the general public once the car had officially been launched. The excitement and buzz around the vehicle itself was used as the advertising medium as opposed to using traditional advertising channels.

Nissan was eager to understand the success of the campaign, this included:

• The volume of web activity
• What tone comments being left had (i.e. positive, negative or neutral)
• What the perception of the Nissan Cube was
• Which websites / social media sources had the most web activity
• Whether the communication itself was effective

Harris Interactive was commissioned to conduct a piece of research which involved using a Social Media Monitoring Tool to monitor mentions of Nissan Cube (and all other associated key words).Two stages of monitoring were utilised, the first ‘Pre-launch’ campaign involved searching for material which had been posted prior to the cars launch (including reviews, blog comments, videos and other posts), the second ‘Post-launch campaign’ involved searching for similar materials but in relation to the launching & post launch stage of the campaign. The searches pulled up all content related to the Nissan Cube and related launch activities in the countries of interest.

We were successful in tracking Cube activity by month and allowing Nissan to have a clear understanding of the number of web posts being made, based on websites which were accessible to the public domain. From this, we were able to classify the posts based on the tone of the mentions and to provide counts for the most popular websites and build author profiles. In allowing Nissan to assess the success of the campaign as a whole, our Social Media Monitoring tool was used to look at web activity around the launch of a competitor vehicle (the Kia Soul) a year earlier.