This document discusses research on how consumers conduct online research and shopping for new vehicles at local automotive dealerships. Some key findings include: - Most consumers spend over a week researching vehicles online before visiting dealerships in person. They heavily rely on search engines, dealership websites, and manufacturer websites to gather information. - Consumers view inventory, reviews, special offers and dealer contact information online before deciding which dealerships to visit. They typically visit an average of 6 dealerships but only consider one brand per dealership. - Submitting online price quotes is a common practice, with most quotes submitted on dealership websites. Dealerships need to promptly respond to quotes to convince consumers to visit.

1. LOCAL AUTOMOTIVE DEALERSHIPS THE ROLE OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA IN THE LOCAL CAR SHOPPING PROCESS Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

2. Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved. 1 2 How Consumers “Pre-Shop” for a Dealership Engaging Consumers Before They Set Foot on Your Lot How Consumers Use Search When Pre-Shopping The Impact of Price Quotes Connecting with Your Most Important Consumer Executive Summary & Implications 3 4 5 6

5. HOW CONSUMERS “PRE-SHOP” FOR A DEALERSHIP Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

6. Base: Total Respondents (550) Q8 About how long did you research vehicles on your own before you started visiting dealerships? How long did you research before you started dealership visits? The majority of consumers spend more than a week pre-shopping for dealerships before they step foot on your lot None A week or less More than a week but less than a month 1-2 months 3-6 months Over 6 months

7. … with the majority researching online & using search for vehicle dealership research Base: Total Respondents (550) Q4 When researching auto dealerships, which of these online search engines did you use to obtain information? (Please select all that apply.) QS10 Which of the following resources ‘did you use to gather information while shopping for your new vehicle?’ OR ‘are you using to gather information while shopping for your new vehicle?’ Q0 You mentioned that you used the resources shown below to research and shop for new vehicles. How did you reach each of these websites? Did research before walking into a dealership 88% Used the Internet to research vehicles 83% Used Search to research auto dealerships 79%

9. … in fact, they rely more on the Internet today in helping them find the right dealer Base: Total Respondents (550); Purchased a new vehicle prior to 2007 (492); Relied less on resources during last purchase: Social networking tools (37); E-mails from dealership (107); Dealership sites (171); Manufacturer sites (168); Search engines (184); Independent vehicle sites (117) Q17 Prior to 2007, when was the last time you were in market to purchase or lease a brand new vehicle? Q19 Compared to your [INSERT THE YEAR ENTERED AT Q14] vehicle purchase, please tell us whether you relied on the following in helping you find dealerships to visit, the same amount, or less compared to your 2007 vehicle research experience. [… relied on more] Compared to my last vehicle purchase (2002 on avg), I rely on these sources more … Social networking tools E-mails from dealership Dealership sites Manufacturer sites Search engines Independent vehicle sites

10. Consumers visit an average of 6 dealerships , but tend to shop for only one brand per dealership Base: Total Respondents (550); Those Responding QS6 Please select the statement that best describes your consideration of each make listed below. QS7 How many dealerships did you visit for each make?

11. Base: Total Respondents (546)* * Don’t know responses removed QS8 Again thinking about the dealerships you visited, think about how far each dealership was from your home. In miles, please tell us the distance between your home and the farthest dealership you visited for each make. 68% of consumers are not willing to travel more than 20 miles 32% of consumers are willing to travel farther than 20 miles … a third of consumers will drive more than 20 miles from home How far away were each of the dealerships you visited?

12. Base: Total Respondents (546) QS8 Again thinking about the dealerships you visited, think about how far each dealership was from your home. In miles, please tell us the distance between your home and the farthest dealership you visited for each make. 79% of consumer visit s are within 20 miles of their home 21% of consumer visit s are over 20 miles of their home 21% of total visit s are over 20 miles from their homes How far away were each of the dealerships you visited?

13. ENGAGING CONSUMERS BEFORE THEY SET FOOT ON YOUR LOT Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

14. Base: Total Respondents (550) Q1a-Q1d Thinking about dealerships you’ve visited, which of the following… made you aware of the dealerships?/helped you locate the dealerships? Search is one of the top sources used to become aware and locate car dealerships How do consumers find and choose which dealerships to visit? (Choose from a list of 18 sources) Driven by or seen before Friends & Family Search engines Dealer websites OEM websites TV ads Yellow Pages

15. Base: Those Responding: Search engines (229); Dealership websites (204); Manufacturer websites (190); OEM websites (190); Independent websites (125); Social networking tools (43)  Indicates percentage is significantly higher than the all-source average at 95% confidence Q3 Now, thinking specifically about each of the resources you used to research dealerships, which of the following helped you… Online sources are critical throughout the dealership purchase funnel I used the following online sources to… SEARCH ENGINES DEALERSHIP WEBSITES OEM WEBSITES 3 RD PARTY CONTENT SITES SOCIAL NETWORKING Learn about vehicle makes/models     Get a feel for the dealership   Find other buyer reviews on dealerships    Find out how many dealers were close to where I live   Find out if dealerships had any special offers  Find out dealership inventory on cars/models I want   Look up dealership address and contact info   

16. Base: Those Responding: Newspaper inserts/classified ads (173); Radio ads (105) ; Local phone books (147); TV Ads (177); Magazines (68)  Indicates percentage is significantly higher than the all-source average at 95% confidence Q3 Now, thinking specifically about each of the resources you used to research dealerships, which of the following helped you… Offline sources are less comprehensive than online resources when offering dealership information I used the following offline sources to… NEWSPAPER CLASSIFIEDS RADIO ADS YELLOW PAGES TV ADS MAGAZINES Learn about vehicle makes/ models  Get a feel for the dealership  Find other buyer reviews on dealerships Find out how many dealers were close to where I live  Find out if dealerships had any special offers  Find out dealership inventory on cars/ models I want Look up dealership address and contact info 

17. Base: Total Respondents (550); Open to using a review site (543) Q7a Now we’d like you to imagine there was a dealership review site providing customer satisfaction ratings generated by other customers who visited or did business with the dealerships in your area. How likely would you be to use this type of site? Q7b And how likely would you be to post your own reviews or comments about local dealerships on this site? … use a dealership review site? … post comments on a dealership review site? The emergence of social networks will ultimately drive consumers to actively participate in dealership ratings How likely would you be to…? Top 2 Box: 72% 58%

18. HOW CONSUMERS USE SEARCH WHEN PRE-SHOPPING Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

21. Consumers use a variety of search strategies to find auto dealerships What types of keywords did you use when looking for a dealer? Base: Used a Search Engine to Shop for Dealerships (433) Q5 Thinking about all the search engine queries you made to try to find auto dealerships, what types of keywords did you enter into the search engines to generate results? Make and/or model I was interested in City and/or state Zip code Specific dealership name General automotive keywords MM & city and/or state 34% MM & zip code 32% MM & specific dealership name 29% MM & general keywords 21% MM [Only] 17%

22. Base: Searchers (433); Non-Searcher (117)  /  Indicates percentage is significantly higher/lower than Non-Searchers at 95% confidence QS7 How many dealerships did you visit for each make? QS8 Again thinking about the dealerships you visited, think about how far each dealership was from your home. In miles, please tell us the distance between your home and the farthest dealership you visited for each make. Q1a/Q1b/Q1c/Q1d Thinking about dealerships you’ve visited, which of the following… made you aware of the dealerships?/helped you locate the dealerships? Q11 How many requests for price quotes did you submit on the Internet? Your best guess is fine. Searchers cross shop heavily and are willing to go out of their way to find dealerships Searcher vs. Non Searcher - Differences SEARCHERS (79% of car shoppers) NON-SEARCHERS (21% of car shoppers) # Dealerships visited (total) 7 3 Willing to drive over 20 miles to visit a dealership 35% 18% Average number of sources used to find and locate dealerships 6 3 Average number of price quotes requested 3 1

23. THE IMPACT OF PRICE QUOTES Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

27. CONNECTING WITH YOUR MOST IMPORTANT CONSUMER Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

28. What makes a brand advocate? SOURCE: Y! Study |December 2006 "Engaging Advocates through Search & Social Media" - Consumer Electronics OF THE POPULATION 33% I GO OUT OF MY WAY TO RECOMMEND GOOD PRODUCTS AND BRANDS TO MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY A GOOD BRAND IS WORTH TALKING ABOUT I OFTEN TELL FRIENDS ABOUT PRODUCTS THAT INTEREST ME I TEND TO BE ONE OF THE FIRST AMONG MY FRIENDS TO TRY NEW PRODUCTS I AM A NATURAL LEADER; PEOPLE ALWAYS LISTEN TO MY OPINIONS OTHERS LOOK TO ME FOR ADVICE WHEN IT COMES TO TECHNOLOGY I CONSIDER MYSELF SOCIAL AND WELL-CONNECTED

30. Base: Brand Advocates (180); Non-Brand Advocates (370) Q1a-Q1d Thinking about dealerships you’ve visited, which of the following… made you aware of the dealerships?/helped you locate the dealerships? Q4 When researching auto dealerships, which of these online search engines did you use to obtain information? (Please select all that apply.) QS10 Which of the following resources ‘did you use to gather information while shopping for your new vehicle?’ OR ‘are you using to gather information while shopping for your new vehicle?’  /  Indicates percentage is significantly higher/lower than Non Brand Advocates at 95% confidence Advocates are much heavier researchers and leverage online sources significantly more Brand Advocate vs. Non Brand Advocate - Differences BRAND ADVOCATES NON-BRAND ADVOCATES Average number of sources used to find and locate dealerships 7 5 Average number of sources used to research vehicles 6 4 Used a search engine when shopping for dealership 85% 76% Used an independent website when shopping for a dealership 28% 20% Used an independent website when shopping for the actual vehicle 43% 37%

34. Implications for Marketers Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential. © 2007. All Rights Reserved.

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