Challenge

What Car? is the UK’s leading car-buying brand. It has two magazines and a website, whatcar.com, with around 1.4 million unique users per month and over 2 million page views per month.

What Car? has recently re-launched its ‘Target Price’ service online. Under the Target Price banner, an army of mystery shoppers research achievable discounted new car prices at dealerships throughout the UK. The information can then be used by consumers to bargain for a real-world price on the car of their dreams.

The site promises that if the consumer can’t get the car at the price suggested by What Car?, it will put them in touch with a dealer who will honour the price.

What Car? wanted the ability to analyse how visits to the website affected telephony and also the impact pay-per-click marketing campaigns were having on the newly launched service.

Solution

“Prior to implementing AdInsight Clarity, we were unable to analyse our call statistics in detail and had no way to record customer calls – we wanted to be able to measure and track off & online activity to calls and calculate the return on investment,” explains Darren Pitt, What Car?’s marketing manager.

“AdInsight Clarity allows us to do just that; we can see exactly where the calls to our Target Price hotline are coming from so we can measure which pay-per-click campaigns are the most successful. Additionally, by generating static phone numbers for magazine ads and editorial pages we can see which sections of the magazine yield the best returns.

“AdInsight Clarity has given us the ability to see the impact of those marketing channels that are driving to the Target Price service. Coupled with the call-recording functionality, this has been invaluable in helping us shape our promotional activity and the product itself.”

Results

“The solution is simple to use and the dashboard is easy to navigate. It provides all the information needed to analyse results.” For each qualified lead over the phone What Car? generates revenue, and since AdInsight Clarity was implemented, revenues are rising.

“We’re learning a lot from the data that’s coming from the AdInsight Clarity technology,” said Darren Pitt.

“We’re able to tweak our PPC campaigns immediately, which allows us to fine-tune ad content and customer reach within a set budget.

“Without doubt, the call recording function is brilliant. The amount that we’ve learnt about the service from listening to our calls is one of the most important things about the solution."

“What Car? has also been able to identify how many return visits are made to the website by customers throughout the complicated process of buying a car. Many customers research, buy and post-rationalise their purchase online, creating repeat visits to the site.”

About What Car?

What Car?, the UK’s biggest car-buying brand, has two magazines, a market-leading website and several established brand extensions. Its flagship magazine has helped Britain’s car buyers make purchasing decisions for almost 40 years, and its tests are widely regarded as the most trusted source of new-car advice. Latest National Readership survey results indicate that 797,000 people read What Car? magazine every month (NRS Jan-Jun 2010).

whatcar.com is the UK’s leading car-buying website, offering trusted reviews and data on every new car. A winner of numerous awards and accolades, whatcar.com is recognised as one of the UK’s leading consumer websites for car purchases and attracts over 2 million visits per month.