In today’s digital age, a brand or corporate website is a must-have marketing tool for reaching current and potential customers. Just as all websites do not look alike, they are also not alike in their effectiveness.
Have you ever given any thought to what makes a website successful?
The folks in our FCA global digital marketing group do on a regular basis – as does J.D. Power. Twice per year, J.D. Power surveys people, who are in the market to buy a new vehicle, to determine which automotive websites are the most useful in helping consumers shop for a new vehicle. The Ram Truck brand website came out on top in the J.D. Power 2016 Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study™ (MWES) – Winter study.
The four key measures of an effective website, in order of importance, are information/content, appearance, ease of navigation and speed.
In addition to achieving the top-ranked auto website, RamTrucks.com improved 40 points from the prior study, moving up from its previous 17th position to first.
“To be effective, websites need to be more than nice pictures. They have to be engaging, easy to navigate on all devices – desktop, tablet and mobile – and most importantly, contain all the information a consumer needs through every level of the shopping process,” said FCA US Director of Global Digital Marketing Tom Laymac.
The Build & Price tool across the FCA websites makes it easy for new-car shoppers to select the vehicle trim and other options they want in their new vehicle.
We believe having RamTrucks.com receive this award is even more significant considering the challenge of showing all the possible build combinations for a truck, such as light or heavy-duty, 4×2 or 4×4, different cab sizes, bed lengths, exterior colors, options, and even the many Mopar accessories that allow a customer to personalize his or her truck, Laymac added.
The Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep®, Ram, FIAT and Alfa Romeo brand websites offer a balance between branded content, vehicle details and relevant shopping information – all while making sure the information is easy to navigate and easy to find, quickly.
FCA builds its brand websites with a very clear focus on providing people a place to learn about its vehicles, to configure one to their liking, find that particular vehicle of interest on a dealer lot and then visit the dealer to test drive and buy it.
Ram is not the first FCA US brand to take top honors in the semi-annual J.D. Power MWES study. Dodge.com was awarded top automotive website in the 2012 summer study, while Jeep.com took the title last year in winter.
High-performing websites are a business priority for FCA. Digital analytic data verifies there is a strong correlation between completing shopping activities on the FCA brand websites and vehicle sales, while study data from J.D. Power consistently shows that consumers are more likely to visit a dealer after spending time researching a high-performing site than one that scores lower.
