Dealix Corporation, a US automotive Internet marketing services provider has released a study on Internet lead close rates by vehicle make. The purpose of the study, which found large discrepancies among different vehicle makes, was to examine the impact that OEMs have on Internet sales at the retail level. Dealix Business Intelligence conducted the study.

"We've known for a long time the effect a strong customer service and lead follow up process will have on close rates for individual dealerships," said Mark Boyd, Dealix executive vice president of strategic development, "but the variations in lead close rates by vehicle make substantiate our theory that OEMs can have a marked impact on enterprise sales. We see how important it is that they take a proactive role in their retail dealers' Internet initiatives." Saturn, considered a pioneer in the use of Internet leads, received the highest score on the Dealix OEM Close Rate Index.

The study also compared closely competing brands. "When comparing two luxury brands, like Lexus and Audi, the difference in close rates is even more compelling," said Dean L. Evans, Dealix vice president of marketing. "These two brands compete for a similar demographic of consumers, for example with the Lexus ES300 and the Audi A4, and they even get leads from some of the same customers. (On average, consumers submit a lead for three different vehicles before buying one.) One would assume that leads that have identical consumer information and are sourced, filtered, verified, and delivered the same way, would have consistent close rates, but that's not the case." The study found that Lexus' score on the Index was higher than Audi's.

The Dealix OEM Close Rate Index is a weighted index that ranks a broad array of automobile makes based on the number of Internet sales leads generated from the Dealix Lead Trading Platform and result in a sale.

Dealix owns and operates InvoiceDealers, a vehicle purchase portal and the Dealix Lead Trading Platform, a suite of proprietary technology products and business solutions. The Dealix LTP works in tandem with InvoiceDealers and the Dealix Lead Acquisition Network, a collection of partner websites, to process enquiries from 1.9 million-plus vehicle shoppers who visit InvoiceDealers every month. See www.dealix.com and www.invoicedealers.com.