NFDA Trusted Dealers is celebrating strong growth results from the first quarter of 2017 as buyers dwell for longer online and retailers benefit from increased quality leads.

The organisation reported that its website had also seen a 55% increase in telephone enquiries lasting more than 50 seconds – its benchmark for generating genuine sales leads – and emails, compared to this time last year.

The site also reported a 22% increase in the number of pages per visit and a 14% increase in the session duration of visits to its website, compared to 2016.

Neil Addley, managing director of NFDA Trusted Dealers, said: “I am very pleased with the results from the first quarter as an increase in enquiries leads to strong results for our members.

“We’ve spent a lot of time speaking to buyers and dealers to understand what is important to consumers when buying a used car and making sure our website makes the process as smooth as possible for both parties.

“The results highlight that consumers recognise the security of buying through a franchised dealer and at Trusted Dealers, we guarantee consumers peace of mind as all of our members sign up to our 10 Points of Difference. These safeguards ensure that our customers are protected when purchasing online.”

Trusted Dealers is part of the National Franchised Dealer Association (NFDA) and counts more than 100 dealer groups as members, including Vertu Motors, Perrys, Lookers, JCT600 and Arnold Clark.

It attributes the increased traffic during 2017 to improvements made as a result of cyustomer research, which have resulted in an integrated social media campaign targeting over 50s car buyers, content marketing, media partnerships and video competitions.

Improvements to the site’s mobile offering have also improved response from mobile users.

Buyers are increasingly using smartphones to research purchases, with 44.4 % of websites loaded on mobile devices in the UK in 2016.