Advertisement feature from CitNOW

Create compelling content to match search criteria

By Carol Fairchild, commercial director, CitNOW

Relevance and quality, rather than price, are now driving consumer vehicle search, making digital assets more important than ever.

In August, Auto Trader changed its algorithm to display the most relevant matches first. No longer is the lowest-priced vehicle displayed on top – instead, the list is determined by the search criteria, bringing it more in line with the wider retail sector. The new sort order will also prioritise high-quality, asset-rich listings.

Relying much more heavily on vehicle content, the onus is on retailers to provide as much information as possible, including a full description, detailed spec, high quality imagery and video walkarounds. With these improvements, search is easier and more compelling for the car buyer and they are more likely to see high-quality ads and vehicles that best reflect their wish list. Auto Trader found leads delivered to retailers using this approach rose 10%*.

This new relevance-led search, however, puts retailers under added pressure to create and upload asset-rich, complete listings quicker than ever. If not, they risk not being able to compete with the considerably more detailed ads with high-quality assets that fully match the car buyer’s criteria – thus falling down the rankings.

Overcoming the hurdle of simultaneously displaying a vehicle on the physical and digital forecourt is CitNOW Web. Integrated with a wide range of sales and classified web platforms, including  Auto Trader, retailers can capture and upload a vehicle’s digital assets within two hours while meeting both manufacturer and dealer image guidelines. The latest features of the Web app include all-new integrations and soon-to-be-released automatic background replacement – giving dealerships the ability to replace image backgrounds with a clean, consistent backdrop
in seconds.

Visitors to Automotive Management Live can find out more at CitNOW’s stand, C14, and discover ways to bring the physical and digital showroom closer in alignment at its masterclass session.

 

*https://trade.autotrader.co.uk/search-improvements/

For more details

Email: reply@citnow.com

Call: 01189 977 748

Visit: www.citnow.com