Volvo tops online experience survey
- Added:
- Aug 20, 2008
Volvo has the most user friendly site amongst car manufacturers, a new survey has shown
Independent research from customer experience benchmarking company, Global Reviews, found that the Volvo website is now at the top of the 'Comparing the Car Sites' league table.
BMW led the league back in January 2008, but significant improvements to the Volvo website have seen it rocket into first place.
BMW is now joint second with VW. Mercedes has moved up from sixth place to join Audi in joint fourth.
Honda had a surprising result, moving from 5th to 7th. The Honda website looks impressive, with lots of features, but the benchmark found that the website had a worse customer experience than the other sites.
Global Reviews' 'Comparing the Car Sites' benchmark objectively measured customers' experience on nine leading car websites.
The sites were assessed against more than 500 objective criteria including the information available to prospective buyers, customer support, service offered to vehicle owners, and general site usability.
The study found that:
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Mercedes and VW offer the best site navigation with scores of 82%. Honda scored 63%.
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VW offer the best experience for prospective buyers with a score of 72% for this category. Porsche scored 53%.
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Volvo offers the best customer support online with a score of 70%. Lexus scored 39%.
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Content and tools and the information and support given to vehicle owners are the area where most sites could be improved. Volvo leads the field again with a score of 62% for content and tools, and 43% for vehicle owner support. The industry average was just 40% and 30% respectively for these categories.
The study also found that users want access to comparison tools and car wizards to help them find the information they are looking for.
Providers that offer these services are making the researching process much easier for potential customers. Good contact information was also found to be important. Many customers will only use the website for researching cars, so websites need to provide clear information on how to purchase.
Global Reviews director, Adam Goodvach said:"The vast majority of consumers depend on websites to research their options when buying a car. Car companies are missing a trick if they do not provide their customers with the best possible online experience."
The survey, carried out by Global Reviews in July 2008, had over 1,000 responses