Car Dealers Increase Sales With New KBB.com Classifieds, Turn On The Power Of Blue

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In the months following Kelley Blue Book's national launch of the all-new KBB.com Classifieds experience, car dealers are praising the increased auto sales, leads and customer traffic resulting from the new product (http://kbb.autotrader.com/). 

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"I've seen about a 10 percent increase in the amount of leads that we're getting off of KBB.com, and at the end of this month, I'll sell at least five of the KBB.com Classifieds that we've had out there," said Rusty Hutson of Lowe Toyota. 

KBB.com's redesigned Classifieds section makes it easy for a large audience of in-market shoppers to move from researching directly into shopping for the right vehicle. Each month, car shoppers perform millions of searches in the new Classifieds section of KBB.com for new and used cars for sale.

"Last month we had more than 100,000 impressions across all product lines," said Dusty Hayes of Hayes Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram. "That's a huge amount of people that we're touching that we've never touched before."

The innovative design of the KBB.com Classifieds experience creates new ways for millions of in-market car shoppers to connect with dealers, allowing consumers to control the shopping process and engage with dealers in the way they feel most comfortable. Shoppers can easily email, call, chat, link directly to the car dealership website, or simply get directions and drive right to the store. Providing consumers with multiple channels to reach auto dealers in the manner they prefer increases engagement significantly over the traditional lead form.

"With KBB.com Classifieds, we are able to reach a different customer at a different point in the sales process," said Jay Barksdale of Courtesy Ford. "It helps us get that customer at step one. And when we're able to engage that customer, we're able to build value for that customer right away and we get a higher quality lead. We've gotten a lot more buyers out of Kelley Blue Book."

Kelley Blue Book has experienced extremely positive market reception to the new KBB.com Classifieds experience, doubling the number of participating car dealers in the short time since the product's national launch in June 2012. More dealers are opting to 'Turn on the Power of Blue' every day.

"Dealers recognize that when they utilize the powerful tool that is KBB.com Classifieds, they are gaining greater exposure to a highly engaged, unique audience of in-market car buyers, and ultimately they are selling more cars," said Jared Rowe, president of Kelley Blue Book. "We keep hearing success stories from dealers across the nation, lauding how easy it is to expand their reach with KBB.com Classifieds."

About KBB.com Classifieds
KBB.com's new Classifieds product takes an innovative approach to car shopping, allowing dealers to expand their reach to millions of active in-market car buyers that largely cannot be found on other automotive websites.¹ In partnership with online classifieds leader and Kelley Blue Book's parent company AutoTrader.com, the 'cars for sale' section on KBB.com was completely rebuilt, featuring a distinctive design and functionality created specifically for Kelley Blue Book's unique audience. 

Millions of serious car buyers visit KBB.com each month, and nearly 40 percent plan to purchase a vehicle within the next three months.² In developing the KBB.com Classifieds experience, Kelley Blue Book created a true 'win-win' for both consumers and industry partners: Car shoppers have success in easily finding a car that meets their needs, and dealers have a turnkey solution to advertise their inventory on both AutoTrader.com and Kelley Blue Book's KBB.com.

Because more than three-quarters of KBB.com visitors are undecided on which make and model they want to purchase, ³ KBB.com Classifieds was designed to allow shoppers to browse new and used cars for sale based on their needs, in addition to the typical 'make/model' search. This inventive approach allows users to identify vehicle criteria and attributes that are important to them and returns applicable results of both new and used cars for sale in their area, allowing shoppers to view all of their options in one search. In addition, this approach helps introduce shoppers to vehicles they may not have originally considered or realized met their needs.           

Helpful KBB.com information including both expert and consumer reviews and ratings also appear alongside the results, so users can continue researching and learning about their alternatives as they shop. Shoppers can customize views and group results in a variety of ways to easily see all of their options and compare vehicles that fit their needs, allowing for deeper engagement and control throughout the process.

Inventory listings on KBB.com are prioritized through "Best Match," a formula that ranks vehicles based on what is determined to be the most relevant and engaging for that shopper, similar to how search engines return the most relevant information based on what the user is looking for. "Best Match" results are intended to highlight the vehicles that shoppers will be most interested in viewing. 

This algorithm is based in part on the vehicle information sellers provide, including the number of photos, video and detailed vehicle descriptions, as well as certain attributes of the vehicle such as the distance from the user, mileage versus the average for that model year, and the length of time the listing has been on the site. 

Dealers can directly influence their position in search results by merchandising cars to their full potential, placing the right vehicle in front of the right shopper at the right time to help enable greater sales success. KBB.com's Classifieds give every dealer the opportunity to play higher in search results through well-merchandised listings.

Setup for dealers to list inventory on KBB.com Classifieds is completely turnkey, thanks to a partnership with AutoTrader.com. While the layout and functionality of how vehicle listings appear on the two sites is very different, KBB.com Classifieds listings are pulled automatically from data on AutoTrader.com. In addition, both sites are seamlessly managed through one representative, an AutoTrader.com Advertising Consultant, so dealers can get the most from their advertising investment. Research shows that there are different types of shoppers on KBB.com versus AutoTrader.com,⁴ and there is limited audience overlap between the two sites.⁵ With KBB.com Classifieds, dealers have the opportunity to easily reach a distinct audience of  highly engaged, in-market shoppers with their new- and used-vehicle inventory. In addition, listings are managed within one system including the same back-end reporting, leveraging dealers' existing AutoTrader.com inventory feeds, creative assets and merchandising. 

To view the KBB.com Classifieds experience, visit www.kbb.com and click on 'cars for sale' link along the top navigation. For automakers or dealers interested in listing new and used vehicles on KBB.com Classifieds, visit http://kbb.autotrader.com/, or speak to an AutoTrader.com Advertising Consultant.

 For more information and news from Kelley Blue Book's KBB.com, visit www.kbb.com/media/, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kelleybluebook (or @kelleybluebook), or like our page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kbb, and get updates on Google+ at https://plus.google.com/+kbb/.

^{1.  Comscore Media Metrix: Cross Visiting Report: March 2012.
2.  Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence.  January – April 2012 Demographics.
3.  AutoTrader.com Shopper Frame of Mind Research Study. March 2011.
4.  AutoTrader.com Shopper Frame of Mind Research Study. March 2011.
5.  Autotrader.com Internal Audience Analysis – Monthly Average, Q1 2012.}

About Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com)
Founded in 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource®, is the only vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the industry. Each week the company provides the most market-reflective values in the industry on its top-rated website www.kbb.com, including its famous Blue Book® Trade-In and Suggested Retail Values and Fair Purchase Price, which reports what others are paying for new cars this week. The company also provides vehicle pricing and values through various products and services available to car dealers, auto manufacturers, finance and insurance companies as well as governmental agencies. KBB.com provides consumer pricing and information on cars for sale, minivans, pickup trucks, sedan, hybrids, electric cars, and SUVs. Kelley Blue Book's KBB.com ranked highest in its category for brand equity and was named Online Auto Shopping Brand of the Year by the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend^® study. Kelley Blue Book Co. Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of AutoTrader Group.

SOURCE Kelley Blue Book