Cars.com mobile site targets in-market shoppers

By Giselle Abramovich

June 23, 2008

Driving prospects

Here's something to drive away with: 30 percent of the unique visitors to Cars.com’s mobile site have never been to the auto information provider’s computer Web site.

It was also found that 39 percent accessed the Cars.com mobile site while on a dealer lot shopping for a car. To top it all, 41 percent of users contacted a seller use the click-to-call functionality on the WAP site.

“Not unlike many Web sites, our traffic dips on the weekend and that’s when we have increases on the WAP, meaning people are using the mobile site while they are out and about,” said Sharon Knitter, senior director of consumer products at Cars.com, Chicago.

“Before, if someone wanted to do research on a car they needed to be at home in front of their computer," she said. "Now they can get information they need right from their pocket.”

Mobile site developer Crisp Wireless built the site for Cars.com. The New York company integrated Cars.com’s existing Web functionality and formatted the content to enable consumers to easily research car information from their mobile phones.

Mobile visitors search Cars.com’s inventory of 2 million new and used vehicles and get more details on the cars that interest them, including photos.

Other features allow shoppers to access Kelley Blue Book’s Used Car Values, calculate vehicle payments and read expert reviews and the latest automotive news via Cars.com’s blog, KickingTires.

Mobile shoppers can find a local dealer through the site’s dealer locator, which will also offer maps and directions to the dealership and click-to-call functionality.

“I think one of the benefits is that consumers can use this when they are in-market,” Ms. Knitter said. “This is the marriage of local search and functionality.”

Because of the amount of traffic to the WAP, Cars.com was able to get automakers such as Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Lexus and Toyota to advertise on the WAP site.

Clicking on the Lexus banner ad, for example, takes the consumer to a landing page where a ZIP code is entered for the nearest dealer. The address and toll-free number pulls up on the next page. Consumers can click on the number and get connected directly to that dealership via the phone.

“I think it talks to the innovativeness of the advertiser,” Ms. Knitter said. “And to hit in-market auto buyers, what better way to do it?”

Ms. Knitter claimed that the advertisers have significantly high click-though rates from banner ads on the Cars.com WAP site.

“We are dealing with huge data sets and how do navigate through all that,” Ms. Knitter said. “We thought about it in terms of what the easiest way for consumers to navigate is and what the right content is for them.”

Cars.com has two types of mobile consumers visiting the WAP site. First there are those who are at a dealership and use the site as a shopping assistant. And then there those who are on the go and need some information just to kill time.

“The WAP site is a natural extension for Cars.com and it underscores the value that utility sites play,” said Boris Fridman, CEO of Crisp.