European Brands Dominate AMCI/Eisbrenner Public Relations Survey
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"Web sites are now about creating relevancy, increasing sales and brand awareness and collecting related content in one central easy-to-use portal," said Gordon Wangers, managing partner, AMCI.

The Results

Currently, BMW is the clear leader, securing first place in the overall ranking, product information and site functionality categories, and second place in the pricing and purchasing category. Other notable Web sites include Volvo, which ranked second overall, first in overall effectiveness and in the top 10 for product information, pricing and purchasing and site functionality. Jaguar earned first place in pricing and purchasing, third in product information and fifth in overall ranking. A sizeable percentage of the top 10 in all five categories were European luxury brands BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volvo.

Overall Ranking

Product Information

 Pontiac and Mercury were the only two domestic brands with strong showings in product information. These brands market a level of vehicle performance, product reliability and driving excitement combined with value.

 Pricing and Purchasing Information

Correlations

The results are based on consumer rankings of OEM Web sites. Best of the Web: OEM Web Site Survey 2000 analyzes the responses and identifies Web site attributes most effective in influencing consumer behavior and attitudes. These attributes include clear presentation of information and impressive graphics, visual effects, overall design and layout.

The survey results indicate:

Web sites trying to improve surfers' perceptions of the manufacturers should focus on:

• overall design
• graphics and visual effects
• presentation of information on the site

Web sites trying to increase dealership visits should focus on:

• overall design
• ease of navigating the site
• ease of finding and understanding pricing and financing information

Web sites trying to improve the likelihood that surfers will revisit the site and recommend the site to friends should focus on:

• overall design and layout
• ease of navigating site
• ease of finding and understanding pricing and financing information
• ease of finding vehicle specifications for models
• ease of ordering brochures online

(Feb. 3,  2000)