Car buyers and service customers of all ages are embracing video as a means to help them shortlist their next vehicle, facilitate making a purchase decision, to give the go-ahead for work required in the workshop and to see when their car has been given a clean bill of health.
In 2017 over 7.5 million videos were sent, watched over 15 million times and rated at an average 4.8/5 by automotive customers worldwide. In the first few weeks of 2018, almost one million videos were being uploaded to our platform by our customers every month, an average of 31,000 per day.
Whilst motorists and dealers love video, it isn’t the same to all car-buyers. CitNOW’s Vision Report* revealed key differences between age groups.
In our series ‘Video across the Ages’, we explore the different attitudes across the generational divide and offer insight into the preferences, opportunities and challenges retailers need to know when using video to communicate with their customers and car-buyers. In the second of our series of blogs, we find out what Generation X thinks of video.
Generation X: 45-54 year-olds
Slightly younger than the over-55s group, Baby Boomers had to learn their tech on the job.
Whilst they may not be quite as secure as the over-55s in terms of home ownership and children flying the nest and are likely to still be climbing the final rungs of the career ladder, life is certainly more settled.
Video insights
1) Millennials may have grown up with it and Generation Z have never known a world without the internet, but Generation X created the digital world as we know it. Don’t forget, it was Generation X who sent and received the first texts. They may not be digital natives but they are the digital innovators. Not surprisingly then, our research found Generation X is most likely to watch a personalised video. 83% said they were interested in engaging with technology.
2) When it comes to car buying, like the over-55s, they too have plenty of experience from previous purchases to draw on. This means they are confident with cars as a product and the car buying process making them more open to considering their next vehicle through the lens of a camera. They are likely to be time poor so personal videos combined with their own car buying experiences will help them narrow their choices when it comes to visiting a showroom and taking a test drive.
3) With their incomes probably at a certain level, this age group are also the most likely to choose a niche or ‘fun’ car. They may no longer need to opt for the traditional family vehicle and will be open to something different. Our research has already told us they are the group least likely to reject a personalised video, this offers dealers a perfect opportunity to engage them with models they may not have previously considered with video providing the perfect medium to demonstrate a variety of different options.
Summary: Video for Generation X
As the generation that couldn’t wait to experience the independence of their own car and enjoy the freedom of the open road, Generation X retains an enthusiasm for motoring. In fact, they are 2.5 times more likely to click on shared automotive content on social media than any other kind, according to RadiumOne.**
This group is ready to receive your personal videos so get filming! And be innovative, remember they may be up for something different so it could be worth going a bit left of the field when they make an enquiry by sending them additional content and asking if something ‘like this’ would be of interest.
Read about the attitudes of Baby Boomers to video in our previous blog.
*The Vision report combines survey responses from 2,000 UK motorists with video usage data from leading UK groups and brands. You can download the full report here
**RadiumOne (2014) Automotive Insights Report Available at www.radiumone.com
