WESTLAKE VILLAGE, California — The latest J.D. Power and Associates study rates automakers' Web sites and finds that it's more the look and ease of use of a site than the content that make it successful — and Kia does it best. The 11th semi-annual J.D. Power 2010 Manufacturer Web Site Evaluation Study, or MWES, was released Tuesday.
J.D. Power surveyed 10,900 people last November who said they were planning to buy a new vehicle in the next 24 months. Kia's Web site was ranked highest with a score of 880 points out of a possible 1,000. That's a 25-point improvement from the Korean automaker's score in the June 2009 edition of the J.D. Power study. Honda was in 2nd place with 875 points and Acura was 3rd with 874 points.
The top five was rounded out by Jeep, with 857 points, and Porsche, with 856. The bottom five were Pontiac (800 points), Scion (794), Buick (788), Smart (787) and last-place finisher Jaguar, with 776 points.
The MWES study finds that customer satisfaction with automakers' sites is heavily influenced by how fast and "seamless" the experience feels. J.D. Power Marketing and Media Research Chief Arianne Walker said the top scorers succeeded by "making smart decisions" on their sites, such as keeping 360-degree viewing tools "as light as possible" so the pages load quickly.
The study looks at speed, appearance, navigation and information/content to evaluate the sites. Walker noted that manufacturers could get a higher satisfaction score by "re-evaluating their content based on value rather than simply adding content for the sake of being flashy."
Inside Line says: Recognizing those who make Internet auto shopping easier is a great idea. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
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hybris says:
07:02 PM, 01/28/2010
I can't see how Jeep even got as high as it did its hard to use and gives relitively little information during the build a Jeep section.
This goes for Dodge as well and probably all the other Chrysler based auto sites.
Ford and VW though do have pretty good looking and working sites. IMHO